GERMANTOWN, Md. — Earth Networks has announced a new strategic direction to focus on business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) opportunities and has sold its consumer-focused WeatherBug brand to xAd Inc., a leader in location intelligence. The transaction reflects Earth Networks’ core focus on leveraging its weather and Internet of Things (IoT) data assets to guide real-time, informed decisions that reduce risk and improve operations for organizations across industry verticals including energy, education, public venues, recreational facilities, and insurance, as well as local, state, and federal governments.

With one of the world’s largest networks of weather, lightning, and greenhouse gas monitoring sensors, big data has always been at the core of Earth Networks’ mission. The WeatherBug branded desktop and mobile applications have delivered accurate neighborhood-level weather, forecasts, and advanced severe weather alerts to tens of millions of users. The data underlying these applications is driven by Earth Networks proprietary network of over 12,000 weather stations and lightning sensors — a real-time network that empowers hyperlocal monitoring and forecasting precision with granularity down to any latitude and longitude combination. Earth Networks will continue to own and operate the network going forward.

For years, corporations and government entities have relied on solutions leveraging the network to support critical initiatives including public safety, risk management, and asset protection. The growing array of analytical applications where real-time weather combined with IoT data can have significant impact on decisions and operations represents a significant growth opportunity for the company.

“WeatherBug has been a tremendously successful brand for Earth Networks, one that has grown to tens of millions of users and an example of how our data assets can benefit the markets we serve,” said Bob Marshall, CEO of Earth Networks. “Now that we have built an unmatched global weather network, we believe that there exists a tremendous opportunity to convert the data into actionable insights — whether that is for managing operational risk, protecting the public, or utilizing the data to drive enhanced intelligence through analytics.”

The potential for advanced analytic applications built with the underlying weather and IoT data has been demonstrated with the recent launch of its Connected Savings^SM platform, which provides energy intelligence through the integration of IoT-connected smart home devices, proprietary weather data, and its patented predictive algorithms. Connected Savings HVAC control and optimization capabilities have been shown to save 16.5 percent in electricity usage when cooling homes, compared to 5.1 percent HVAC savings from a connected thermostat alone, said the company, and represent a significant growth opportunity for energy efficiency-related data services. Earth Networks core focus will now be to further develop and expand these types of solutions for its customers and partners.

For more information, visit www.earthnetworks.com.

Publication date: 11/30/2016

Want more HVAC industry news and information? Join The NEWS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn today!