PTC has announced that GCE Group, Europe's leading company in the supply of gas control, has deployed the ThingWorx® Internet of Things (IoT) platform as part of its connected product strategy. As a first step, GCE's Zen-O™ portable oxygen concentrator, sold worldwide, will be used as a pilot for GCE's strategy of allowing users, clinicians and service providers to monitor key product and patient data. GCE is supported by ThingWorx partner InVMA.

The GCE Group is involved in the development and manufacturing of all types of equipment for pressure and flow control of high-pressure gases. With almost 30 years' experience in the handling of high pressure gases, the product range has now grown to include high purity and medical gas equipment.

Zen-O is designed to enable patients with respiratory disorders to better manage their oxygen therapy within and outside their homes. With the implementation of the ThingWorx platform, patients, clinicians and service providers will be able to closely monitor the data they need, when they need it. For instance, clinicians will be able to remotely monitor the device's performance against a patient's requirements.

"We are using ThingWorx to connect to the Zen-O in the field and use the resulting data to improve the service quality and medical care delivered to patients. The application requires a level of integrity and legislative conformance, which we have built to give our customers confidence that this life-enhancing connected product will work securely," said Gareth Pemberton, director of Innovation at GCE Group. "We chose ThingWorx because PTC and InVMA have a proven pedigree of rapidly delivering connected product applications. We are managing to move from concept to customer in a fraction of the time compared to other development routes by using a proven, robust and scalable platform."

ThingWorx, the centerpiece of PTC's Internet of Things technology portfolio, is comprised of a rapid application development platform, connectivity, machine learning capabilities, augmented reality, and integration with leading device clouds. These capabilities combine to deliver a comprehensive IoT technology stack that enables companies to securely connect products, quickly create applications, and innovate new ways to capture value.

To deliver the solution, InVMA is engaged with PTC partners Stream Technologies for global communication provision, Device Authority for advanced, policy driven IoT security automation including authentication and certificate management, and also CoCom, a UK based Intel® hardware development house.

"ThingWorx will enable the GCE Group to produce smart devices that provide patients far more flexibility and freedom than traditional products," said David Grammer, vice president, northern Europe, PTC. "Their deployment of the ThingWorx platform underscores the value of rapid application development, connectivity and analytics capabilities in products. We look forward to helping GCE develop more smart products that help improve the quality of life for people everywhere."