Australian data integration company Reekoh is now selling “IoT device simulators” to help companies lower the cost of developing IoT solutions.

Reekoh says the feature, announced this week as part of Reekoh’s new Bionic Automation Tools suite, enables “hardware-less” IoT solution development.

That will help organisations avoid some problems that arise when choosing IoT hardware for solution development, according to Reekoh CEO and co-founder Dale Rankine.

“A lot of decision paralysis in IoT comes because of the hardware,” Rankine says. For example, companies might get bogged down with questions about hardware support, connectivity and other issues.

Rankine says Reekoh is responding to organisations' need for lightweight tools suited to experimental projects with tight budgets.

The device simulators are part of an expansion to Reekoh’s product suite announced this week. The company re-branded its Reekoh Integration Platform, which is now called Reekoh Accelerate. The rebranded platform has new data schemas, a mapping module and a built-in rules engine.

Reekoh also announced Outpost IoT Edge solutions, which can run on gateway devices in secure networks inside factories, buildings and other locations.

Reekoh is working with FreeWave, IoTium and Advantech, which will sell Outpost as part of integrated solutions. “A lot of vendors are looking at not just selling a box, but how to increase the ability to get value from it,” Rankine said.

Ambitious plans

The company – which was named as a Garter Cool Vendor and lists Brisbane Airport Corporation and UTS among it customers – is also looking to grow internationally.

Rankine said Reekoh will close Series A funding the next few months, which he expects will lead to Reekoh teams operating outside Australia and New Zealand.

“This new product suite and branding is the beginning of an exciting new phase for us as we start to scale out globally and take our product innovation to customers and partners in some of the world’s largest markets and industry segments. The next 12 months will be huge,” Rankine predicted.