Element Blue is an experienced technology consulting firm that helps customers better manage water and related resources through software and instrumentation. They have expertise in analytics, web applications, and business process management. Their Intelligent Operations Center uses sensors and real-time data to help optimize water usage, reduce costs, and improve decision making. A case study highlights how their solution helped Desert Mountain Golf Club reduce water usage and electrical costs through integrated monitoring and controls.

2. SMARTER WATER SOLUTIONS
WATER MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS
USING SOFTWARE AND INSTRUMENTATION TO BETTER
MANAGE WATER, POWER AND RELATED CONSUMABLES

3. Who is Element Blue?
• Experienced former IBM engineers and consultants with Intelligent Operations
offices in Houston TX, San Jose CR and Hyderabad India Actionable web dashboards that
present instrumented and
• Twelve years of successful history as IBM Premier Software operational data across the
partner with focus on three primary service lines enterprise
• Business Optimization with Integrated Analytics
• Web Applications and Portals Business Process Management
• Business Processes Management Creating solutions with Lombardi,
TeamWorks, and FileNet integrated
• Premier partner delivering the Smarter Cities Solution with with web portals.
Intelligent Operations Center and Water Information Hub
• Today Element Blue is the leading services integration Web Experiences / Portal
partner on IBM Smart Cloud delivery
Providing mobile and web portal
• Over 100 customer engagements and 30 active customers applications for over 10 years with
annually IBM WebSphere products.

4. Smarter means…
Instrumented + Interconnected + Intelligent
Event capture End to End Deep discovery,
and filtering for linkage of people, analysis and
timely response process, and forecasting
systems
= Smart
4 4

5. IBM’s Smarter Planet strategy: Deploying intelligent
systems that gather, synthesize and apply information
will change the way entire industries operate.
Smart Water Smart traffic
Use real-time traffic prediction and
Smart energy
Analyze customer usage and provide
Apply monitoring and
dynamic tolling to reduce customized products and services
management technologies to help congestion and its byproducts while that help to boost efficiency from the
optimize the availability, delivery,
positively influencing related source through the grid to the end
use, and quality of water as well as systems. user.
related systems including energy
and chemical treatment.
Congestion
Water
Energy grid
Chemicals
Energy
Carbon
Carbon emissions
emissions
Noise Energy
Energy pollution sources
Public
transportation Smart home

6. Challenges with
Water Management
Challenges & Drivers
• Over-watering: wastes energy, causes run-off,
regulatory penalties, plant disease
• Aging infrastructure-Significant loss due to leaks
• Water usage can not be planned in accordance
with energy costs and other consumables
• 65% of water goes to landscapes: 30-300% water
waste is occurring
• Watering restrictions cannot be monitored and
lead to overwatering
Solutions
• Monitoring and Managing essential variables on
one operating platform
• Controls and remediation through sensors and
instrumentation
• Key operational inputs managed in real time,
historically and with predictive analytics

7. Integration and Analysis Provides
Smarter Water Management
Integration of data provides a 50% reduction
better outcome: 10% reduction in
Hands-on time engaged to
direct water planning
operations
raw water usage
• Watering matches plans, need and key interests Desert Mountain
• Reducing electrical costs and other energy
consumption Drive collaboration
Annual savings across fragmented
• Water is planned in accordance with energy costs across 23,000 systems and
and other consumables households to be multiple
64.9M gallons, or stakeholders in the
• Landscape, turf, and crop needs are matched to $190,000+ network
maximize growth and yield City of Dubuque
Sonoma County Water Agency
• Enables the operators to make better decisions,
faster
Utilities minimize account revenue loss Crews
have a targeted list of metered accounts to check
Smarter Results – saving time and cost
DC Water

8. Creating A Platform for
Managing Operations

9. Introducing:
Intelligent Operations Center Express
for Smarter Water
● Proof of Value within 60 days from an operational system, combined with affordable
pricing options leading to a demonstrated ROI
● Software as a Service (SaaS), customized with proven data model and key performance
indicators for each property
● Ready to use assets providing immediate cost saving analytical value from instrumented
systems
● Configurable to fit customer use cases for a Phase 1 solution
● Evaluation period allows for time to
establish new use cases and long term
integration strategy
● A proven, predictable deployment
methodology for our customers to have a
tailored production site up and running in
45 days
9

10. Smarter Water Benefits
“…applying a more analytic approach to the management of their combined
sewer overflow could probably save them about $15 million ” (Dr. Peter Williams,
CTO IBM Green Innovations)
Lower Water,
Power, and Allows real-time and historical views of every
Agronomic measurement.
inputs
Displays and alerts on exceeded thresholds.
Improve
Business insight leads to evolution of strategies.
Decision
Making and Identify patterns for preventative maintenance.
Effectiveness Platform designed for future growth.
Increase Simplifies management of existing infrastructure.
Operational Increases responsiveness to unexpected readings.
Productivity
and Efficiency Supports Collaboration between users/roles.
10

11. The Element Blue
IOC Express Value
IBM and Element Blue is a Water Solution partner team that brings leadership and
visible global recognition for optimizing water management leading to real financial
savings in water and energy for large water consumers
Demonstrating a valuable operating solution AND proving the values within a short
time period
Water conservation and energy analytics provided on one platform with easy to use
software for the entire organization
Collaboration within IBM’s Smarter Planet group, with a team focusing on water and
energy in the initial project phases
Co-Marketing with IBM, the number two brand in the world-”Let’s Build a Smarter
Planet”
Environmental stewardship in the community and industry
11

12. Golf Industry Magazine
July 2012 Water Issue
Innovative Irrigation:
Desert Mountain Club turns to technology to halt
costs and conserve water.
Shawn Emerson, Director of Grounds, DMC
“It’s okay to have problems but it’s even better to ask for
help. The agronomy department utilizes four separate Challenge Met
softwares: Rainbird, Microcom, Arizona Public Service and
UgMo. But together they’re incompatible and we needed “… instead of taking 30 days
them to communicate in real time so that if our weather to gather and verify data,
station tells us the courses received rain the night before, we can gather information
we could adjust the irrigation to water less that day, among
other situations that require fine tuning on a daily basis. The
up to six times per hour, 24
agronomy budget could not withstand the purchase of all hours per day, allowing us
new software so once again I turned to experts in the to make decisions within 15
business.” minutes”

13. Desert Mountain – Phase 1 project
10% savings goal - reduce water usage,
cut electrical and operating costs
Challenge
 Manage multiple siloes of systems and data to make decisions
 Historical data provides little relevance to running operation.
 Over 26. million gallons managed daily "Water is one of our most precious natural
 Energy consumption for irrigation pumping not monitored to resources. Because its uses are so extensive,
match water demand water is very difficult to manage," said Bob Jones,
Chief Operating Officer of Desert Mountain.
Solution
Customer Profile
 IBM Intelligent Operations Center - provides integrated
snapshot of course conditions Desert Mountain is largest reclaimed
 Water Information Hub - Real time events and alerts based water with 4,500 residents and 6 golf
on preset thresholds.
courses. Water consumption: $1
 IOC Mobile - analytics and alerts to field operations.
billion gallons per year. 400,000
Results pounds of seed. 600,000 pounds of
fertilizer. 11 on-site pump stations. 9
 Ability to reduce water and electric consumption
 Better align usage with turf management
retention lakes. 550 acres of turf.
 Platform for managing entire property and future uses 150,000 rounds of golf …

14. Element Blue Key Team Members
Steven D. Gerhardt, CEO of Element Blue
Steven Gerhardt leads the company's strategic direction, business development and vision. He is an IBM solutions architect with
17 years of experience in developing, selling and managing software product delivery. Prior to Element Blue, Steven served as
the co-founder and prinicipal of Ixion for eleven years. During this time, Ixion became a leading provider of IBM portal and web
application solutions. Prior to 2000, Steven's background also includes work in product marketing, biotechnology, and ISO
standards accreditation. Steven received his Bachelors degree from Baylor University and a Biotechnology Masters degree from
Johns Hopkins University.
Anthony (Joey) Bernal, CTO of Element Blue
Joey joined Element Blue as a leader and veteran of IBM software and solutions. He is the former Chief Programmer of IBM's
Intelligent Operations Center (IOC). His extensive background in Enterprise Application architecture was applied to leading the
IOC design and development. He is the author of many popular books and articles covering Application Architecture, Portal
Development, Social Networking, and Web 2.0. Joey joined IBM in 2001 and helped lead the WebSphere Portal Software Services
team for ISSL. He has assisted in many technical areas, especially IBM cross-brand opportunities with WebSphere and WebSphere
Portal solutions. Joey has a B.Sc. in Computer Sciences from Montana University and is completing his Masters at Regis
University.

15. Element Blue Key Team Members
Michael Patton, Element Blue Advisory Board Member and Founder of Longwood Ventures
Mr. Patton has a corporate management background with substantial information technology, financial communications, and
operations experience in large and small publicly-held companies. During 2000 and 2001, he was initially the Chief Operating
Officer of Trilog Group, Inc., an enterprise software vendor, and then became its CEO/CFO. From 1997 until 1999, Mike was VP
and Chief Information Officer of Waste Management, Inc. in Houston, TX. During this time, Waste Management averaged
approximately one acquisition per business day, including the acquisition of six publicly traded companies. Between 1987 and
1997, he was VP and CIO, as well as the VP of Investor Relations for Mid-American Waste Systems, headquartered in Columbus,
OH.
Walter N. Norley, Element Blue Advisory Board Member and Founder of UgMO Technologies
Walt is the Founder, and former CEO of UgMO Technologies, an environmental technology company that designs, manufactures
and markets wireless soil sensor systems and software that conserve water in commercial, residential and sports turf
applications. In addition to his leadership of UgMO, Walt is a member of IBM’s Smart Cities Advisory Board with a focus on IBM’s
Smarter Water segments providing community and enterprise water optimization solutions. Prior to his current roles, Walt ran
several environmental technology companies including Global Fuel Systems, a developer of Natural Gas Vehicle fuel tanks, and
IVG Composites the manufacturer of Vertex HSG an advanced composite materials company based in Russia, which he founded.
Walt’s initial experience in the environmental world was in the late 1980’s with Pennswood Development and its efforts to build
an advanced technology facility for safely disposing industrial waste. Walt attended the University of Georgia majoring in
Business Administration on a full athletic scholarship.