Groupe E — field-data uplink to Gestinergie 4.0

WBox gateways collect on-site building and metering data, then feed it to Groupe E’s Gestinergie 4.0 cloud platform — over Azure IoT and MQTT.


The context

Groupe E is one of the leading energy providers in French-speaking Switzerland. With Gestinergie 4.0, the group offers public authorities a multi-service digital platform for the smart city: energy monitoring (electricity, water, heat), supervision of technical installations, access and infrastructure management.

Weble’s WBox gateways form the on-site data-collection layer that feeds this platform: they read building meters and equipment, then publish the data to the Gestinergie cloud.

Discover Gestinergie 4.0 →


Field data collection

At each site, the WBox gateway polls equipment through the Modbus TCP/IP and RTU drivers:

  • energy meters — electricity, heat, water;
  • HVAC controllers and PLCs connected over Modbus;
  • building technical equipment exposing a Modbus register map.

A single Weble gateway speaks both serial Modbus (RTU / RS485) and Modbus TCP/IP over Ethernet — with no third-party converter.

Beyond Modbus, the same gateway aggregates other field sources depending on the site:

  • wired and wireless M-Bus meters — water, gas, heat, energy;
  • the gateway’s physical inputs / outputs (the WBox IO driver) — pulse counting, status contacts and digital alarms;
  • weather forecasts (Switzerland / France / Belgium), integrated locally for energy management.

Uplink to the Gestinergie 4.0 cloud

The collected data is published to the Gestinergie platform, hosted on Microsoft Azure. To do so, the WBox runs:

  • the Azure IoT driver — native, secure connection to Azure IoT Hub;
  • the MQTT driver — publishing readings to the broker in a lightweight, real-time stream.

Before sending, the logic module processes the data at the edge: normalisation, scaling, aggregation and KPI computation. Only the useful data goes up — reduced bandwidth, a leaner platform.

For file-based exchange with third-party systems, the gateway also exports readings as CSV and transfers them automatically over FTP — handy for archiving, billing or feeding business tools, alongside the real-time stream.


Remote access & operations

Weble’s remote-access service makes it possible to commission, diagnose and update the gateways with no site visit — a key asset for a fleet spread across many municipalities and buildings.


The benefit

  • One universal gateway: Modbus (TCP + RTU) on the field side, Azure / MQTT on the cloud side — on the same device.
  • Edge processing: the logic module pre-processes data locally before uplink.
  • Secure remote operations, with no on-site intervention.
  • Integration with a recognised Swiss smart-city platform — Groupe E’s Gestinergie 4.0.

Drivers & modules used

  • Azure — Azure IoT Hub connector.
  • MQTT — real-time publish / subscribe.
  • Modbus TCP/IP, RTU — reading meters and equipment.
  • Logic module — processing data at the source.
  • Remote access — remote maintenance and operations.
  • M-Bus — water, gas, heat and energy meters (wired & wireless).
  • WBox IO — the gateway’s physical inputs / outputs.
  • Weather (CH / FR / BE) — forecasts for energy management.
  • CSV — exporting readings as files.
  • FTP — automatic file transfer to third-party systems.