After more than 15 years of providing IoT cloud solutions, LI-COR recognized the need for a modern, scalable framework that would let them focus on delivering value rather than rebuilding core infrastructure. We spoke with Erich Roth, Senior Director of Product Development, Software at LI-COR about the decision to migrate to Davra and the impact this has had on the business.

“Davra’s robust microservices architecture, advanced role-based access control, powerful dashboards, and integrated GenAI capabilities have dramatically enhanced our user experience and accelerated our time to market.”

Outcomes

• Modernized digital offering by migrating legacy cloud platform to Davra.
• Improved responsiveness, performance, & feature set of product.
• Accelerated AI, predictive maintenance, & Earth Observation roadmap.
• Enabled global expansion with multiple cloud instances supported by Davra.
• Allowed the team to focus on delivering value for their customers.

About LI-COR

LI-COR is a leading manufacturer of high-end environmental monitoring equipment, specializing in trace gas monitoring, greenhouse gas fluxes, and plant health assessment. In 2024, LI-COR acquired Onset, a 40-year old company catering to agriculture, underwater research, indoor monitoring, and pharmaceutical cold chain.

Onset is best known for their HOBO brand of cloud connected data loggers, which enable users to monitor their environments remotely using a mixture of cellular and BLE technologies. Users can access their data via desktop, mobile, and cloud applications. Prior to engaging with Davra, Onset built and fully managed their own cloud infrastructure deployed on AWS.

The Challenge

As Onset's user base and device footprint grew, so did the complexity and demands of managing their cloud infrastructure. After building a successful cloud infrastructure over many years, it was now becoming a burden.

Erich Roth, now Senior Director of Product Development, Software at LI-COR and 22-year veteran at Onset, explained the problem.

“We were spending a tremendous amount of time on infrastructure and not nearly as much time on value added features for our customers.”

They sought an IoT framework like Davra that offered out-of-the-box infrastructure for data warehousing and APIs, that would allow them to focus on application development and rely on the vendor for platform maintenance.

The Solution

Onset, now a part of LI-COR, evaluated several IoT frameworks, including several hyperscalers and more focused companies like Davra. They hired an external contractor for an unbiased proof of concept and evaluation, which recommended Davra based on flexibility and ease of deployment.

As a result, Onset partnered with Davra to modernize its offering by migrating its legacy cloud platform to Davra. The impact of this collaboration quickly became clear. Migrating to Davra not only lifted the burden of managing their cloud infrastructure, it also improved the quality of their end product, accelerated their innovation roadmap, and opened up new opportunities for geographic expansion.

Strategic Expansion

Before acquiring Onset, LI-COR had pursued a similar IoT strategy using a different cloud platform. After evaluating both solutions, LI-COR made the strategic decision to not only consolidate everything on Davra but to scale it across additional product lines and global regions, positioning it as a cornerstone of their expanded IoT strategy.

Erich explains, “We agreed that Davra was the better choice for our overall future that sought to combine the two clouds into one.”

Now branded as LI-COR Cloud, the unified platform supports both direct-to-cloud and BLE-connected devices. It functions as a central data hub with visualizations, customizable dashboards, alerts for out-of-range conditions and device faults, data export, automated reports, API access, and third-party integrations.

The service currently supports over 15,000 devices across 8,000 customers, with rapid expansion planned across new product lines and regions.

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A Better Product

Erich views the most significant benefit of migrating to Davra as the overall improvement in product quality.

“The application is far more performant from the standpoint of data ingestion and overall user experience” he explains. “It has a cleaner look. It is more responsive, and it features a better overall user experience than the legacy system.”

Behind the scenes, Davra’s pre-built infrastructure for data storage, API access, and role-based access control has dramatically accelerated development cycles and reduced complexity. This shift has allowed the LI-COR software team to focus on innovation and customer-facing features, rather than infrastructure upkeep.

“Having Davra host the application has also benefited the DevOps team, as they don’t need to constantly monitor every aspect of system performance, as Davra takes care of it,” Erich adds.

By leveraging much of the infrastructure Davra offers, the team can now prioritize delivering value through continuous improvement and faster feature releases, strengthening the sustainability of their SaaS revenue model.

Accelerating LI-COR’s Innovation Roadmap

Erich emphasized the strong alignment between Davra’s technology roadmap and LI-COR’s future direction, particularly in AI and earth observation integration.

“As our roadmap evolves, we don’t have to develop everything ourselves—Davra can assist, and we can immediately take advantage,” he noted.

Davra’s ability to deploy seamlessly across diverse environments is also driving value. LI-COR is now entering markets in Asia using public and private cloud instances supported by Davra, unlocking new regional opportunities.

The company also plans to develop market-specific applications while leveraging Davra’s AI capabilities for predictive analytics, failure analysis, and anomaly detection.

More than a vendor

LI-COR sees its relationship with Davra as a true partnership, built on shared goals and close collaboration—far beyond a traditional vendor-customer model.

Erich emphasized Davra’s deep understanding of their needs and their proactive, solutions-focused mindset.

“They are a talented and knowledgeable team. They know the platform, they know the industry, and they really understand our use cases. When we say, ‘we need to do X,’ they respond, ‘We get it—here’s how we’ll help you do that.’”

He added, “The Davra team has been an exceptional partner throughout. We now consider them a critical strategic ally in delivering a market-leading IoT cloud experience to our customers.”

Conclusion

By migrating to Davra, LI-COR has transformed its IoT strategy—modernizing its digital platform, accelerating innovation, and expanding into new markets with greater agility. The partnership has allowed LI-COR to shift focus from infrastructure maintenance to delivering real value through advanced features, AI-driven insights, and a vastly improved customer experience.

Ready to modernize your IoT offering?

Talk to a Davra IoT expert and discover how our platform can help you scale, innovate, and deliver smart connected solutions faster. Visit davra.com/contact (opens new window) today to get started.