Totem didn't begin as an energy platform. It began with fixing the internet.

Years ago, we set out to build a smarter way to support internet service providers. At the time, nearly every common connectivity issue had the same fix: restart the router. But in practice it wasn't that simple — customers struggled with the basics of powering devices on and off, and support teams (and family and friends) became the default troubleshooters.

So we built Totem: a tool that could monitor a home's internet connection, detect when something was wrong, and remotely power-cycle the router — solving the problem instantly, without the frustration.

From routers to networks

Once it worked, we didn't stop. We expanded Totem to map entire networks — identifying devices, access points and connections across a home or building — and introduced satellite Totems: in-wall units that could control power to connected devices. Totem had become a distributed network-control system.

The pivot

At a trade show in Amsterdam, one question changed everything:

The answer sent us in a new direction. By integrating industry-grade energy measurement, Totem could become a platform for real-time energy monitoring and control. Totem evolved from managing internet connections to managing energy itself.

Building the platform

From there we rebuilt Totem for a more resilient future — a cellular fallback (NB-IoT) so control survives an internet outage, a cloud platform on Amazon Web Services for real-time monitoring and updates, and a wireless mesh network connecting hubs and in-wall units across an entire building. It wasn't easy: early versions wrestled with range, connectivity and data transmission. Through many hardware and software iterations, we made it robust.

What began as a way to reboot routers is now a platform for intelligent energy management — giving buildings the ability to see exactly how energy is used, control power at a granular level, and keep running reliably even when networks fail. And we're just getting started.