Why Organizations Choose ATEK Over Hanwell
Hanwell’s IceSpy wireless monitoring system has quietly protected priceless collections in The Royal Palaces, The Vatican, and the V&A for over three decades. That heritage expertise is real — and for cultural institutions, Hanwell remains a respected name. But when a pharmaceutical facility in North America evaluates Hanwell for GxP-compliant environmental monitoring, a different set of questions emerges: Can a UK-based heritage monitoring company provide 24/7 support during Eastern business hours? What happens when Hanwell Pro reaches end of support in December 2027? And does a platform originally built to preserve museum artifacts deliver the same compliance depth as one built from day one for pharmaceutical regulation?
Understanding Hanwell
Hanwell Solutions Ltd was founded in 1990 in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK. The company’s environmental monitoring products were originally developed in partnership with The National Trust and the Victoria and Albert Museum for cultural heritage preservation — tracking temperature, humidity, and light levels to protect artifacts, paintings, and archival materials.
Over the years, Hanwell expanded into pharmaceutical, food safety, hospital, and laboratory monitoring. Their product portfolio includes two primary wireless platforms: Hanwell Pro (the higher-specification system with multi-channel sensors) and IceSpy (a more accessible wireless temperature monitoring range). Both connect to the EMS (Environmental Monitoring System) cloud software, which provides alarming, reporting, and compliance features including GxP and FDA 21 CFR Part 11 support.
In June 2019, Danish thermal validation company Ellab (owned by the Lundbeck Foundation) acquired Hanwell Solutions. The acquisition brought Hanwell under a larger life science compliance umbrella, but also triggered a platform transition: in March 2024, Ellab announced the discontinuation of Hanwell Pro, replacing it with TrackView Pro. Hanwell Pro support continues until December 31, 2027, but existing customers now face a forced migration to a new platform with associated re-qualification costs.
Hanwell’s recognized strengths include:
- UKAS-Accredited Calibration — Their in-house UKAS ISO 17025 laboratory in Letchworth provides traceable calibration certificates, a genuine asset for organizations operating within the UK regulatory framework where UKAS accreditation carries significant weight.
- Museum and Heritage Monitoring Leadership — Over 30 years of heritage deployments, including The Royal Palaces, The Vatican, and The National Trust, have given Hanwell deep expertise in preservation-grade environmental control that few monitoring companies can match.
- Established IceSpy Platform — The IceSpy wireless system offers up to 300-meter radio range over open ground, onboard 5-day data backup via RFID, and a unified EMS software platform that works with both IceSpy and Hanwell Pro hardware.
Common Challenges with Hanwell
Organizations evaluating or currently using Hanwell’s monitoring systems frequently encounter these considerations:
- Forced platform migration from Hanwell Pro — Ellab’s March 2024 announcement that Hanwell Pro will reach end of support on December 31, 2027 means current users must migrate to TrackView Pro. This involves new hardware procurement, re-qualification of monitoring points, updated validation documentation, and potential workflow disruptions — all on a timeline dictated by the vendor, not the customer.
- UK-based support with no documented NA coverage — Hanwell’s primary support operates from Letchworth, UK, during British business hours. Ellab Inc. has US-based sales representatives but no documented dedicated North American support center with guaranteed response times. For a facility in Toronto or Montreal experiencing a freezer excursion at 2 AM Eastern, the Hanwell support team is asleep.
- Heritage-first architecture adapted for pharma — The EMS platform and Hanwell hardware were engineered for museum environmental monitoring and later extended with pharmaceutical compliance features. Organizations subject to FDA or Health Canada inspection may question whether GxP and 21 CFR Part 11 capabilities bolted onto a heritage platform carry the same depth as those built natively for pharmaceutical use.
- Calibration logistics for Canadian facilities — Hanwell’s UKAS-accredited lab is in the UK. Canadian organizations must ship sensors internationally for accredited calibration, facing customs documentation, brokerage fees, and multi-week turnaround times that leave monitoring points without calibrated equipment.
- Proprietary wireless protocol — Hanwell’s radio system uses a proprietary protocol. Hardware is exclusively sourced through Hanwell/Ellab, and each access point supports a fixed number of transmitters, creating vendor lock-in and network planning constraints for larger deployments.
How ATEK Addresses These Needs
Stable Platform with No Forced Migration: For Hanwell Pro customers facing the December 2027 end-of-support deadline, platform stability is not abstract — it is a budget line item and a compliance risk. ATEK’s cloud platform follows a continuous deployment model where software updates roll out without customer-managed re-validation cycles. There is no forced hardware obsolescence, no surprise end-of-life announcements, and no mandatory migration to a replacement platform with new qualification requirements. Organizations that switch from Hanwell to ATEK avoid migrating twice. Learn more about ATEK’s pharmaceutical monitoring platform.
24/7 Live Support Across North American Time Zones: Hanwell’s support model was built for UK and European customers working within British business hours. Ellab’s broader service network extends this somewhat, but there is no documented 24/7 North American support guarantee with defined response times. ATEK’s Montreal-based compliance monitoring specialists guarantee a live human response within 5 minutes, any hour of any day. When a walk-in cooler at a Canadian hospital pharmacy triggers an alarm at 3 AM, the response comes from a team in the same time zone who understands both the urgency and the regulatory context.
A2LA-Accredited Calibration Without Transatlantic Shipping: UKAS accreditation is respected globally, but for a Canadian pharmaceutical facility, shipping sensors to Letchworth for calibration means international freight costs, customs clearance, brokerage fees, and a turnaround measured in weeks, not days. ATEK’s in-house A2LA-accredited lab handles calibration domestically — sensors stay in Canada, turnaround is faster, and the certificates carry ISO 17025 traceability recognized by FDA and Health Canada without cross-border logistics.
Pharma-Native Compliance Architecture: Hanwell’s EMS software added GxP guidelines, HACCP, and FDA 21 CFR Part 11 features to a platform with heritage monitoring roots. ATEK’s platform was designed from the start for pharmaceutical environmental monitoring: electronic signatures, ALCOA+ audit trails, automated compliance reporting, and IQ/OQ/PQ documentation are native capabilities, not features layered onto a museum monitoring system.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Factor | Hanwell | ATEK | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heritage/museum monitoring expertise | 30+ years, Royal Palaces, V&A | Not focused on heritage | Hanwell |
| UKAS calibration accreditation (UK) | In-house UKAS lab | Not UKAS accredited | Hanwell |
| Multi-parameter coverage | Temp, RH, CO2, pressure, lux | Temp, RH | Hanwell |
| Platform continuity | Hanwell Pro end-of-support Dec 2027 | Continuous development | ATEK |
| 24/7 NA support with SLA | UK business hours, no documented SLA | 5-minute guaranteed response | ATEK |
| Calibration for Canadian facilities | UKAS lab in UK (international shipping) | A2LA lab in Canada (domestic) | ATEK |
| FDA 21 CFR Part 11 | Yes (via EMS) | Yes (native) | Comparable |
| Bilingual EN/FR support | Not available | Native (Montreal-based) | ATEK |
| All-inclusive pricing | Quote-based, separate line items | Per-monitoring-point, all included | ATEK |
Who Benefits Most from Switching
- Hanwell Pro customers facing the December 2027 end-of-support deadline who must migrate to a new platform regardless — evaluating ATEK alongside Ellab’s TrackView Pro avoids vendor lock-in and may offer better total cost of ownership than re-qualifying within the Ellab ecosystem
- Canadian pharmaceutical and hospital pharmacy facilities currently shipping Hanwell sensors to the UK for UKAS-accredited calibration, who need domestic A2LA-accredited service with faster turnaround and no customs delays
- North American regulated facilities using Hanwell’s EMS that require 24/7 support with guaranteed response times instead of UK business-hours coverage, particularly those with overnight operations or unmanned cold storage
Making the Transition
Migrating from Hanwell’s EMS platform to ATEK Cloud follows a structured approach designed for continuous compliance — especially relevant for organizations already facing a forced migration from Hanwell Pro:
- EMS Deployment Assessment — We map your current Hanwell installation: IceSpy and Hanwell Pro sensor locations, EMS alarm configurations, reporting schedules, and any integration points with your LIMS or BMS. For Hanwell Pro customers, we identify which monitoring points are approaching end-of-support and prioritize those for transition.
- Parallel Deployment — ATEK wireless sensors install alongside your existing Hanwell transmitters and IceSpy units. Both systems run simultaneously during the qualification period, ensuring your quality team maintains uninterrupted monitoring records from both platforms with zero compliance gaps.
- Validation with Included Documentation — Complete IQ/OQ/PQ documentation is included, not billed as a separate professional services engagement. Our team understands the qualification requirements for transitioning from EMS-based monitoring and maps your existing alarm thresholds, user permissions, and reporting workflows to ATEK’s platform.
- Phased Cutover — Transition by zone, department, or facility to minimize operational disruption. ATEK provides 24/7 support during the first 30 days post-migration, with your dedicated compliance specialist available for any configuration adjustments. Schedule a consultation to plan the migration for your specific Hanwell deployment.
When Hanwell May Be the Right Fit
Hanwell is appropriate for organizations operating primarily within the UK regulatory framework where UKAS accreditation carries specific institutional weight, particularly cultural heritage institutions — museums, galleries, archives, and historic buildings — where Hanwell’s 30+ years of preservation monitoring experience is unmatched. Facilities that need multi-parameter monitoring across temperature, humidity, CO2, differential pressure, and lux from a single platform may find Hanwell’s sensor range covers parameters ATEK does not. Organizations already embedded in the Ellab ecosystem for thermal validation services may also benefit from consolidated vendor management by adopting TrackView Pro as part of a broader Ellab relationship.
When ATEK Is the Better Choice
Choose ATEK when you need:
- Platform stability without facing another forced migration — avoid re-qualifying monitoring infrastructure because of a vendor’s product discontinuation timeline
- Guaranteed 5-minute live support response across all NA time zones, replacing Hanwell’s UK business-hours model with no documented response SLA
- Domestic A2LA-accredited calibration in Canada, eliminating transatlantic shipping of sensors to Hanwell’s UKAS lab in Letchworth
- All-inclusive per-monitoring-point pricing that replaces Ellab’s quote-based model with separate hardware, software, validation, and calibration line items
- Bilingual English and French support from a Montreal-based team familiar with Health Canada requirements and provincial regulations
Start with a free assessment to compare ATEK against your current Hanwell deployment — or against TrackView Pro if you are already evaluating Ellab’s replacement platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ATEK FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliant like Hanwell’s EMS platform?
Yes. Both Hanwell’s EMS and ATEK provide FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance features including electronic signatures, audit trails, and data integrity controls. The difference is origin: Hanwell’s compliance capabilities were added to a platform originally built for heritage monitoring, while ATEK’s platform was architected from the start for pharmaceutical regulatory requirements. ATEK includes IQ/OQ/PQ documentation at no additional cost, whereas Hanwell/Ellab bills validation protocols separately.
What happens to my Hanwell Pro sensors after the December 2027 end-of-support date?
Ellab has committed to supporting Hanwell Pro hardware and software until December 31, 2027. After that date, Ellab’s replacement path is TrackView Pro, which requires new hardware and re-qualification. If you migrate to ATEK before that deadline, you can run both systems in parallel during the transition period and retire Hanwell Pro equipment on your own schedule rather than on Ellab’s.
How long does it take to migrate from Hanwell EMS to ATEK?
A typical migration completes in days to weeks depending on the number of monitoring points and integration complexity. ATEK’s wireless sensors install in minutes per location. The parallel deployment phase — where both Hanwell and ATEK systems run simultaneously — typically lasts 2-4 weeks to satisfy qualification requirements. This timeline applies whether you are migrating from IceSpy, Hanwell Pro, or a mixed deployment.
Can ATEK match Hanwell’s multi-parameter sensor coverage?
Hanwell offers broader parameter coverage — CO2, differential pressure, lux, and airflow in addition to temperature and humidity. ATEK focuses on the parameters most critical to pharmaceutical environmental monitoring: temperature and relative humidity. For facilities that need CO2 or differential pressure alongside compliance-grade temperature and humidity monitoring, ATEK can coexist with specialized sensors while providing the compliance platform, alerting, and support infrastructure.
Does ATEK’s A2LA accreditation carry the same weight as Hanwell’s UKAS accreditation?
Both A2LA and UKAS are ISO 17025 accreditation bodies recognized through international mutual recognition agreements (ILAC MRA). A2LA accreditation is the standard recognized by FDA and widely accepted across North American regulatory frameworks. UKAS accreditation carries equivalent technical weight but is primarily recognized within the UK regulatory system. For North American pharmaceutical facilities, A2LA-accredited calibration certificates are the expected standard.
Is ATEK large enough to support enterprise monitoring deployments?
Hanwell has approximately 55 employees and operates within the Ellab group. ATEK’s focus on North American pharmaceutical monitoring means dedicated compliance specialists, a domestic calibration lab, and 24/7 support infrastructure purpose-built for regulated facilities in this market. Scale is measured not by global headcount but by the depth of support and compliance expertise available when you need it.