Why Organizations Choose ATEK Over Oceasoft
Oceasoft’s €2.85/share acquisition by Dickson in December 2019 marked a strategic pivot: a European specialist platform becoming a subsidiary line within an American company. For North American facilities evaluating Oceasoft, the question isn’t whether the Oceaview platform is technically sound — it is — but whether a Montpellier-based team focused on COFRAC calibration and EU GMP can deliver the FDA expertise, local support, and data residency assurance that North American regulations demand.
Understanding Oceasoft
Oceasoft was founded in 2006 in Montpellier, France, as a specialist in wireless sensor technology for pharmaceutical and agri-food environmental monitoring. The company built its reputation on Emerald and Atlas Bluetooth data loggers and the Oceaview cloud platform, optimized for European regulatory requirements.
In May 2017, Dickson completed a squeeze-out acquisition of Oceasoft, acquiring 100% ownership at €2.85 per share from Euronext Growth. This acquisition gave Dickson access to European wireless sensor capabilities and the Oceaview platform while maintaining Oceasoft as a distinct operational unit focused on European markets.
Today, Oceasoft operates as a Dickson subsidiary with headquarters remaining in Montpellier. The company serves European pharmaceutical manufacturers, agri-food logistics providers, and hospital networks with COFRAC-accredited calibration and strong EU GMP expertise. In North America, Oceasoft has limited direct presence — NA customers are typically directed to Dickson for support.
Oceasoft’s recognized strengths include:
- COFRAC-Accredited Calibration Lab — French laboratory accreditation with validated calibration certificates and EU inspection credibility, particularly valuable for European facilities
- EU GMP and EMA Compliance Expertise — Product workflows and documentation templates optimized for European pharmaceutical inspections and compliance frameworks
- Oceaview Cloud Platform — Modern cloud-based monitoring with real-time alerts, automated reporting, mobile app, and multi-site dashboard designed for continuous environmental monitoring
Common Challenges with Oceasoft
Organizations evaluating or currently using Oceasoft frequently encounter these considerations:
- Transatlantic support time zone gap: When a critical temperature excursion occurs at 2 AM Eastern, Montpellier operations are in the middle of the night. Email support and ticket queues are the default, not 24/7 live response. For healthcare and pharmaceutical facilities with regulated cold chain requirements, overnight gaps introduce compliance risk
- FDA 21 CFR Part 11 expertise gap: Oceasoft’s compliance architecture emphasizes EMA Annex 11 and EU GMP. North American customers implementing FDA requirements face configuration questions, validation strategy uncertainty, and limited guidance from European-based teams unfamiliar with 21 CFR Part 11 nuances
- Health Canada and Quebec regulatory blindness: No dedicated Health Canada expertise. Quebec facilities needing bilingual support (French/English) and PIPEDA-compliant data hosting encounter either language barriers or external regulatory consultation costs
- Hardware import logistics: Emerald and Atlas loggers ship from France with 2-4 week lead times plus customs clearance and tariff costs. Emergency sensor replacement requires transatlantic cycles. For facilities with tight validation windows or multiple locations, hardware supply friction creates operational drag
- Unclear product roadmap within Dickson: Since the 2019 acquisition, Oceasoft exists as a parallel product line alongside DicksonOne. North American customers struggle to understand whether Oceaview or DicksonOne is the strategic platform, migration paths between systems, and which product receives primary investment
How ATEK Addresses These Needs
24/7 Eastern Time Zone Support with 5-Minute Guarantee: Oceasoft’s Montpellier headquarters creates a structural time zone disadvantage for North American facilities. ATEK’s Montreal-based operations center ensures live environmental monitoring specialists answer during your facility’s critical hours — including 2 AM temperature excursions, weekend emergency escalations, and holiday monitoring events. For Quebec facilities, native French-speaking support eliminates interpretation delays during compliance-critical conversations. When a cold chain shipment triggers an alarm at midnight Eastern, you get a 5-minute live response, not a next-business-day callback.
Native FDA 21 CFR Part 11 Implementation: Oceasoft’s platform was designed for EU GMP workflows. Implementing FDA 21 CFR Part 11 requirements — electronic signatures, granular audit trails, role-based access control, and validation documentation — requires configuration and external validation services. ATEK’s architecture is purpose-built for FDA compliance. Every feature (electronic signatures, audit trail architecture, role-based permissions) is validated out of the box. No configuration overhead, no third-party validation costs, no ambiguity about whether your setup meets 21 CFR Part 11 requirements.
Canadian A2LA-Accredited Calibration, Not European COFRAC: Oceasoft relies on COFRAC accreditation valuable in Europe but operationally separate from North American pharmaceutical and healthcare systems. ATEK’s in-house A2LA-accredited calibration lab operates in Canada, serving facilities with zero customs delays, no cross-border shipping, and NIST-traceable documentation delivered locally. For Canadian pharmaceutical facilities and US operations with Canadian subsidiaries, ATEK’s local lab eliminates the Oceasoft path of shipping sensors to France for COFRAC calibration, waiting 4-6 weeks for returns, and managing transatlantic compliance documentation.
North American Hardware Supply and Canadian Data Hosting: Oceaview loggers ship from France, introducing 2-4 week lead times and tariff costs for North American operations. ATEK sensors are distributed from North American hubs with 1-2 week delivery and next-business-day emergency replacements. Monitoring data is hosted on Canadian servers with full PIPEDA, FIPPA, and provincial health information protection law compliance — essential for healthcare facilities and Quebec operations where data residency is non-negotiable. Explore ATEK’s pharmaceutical monitoring platform to see how North American-native architecture simplifies compliance.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Factor | Oceasoft | ATEK | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| FDA 21 CFR Part 11 | Limited (requires configuration) | Certified, native | ATEK |
| Health Canada compliance expertise | Secondary focus | Expert team | ATEK |
| 24/7 support availability | EU business hours only | 5-minute guarantee, 24/7 | ATEK |
| Bilingual (EN/FR) support | Limited | Native, Montreal-based | ATEK |
| Calibration accreditation | COFRAC (France) | A2LA (Canada) | ATEK for NA |
| Hardware delivery from North America | 2-4 weeks from Europe | 1-2 weeks, local inventory | ATEK |
| Canadian data hosting | Not available | PIPEDA-compliant | ATEK |
| EU GMP compliance | Native strength | Supported | Oceasoft |
| Oceaview cloud platform | Oceaview | ATEK Cloud | Comparable |
| Real-time monitoring | Variable | 30-second intervals | ATEK |
Who Benefits Most from Switching
- North American subsidiaries of European parent companies using Oceasoft in European operations but needing native North American FDA/Health Canada expertise and same-time-zone support for US and Canadian facilities
- Hospital and healthcare pharmacy networks requiring PIPEDA-compliant Canadian data hosting, bilingual support, and Health Canada validation rather than European GMP-focused processes
- Cold chain and pharmaceutical logistics operations needing rapid sensor replacement (days, not weeks), local calibration, and 24/7 emergency support without international shipping delays
- Quebec and Canadian pharmaceutical manufacturers needing French-speaking support teams, Canadian data residency, PIPEDA compliance, and Health Canada regulatory guidance from North American specialists
Making the Transition
Switching from Oceasoft to ATEK accounts for the reality that European-acquired platforms often require different validation approaches and supply chain optimization for North American operations:
- Regulatory and deployment assessment — We map your current Oceasoft deployment: Emerald/Atlas logger locations, Oceaview platform configurations, compliance workflows, alarm rules, and integration points with your quality management system. Critically, we assess your FDA 21 CFR Part 11 validation strategy and identify any configuration gaps that would require remediation under North American regulatory oversight
- Parallel deployment with dual validation — ATEK sensors install alongside existing Emerald/Atlas loggers. During the validation period, both systems run simultaneously, capturing identical data to your compliance archive. This dual-path approach ensures your regulatory file remains uninterrupted during transition
- FDA-native validation documentation — Complete IQ/OQ/PQ documentation is included, written for FDA expectations (not European frameworks). If your previous Oceasoft validation emphasized EU GMP, we re-document equivalence to FDA 21 CFR Part 11 standards required by North American inspection authorities
- Calibration and supply chain transition — Your existing Oceasoft sensors continue using COFRAC services during wind-down. ATEK’s A2LA-accredited lab takes over calibration for new and replacement sensors, with all certificates formatted for North American pharmaceutical SOP expectations. Hardware supply transitions to North American inventory, eliminating future European import cycles
When Oceasoft May Be the Right Fit
Oceasoft is the stronger choice for organizations that maintain primary operations in Europe, require COFRAC-accredited calibration for European facility inspection requirements, or are subsidiaries of European companies with Oceasoft already deployed across continental operations and little North American presence. European pharmaceutical manufacturers and agri-food logistics companies with established EU GMP compliance workflows find value in Oceasoft’s COFRAC calibration and EMA Annex 11 expertise. Organizations comfortable with European-based support and willing to manage their own FDA compliance translation may prefer continuity with a known European platform.
When ATEK Is the Better Choice
Choose ATEK when you need:
- FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance without configuration overhead or external validation services
- 24/7 live specialist support available during your facility’s critical operating hours (not European business hours)
- Native Health Canada expertise and Quebec bilingual support from a Montreal-based team
- Canadian A2LA-accredited calibration lab with zero cross-border shipping delays or customs complications
- Canadian data hosting with PIPEDA, FIPPA, and provincial privacy law compliance
- North American hardware supply with 1-2 week delivery and emergency replacement capability
- All-inclusive pricing replacing Oceasoft’s cloud-plus-hardware-plus-calibration-plus-consulting model
Start with a free compliance assessment to understand how ATEK’s North American-native architecture aligns with your FDA, Health Canada, and Canadian data residency requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ATEK FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliant like Oceasoft claims?
ATEK is certified compliant with FDA 21 CFR Part 11. Oceasoft’s compliance posture emphasizes EU GMP (EMA Annex 11) with FDA support as a secondary feature. This means Oceasoft platforms often require re-validation, configuration adjustments, and external regulatory consulting to demonstrate Part 11 compliance to North American inspection authorities. ATEK’s architecture is validated out of the box for FDA Part 11 requirements — electronic signatures, audit trails, role-based access control, and data integrity all meet FDA expectations without additional configuration.
Can ATEK replace Oceasoft’s Emerald and Atlas loggers?
Yes. ATEK sensors provide equivalent or superior environmental monitoring compared to Oceasoft’s Emerald and Atlas loggers. During migration, ATEK sensors install alongside existing Oceasoft hardware, running in parallel during the validation period. This approach ensures your compliance documentation remains uninterrupted while you transition from Oceasoft hardware to ATEK sensors. Upon completion, legacy Oceasoft loggers can be retired.
How long does it take to migrate from Oceasoft to ATEK?
Migration timeline depends on the complexity of your Oceasoft deployment. A single-site pharma facility with 20-30 monitoring points typically completes migration in 4-6 weeks. Multi-site operations (e.g., manufacturing facilities across multiple states/provinces) may require 8-12 weeks to account for parallel deployment validation, FDA documentation preparation, and supply chain coordination. Our team has migrated organizations from European platforms before and can estimate your specific timeline after an assessment.
Will I lose historical data stored in Oceaview when switching to ATEK?
No. Historical data in Oceaview can be exported before cancelling your subscription. ATEK’s migration team assists with data export and retention planning to ensure your compliance archive meets regulatory requirements. During the parallel operation period, both Oceasoft and ATEK systems capture data simultaneously, creating a unified compliance record through the transition.
Is ATEK better for North American operations than staying with Oceasoft as a Dickson subsidiary?
For North American facilities, ATEK is purpose-built. Oceasoft, even as a Dickson subsidiary, remains Europe-centric in support operations, compliance expertise (COFRAC vs. A2LA), and hardware logistics (France-based inventory). Dickson’s DicksonOne platform is designed for North American customers but operates as a separate product line with its own subscription model, creating uncertainty about the Oceasoft product roadmap and support continuity. ATEK eliminates this ambiguity: FDA compliance, North American support, local calibration, and Canadian data hosting are core to the platform, not secondary features added to an imported European system.
Does ATEK support Health Canada and provincial regulatory requirements like Quebec’s PIPEDA?
Yes. ATEK’s compliance team is expert in Health Canada submission formats, pharmaceutical establishment licensing requirements, and provincial health information protection laws (including Quebec PIPEDA). Monitoring data is hosted on Canadian servers with full provincial privacy law compliance. Bilingual support (English/French) ensures Quebec facilities can communicate in their preferred language during regulatory interactions. Unlike Oceasoft’s Europe-focused regulatory orientation, ATEK treats North American healthcare and pharmaceutical regulations as first-class requirements.