Why Organizations Choose ATEK Over Kelsius
Kelsius Hub has proven itself a strong HACCP automation tool across European food service and retail pharmacy operations since 2006. But for North American organizations — particularly those operating in food and pharmaceutical sectors simultaneously — the question becomes urgent: can a platform designed for European food safety compliance (HACCP) scale into pharmaceutical-grade FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance? And when a critical temperature excursion occurs at 2 AM Eastern, who answers the phone?
Understanding Kelsius
Founded in 2006 in Donegal, Ireland, Kelsius (formerly Core Monitoring Solutions) built its reputation on wireless temperature monitoring for food safety and pharmaceutical cold chain operations across 47+ countries. The company specializes in HACCP-automated monitoring and Kelsius Hub — a cloud-based platform for temperature monitoring and compliance documentation, particularly strong in food service, food retail, and pharmacy sectors across the UK, Ireland, and Continental Europe.
Kelsius operates as a private, Irish-owned company with engineering and support teams based in Donegal. The company’s focus remains on HACCP automation and food safety compliance, with secondary capability in pharmaceutical cold chain monitoring for European distribution.
Kelsius’s recognized strengths include:
- Deep HACCP Expertise — Kelsius Hub was purpose-built around HACCP workflows and automated food safety compliance documentation. Food service operators and food retailers across Europe rely on Kelsius for HACCP evidence generation and temperature monitoring, making it a category leader in that specific vertical
- Wireless Sensor Foundation — 15+ years of focused experience in battery-powered wireless temperature monitoring. Kelsius sensors are embedded in cold storage, food service prep lines, and pharmacy refrigeration across Europe
- Established Customer Relationships — Trusted by major food retailers, food service chains, and independent pharmacies across UK, Ireland, and European Union markets, with specialized knowledge of European food safety regulations
Common Challenges with Kelsius
Organizations evaluating or currently using Kelsius frequently encounter these considerations:
- Critical 5-8 Hour Support Time Zone Gap: Kelsius support team operates from Donegal (Irish Standard Time, UTC+0/+1). A temperature excursion at 2 AM Eastern Time occurs at 7-8 AM Irish time — requiring waiting hours for support to arrive at their office. After-hours crises, weekend emergencies, and holiday excursions get next-business-day handling or voicemail queues, not live response
- Limited FDA 21 CFR Part 11 Compliance Depth: Kelsius Hub focuses on HACCP food safety requirements, not pharmaceutical GxP standards. The platform lacks native electronic signatures, tamper-evident audit trails, and IQ/OQ/PQ validation documentation that FDA-regulated facilities require. Claims of “pharma capability” do not translate to FDA Part 11 readiness
- Hardware Import Logistics and Costs: Sensors manufactured in Ireland and shipped to North America introduce 2-4 week lead times, customs paperwork, VAT complications, and repair turnaround delays. A failed sensor requires either weeks of replacement shipping or sending the unit back to Ireland for repair — during which monitoring gaps persist
- Calibration as a Separate Vendor Problem: Kelsius does not operate its own calibration laboratory. Canadian and US facilities must either contract third-party calibration or ship sensors back to Europe for recalibration. Both paths add cost, extend turnaround time (4-6 weeks typical), and complicate compliance documentation
- Incomplete Pharmaceutical Validation Capabilities: Kelsius Hub is strong at temperature monitoring but weak on validation documentation. Organizations running both food safety and pharmaceutical operations must use two separate platforms or accept inadequate FDA compliance in the pharma side
- No Bilingual Support for Quebec: HACCP is not Health Canada’s model — Quebec pharmaceutical facilities operating under provincial approval need French-language support and Health Canada compliance expertise. Kelsius offers neither
How ATEK Addresses These Needs
24/7 North American Support with 5-Minute Guaranteed Response: Where Kelsius support is offline during North American critical hours, ATEK’s Montreal-based team is always on call. Temperature excursion at 2 AM Eastern? An ATEK environmental monitoring specialist answers the phone within 5 minutes — not at 7 AM Irish time, not via voicemail, not via ticket queue. This matters for food safety facilities with cold chain integrity requirements and pharmaceutical operations where every minute of monitoring loss is a compliance record gap.
Pharmaceutical-Grade FDA 21 CFR Part 11 Compliance — Built In, Not Bolted On: Kelsius Hub’s HACCP automation does not translate to FDA Part 11 compliance. ATEK’s platform is natively compliant with electronic signatures, complete audit trails, role-based access controls, and ALCOA+ data integrity principles. Learn more about ATEK’s pharmaceutical monitoring platform and how it handles both food safety and pharmaceutical requirements in a single system.
A2LA-Accredited In-House Calibration Lab Eliminates Import Complexity: Unlike Kelsius’s reliance on third-party calibration or European shipping, ATEK operates its own A2LA-accredited calibration laboratory in Canada. Sensors are calibrated locally with NIST-traceable certificates included. No customs delays, no VAT, no 4-6 week turnaround. For organizations with cold chain monitoring across food and pharma operations, local calibration simplifies compliance documentation and accelerates sensor lifecycle management.
Unified Platform for Food Safety AND Pharmaceutical Operations: Organizations operating in both food and pharma sectors typically cobble together Kelsius Hub (for HACCP) plus a separate pharmaceutical monitoring solution (for FDA compliance). ATEK handles both in a single platform with unified user permissions, single sign-on, and consolidated reporting. Food safety monitoring, pharmaceutical cold chain, and biotech stability monitoring share one cloud backend — reducing IT overhead, compliance audit complexity, and total cost of ownership.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Factor | Kelsius | ATEK | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| HACCP food safety automation | Native, proven | Available | Kelsius |
| FDA 21 CFR Part 11 depth | Claims but limited | Native compliance | ATEK |
| 24/7 North American support | Not available | 5-minute guarantee | ATEK |
| Support during 2-6 AM Eastern | Offline (Irish hours) | Live team on duty | ATEK |
| Bilingual support (EN/FR) | Not available | Montreal-based native | ATEK |
| Hardware shipped from | Ireland (2-4 week lead) | North American stocking | ATEK |
| Calibration lab | Third-party or Ireland | A2LA-accredited in Canada | ATEK |
| IQ/OQ/PQ documentation | Not provided | Included | ATEK |
| All-inclusive pricing | Hardware + subscription | All bundled | ATEK |
| Health Canada expertise | No | Yes | ATEK |
Who Benefits Most from Switching
- North American food and pharma crossover facilities running Kelsius Hub for HACCP but using a separate vendor for pharmaceutical monitoring. Consolidating to ATEK eliminates platform redundancy and unifies compliance documentation
- Canadian companies with Quebec operations needing both English and French support from someone who understands Health Canada regulatory requirements (Kelsius offers neither)
- Cold chain monitoring operations facing Kelsius sensor replacement or recalibration cycles who need immediate turnaround and local supply chain resilience. Learn about ATEK’s cold chain monitoring capabilities for food distribution, pharmaceutical logistics, and healthcare facilities
- Organizations required to migrate from European vendors due to expanding North American facilities. Kelsius’s European timezone and support model become limiting as NA operations scale
Making the Transition
Switching from Kelsius Hub to ATEK is structured to maintain continuous HACCP and pharmaceutical monitoring compliance:
- Discovery and HACCP Mapping — We assess your current Kelsius Hub deployment: monitored locations, HACCP workflows, alert configurations, compliance report schedule, and any existing third-party calibration contracts. We identify whether your facility operates food safety OR both food safety + pharmaceutical monitoring
- Parallel deployment with no gaps — ATEK sensors install alongside existing Kelsius wireless sensors. Both systems run simultaneously during the qualification period, ensuring continuous temperature and HACCP documentation. For food safety operations, this means no audit trail interruption
- Compliance validation with unified documentation — For food-only operations, we provide HACCP equivalence qualification. For food + pharma sites, we deliver both HACCP documentation AND full IQ/OQ/PQ pharmaceutical validation — something Kelsius Hub alone cannot provide. All documentation is included
- Kelsius Hub retirement and cost consolidation — Once ATEK is validated, Kelsius Hub subscriptions are cancelled and sensors decommissioned. ATEK’s all-inclusive pricing replaces Kelsius’s hardware + subscription + separate calibration costs with a single transparent per-point rate
When Kelsius May Be the Right Fit
Kelsius remains a strong choice for organizations that are exclusively focused on European food service and retail pharmacy operations with no North American presence, do not require FDA pharmaceutical compliance, and are not operating under Health Canada oversight. For UK and Irish food retailers, Kelsius’s HACCP specialization and local European presence may offer continuity and regulatory familiarity.
When ATEK Is the Better Choice
Choose ATEK when you need:
- 24/7 North American support with guaranteed 5-minute response during critical temperature excursions
- FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance with native electronic signatures, audit trails, and validation documentation
- A2LA-accredited in-house calibration in Canada — no customs delays or 4-6 week turnaround
- Unified food safety (HACCP) and pharmaceutical (GxP/FDA) monitoring in a single platform instead of juggling Kelsius Hub plus a separate pharma system
- Bilingual support in English and French from a Montreal-based team with Health Canada expertise
- All-inclusive pricing with transparent total cost of ownership instead of separate sensor + subscription + calibration invoices
Request a demo to see how ATEK consolidates your food safety and pharmaceutical monitoring into one compliant, responsive platform.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ATEK suitable for both food safety and pharmaceutical monitoring like Kelsius Hub?
ATEK goes beyond Kelsius Hub’s HACCP-only focus. The platform handles both food safety (HACCP compliance) and pharmaceutical monitoring (FDA 21 CFR Part 11) in a unified system. Kelsius Hub is strong at HACCP automation but lacks the electronic signatures, audit trails, and validation documentation required for FDA-regulated facilities. Organizations operating in both sectors use ATEK for everything; Kelsius customers typically need a second platform for pharma operations.
Does Kelsius have 24/7 North American support like ATEK?
No. Kelsius support is based in Donegal, Ireland, operating on Irish Standard Time (UTC+0/+1). A 2 AM temperature excursion in Toronto or Montreal means waiting 6-7 hours for business hours to begin in Ireland. ATEK operates a 24/7/365 Montreal-based support team that responds within 5 minutes, with native bilingual English/French capability for Quebec facilities.
Can ATEK replace my Kelsius Hub for HACCP compliance?
Yes. ATEK provides HACCP monitoring and automated compliance documentation matching or exceeding Kelsius Hub’s food safety capabilities. Additionally, ATEK includes pharmaceutical-grade FDA Part 11 compliance in the same system, eliminating the need to run Kelsius Hub alongside a separate pharma platform if your organization has any FDA-regulated operations.
How long does it take to migrate from Kelsius Hub to ATEK?
Migration typically takes 2-4 weeks for discovery, parallel deployment, and validation. The timeline depends on your facility count and sensor distribution. During parallel operation (both systems running simultaneously), you maintain continuous HACCP documentation, eliminating compliance audit gaps. Schedule a consultation to get a specific timeline for your facility.
What happens to historical monitoring data when switching from Kelsius Hub?
Historical data remains in Kelsius Hub’s system. Before sunsetting your Kelsius subscription, data can be exported for compliance archive purposes. During the parallel operation period, ATEK captures new data in parallel with Kelsius, providing continuous record coverage through the transition. ATEK’s migration team guides data retention planning to meet your compliance archive requirements.
Does ATEK meet the same regulatory standards as Kelsius for pharmaceutical cold chain?
ATEK exceeds Kelsius’s pharmaceutical capabilities. While Kelsius Hub claims pharma support, it lacks native FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance features. ATEK provides full FDA Part 11 compliance including electronic signatures, complete audit trails, IQ/OQ/PQ validation documentation, and Health Canada expertise — everything Kelsius Hub does not provide. For pharmaceutical operations, ATEK is the more compliant choice, even though Kelsius is stronger at pure HACCP food safety.