Hot on the heels of setting up shop in the United States, Centurion-based IoT.nxt is on track to complete the rollout of an energy optimisation project for 50 schools in the state of Florida by the end of this year.
The Internet-of-Things (IoT) project is based on the company's patented Raptor gateway solution.
IoT.nxt CEO Nico Steyn says the system allows for the intelligent adjusting of energy consumption levels to environmental and ambient conditions, both within the building as well as externally.
"Building management operations generally use pre-set systems to switch energy facilities on and off at fixed times in order to reduce consumption," says Steyn. "However, this fails to take into account various factors, such as occupancy, ambient and external temperature, which could impact the efficiency of the energy system. By using IoT technology, building managers can track these factors and intelligently adjust the air temperature in the building. This type of optimised consumption results in cost savings."
XHead = Additional opportunities
Following the success achieved in those Florida schools where the technology has already been fully activated - some have reported energy savings of up to 15% - IoT.nxt has been approached by four more states to introduce similar projects around energy management.
And this could be just the start. According to Jason Bradlee, COO of IoT.nxt Americas, in addition to the school energy efficiency projects, the company is exploring 35 other opportunities in the US across all sectors. These, he says, include communication companies large and small, systems integrators, platform providers and product companies, as well as partnerships with the likes of Deloitte and Dell.
"IoT is a multitrillion-dollar global industry. It really is the next revolution. If you look at the areas of digitisation in the future, IoT will play a huge role. Some statistics and trend reports have indicated that companies are likely to spend 50% of their entire IT budgets on IoT solutions in the next five years," he adds.
Bradlee believes IoT.nxt's offering is better than most others currently available in the US, giving the South African company a distinct edge.
"IoT.nxt has a real differentiator in the IoT technology market. There are many point-to-point IoT offerings, but our Raptor solution allows for retrofitting of any existing equipment and systems. No other company can leverage existing infrastructure, which eliminates the need for new capital investment. This is a significant differentiator," he says.
According the Bradlee, the company will use a partnership strategy to drive its growth in the Americas as it has done with the Florida school project, with partners working in conjunction with team members from the company's South African operations in the US to support the rollout.
"We cannot employ all the people we will need to make progress on the projects currently in development," he adds.
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