SCADA and industrial automation supplier Adroit Technologies has signed a partnership agreement with SqwidNet, the licensed SIGFOX IoT network operator in South Africa.
SIGFOX is a global IoT connectivity provider, with network deployments in 36 countries at present. Its proposition comprises low-cost, long-range, low-power modules and devices, that serve up IoT data in a secure and cost-efficient manner to application and service providers.
The partnership opens up excellent opportunities for IIoT application and service providers to use the cloud based SCADA and industrial-automation platforms offered by Adroit Technologies. Data from sensors and devices can now be seamlessly served up to the Adroit-hosted platform environment via the SIGFOX network.
“As the IIoT evolves, we are noticing that customers are looking at the application of IIoT technologies across a wider range of use cases, including utility management, manufacturing, and inventory and asset management,” says Dave Wibberley, MD of Adroit Technologies. “We see SIGFOX technology as much more compelling from a scalability, simplicity, cost, and ease-of-integration perspective than traditional telemetry options.
“This is particularly relevant when it comes to smaller projects’ requirements. SqwidNet already covers all of the eight major metros in South Africa, and they cover 64% of the population nationally. They have demonstrated to us their willingness to drive enablement and innovation in the industry through their ecosystem of global module-, device-, platform-, and application-development partners. Their exceptional technical and commercial support has enabled us to build interfaces to the SIGFOX back end, and develop a number of trials based on data from sensors and connected devices on the SqwidNet network.
“We have successfully completed several proofs of concept for use cases such as water quality readings, automated meter readings for both water and electricity, and manhole tip sensor readings,” notes Wibberley. The demonstrations of these scenarios can be viewed at the Adroit premises.
Chetan Goshalia, SqwidNet’s chief sales and marketing officer, adds: “SqwidNet is offering a competitive IoT connectivity price point for customers to enter the market and leverage IoT capabilities for their businesses. A range of devices that address a number of use cases across verticals is available immediately from the SIGFOX-certified partner network. Adroit Technologies has demonstrated that they are a leading technology company with two important facets: a great understanding of the IoT world and technology and a willingness to go the extra mile for their customers.”
Adroit Technologies is in the process of becoming a certified SIGFOX partner for devices and for their SCADA platform.
Goshalia adds: “Adroit Technologies can offer scalable and efficient sourcing and supply of devices for specific customer requirements from the global partner channel. They can handle volume requests from 100 to 100 000 or more sensors. They also have significant hardware-development capability in South Africa, making them a unique partner for industrial companies.”
