CAPTION: A 360° View of IoT

The recently held Cisco IoTWF laid out roadmaps for IoT deployments and focused on moving the industry forward quickly. As one of the integral part of the event, Schneider Electric had its own success story to tell and future roadmap to showcase. Enterprise Channels MEA had the opportunity to have an exclusive conversation with Cyril Perducat, EVP Digital Services and IoT at Schneider Electric.

We are one of the very few partners who have a 360 degree view of the various sectors when it comes to IoT

The Cisco IoTWF highlighted three key themes— Awaken, Activate and Accelerate the IoT. Being one of the premium sponsors of the event, Schneider Electric has been a part of the IoTWF since its inception. Though IoT is the latest buzzword, Schneider has a different story to tell.

“IoTWF is one of the critical events for IoT globally. Cisco is a major partner for us and we look at this event as coming back to the community and contributing to the developments happening around IoT. It is also a very good opportunity to meet customers who are supporting us in execution of the IoT solutions.” Says Cyril Perducat, EVP Digital Services and IoT at Schneider Electric.

According to Cyril, IoT is a buzzword now but it is not a new topic at all. “We have been pioneering some solutions for the IoT since the past 20 or 30 years. It was called by a different name then and it is called by a different name now. We have been providing various solutions around connectivity, embedded control etc; we have been engaging in digital services and our portfolio also had various solutions for data centre and infrastructure much before IoT got popular. The fact is that all these solutions, their development and deployment have been accelerated with the gaining popularity of IoT.”

Solutions for the Region

For the Middle East region, Schneider has been providing a lot of solutions for and around the IoT. “We have provided various solutions for the Smart city initiative like smart water, smart transportation, a lot of solutions around utilities and oil and gas. so we have plenty of application in this region.” He says that he is completely against the philosophy of the Middle East region coming late into the picture of IoT or being slow in deployment because the region does not have to fight the various legacies that other countries have to.

“Talent management can be termed as one of the biggest legacy in IoT implementation and maturity. Having the right talent and having the right kind of people who are trained to use the new technologies and having IT technologies that are specific to the IoT is a mandate.” Says Cyril.

Schneider Electric has an end to end IoT story to tell. “We are present in so many sectors and not just in power solutions, so when we talk about M2M and smart cities, we are one of the very few partners that has a 360-degree view of the various sectors.” While people see connectivity as a major concern of security, Cyril feels that he has a different perception to Connection. According to him, Connectivity is an Opportunity to monitor operations and to detect fraudulence. “If it is not connected then it is not visible. Connectivity creates a positive balance.”

Accelerating IoT in Healthcare

Globally, healthcare is one of the sectors wherein a lot of developments have been visible around IoT. Schneider feels that the Middle East region’s Healthcare sector is still at the threshold of development compared to the U.S and other counterparts where it is very much advanced in terms of adoption to IoT and other critical patient functions “We have already equipped a great number of hospitals in Kuwait, Qatar, etc. with asset optimization we have smart panels to make all equipment reliable and traceable.

The Road Ahead

Schneider Electric has a lot of innovation coming under industrial automation as a part of IoT. “We have launched a completely new generation of controllers and automation architecture that use internet as the core backbone. In industrial automation we have a lot of history for using proprietary protocols and very specific standards, we have developed a complete architecture that uses internet as the backbone and provides better cost efficiency, data transparency, scalability and a lot of advantage for the customers,” says Cyril.

3 key Strengths: