INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
Solar energy and cellular IoT
deployment in the spotlight
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T
he Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cape
Town summit which took place at the
Cape Town International Convention
Centre featured global IoT cellular
connectivity specialists Eseye, together with
SolarNow, to provide an insight into the
latest, simplest ways IoT devices can be
deployed onto AWS. energy through the provision of solar
powered equipment, appliances and services
to remote or off-grid home, farm, school,
health centre and business locations. In
addition, IoT and M2M capabilities further
empowered SolarNow to become completely
self-reliant and secure in connecting and
managing its growing product portfolio.
SolarNow, a social business passionate about
transforming lives by providing high quality
solar energy, appliances and financing
solutions in East Africa, successfully utilised
IoT, while also integrating M2M cellular
connectivity and AWS Cloud within its
solutions to provide more and better services
to SolarNow customers. Eseye’s team, led by co-founder Paul
Marshall, was joined on stage at the AWS
Summit by Herman Dijkslag, SolarNow’s
Product Development Manager, to
demonstrate how a new and advanced
use of cellular for AWS is disrupting IoT’s
traditional deployment models. Together,
the team demonstrated one of the most
advanced and simplified cellular IoT use
cases in the field today.
As market leaders in IoT M2M connectivity
solutions, Eseye offered a highly secure and
reliable global multi-Network cellular network
data through the AnyNet Secure SIM, with
seamless integration onto the AWS Cloud.
The SIM’s enhanced features enabled
SolarNow to remotely and securely activate,
provision, authenticate and certify deployed
devices over-the-air, in up to 190 countries. Solar has become an increasingly vital
energy source for off-grid populations in the
East African region; in part as an alternative
to hazardous kerosene lamps, but also
as a means of harnessing the significant
economic, social and health benefits, and
entrepreneurial business opportunities
reliable power sources provide.
By leveraging the power of connected
technology, SolarNow could address the
unmet need for sustainable, quality solar Having worked with developers at SolarNow,
Eseye also created software and supplied
a reference design, which could simply
be copied onto the circuit board of the
microprocessor, which sits on a solar
controller to SolarNow’s solutions.
“By taking a proven design and effectively
copying it into its devices, SolarNow
successfully made the transition from a non-
connected to a connected product offering,
to take full advantage of the capabilities of
IoT,” said Jeremy Potgieter, SADC, Regional
Head, Eseye.
“Not only was this an avenue for huge
growth potential but also greatly enhanced
SolarNow’s customer service offering.”
SolarNow was also able to improve other
key elements of its offering by analysing
enhanced system data to communicate with
clients in the event of an issue with their
device. System data also allowed SolarNow
to build a more complete picture of their
customer in order to develop product value.
SolarNow says that by turning to cellular
connectivity the company was able to
remotely monitor the performance of its
solar system.
A key level of capability needed to alleviate
any concerns over connectivity, and which
was needed for SolarNow to continue its
drive to grow the use of solar as a central
energy source across East Africa.
Potgieter says SolarNow successfully utilised
IoT in a move that was pivotal for the
company and its customers.
Jeremy Potgieter,
SADC, Regional
Head, Eseye
www.intelligentcio.com
“The power of connected technology to solve
issues and truly change lives across Africa,
by enabling service provision for even the
most remote or disempowered members of
its communities, cannot be underestimated,”
he said. n
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