Germany’s Paessler working on industry automation contracts in Mexico, Chile

German network monitoring solutions developer Paessler is carrying out a project with a major miner in Chile to monitor the company's automated facilities, Paessler's global business development manager for IoT, David Montoya, told BNamericas.

The smart metering project being developed in Chile involves the use of 5G technology, which has just been activated in the country. The executive said that he could not yet reveal the company's name for contractual and technical reasons.

“It's an important smart metering project. We're working with this mining company in Chile that is evaluating 5G as connectivity for its operations,” said the executive.

In IoT, like in other network projects, Paessler does not supply hardware, only the IT and OT (operational technologies) integration platform and PRTG, the German group's core network and sensor monitoring product.

The company intends to advance in projects for the convergence of companies' IT and OT networks and particularly in industrial IoT projects.

Paessler's main IoT connectivity partner in Latin America is the French global network operator Sigfox, which provides ultra narrowband connectivity for data transmission.

With the acceleration of the digital transformation and IoT in Latin America, partly fueled by the pandemic, Paessler has seen greater demand for its products and it expects to gain more regional contracts, especially in industrial automation, said Montoya.

“We're doing tests for projects in automation [in Latin America]. Not only for monitoring, but also for automating contingency responses on the factory floor,” he added.

MEXICO

In Mexico, Paessler began working on a large-scale smart lighting network visualization project in a major city, which the executive did not wish to name.

The project involves monitoring services integrated into different smart hubs, such as video surveillance and Wi-Fi, according to Montoya.

Another project under development in Mexico, which Montoya expects to turn into a benchmark project, is for smart buildings. The executive said it consists of monitoring flows of people and visitors and also managing the use of resources such as water and electricity.

Paessler is also working on a project to reduce water waste and prevent land erosion on a Mexican lemon farm.

In mining, in addition to Chile, Paessler recently started working on a metering project with a mining company in Brazil, but in this case powered by Sigfox, not 5G.

Mexico, Brazil and Chile are the company's three main markets in Latin America. However, it also operates in various markets across the region through channels and integrators.

In Guatemala, the company is working on smart farming projects, one of them for coffee cultivation, which it hopes to use as a benchmark for coffee farms in other markets in the region.

Meanwhile, in Uruguay, Paessler has a project to monitor video surveillance and admission control systems in soccer stadiums.

In total, Paessler reports having around 20,000 customers in Latin America, which is around 6-7% of the company's total, according to Montoya. 

The group states that it has customers in over 170 countries, with these primarily being healthcare, financial and industrial firms and telecom service providers.