EMAIL INTERVIEW – Philip Wantling and Ken Sinclair

Philip Wantling, Marketing Executive, WEMS
(Wireless Energy Management Systems International)

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Sinclair:  There are plenty of wireless products in the Niagara community at the moment, what makes yours better?

Wantling:  Simply put, because wireless is in our DNA; all of our products are wireless and been developed from the ground up right here in the UK by our in-house R&D department.

Most businesses that attempt to go to market in the Niagara Community with a wireless product don’t do so well because their wireless communications aren’t robust enough to work on a larger scale within a building’s infrastructure. Some companies use 2.4HGz, which in all honesty is a much more domestic frequency and lacks the range to provide an effective solution, often only reaching 10-20 meters indoors. Our wireless technology can reach over a distance of hundreds of meters indoors, and up to 2km in an open space. The distance, coupled with our comms speed and the ease of use make our product unparalleled.
 
Sinclair:  But have you proven your technology on a large scale?

Wantling:  We have a few rather large blue chip organisations that are clients of ours, most notably one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies. Our wireless technology is installed in thousands of their sites throughout the UK, so yes, it works on a very large scale. To date we’ve installed over 5,000 systems worldwide with tens, if not hundreds of thousands of sensors and I/O distributed across the UK and worldwide.  As you can imagine, dealing with large, security conscious clients brings all manner of security and privacy issues, for that reason, our products are penetration tested to the highest standards.
 
Sinclair:  How do you integrate with NiagaraAX?

Wantling:  We use one of our wireless serial modules to connect to the NiagaraAX platform via Modbus. Once connected, licensed and with the right driver installed, our I/O can be discovered as if they were native wired modules – quick, simple and easy.
 
Sinclair:  Can it be used worldwide or just in the UK?

Wantling:  In the UK and Europe our I/O operates on 434Mhz frequency, obviously due to ISM band restrictions we can’t use 434MHz in the American continents, but we do have 915MHz versions available for the US market.
 
Sinclair:  Most of the community has tried wireless, it’s not always been that great…

Wantling:  Yes, we’ve heard that a lot. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve come at it from a bit of a different perspective – as a company that has wireless down to an art before it integrates with Niagara – rather than a company that throws together a wireless solution to respond to the market. I understand that confidence is perhaps low amongst the community, but hopefully our wireless tech will help change that. We’re actually that confident that system integrators will be impressed by our fast and robust comms that we’re offering a starter pack at a discounted rate to any integrators that are looking to test our I/O.
 
Sinclair:  How can I buy some I/O?

Wantling:  You can call us directly and speak to our sales team on +44(0)161 475 1777 and pretty soon you’ll be able to buy online.

WEMS   (Wireless Energy Management Systems International)