Telit Wireless Solutions Africa, the South African-based machine-to-machine mobile technology arm of Telit Communications, is set to speed up its expansion in Africa by increasing its investment in technology expertise.
Telit Wireless Solutions Africa, the South African-based machine-to-machine mobile technology arm of Telit Communications, is set to speed up its expansion in Africa by increasing its investment in technology expertise.
Having opened its South African office in the middle of 2008, the company develops, manufactures and markets a wide range of enterprise communication modules comprising cellular technologies – GSM/GPRS, UMTS/WEDGE/HSDPA and CDMA/EVDO – as well as a short-range module product portfolio including Wi-Fi, ZigBee, short range RF (proprietary mesh and point-to-point for unlicensed frequency bands), wireless MBus and GPS M2M modules.
“Telit is able to provide customers with tailored solutions from a single source, and has had a presence in South Africa through our official distributor, RF Design, for some years,” says Pieter Lentz, regional sales director (Sub-Saharan Africa, Australia and New Zealand) for Telit Wireless Solutions. “South Africa is a leader in GSM design and it was decided to open a local Telit office in Johannesburg to support RF Design’s distribution efforts and provide customers with distinct cost and service level benefits.”
Lentz says that the company targets five markets in South Africa. The biggest by far is the AVL (automotive vehicle location) market which encompasses fleet management and vehicle tracking. “We also provide M2M modules for the wireless local loop (voice) market; the LCR (least cost routing) manufacturers; telemetry market; security market (GSM units on alarms which send out SMSs in the event of telephone wires being severed); and AMR (automated meter reading) manufacturers (used for utility usage monitoring purposes).
Lentz points out that there are two routes for purchasing Telit’s products in South Africa. “RF Design’s current distribution network continues to supply product directly to the customers, while our office handles sales routed through our offices in Trieste, Italy. In essence, the local office, which is run by our regional technical sales manager, Steven Allan and myself, is a point of presence for both RF Design and our customers.”
“With such a wide spectrum of products, customers benefit from a short lead time to market while at the same time enjoying a reduced total cost of ownership,” Lentz says. “RF Design maintains a comprehensive stockholding of the products directly marketed by them and our lead time on products ex-Italy is typically four weeks.”
A full sales and technical support service for the entire range of Telit products is offered by Telit Wireless Solutions. “Typically, we address the majority of technical queries locally, with support available from Italy should this be necessary,” Lentz says.
Telit has also enhanced its existing service portfolio with its new service concept: Telit Infinita Services. “The primary objective of this offering is the simplification of the M2M solution deployment and maintenance of software devices. The initial set of Telit Infinita services features both premium FOTA management with extended software warranties and an extended hardware warranty service,” Lentz explains.
For more information contact Pieter Lentz, Telit Wireless Solutions, +27 (0)11 655 7190, pieter.lentz@telit.com, www.telit.com
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