Piotr Jurkiewicz, CEO of Nextep Technologies talks about the commercial partnership with Orange Polska established by the parties as a result of the AccelUp accelerator programme.
Nextep is a company specialising in energy efficiency management, covering electricity, gas and heat sources. The products developed by the company are mainly cloud platforms that interact with different types of meters.
—
This new themed series presents our alumni who have already established commercial partnerships with their technology recipients thanks to the AccelUp acceleration program.
—
What resources/technology did you come to acceleration with?
Nextep Technologies Sp. z o.o. is the creator and designer of the IoT system, which includes specialised MyMeter devices and software. We have entered the acceleration with the system, which enables remote reading of parameters from various types of measuring instruments, and remote control of industrial automation. Via MyMeter it is possible to easy remote control of, e.g., district heating controllers by using applications, without the necessity of visiting locations (often difficult to access) by a technical team. The developed solution is dedicated to the energy and district heating industry, but thanks to the use of standardised communication interfaces, it has great possibilities of expansion and adjustment to other markets and requirements. Transmission is carried out using the GSM network, based on modern data transmission standards – LTE CAT-M.
What exactly did you test during the acceleration, and what was its final effect?
As part of the acceleration, Nextep Technologies increased the capabilities of the previously developed system by integrating MyMeter devices with the Live Objects platform, which acts as a data hub. Besides, we developed a new way MyMeter devices to communicate with servers, which is now implemented using the MQTT protocol. We have also increased the portfolio of devices we can integrate with – above all, regarding the different types of district heating types of district heating controllers.
What added value has the new product brought to Orange’s offer?
Nextep Technologies has become Orange’s first choice partner when it comes to remote reading and district heating equipment control. Due to this, Orange has expanded its range of products and services to include this industry.
When did you start your commercial cooperation?
The commercial agreement with Orange Polska was signed in August 2020, while the first procurement arrangements were made in late 2020/early 2021. We are currently in the phase of production of the first batch of equipment following the concluded contract and submitted order.
What are the results so far?
We are currently finalising a purchase contract with a large customer from the heating sector. If everything goes well, at the end of the first half of 2021, we will deliver the first large batch of MyMeter devices to Orange. It will allow us to present the solution in the broader market.
—
Nextep Technologies website: HERE
—
The AccelUp programme is implemented with the support of the Polish Agency for Enterprise Development.
ACCELPOINT sp. z o.o. implements the project co-financed by the European Funds Smart Growth Operational Programme 2014-2020 “Accelpoint ScaleUp – Technological Accelerator connecting innovative solutions with Technology Recipients”.
