country profile: knx brazil | knxtoday
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21/06/2015 13:25Country Profile: KNX Brazil | KNXtoday
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Country Profile: KNX Brazil19/06/2013
By Geny Caloisi, KNXtoday.
Brazil has a strong economy, not only within South America but also on a global scale. It isone of the surging economic powers which make up the BRIC group, the others beingRussia, India and China.
Miguel José Gamboa Soares, Manager at Eurodomótica and KNX tutor in Brazil, has beenworking in the expanding market of KNX in Brazil since his previous post as product managerat Siemens more than six years ago. Siemens and Schneider have been established in Brazil
for some years already, and have since been joined by ABB and SBUS.
The online trade magazine for KNX home and building control
21/06/2015 13:25Country Profile: KNX Brazil | KNXtoday
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KNX in Brazil
Brazil’s KNX National Group was founded in August 2012, when the congress Habitar and the trade fairExpoPedialtec were being held in São Paulo.
As KNX’s CEO, Heinz Lux, was visiting Brazil for ExpoPedialtec, it was a golden opportunity to form the nationalgroup. Rogerio Garcia, of Schneider, was named president, ABB’s Gustavo Vazzoler and Luis Gustavo Ferreira,from SBUS, were made vice-presidents, and Alex Frazatti, from Aureside, became the secretary.
Brazil is a surging economic power.
Board members of KNX National Group Brazil (from left to right) Luis Gustavo Ferreira, AlexFrazatti, Rogério Garcia Ribeiro and Gustavo Vazzoler, alongside KNX Association CEO
Heinz Lux.
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Officially opened in November 2012, the National Group Brazil has five founding member companies. iSimplex andsystems integrator Automatize Residencias Inteligentes were joined by Eurodomótica and Struxi, which run theKNX training centres. Aureside, the Brazilian Association for residential automation, is also an associate member.
“The key players in the Brazilian market are the systems integrators,” says Gamboa. “They commission projectsand decide what equipment is used. Then they install and program everything, and do the after-salesmaintenance. It is important that these integrators are certified and accredited by the manufacturers and the KNXInternational Association, providing the commercial and technical support necessary for the development of KNX inBrazil.”
Energy Efficiency
Besides providing planning and installation advice, Eurodomótica is actively training systems integrators and givingsupport on big projects to designers, contractors and companies promoting energy-efficient solutions. Indeed,sustainability and green buildings are emerging areas in Brazil.
“KNX is becoming a technology of reference in building management system (BMS) in Brazil, in particular for bigprojects, and the top-end luxury residential market,” says Gamboa.
KNX systems have been used in prestigious projects, such as the office installations at oil- and gas-giantPetrobras, which prides itself on its green credentials. Odebrecht headquarters have also been fitted with KNXproducts. Odebrecht is a Brazilian conglomerate consisting of diversified businesses in the fields of engineering,construction, chemicals and petrochemicals.
KNX will also contribute to Brazil’s widely-awaited sports events, as one of the main stadia, the Maracanã, boastsKNX automation solutions. Built in 1950, the Maracanã was renovated for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the2014 Football World Cup (the first held in Brazil since 1950), and also the 2016 Summer Olympics and ParalympicGames.
Miguel Jose Gambia Soares and Luis Franco from Eurodomotica at Predialtec 2012 on theKNX booth.
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Besides these projects, Eurodomótica is working on the Bradesco Bank headquarters and a cargo airport in westBrazil, as well as some universities and hospitals.
Gamboa says, “Eurodomótica wants to be a key reference point for projects which focus on energy efficiency andsustainability for buildings in the whole of South America and particularly in Brazil. With this in mind, we are givingsupport to manufacturers, designers, contractors and project managers. To grow our business, we want to create anetwork of system integrators trained as KNX partners which are able to sell and implement solutions for greenbuildings. We are also creating partnerships with universities, technical schools, and other organisations andcompanies which share the same targets.
Challenges
“Brazil has certain peculiarities that KNX installers need to bear in mind,” warns Gamboa. “Instead of using theEuropean round wall box, we use a rectangular box. This has created some problems with the adaptation of someKNX push-buttons for example.”
The Estadio do Maracanã.
KNX partners training the team who will represent Brazil at the Worldskills 2013 in Leipzig.
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“Internet connections are not always reliable, so when we have to link different buildings which are fairly longdistances apart, we can encounter some difficulties. But the biggest problem is importing the equipment into Brazilbecause there is too much bureaucracy. KNX product supply is still limited, creating some hurdles for theimplementation of KNX solutions. We hope that more KNX European partners will come to Brazil to improve theprovision and help with publicity and the dissemination of KNX.”
Promotion of KNX in Brazil
The KNX National Group Brazil is working hard at promotion, not only through training but also organising events.The first KNX forum was held in Sao Paulo this February. Its main topic of discussion was energy efficiency. AndreSerpa, iSimplex CEO, was invited to present his company’s energy efficient module, which had only beenlaunched at ISE 2013 in January.
The National Group is also providing a monthly online conference about KNX and it is organising three road showsin some of Brazil’s main cities: Brasília, Rio de Janeiro and Recife. In São Paulo, it will participate in the fairPredialtec event in September.
To entice more professionals training in KNX, Eurodomotica is planning to start a basic theory-training courseonline. This will allow students to advance the theory component of the course, needing just three days for thepractical training. In this way, partners will have only minimal disruption to their daily work and it will reduce thecourse costs.
Gamboa says, “We believe that through the nationalisation of European standards and the growth in the number ofKNX Partners trained in the KNX-certified training centres in Brazil, more people will understand and get to knowKNX. This should result in an increased number of projects using the protocol. We also hope that proprietarysolutions that already exist in Brazil will adopt KNX faster than in Europe since it provides an already standardisedand proven solution.”
Getting in Touch
Hands on at Brazil’s first KNX partner meeting.
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CommentsCountry Profile: KNX Brazil — 2 Comments
For details of the KNX Group Brazil, please visit www.KNX.org/br or email president Rogerio Ribeiro [email protected] or secretary Alex Frazatti on [email protected].
Contact Eurodomótica via www.eurodomotica-knx.com.br or email [email protected] ortelephone +55 62 3098-6661 or +55 62 9830-4941.
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Rogerio Garcia Ribeiroon 21/06/2013 at 3:25 pm said:
Congratulations for the article!!!!
Editoron 18/01/2014 at 2:19 pm said:
Thank you Rogerio!