country profile: knx south africa | knxtoday
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21/06/2015 13:27Country Profile: KNX South Africa | KNXtoday
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Country Profile: KNX South Africa17/05/2013
By Geny Caloisi, KNXtoday.
KNX has had a presence in South Africa for more than eight years, but the KNX Nationalgroup office only opened at the end of 2012. Over the course of time, training and education,along with the tireless work of both distributors and integrators, have helped to grow KNX’spresence and awareness in the local market.
Many companies looked into the KNX protocol over the years. Initially Siemens beganinvestigating the viability of the business in South Africa, followed in 2005 by AMC German
Technology with Gira’s KNX products.
The online trade magazine for KNX home and building control
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One of the first installation businesses to carry out KNX installations in the country was EIB Automation. With astrong green policy on energy consumption in residential and commercial environments, the green credentials ofKNX were a perfect fit for the company. Now, as KNX Electronic Components and partners of Futurasmus, anonline KNX wholesaler and technical support, the company continues to provide solutions through KNX Partnersnationwide.
The Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, Limpopo is a good example of the work that EIB Automation has doneusing KNX. The stadium, which was designed and built for the FIFA 2010 World Cup, has over 150 separatedistribution boards, 270 KNX devices and control of well over 1000 light circuits.
The South African flag with map of country superimposed.
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Another noteworthy project is the Vodacom Innovation Centre in Midrand. This is the first building in South Africato aim for a six-star rating under the Green Star South Africa certification scheme.
Training and Growth
KNX’s training capability has proved an important asset for KNX growth in South Africa.
ABB began selling KNX locally around five years ago. At the time, they also arranged to send a number ofbusiness partners to Germany for KNX training. The improved level of understanding achieved helped to increasethe protocol’s popularity bringing the number of KNX Partners up to 12.
Training and the help of the KNX Association has been very important, with the first opportunity opening up in2010. With the help of KNX’s Marketing Manager, Casto Canavate, a course was arranged in Brussels for severalattendees from across the globe. As a result of that training, the first KNX training centre in Southern Africa, KNXCentre (now a part of KNX Electronic Components), was established in early 2011, offering both the basic andadvanced KNX certified courses.
A year later, again with the help of KNX Association, the Industrial Data Exchange Academy started offering KNXtraining online, both basic and advanced certified KNX training courses, as prescribed by the KNX Association.
Recent Developments
In October last year, Heinz Lux, KNX CEO, flew from Brussels to officially open the KNX National Group in SouthAfrica. The Board Members are Dirk Visser from ABB, (President), Nico van der Merwe from Schneider-Electricand David Gradl from AMC German Technology (Vice-Presidents) and Chris Greager from the ElectricalContractors’ Association (Secretary).
The Peter Mokaba Stadium was built for the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa.
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The next step in gaining a firmer foothold in the country was to organise a big gathering. All KNX partners andcompanies were invited that represented KNX locally, as well as the Electrical Contractors’ Association.
Over the past eight years, KNX has moved from being an outsider – something of an oddity perhaps – to a positionwhere even installers who do not use it readily acknowledge its place, and clients are beginning to ask for KNXspecifically.
The number of certified individuals has increased accordingly, and the number of KNX Partners almost quadrupledto the current 46. With the work of the KNX National Group and training centres, this growth rate is expected toincrease. Locally there is specific representation for ABB, Somfy and Hager via Electromechanica in Cape Town,and Gira via AMC German Technology.
In addition, KNX Electronic Components has recently partnered with Futurasmus, a web-based provider of all KNXbrands. This development allows further access to products that are not normally catered for by the largermanufacturers in this region. The pricing is also comparable to that found in Europe.
High South African Standards
South Africa has very high testing standards, and CE standards do not necessarily comply. For instance, on thepower actuators from 50V upwards, the KNX hardware should comply with South African Electrical Standards andregulation, but it doesn’t. This is one of the reasons why Siemens did not pursue its KNX product in South Africaoriginally.
Becoming a KNX Partner
With two training centres country-wide, anyone can become a KNX Partner provided they pass the KNX basiccourse at a certified KNX training centre. In becoming Partners, companies and individuals gain access to the KNXNational Group for inclusion in promotional activities; access to KNX products and support via distributors as wellas the ability to promote themselves as KNX Partners, both in South Africa and abroad.
Local manufacturers can also benefit from adopting the KNX protocol because it opens products up to being soldin a global market. Since all KNX products undergo a rigorous testing procedure in order to attain certification, itallows external verification of product quality. This ensures that products conform to ISO 9001, and minimises R&Dtime by allowing local manufacturers to use a tried and tested ‘bus system’ as their backbone – instead of the
The KNX South Africa team with Heinz Lux (front left).
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hassles of developing their own from scratch and dealing with flaws.
By joining KNX, integrators benefit from international recognition of their skills, which are easily transferable in theevent of relocation; and ease of planning and installation by using KNX as the underlying standard. They can haveaccess to a wide range of product solutions on an open system, which means that clients are never stuck without aperson who can upgrade or maintain their system. Lastly, because each product has its own intelligence, there isno central point of failure. If a part fails, everything else in the installation keeps working.
Getting in Touch
Anyone interested in joining KNX National Group of South Africa can emailRyan Cetzee, Secretary of the KNX National Group, at [email protected]
For training, contact Jean-Pierre Joubert of KNX Electronic Components in Cape Town at [email protected],or Ryan Coetzee of IDXOnline in Johannesburg at [email protected].
www.knxsa.com
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