CRN recognises Dimension Data’s with IoT Innovators award

Dimension Data, the global IT solutions and services provider, has announced that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has honoured the company with a 2017 IoT Innovators award. CRN’s newest awards programme, IoT Innovators, recognises North American solution providers and systems integrators whose design and implementation of breakthrough solutions place them at the forefront of the IoT revolution.

“This award validates the adoption that we’re seeing in IoT across all sectors around the world. IoT is a global megatrend that lends itself to innovation,” says Larry van Deusen, Dimension Data’s Group Networking Practice Director, Wired and Wireless.

One project that illustrates the power of innovation utilising IoT is Connected Conservation. This project combines the innovation and digital technology skills of Dimension Data and Cisco and is focused on a groundbreaking initiative aimed at dramatically reducing the number of rhinos being poached in South Africa.

South Africa is home to about 70% of the remaining rhinos in the world. In 2014, 1,214 rhinos were poached. That’s three rhinos killed every day. In 2015, 1,175 rhinos were poached. If the rate of poaching continues, rhinos could be non-existent in South Africa by 2025.

The Connected Conservation solution uses some of the world’s most sophisticated technology deployed in a private game reserve in South Africa, which proactively monitors and tracks individuals from the time they enter the reserve gates until they exit. This includes a range of digital technologies such as video, remote seismic sensors and thermal imaging technology, all of which provide the real time intelligence necessary to enable preventative action against poachers.

Through the power of this IoT solution, data, and analytics, the number of rhinos being poached was reduced by 96% in just 18 months. “Connected Conservation is an outstanding example of how people with passion and innovation, combined with leading-edge technology – in this case IoT – can deliver results that make our world a better place in which to live,” says van Deusen.

“The solution providers and systems integrators on our first ever CRN IoT Innovators list are confidently leading the channel into the exciting, opportunity-rich new era of IoT,” said Robert Faletra, CEO of The Channel Company. “Each of these ambitious companies have brought to market a complex and cutting-edge integration of platforms, software tools, and technologies, managing the entire process from design to deployment. Their remarkable IoT innovations are paving the way for an unprecedented level of global interconnectivity that will transform the way we live and work.”