Integrator Media had an exclusive interview with Sanjay Raghunath, Chairman and Managing Director of Centena Group.                                                

Overview of Centena Group’s evolution over the years and its current focus areas. 

Reflecting back on our journey, Centena Group started with Maritronics in 1980, a marine electronics service company. We have steadily grown and diversified to meet market demands since then, establishing multiple companies such as Emphor DLAS and Emphor IPS, among others in different geographies. We expanded into Identification & Security, Industrial Automation and Life and Analytical Sciences, and most recently ventured into interactive, educational and fun-based learning experiences.

Over the years, we have grown from a distributor to a solution provider, and we started our own manufacturing facility. Currently, we offer innovative solutions in science, engineering, education and technology through our subsidiaries including Maritronics, ScreenCheck, ATLAB, Emphor DLAS and Emphor IPS, among others. With headquarters in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and India, we are committed to advancing industries and serving the greater good. Achieving a consistent 30 per cent year-on-year growth in the Middle East and globally, we continue to lead with pioneering solutions that define industry standards and inspire future advancements.

How is Centena Group aiding data centres with advanced technology solutions?

ScreenCheck, our security and identification division, plays a crucial role in enhancing the security and operational efficiency of data centres through its specialised security and energy management systems, by delivering robust security solutions through the integration of advanced identification and access control systems. This encompasses biometric access controls, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-based monitoring, and smart card systems, ensuring that only authorised personnel can access critical areas within the data centre.

Furthermore, our video surveillance systems along with RFID technology, provide a multi-layered security approach. Real-time video footage enhances monitoring capabilities while RFID tracking ensures precise control over personnel and asset movement, enabling to take rapid action against unauthorised access or suspicious activities. Additionally, ScreenCheck offers visitor management solutions, which further bolsters the security framework and helps data centres comply with stringent security requirements.

Another cornerstone of our offerings is Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems which guarantee uninterrupted power supply during outages or fluctuations, safeguarding sensitive data and equipment from potential damage and ensuring uninterrupted data centre operations.

What are some of the most recent innovations introduced by your subsidiaries like Maritronics, and LabSpace?  

We at Centena Group are proud to offer a range of innovative solutions through our subsidiaries. Our maritime brand, under Maritronics, EDGE, has launched a range of technological innovations that increase the safety of seafarers and vessels. Our navigation solutions, such as the Fibre Optic Gyro, deliver superior accuracy, reliability, and quicker settling times compared to traditional gyrocompasses. Along with this our radar, Integrated Bridge System, AIS, and automation solutions, are also setting new benchmarks in performance, user-friendliness, reliability, and cost-effectiveness.

LABSPACE represents another exciting frontier where we lead in pioneering design innovations that stimulate creativity and innovation within laboratory environments, by providing comprehensive solutions from initial planning to execution, across sectors ranging from education to oil and gas. With our state-of-the-art facility in the UAE and extensive experience across diverse industries, we extended our capabilities to offer turn-key solutions in select segments, ensuring that we meet the unique requirements of each project.

What are the recent advancements in the Maritime sector?

The evolution of marine communication systems is defined by the integration of satellite communication, automation, enhanced navigation, cybersecurity and environmental monitoring. Vessels now rely on satellite systems for global connectivity, with automation and remote monitoring streamlining operations and advanced navigation technologies ensuring precise tracking and collision avoidance, while cybersecurity measures protect against threats. Furthermore, regulations such as MARPOL demand environmental monitoring and compliance. These trends highlight the need for reliability, bandwidth, cost-efficiency and regulatory compliance.

Recently, the demand for maritime solutions has shifted significantly. For example, the Baltimore ship collision highlighted the need for enhanced redundancy while rising pirate attacks underscored the importance of security and tracking. Maritronics addresses these challenges with advanced engineering solutions that prioritise safety, efficiency, and environmental stewardship. Our Integrated Bridge Systems offer redundancy and real-time decision-making capabilities, tailored to meet modern navigation and communication needs. As a result, we have seen a notable increase in global inquiries and orders, reflecting evolving customer requirements worldwide.

How is Centena Group utilising artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in its technology solutions?

At Centena Group, we approach challenges by blending both empathy and cutting-edge technology to meet the needs of our customers effectively. Within our security and identification division, ScreenCheck employs AI for advanced biometric access control systems, which improve the accuracy and reliability of facial recognition, fingerprint scanning, and iris recognition. These systems continuously evolve through machine learning, adapting to new data for enhanced performance. In industrial process solutions, AI and ML are integral to predictive maintenance and network leakage detection using data from analysers and flow meters. Meanwhile, ML optimises safety measures in our analyser solutions, ensuring robust operational control. Across our Life Analytical and Material Testing division, AI and ML streamline processes, delivering faster and more precise results. Our commitment extends beyond incorporating AI and ML into our solutions. Through our educational initiative, ATLAB collaborates with schools and universities to introduce AI and ML in engaging, fun-based practical ways. This approach aims to equip the next generation with key skills needed to address future challenges and contribute to building an efficient and sustainable world.

How is Centena Group contributing to the field of electronics, particularly through its solution EDGE?

Electronics are integral to global technological advancement and at Centena Group, we recognise its pivotal role. EDGE, our latest solution from Maritronics, integrates cutting-edge navigation, communication, and automation technologies to enhance safety, efficiency, and performance at sea. Our R&D team is actively developing new technologies to ensure these solutions are both advanced and cost-effective for widespread adoption.

We remain committed to pushing the boundaries of advanced solutions and setting new standards in safety, efficiency, and operational excellence across all industries, thus contributing to overall economic growth and quality of life.

Integrator Media had an exclusive interview with Jason Li, President of Marketing & Solutions Sales, Huawei Electric Power Digitalization Business Unit. Here in this interview the Integrator discusses how Huawei’s Cloud-Edge Synergy and High-Speed Power Line Communications are Revolutionizing the Power Industry and what sets it apart from traditional power distribution solutions.

What is Huawei’s innovative Intelligent Distribution Solution (IDS) presented at the 26th World Energy Congress?

Huawei presented the innovative Intelligent Distribution Solution (IDS) at the 26th World Energy Congress in Rotterdam. IDS is built on a unique “cloud-pipe-edge-pipe-device” framework, which includes an on-premise private cloud as the digital foundation, both wired and wireless solutions for the backhaul network, an all-in-one edge computing unit (ECU) for lean management, and next-generation high-speed power line carrier communication (HPLC) on the low-voltage side. This comprehensive approach enables real-time measurable observations that empower utility providers to optimize their operations, reduce costs, and improve customer satisfaction by identifying and repairing faults before power outages occur.

What sets Huawei’s IDS apart from traditional power distribution solutions, especially considering its cloud-based approach?

Traditional power distribution solutions mostly rely on isolated systems, preventing data sharing. Huawei’s cloud-pipe-edge-pipe-device architecture is one generation ahead of this approach. Additionally, Huawei focuses solely on building industry-leading digital foundations to facilitate the construction of intelligent power distribution networks.

The HPLC and all-scenario backhaul network solution builds highly reliable target networks, resulting in a 99.5%-meter reading success rate and a 100% point-to-point meter reading success rate.

Concentrators, distribution transformer monitoring devices, gateway meters, and distributed PV/charging pile gateways are integrated into ECUs, reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO). Meanwhile, platform-based hardware and app-based software architectures and products fulfill the future’s evolution requirements for the next 10-20 years.

Moreover, IDS facilitates cloud-edge synergy, enabling power enterprises to shift from single-point digitalization to architecture-supported, evolvable, open, and systematic intelligence, with quick service rollout and significant O&M efficiency improvement.

Can you elaborate on the functionality of the innovative “cloud-pipe-edge-pipe-device” framework?

IDS is an overall solution based on the cloud-pipe-edge-pipe-device architecture. On the cloud side, an on-premise private cloud is recommended as the digital foundation, unlike in a traditional virtualization model. The private cloud enables five enablement capabilities, including R&D enablement, application enablement, data enablement, AI enablement, and integration enablement, as well as four synergies: application synergy, data synergy, AI synergy, and O&M synergy.

For the backhaul network, fiber is the key strategic asset, a technology that will keep evolving for the next 30 years, and is reachable, familiar, and manageable. It also supports multi-service development, such as home broadband. Additionally, a wireless private network is also a good choice if the spectrum is ready. However, we recommend a private network rather than a public network here, considering the requirements for data security, high reliability, high quality, and low latency.

At the edge, the edge computing unit (ECU) is the lean management carrier, functioning as a smartphone, which replaces multiple terminals such as the Transformer Terminal Unit (TTU), Data Transfer Unit (DCU), and gateway. It is the ‘brain’ of the district and a vital component of the Intelligent Distribution Solution (IDS).

For last-mile connection, High-Speed Power Line Communications (HPLC) is the key to low-voltage transparency, supporting data collection in minutes, massive interactive connections, and topology identification, and delivering a 99% collection success rate. With the Intelligent Distribution Solution (IDS), we can achieve power outage alarms within 1 minute, fault locating within 3 minutes, and line loss analysis within 15 minutes.

How Huawei’s Intelligent Distribution Solution has demonstrated its effectiveness in practical applications?

Here, I’d like to give you an example of State Grid Shaanxi, where we developed an intelligent distribution solution with our partners. We helped State Grid Shaanxi build a digital foundation featuring “cloud-pipe-edge-pipe-device” synergy, enabling the company to evolve from single-point digitalization of power distribution rooms to architecture-supported, evolvable, open, and systematic intelligence.

Four key technologies are deployed in the digital foundation:

• • First, the ECU integrates multiple gateways in the transformer district and functions as the smart brain of the edge. It’s like deploying a smartphone in the district. The cloud-edge synergy technology supports the unified upgrade of 100,000 devices in the districts within 40 minutes. Different policies can be defined at each transformer district for flexible district autonomy. This way, transformer district managers can become mini-CEOs with stimulated creativity.
• • Second, we deploy optical fiber and wireless networks for backhaul. In urban areas with essential loads, 100% optical fibers are used, and GPON supports real-time access to multiple services. In other areas, wireless networks are used to quickly access various terminals and distributed new energy at low costs.
• • The third is the HPLC dual-mode technology, which solves the problem of last-mile communication. The latest version of HPLC can deliver 99.9% communication reliability, supporting minute-level data collection and second-level control for low-voltage transparency.
• • Fourth is the cloud-based unified enterprise digital platform, which acts as the smart OS of enterprises. By building the enterprise-level unified data foundation, unified AI model factory, and unified IoT platform, enterprises can accumulate know-how assets and make digital capabilities easy to use.

Based on the digital foundation and the open ecosystem, State Grid Shaanxi has implemented topology identification of the transformer, meter box, and household meters at the low-voltage side. In blind tests, the accuracy reaches 100%, the daily frozen data collection success rate reaches 99.98%, abnormal events are reported within 1 second, and power outages are notified within 3 minutes.

This is only the beginning. By enabling mini-CEOs to master digital capabilities, customers can deploy various digital technologies in different scenarios.

By: Tariq Salameh Solutions Engineer Manager, Middle East & Turkey, Cloudera

Control and efficiency, market regulation, and data location may prevent companies from using the public cloud, especially regarding data ingestion at the petabyte scale. These companies have instead opted to leverage their existing data centre investment. Turning the data centre into a private cloud brings the agility and flexibility of the public cloud to the control of on-premises infrastructure. With the private cloud capability in place, organisations can directly address the drawbacks of the traditional cluster deployments and move to data services.

While the majority of IT decision-makers (86%) in the Middle East plan to migrate more data to the cloud over the next three years, even more (90%) plan to repatriate data back on-premises. IT complexity and integration challenges (60%), non-compliance-related cybersecurity concerns (58%) and data and compliance concerns (49%) are cited as the main reasons for organisations not moving more of their data to the cloud, according to a Cloudera study.

Instead of the “cloud first”, we’re now in the “workload-first” era. Workload analytics can help determine if a workload is more suitable for an on-premises or public cloud environment. And 76% of organisations currently store data in a hybrid environment, meaning they utilise both on-premises/private cloud and the public cloud. Hybrid environments are the new de facto standard.

However, two-thirds (66%) of IT decision-makers in the Middle East agree that having data across different cloud and on-premises environments makes extracting value from all the data in their organisation complex. Siloed data prevents organisations from making fast decisions, so they need the capability to securely extract value from their data, regardless of where it resides. With the emergence of modern data architectures, organisations can optimise their cloud costs and drive more value from their data. At the same time, the data is AI-ready for enterprises to benefit from current and future developments in AI.

Many companies also need help with their cloud costs and unlocking continuous value from cloud investments. With enterprise data stored both on-premises and potentially across multiple public clouds, it becomes difficult to track and manage cloud consumption across various departments and cost centres, keep the platform stable and controlled, and troubleshoot issues across these different infrastructures. Companies need visibility into workload and resource utilisation to better control and automatically manage budget overruns and improve performance.