Nasdaq-listed Lantronix Inc, aims to be a leading supplier of IoT solutions that enable companies to simplify deployment and management of IoT projects while providing secure access to data for applications and people. California-based Lantronix recently opened its India centre in Hyderabad to focus on software and firmware development for its innovative Out-of-Band management and IoT products. Paul Pickle, president & global CEO, Lantronix Inc, tells BV Mahalakshmi that the recent government regulations in energy, environment and logistics segments are opening up new applications for IoT gateways and tracker products in India. Excerpts:

How important is the India market for your global operations?
India is an important market for Lantronix as IoT can bring significant efficiency to energy transmission and distribution, water management, health care, pollution control and logistics. We have successful installations and implementations in all these verticals. The Make-in-India and Smart Cities initiatives of the government are opening up new markets for our IoT gateways. The recent government regulations in energy, environment and logistics segments are opening up new applications for IoT gateways and tracker products in India. The Real Time Data Acquisition Systems (RTDAS) requirements for energy distribution and transmission systems and Automotive Industry Standards (AIS) 140 requirements for GPS trackers for public vehicles are some examples. Apart from end-use of Lantronix products in India, Indian IT companies are involved in implementing turnkey IoT projects for deployment other regions and they make choices about IoT building blocks in their integration labs in India.

What are the challenges in industrial automation and what would be your offerings to overcome these challenges.
Smart sensors and IoT gateways form the basic building blocks of SCADA which is a critical function in industrial automation.
Interoperability and data security are big challenges in collecting and transmitting data. IoT gateways from Lantronix help with collecting real time data from a variety of interfaces including legacy interfaces and securely transmit the data to cloud storage. This helps to improve the overall efficiency of industrial processes and reduce or even eliminate down time through predictive maintenance. Lantronix IoT gateways are already playing a major role in business analytics by acquiring such data from industrial equipment.

How do you plan to increase the turnover from $56 million to $2 billion?
In fiscal 2019, we achieved $48 million in revenue. We are currently targeting 15% growth and will do about $56 million in fiscal 2020 and the target is to achieve $2 billion in the near future.

How big is the addressable industrial IoT gateway market?
Industrial IoT gateway market is close to $1 billion in 2019. Going by even the most conservative estimates, IIoT gateways market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13%. That puts the marketsize over $2 billion by 2024. With our expanded offerings, Lantronix is positioned to address most of this market.

Can you detail your growth strategy for connected devices with innovative IoT solutions.
We plan to grow organically as well as through acquisition of connectivity products and services. For instance, we recently acquired Maestro Wireless to strengthen our presence in the cellular IoT market. This acquisition brings cellular modems, routers and intelligent position trackers with sensors to our portfolio of products. Such acquisitions will fill gaps in our offerings. We are also making major investments in development of cloud-based management products for IoT devices and data. New government regulations like real time data acquisition system and AIS 140 in India are opening up new application for IoT gateways and tracker products in several other countries also.

We are working with system integrators to find new applications for existing products. Lantronix products have been in the market for decades and have established great reputation for quality as well as support. As we expand our product portfolio and application areas, these will become a preferred brand for IoT customers.