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Myriota appoints Robert Barnes as VP EMEA in global expansion move
Tue, 27th Feb 2024

Adelaide-based satellite IoT enterprise, Myriota, has announced the appointment of Robert Barnes as VP EMEA, marking a significant step in the company's international expansion. This follows the firm's successful growth in the Asia-Pacific region as well as in North and Latin America, and demonstrates its ongoing commitment to global expansion.

Renowned for its pioneering direct-to-satellite IoT communications, Myriota has achieved a world-first in transmitting IoT data direct to a nanosatellite. The company's innovative technology delivers unrivalled reliability, providing ready-to-deploy ground hardware that dramatically outperforms alternatives in the market. Notably, Myriota's technology can offer up to ten years of battery life from just two AA batteries, compared to a few months delivered by other providers. This energy efficiency results in substantial reductions in carbon emissions and allows for a total cost of ownership up to 50 times lower than the nearest comparable monitoring solution.

The Myriota module, an embodiment of the world's lowest-powered industrial IoT (IIoT) solution, can be utilised to deploy scalable IoT devices that capture data from anywhere on Earth. The global pump manufacturing giant, Grundfos, which is based in Denmark, has previously leveraged Myriota's technology to augment their operations over substantial distances, minimise energy use and boost sustainability. In 2023, Grundfos used Myriota's low Earth orbit satellite technology to launch Solar Connect, a system for remote water monitoring designed to protect animals and crops.

Tom Drew, Global Business Development Manager at Grundfos, states, "Myriota is a crucial partner for our business, having helped us to implement the world's lowest-powered IIoT connectivity in our pumps...The Grundfos and Myriota partnership has enabled us to bring a unique solution to market, allowing customers to monitor their complete water asset. Our ambition is to continue to bring these benefits to our customers on a global scale."

Myriota's expansion into the EMEA region coincides with considerable demand and investment in numerous markets. With the IoT market in Africa projected to be worth $239 billion by 2028, the demand for digitisation across various industry sch as agriculture, transportation and environmental sectors is rising. Apart from Grundfos, Myriota's advanced remote sensing and tracking capabilities are being utilised worldwide by customers, such as Gasbot and the Australian Department of Defence.

In his new role as VP EMEA, Robert Barnes will report to Mike Kerrigan, the Chief Commercial Officer at Myriota, and will oversee sales, marketing and customer success within the EMEA region. Barnes brings over 25 years of professional expertise from the advanced wireless technology industry to the role, including experience at AccelerComm, ARM, and Oracle.

Upon his appointment, Barnes says, "It is an incredibly exciting time to be joining the business - satellite-based IoT solutions will play a key role in achieving a more sustainable future. I can't wait to help customers in EMEA take advantage of Myriota's unrivalled patented technology. Our technology addresses the communication challenges of power, performance and spectrum limitations. Simply put, it just works."

In response to Barnes's appointment, Mike Kerrigan, Myriota's CCO, says, "There is nobody better to spearhead our EMEA growth than Robert. He brings the perfect blend of product strategy, technological knowledge, and customer empathy to map Myriota’s capabilities to business needs."