Aizo and eSmart merge aiming for global expansion

Through its powerline technology, Aizo (known in Switzerland under the brand digitalstrom) is able to upgrade existing electrical wires in a building to a smart data network. That way, the Aizo solution connects and controls both analogue and smart devices, making them all part of a single smart home universe, simple to install and easy to use.

The group, based in Switzerland, is currently the European leader in low speed powerline technology for smart home technology, with more than 16 000 homes installed and over 650.000 connected devices. Aizo Group has 80 employees in Switzerland (Schlieren, Lausanne), Germany (Wetzlar) and Belgium (Mechelen).

The company has achieved significant growth over the past years, organically as well as through merger and acquisitions. Its current core markets are Switzerland, Germany and Benelux but they are sold in more than 10 countries and Aizo was able to validate its technology in around 30 countries globally.

2020, the year of global expansion

The merger of the three companies - Aizo, eSmart and One Smart Control (2018) - increases both the commercial reach and the speed of deployment in Europe as the companies serve complementary market segments and different geographical areas. Fabrizio Lo Conte, founder of eSMART took the role of Group CEO.

But that is not where Aizo’s ambition stops. “Our ambition is very clear", says the group’s executive board member, Roeland Pelgrims. “We want to expand globally. The appointment of Aglaia Kong as a colleague in the board will help us to prepare for this. We are excited that a world class executive believes so much in us that she is willing to give us her support. As a former CTO at Google and Cisco she hast vast experience in smart homes and IoT. At the same time her experience at Symantec will help us to focus even more on security.”

Leading tech executive becomes board member

Aglaia Kong was Google Corporate Network CTO overseeing Google and Alphabet network infrastructure. She was also part of Google Cloud CTO Office and initiated Google Cloud IOT Core. She defined and drove Google smart building effort worldwide and educated the industrial on the approach for smart buildings. Before Google, Aglaia Kong was the Cisco’s CTO for IOE (Internet of Everything) Solution Group and VP of Technology leading solution innovation for IOT.

Aglaia Kong is CTO for Henderson Land Group; Chairman for LeapFive, focusing on chip; CEO/CTO for ExaLeap, a technology company focusing on smart home, smart enterprise, smart health and smart city solutions for social impact. Henderson Land Development is a leading property developer with businesses in Hong Kong and throughout mainland China.