A German company which pioneered the use of mobile phones for remote monitoring and control, has set up a UK operation based in London – its first office outside Germany. James Hannay has been appointed managing director of Schad Automation’s UK operation and vice-president of global sales and marketing.

Schad, founded in 2007, specialises in phone-based systems for monitoring and controlling automated systems via WiFi or GPRS. As well as industrial installations, the technology has also been applied to logistics systems, and to airport infrastructures. Current users of Schad’s Extend7000 system include a frozen food manufacturer, a paint manufacturer and the chemicals giant, BASF.

The system is also being used to monitor and control baggage-handling equipment, energy supplies, access controls, apron lighting and other automated systems at Berlin’s new Brandenburg international airport, due to open in 2012.

“We are at the tip of the iceberg as the use of mobile applications within business starts to really take hold, thanks to the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets which already run many aspects of our lives,” says Christian Schad (above), the company’s founder and CEO. He believes that his company’s pioneering involvement, with more than 50 man-years of software development so far, will keep it ahead of more recent entrants to the phone-based monitoring market.

Initially Schad concentrated on systems based on BlackBerry phones, but it now adding support for iPhones, tablet PCs, and Android and Windows smartphones.