Mr. Hassan Shahzad, Head of Engineering at BlueEast Pvt. Ltd. (a sister company of Orient), was invited to Namal College, Mianwali to attend a workshop held on the 3^rd of February, 2018. Based on the subject “A Thorough Introduction to the Internet of Things (IoT)” and focused on introducing students to the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) phenomenon, where the industry will be in the coming years and how they can help in taking the IoT industry in Pakistan forward.

Along with Mr. Shahzad, the workshop was attended by professors, security lab directors and engineering experts working for some of the best organizations globally, including RISE SICS, INNEXIV, the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and Namal College. All these professionals came together to familiarize students with the IoT framework, inform them about operational structuring and tell them how they can contribute in eradicating some of Pakistan’s most pressing problems using IoT.

Mr. Hassan Shahzad spoke on the topic “World’s First Smart Air Conditioner (IoT enabled) with built-in Energy Meter and Beyond.” During his lecture, he acquainted students with Mr. Abdul Rehman Talat’s (CEO BlueEast) dream of an energy-smart, tech-forward Pakistan by introducing Orient Group's eComfort technology aimed towards home automation and smart functionality. He told them that Pakistan’s best engineering and IoT tech experts were working day night at BlueEast to better this technology that could potentially hold the key to eradicating Pakistan’s energy shortfall.

Mr. Shahzad went on to explain how Orient Group had already launched eComfort to the common consumer through its new series of smart air conditioners that reduce power consumption by a whopping 60%. He then played Orient Group's newest eComfort commercial, featuring Shahid Afridi. The moment the video played, a buzz of excitement and exhilaration swept through the attending student body. They were understandably excited to see their favourite cricketer on-screen and showed an immediate interest in trying out eComfort in the near future.

The MEVRIS application was also introduced to the students and Mr. Shahzad demonstrated how customers can keep tabs on their AC’s electric, power and current consumption in real-time through interactive and easy-to-understand graphs and charts. He went on to emphasize how customers can control their ACs, turn them on and off from anywhere, set budgets, watch and streamline their AC consumption with the stats and data provided by MEVRIS. He told students that BlueEast believed in walking with the times, which is why eComfort and MEVRIS worked great with Google Home, Amazon Alexa, Facebook Messenger, Slack and Skype.

Mr. Shahzad left feeling thoroughly impressed with the session. He stated,

“I went in with the intention of telling our upcoming leaders about Mr. Abdul Rehman Talat’s mission for the future of a Pakistan that’s bright and tech-smart. Mr. Talat dreams of building a modern Pakistani household that doesn’t just save up on energy but is intelligently automated and self-sufficient and he believes there’s no better way to achieve that dream than through IoT application. What we do here at BlueEast is aimed at achieving that very future.”

Mr. Hassan Shahzad was also asked to participate in a panel discussion where students posed questions to him and his fellow experts about IoT, what it means for the future of IT in Pakistan and how they can carve a future for themselves in the industry. Mr. Shahzad was thoroughly impressed with the students’ inquisitive minds, their curiosity to learn more about the milestones BlueEast has achieved in IoT, eComfort and beyond and their will to do something for their country. He left believing that the country’s next generation had a fire in them that would set the country roaring towards a bright future.