IoT is currently one of the fastest-growing technology domains worldwide. Smart devices have gradually become part of everyday life – from smart home systems and industrial automation to energy management and urban infrastructure. Behind the apparent simplicity of such solutions lie complex engineering systems, wireless protocols, and years of hands-on expertise from development teams.
To discuss how the IoT market is evolving, which technologies are coming to the forefront, and what demands clients bring today, we spoke with Vladimir Stepanchenko, IoT Business Unit Manager at DSR Corporation (DSR). Vladimir has worked with wireless and embedded technologies for more than 20 years, regularly attends international conferences, and is involved in delivering large-scale IoT projects around the world.
DSR has been working with the Zigbee protocol since its early days, accumulating nearly 15 years of hands-on experience as the standard evolved from a niche technology into a global IoT foundation. How have client expectations and project complexity changed?
Over the past two decades, IoT has matured from basic connectivity into secure and scalable infrastructure delivering measurable business impact.
Today, expectations are completely different. Those same manufacturers now support millions of smart devices deployed globally across residential and commercial environments, and projects are no longer just about connectivity, but about managing secure, interoperable ecosystems. Clients expect Zigbee to work smoothly alongside Matter, Bluetooth, Z-Wave, and other standards, with fast onboarding and reliable long-term operation. Zigbee 4.0, introduced by the Connectivity Standards Alliance at the end of 2025, reflects this evolution by improving reliability, simplifying large-scale deployments, and strengthening security and commissioning. At this scale, manufacturers also need to securely update devices in the field, and DSR helps enable that through ZBOSS, our Zigbee software stack, and solutions like zHome, our white-label smart-home cloud offering.
Uzbekistan is actively developing its digital infrastructure – smart cities and industrial digitalization. What opportunities do you see for Zigbee-based IoT solutions in the region?
Zigbee-based solutions are particularly well suited for large-scale industrial and urban deployments and can add a lot of value to Uzbekistan’s Digital Uzbekistan–2030 initiative that is aimed at modernizing public services, industry, and urban infrastructure. For example, the technology can be applied in smart cities for lighting systems, resource metering, and building management, ensuring stable performance and scalable deployments.
How do you assess the readiness and potential of Uzbekistan’s IT market for large-scale IoT adoption?
Uzbekistan’s IT market demonstrates strong readiness for large-scale IoT adoption. The country’s Digital Uzbekistan–2030 strategy outlines a clear commitment to digital transformation across public services, industry, and urban infrastructure. Combined with expanding digital infrastructure and growing engagement from both government and business sectors, this creates strong conditions for large-scale IoT adoption.
You work not only with smart homes but also with industrial IoT solutions. Can you share an example where wireless technologies solved a challenge that wired systems could not?
One common challenge in industrial and commercial environments is that many facilities are already fully constructed, and installing new cabling can be extremely expensive, time-consuming, and operationally disruptive. In such cases, traditional wired infrastructure is not always a viable option.
We encountered exactly this situation in a business center where the client needed to optimize lighting and window coverings control. By leveraging wireless technologies, we were able to deploy the solution without reconstruction or additional infrastructure investment.
Beyond solving the immediate technical constraint, this approach significantly reduced implementation timelines and overall project costs, while preserving flexibility for future system expansion.
DSR is expanding its presence across different countries. What attracted the company to the Uzbek market, and how has your presence here evolved over the past three years?
Asia is a strategically important region for DSR, and we have been working in this direction for many years, delivering large-scale projects. For example, our Bluetooth stack has been actively commercialized in Japan by major clients such as Casio and Panasonic. We have also participated in other major initiatives, including software development for Japan’s Shinkansen railway lines.
We opened our office in Uzbekistan and established the legal entity Software Wizards in 2020, largely thanks to the development of IT Park Uzbekistan and resident-support programs. The country attracts strong young specialists, many of whom speak multiple languages, which is essential for international projects. Over this period, our Tashkent team grew from five to forty people.
We see significant market potential and are ready to share our expertise, contribute to the country’s digital development, and grow alongside the industry. We see Uzbekistan not only as a growing market, but as a strategically important part of the broader Eurasian digital transformation landscape.
Since 2022, we have also expanded our educational efforts by launching free online courses for Uzbek citizens. Students work with seasoned engineering mentors on real projects, build practical portfolios, and the strongest graduates are invited to join our team.
DSR runs several free educational programs for engineers together with universities. Do you plan similar initiatives in Uzbekistan, and which specialists are currently in highest demand in the IoT market?
Yes, we intend to continue developing such educational initiatives. We already participate in career days at the Moscow State University branch in Tashkent and at TUIT, and we look forward to deeper cooperation with local universities.
Over the past year, four courses were held in Tashkent: JS Bootcamp, QA School Application, QA School Embedded, and Embedded Systems Lab. A total of 36 students took part, with 18 successfully completing the programs. This selective approach enables us to prepare specialists who are genuinely ready to work with industrial and embedded solutions. Training is built around real-world tasks and mentorship from practicing engineers.
Today, embedded engineers and wireless-technology specialists are particularly in high demand. We believe systematic cooperation with universities is one of the key ways to build strong local expertise and ensure the sustainable development of the IoT ecosystem in the region.
What three major global technology trends in IoT, Embedded, and Wireless development will dominate the market in the coming years, and how is DSR Corporation preparing for these changes?
Three key trends will shape the future of IoT: security, scalability, and hardware interoperability.
Security has become a fundamental requirement rather than a competitive advantage. As IoT systems increasingly operate in mission-critical industrial and urban environments, regulatory frameworks, particularly in the European Union, are introducing mandatory cybersecurity standards. Devices that do not comply will simply not be allowed to enter the market.
In response, we design our architectures, implement a security-by-design approach, and test solutions for vulnerabilities. In some cases, legacy devices can be upgraded through software, but if protective mechanisms were not embedded at the hardware-design stage, modernization becomes impossible.
The second trend is scalability. IoT projects are increasingly turning into infrastructures consisting of hundreds of endpoints, raising requirements for connection reliability, update management, security, and stable performance under load. We apply this large-scale experience across both enterprise and consumer environments – our wireless stacks are used in tens of millions of Amazon devices with Alexa, where long-term reliability and lifecycle support are critical.
The third trend is hardware optimization. The industry is moving toward unified standards that allow devices from different manufacturers to operate within shared ecosystems. This shift is driving demand for multi-protocol architectures built on a single radio platform.
This drives demand for universal solutions based on a single radio chip capable of running multiple protocols in parallel, for example, Zigbee and Matter over Thread. We have implemented such an architecture in our proprietary Multi-PAN technology, where two logically independent networks operate on the same physical radio.
At DSR Corporation, we anticipate these trends by investing in platform development, actively participating in standards organizations around wireless protocols, strengthening expertise in wireless and embedded architectures, and building solutions designed for secure, scalable, and interoperable IoT ecosystems.
Владимир Степанченко,
руководитель подразделения IoT компании DSR