Nexalware AI is building an infrastructure platform designed to connect the physical world with intelligent software, beginning with an AIoT Gateway that could help developers and businesses build smarter, more autonomous systems without having to create complex underlying infrastructure from scratch.
In an exclusive interview with AIBase reporter Ahmad Ibrahim, the company explained that its broader ambition is to develop an infrastructure layer connecting physical devices, data and artificial intelligence, while taking into account the realities of connectivity, power and infrastructure across Africa.
“Nexalware is building an AIoT infrastructure that connects physical devices to software and makes it easier to build intelligent systems,” the company said.
The long-term vision, however, extends beyond its current product.
“The bigger vision is to build the infrastructure layer that sits between the physical world and the digital world, so developers and businesses can build smart and autonomous systems without having to build all the difficult infrastructure from scratch.”
For now, Nexalware is starting with its minimum viable product, the AIoT Gateway.
Starting with the AIoT Gateway
According to the company, the Gateway is designed to connect IoT devices and physical hardware with software applications, enabling data generated by those devices to be collected, managed, processed and used by applications.
“The Gateway is the part that connects IoT devices and hardware to applications, allowing data from those devices to be collected, managed, processed and used by software,” Nexalware said.
The company believes one of the major challenges in building intelligent physical systems is the complexity developers face when dealing with multiple devices, communication protocols, data flows, security requirements and AI systems.
“Building intelligent hardware systems today can require developers to deal with many different devices, communication methods, data, security and AI systems separately. We want to make that process much easier.”
While Nexalware’s ambitions include the future development of additional layers, including NexaOS and NexaBoard, the company was careful to distinguish its current product from its longer-term roadmap.
“Our long-term vision is bigger than the Gateway,” Nexalware said. “We want to eventually build the operating system and hardware layer that will work together with the Gateway to create a complete AIoT infrastructure. But those are part of our roadmap, not products we are claiming to have fully built today.”
What AIoT means in practical terms
AIoT — the combination of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things — is intended to move connected devices beyond simply collecting and transmitting data.
“In simple terms, AIoT is when you combine connected physical devices with intelligence,” the company explained.
“A normal IoT device can collect information and send it somewhere. AIoT goes a step further by allowing the system to understand that information, identify patterns and eventually make decisions or take actions.”
Nexalware offered the example of an industrial machine being monitored by sensors. Rather than merely reporting that a machine is becoming hotter, an intelligent system could recognise that the temperature is unusual, identify a potential problem and trigger an alert or other action.
“For businesses, the value is really about making physical systems more intelligent, easier to monitor and able to respond faster,” the company said.
“That is what we want Nexalware to make easier for developers and businesses.”
Building for unreliable connectivity
One of the considerations shaping Nexalware’s long-term approach is the reality of inconsistent internet access and power supply in many African markets.
“We are building with the reality of African infrastructure in mind, where internet connectivity and power can sometimes be unreliable,” the company said.
The long-term objective is to enable certain intelligent systems to continue carrying out important functions without relying entirely on a continuous internet connection.
“Some intelligence and decision-making should happen close to the device itself.”
This approach is closely linked to edge AI, where some processing takes place near the source of the data rather than relying entirely on remote cloud infrastructure.
Nexalware said its planned NexaOS layer could eventually support this capability, allowing devices to continue performing essential operations during connectivity disruptions before synchronising with the wider platform when internet access returns.
However, the company stressed that this functionality remains part of its roadmap.
“I want to be clear that this is part of our roadmap,” Nexalware said. “Our current MVP is the AIoT Gateway, so I don’t want to present the complete offline intelligence system as something we have already finished building.”
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Why edge AI could matter for Africa
Nexalware believes edge AI could make artificial intelligence more practical in environments where connectivity cannot always be taken for granted.
“A lot of AI systems depend heavily on sending data to the cloud before something can happen,” the company said. “But when you have a physical system that needs to respond immediately, waiting for the internet can become a problem.”
By processing some information closer to where it is generated, edge AI could enable faster responses, reduce the volume of data that must be continuously transmitted and allow certain operations to continue when connectivity is disrupted.
“For Africa, this is important because we have very different infrastructure conditions from many other parts of the world,” Nexalware said.
The company argued that Africa should not focus solely on importing or adopting technologies developed for other environments.
“We should not only think about how to bring existing AI technology into Africa. We should also think about how to build AI systems that actually work well with the realities we have here.”
From agriculture to energy and healthcare
Rather than focusing exclusively on a single sector, Nexalware sees potential applications for AIoT infrastructure across multiple industries.
Agriculture is one area where the company believes connected sensors and intelligent systems could support monitoring and decision-making.
“We can use sensors and intelligent systems to monitor things like soil conditions and improve irrigation decisions,” it said.
Energy is another area of interest, particularly given the operational and infrastructure challenges facing electricity systems.
“Intelligent monitoring can help businesses and energy operators understand what is happening with their systems and make better decisions.”
The company also identified healthcare, manufacturing, water management, transportation and smart buildings as sectors where AIoT could become increasingly relevant.
“For us, the bigger opportunity is not to build only for one industry,” Nexalware said. “We want to build infrastructure that developers and businesses can use to create solutions across different industries.”
An honest assessment of the company’s current stage
Nexalware is still at the MVP stage and does not yet claim to have a large base of production customers or widespread deployments.
The company was explicit about this during the interview, declining to present hypothetical use cases as existing customer success stories.
“At the moment, we are still at the MVP stage, so I don’t want to give a false impression that we already have a large number of customers using Nexalware in production,” it said.
“Our current product is the AIoT Gateway, and we are building and validating the infrastructure around it.”
Instead, the company described the type of challenge it intends to address.
A business operating multiple physical devices may otherwise need to build separate systems to connect those devices, manage the resulting data, establish operational rules, introduce intelligent capabilities and integrate everything into its own applications.
“Nexalware is being designed to provide that infrastructure layer,” the company said. “That is the problem we are currently working towards solving.”
The company said its immediate focus is on validating the technology and preparing the Gateway for adoption by developers and businesses.
“We have a much bigger vision for Nexalware, but we are building it one layer at a time,” it said. “The Gateway is where we are starting.”
Because Nexalware is yet to establish a significant customer deployment base, the company also declined to claim measurable customer outcomes that do not yet exist.
“I don’t want to manufacture numbers or give people the impression that we have achieved customer results that we haven’t,” it said.
As deployments begin, Nexalware intends to measure factors including the speed at which developers can connect devices, the reliability of device-data handling, potential reductions in development time and operational improvements for businesses using intelligent systems.
“I believe those are the numbers that will matter when we start measuring customer impact,” the company said.
Building the foundation before making bigger announcements
Nexalware also declined to make premature announcements regarding partnerships, funding or expansion plans.
“At this point, I don’t want to announce something simply because it sounds good for an interview,” the company said.
Instead, it said its focus remains on establishing the technological foundation through the AIoT Gateway.
“There are bigger things planned for Nexalware, including the future development of NexaOS and NexaBoard, but those are part of our long-term roadmap and I would rather announce them properly when they are ready.”
For now, the company said, “the important thing is that we are building the first layer of the infrastructure and moving from the vision into something real”.
‘AI is much bigger than chatbots’
Nexalware believes one of the most significant misconceptions about artificial intelligence among African businesses is the tendency to associate the technology primarily with chatbots and generative content.
“One of the biggest misunderstandings is that AI is only about chatbots or generating content,” the company said. “AI is much bigger than that.”
The company argued that AI can increasingly be applied to physical systems, helping organisations understand data, identify potential problems, make predictions and automate decisions.
“Agriculture, energy, manufacturing, healthcare, transportation and many other areas can use AI to understand data, identify problems, make predictions and automate decisions,” Nexalware said.
It also argued that African businesses and technology builders should look beyond simply adopting technologies developed elsewhere.
“I believe we should also be building our own infrastructure and solutions around the problems we actually have here.”
Africa’s particular challenges — including connectivity, power, cost and wider infrastructure limitations — require technology that is designed with those operating realities in mind, the company said.
“Africa has different challenges, especially around connectivity, power, cost and infrastructure. So we need technology that is designed with those realities in mind.”
That belief, Nexalware said, is central to the reason behind the company’s creation.
“The vision is not just to build another AI product. We want to build infrastructure that can help developers and businesses build intelligent physical systems, starting from Africa but with the ability to scale globally.”
For now, that journey begins with the AIoT Gateway.
“And we are starting small with the AIoT Gateway, then building the other layers as we grow,” the company said. “One layer at a time.”
