WeKnow Media Ltd, the award organisers, are pleased to announce the shortlisted nominees of the 2019 IoT Global Awards!

“This is only the second year of the IoT Global Awards and it is inspiring to see so many new and exciting Internet of Things innovations already in action,” says Jeremy Cowan, Editorial Director of IoT Global Network, the headline sponsor behind the 2019 IoT Global Awards.

“We have been truly impressed by the hard work and ingenuity that has gone into the IoT solutions and applications submitted to us by organisations worldwide. The shortlisted entries met our strict selection criteria and will now be assessed by an Unrivalled panel of independent Experts”

The shortlisted nominees are:

IoT PRODUCT / SERVICE OF THE YEAR

Automotive, transport & travel

Big data, cloud & analytics

Connected consumer & smart home

Connected health or wearable tech

Industry & construction

Research & development or new launch

Retail, marketing & hospitality

Securing IoT

 
Smart cities, government & utilities

IoT BUSINESS EXCELLENCE

CxO of the year

Start up, business development or ecosystem of the year

The winners will be announced on October 11^th by leading IoT media brands; IoT Now, IoT Global Network, VanillaPlus, IoT Now Transport, IoT Events Hub and IoT White Book.  Our proud media partners,  Geo Connexion, iSCOOP and IoT For All, will also share the announcement via their own media portals and social networks.

A huge ‘Thank You’ to all those who entered their IoT products, services and talent in the awards and many congratulations to all the shortlisted nominees.

For any further information on the IoT Global Awards, go to www.iotglobalawards.com

September 25, 2019

Posted by: IoT global network

Innovative start-up futurioX of Bolzano, founded by systems srl in autumn of 2016, that creates specialised solutions for the “Internet of Things.” (more…)

March 13, 2019

Posted by: Avadhoot Patil

Zest4 have confirmed their dedication to M2M & IoT solutions by licensing the Emport IoT platform from Arkessa, a leading M2M/IoT connectivity service provider. This association gives Zest4 the ability to deliver IoT MVNO services solutions alongside new communications technology, to maximise the IoT revenue opportunities not only in the UC channel, but to existing IoT suppliers and IoT solutions developers across all verticals.

Zest4 have acquired this capability to ensure their partners can access multiple networks, both in the UK and globally. Enabled by Arkessa’s Emport platform, partners have ultimate control under one management billing platform to manage their entire estate of SIMS irrespective of mobile network operator. Not only this, but they will be able to; track SIM usage individually, by sub estates, or in entirety; monitor data alerts, caps and SIM data allowance usage; produce data usage reports with ease and organise their estates through tags and categories of their choice.

The deal means Zest4 can offer an IoT tariff for any opportunity that a partner uncovers – with their usual competitive pricing and commercial flexibility.

Anton le Saux, Zest4’s Head of IoT said “Arkessa’s Emport is a proven Enterprise MVNO platform which we can now leverage, customise and target at UC channel businesses, verifying our position as a leading provider of IoT.”

Philip McDermott, Arkessa’s COO said “Arkessa is delighted to enable Zest4 with our Emport IoT platform, with such a strong track record of working with strategic partners to deliver UC solutions which are easy to understand and include high quality equipment, competitive prices and proactive support, it is a great fit. The Arkessa Platform-as-a-Service solution gives Zest4 the freedom to pursue their channel-focussed approach to IoT.”

January 16, 2019

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IoT analytics can be divided into two broad categories: device data analytics and network analytics. A further division can be made into descriptive, diagnostic, predictive and prescriptive analytics. These are generic terms that predate IoT, but they are just as relevant today. The early analysis of enterprise data, e.g. data generated by mainstream systems like CRM and ERP, was and still is done with a Business Intelligence platform. (more…)

December 7, 2018

Posted by: IoT global network

Event date: January 29 – February 1, 2019
Lauderdale, Florida, USA

November 15, 2018

Posted by: IoT global network

IoT devices have evolved into smart network endpoints that can perform intelligent actions on their own and the result is an increasing number of complex networks comprising smart products that need to be managed as a unified system. Connectivity management platforms provide the requisite service portfolio, which is employed by communication service providers, solution providers, systems integrators and the business community. (more…)

October 23, 2018

Posted by: IoT global network

Interoperability is coming: it’s only a question of when, not if. The IoT is predicated on the creation of a web of platforms that support smart environments in cities, manufacturing, health, energy and so on. Companies that want to work closely with their partners are creating smart ecosystems that comprise different platforms. Therefore an efficient, secure flow of information between platforms is required. It’s required for applications like the value chains of manufacturers and it becomes a critical issue when companies are acquired. Moreover a recent McKinsey report indicates that up to 40 percent of the value of the IoT can only be enabled with interoperability. (more…)

Posted by: IoT global network

ARM, the British chip designer acquired by Softbank in September 2016 for $32 billion, recently acquired Stream Technologies for an undisclosed sum. Stream is a mobile virtual network, based in Glasgow, UK, that provides companies with a build once, deploy anywhere supply chain where any IoT device can be deployed, find a network, self-authenticate, automatically provision and connect to the lowest cost channel.

ARM is the industry’s leading supplier of microprocessor technology and the company’s marketing focuses on having its processor designs used in the expected hundreds of billions of future IoT devices. In order to realise that objective ARM was created and continuously developed Mbed technology as a way to support device creation and deployment. And in Q3 the company announced a new “device-to-data” IoT platform, known as ARM Pelion.

ARM acquired Stream in order to address connectivity management. Stream provides wireless connectivity across cellular, satellite, and low-power wide area networks. This enabled ARM Pelion to combine its own device management service, known as Mbed Cloud, with the connectivity management functionality of Stream Technologies. This combination provides a single pane of glass visibility of connectivity and device management across all devices regardless of location or network type. It gives organizations an end-to-end IoT platform for managing, connecting, provisioning and updating devices that is flexible and scalable.

This development was subsequently followed by the acquisition of Treasure Data, a company that marketed a cloud-based data management platform which enterprises use to unify data from different sources and provide a single, actionable view. Data management is needed to address the growing issues around IoT data volume, velocity and variety. Adding this capability to the Pelion IoT Platform will enable organizations to quickly, securely and sustainably create actionable insights from IoT, enterprise and third-party data.

October 19, 2018

Posted by: IoT global network

If you missed the webinar don’t worry!
Catch up with our highlights below and register here to stream the live recording.

Participants: IoT Now, IoT M2M Council, ARM, Beecham Research

Highlights
The Webinar started with two on-line polls of the areas of interest and the challenges of the participants. The first was the role of IoT in the organisation: user, OEM, application developer, solutions vendor, or systems integrator / consultant. About 50% were solution vendors and 50% users of various types, including consultants. This is more or less as expected. The second was the challenges: government regulation; internal conflicts, difficult to establish the right businesses model; lack of funding / skills; interoperability and standards. The business model was seen as the primary challenge, with interoperability also a significant challenge.

The on-line polls were followed by an introduction to IoT platforms and their use in the marketplace. Topics covered included the four key components: the application development layer plus the data, device and connectivity management layers, which are becoming increasingly complex. This was followed by an architectural view of the platform, i.e. the four main components, plus three additional categories – consumer centric, vertical-centric, such as Smart City platforms, and developer centric, plus end-to-end security which affects all categories.

This was followed by a graph showing the accelerating growth in the number of platforms in recent years. It is not slowing down: over 400 in 2016; 450 in 2017; over 500 right now and counting. Consolidation is taking place, but not a lot. Big companies are acquiring smaller companies in order to add more functionality. The wide choice will continue for the foreseeable future, hence the need for a way of helping users match their IoT requirements with the relevant platform or platforms.

That is something Beecham Research and IoT Global Network have been working on and now there is an online platform-matching tool known as IoT Pilot. It is free for adopters and has been designed to help enterprises evaluate and navigate the IoT platform landscape. This tool is not intended to generate a final selection; the aim is to provide an objective short list of candidate platforms.

Usage of the tool starts by entering responses to key questions. IoT Pilot employs the resulting search data to match the user‘s needs with a database of IoT platforms and create a short list that is available online straightaway. The same data is also summarised and analysed by Beecham Research to highlight emerging trends in the market place as well as key user requirements and concerns.

The short list identifies the name of the platform and the vendor, the category, plus a “heat map” of the platform’s strengths and weaknesses. Heat maps are a visual representation of capability of the various components of the platform: they are the results of analysis conducted by Beecham Research. In addition, there is a button on some of the individual platform pages that users can employ to auto-generate an email containing their selection criteria, to start a discussion with selected vendors.

Once users have a short list of platforms to look at – what next? Ideally they will want to approach some vendors with a list of questions to answer, so they can make a final selection and move towards implementing their chosen IoT solution. This is where work on an IoT software RFP, fronted by the IMC and on which Beecham Research also worked, comes into focus. A template RFP covering IoT platforms was created from this work that includes nearly 100 questions to ask platform vendors in order to learn more about their capabilities. This RFP template is available from the IMC (www.iotm2mcouncil.org).

Posted by: IoT global network

While you can do IoT without an IoT platform, it certainly aids getting an IoT solution up and running quickly and probably at lower cost than alternative approaches. Middleware is needed to enable communications between the OT (operation technology) domain where data is generated and the business IT (information technology) domain where it is used. That’s the baseline function of an IoT platform. Middleware is also employed to facilitate secure monitoring, control and analysis of device and sensor behaviour in the field. IoT platforms are therefore a key enabling product. Their functionality largely determines the performance and efficiency of IoT solutions.

Given the prognosis for the growth of IoT it is hardly surprising that a plethora of platform vendors have thrown their hat into the arena. Depending on what the term ‘IoT platform’ covers, right now there are upwards of 500 in the market in all shapes and sizes. That means the market is ultra-competitive and it is also confusing because vendors make similar, often overhyped claims for their product. In addition, it is hard to make apples versus apples comparisons since the platforms often address different requirements. A solution that employs over a hundred thousand devices will need a platform that is communications centric. One that requires integration with existing enterprise systems required will require a robust device management capability.

Those are two of five major categories that Beecham Research employs. In addition to device management and connectivity they include security, application development and data management/analytics as well as vertical market-specific platforms, such as Smart City oriented and developer-oriented. Vendors will typically focus on their area of expertise, but platform strengths have to align with solution needs: it’s a make or break issue. Therefore the requisite solution may involve a combination of different platforms covering different layers in the overall IoT stack.

Replacing confusion with clarity
Evaluating the performance of 500 platforms is clearly a difficult, time-consuming process and it becomes an even more significant issue when two or more platforms are required. Users may elect to “play safe” and go with one of the heavy hitters. However – which one? This can also result in a platform that is expensive, over-engineered and not optimised for the particular solution requirement.

Beecham Research recognised the emergence of this issue and created a comprehensive database on the various platforms as well as a matching tool known as IoT Pilot. Users enter their baseline requirements and IoT Pilot is then employed to navigate the database and give the user a list of vendors whose products match the performance criteria.

Performance parameters are analysed and presented in a structured way for all products, which facilitates comparisons. In addition, there is background information on the relevant vendors, bullet points on the key strengths and categories, together with a “heat map”. This is a 5 x 5 matrix (example above) comprising performance indicators mapped against generic platform functionality. These maps allow users to see a platform’s functionality and performance parameters and thereby obtain a holistic, memorable impression.

In a nutshell, the service replaces multiple product confusion with insightful clarity.

Posted by: IoT global network