Huawei Eco-Connect Europe 2018: IoT Strategy Depends on Ecosystem Investment

by John Marcus, posted in Internet of Things
J. Marcus

Summary Bullets:

  • Huawei made clear its strategy is now based on ‘platform + ecosystem.’ This is the case across the business, but nowhere more acutely than in IoT.
  • While investing in the ecosystem is a requirement, its diverse nature makes for a highly fragmented IoT market.

Huawei held its flagship European event in Rome this week, combining a showcase for customers and partners with a series of broad brush announcements around investing in its global digital platforms and ecosystem. The key takeaway from the waterfall of positioning messages is that Huawei not only recognizes its need to partner with other players across its business; it has also made its ecosystem central to its strategy and is therefore investing heavily in strengthening relationships with suppliers, developers, partners, and customers. In the Internet of Things (IoT), it already has a head start, but a number of new developments will support the ongoing commitment to the ecosystem: Continue reading “Huawei Eco-Connect Europe 2018: IoT Strategy Depends on Ecosystem Investment” →

IoT Forecasts Augur Well for Software and Services, a $226 Billion Market by 2023

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
K. Weldon
K. Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • According to GlobalData, the global market for business-focused Internet of Things (IoT) technology, which consists of software, services, connectivity, and devices, reached $130 billion in 2018, and it is projected to reach $318 billion by 2023, a CAGR of 20%.
  • This forecast has implications both for IoT vendors and service providers as well as for the enterprises that will use their products and services to achieve operations improvements, cost reduction, and eventually revenue-generating products and services of their own.

GlobalData’s latest IoT forecast splits out technology into three segments: software and solutions, connectivity, and devices.
Continue reading “IoT Forecasts Augur Well for Software and Services, a $226 Billion Market by 2023” →

Super Micro Supply Chain Attack May Be Fake, But Supply Chain Risk is Genuine

by Eric Parizo, posted in Secure
E. Parizo

Summary Bullets:

• It turns out a recent bombshell report detailing how rogue microchips infected an unknown number of computer servers may not be true.

• The event illustrates that supply chain risk is legitimate, and enterprises must plan for the risk and implement methods to detect such compromises.

Cybersecurity’s biggest mystery is centered on a microchip so small, it might not even exist.

It all started on 4 October, when U.S. news agency Bloomberg reported that many of the motherboards manufactured by Super Micro Computer had been compromised before they ever left the factory. Continue reading “Super Micro Supply Chain Attack May Be Fake, But Supply Chain Risk is Genuine” →

Vodafone Sets Sights on Vertical Services in IoT, but Which Ones Will Take Priority?

by John Marcus, posted in Internet of Things
J. Marcus

Summary Bullets:

  • Vodafone stated at its analyst conference this month that its IoT strategy will focus on vertical services.
  • It has picked five verticals so far, but some reflect future potential rather than previous successes.

At its annual analyst conference, Vodafone’s enterprise business presented updates across its portfolio and associated strategy, and when it came to the Internet of Things (IoT), one thing was clear: a new determination to focus on a set of priority verticals to deliver sector-specific IoT services. The idea is that, if it is to access the biggest market opportunities, it must become more of a technology solution provider in order to maximize growth potential as a trusted, ‘go-to’ supplier in digital industries. Continue reading “Vodafone Sets Sights on Vertical Services in IoT, but Which Ones Will Take Priority?” →

Web Pioneer Lays Out Ambitious Plan to Disrupt Digital World Order

by Amy Larsen DeCarlo, posted in Secure
A. DeCarlo
A. DeCarlo

Summary Bullets:

  • Consumers’ unease with the misinformation, disinformation, and mishandling of personal digital data is driving new regulations and investment in developing new ways to protect content.
  • Inrupt, a startup founded by Tim Berners-Lee, wants to shake up the status quo with technology that will effectively decentralize the web and put more control in the hands of end users.

Twenty-nine years after the first successful Internet transmission using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the protocol’s developer, Tim Berners-Lee, wants to disrupt the web status quo. In an effort to address mounting concerns about privacy on the web, Berners-Lee is forging a path to return control over data access and storage to end users. Berners-Lee’s new startup, Inrupt, is pushing for adoption of an open source platform which could, if widely implemented, effectively decentralize the web. The platform, known as ‘Solid,’ takes aim at the current digital data model in which a relatively small number of dominant web players maintain significant access and storage control over the majority of end-user information. Continue reading “Web Pioneer Lays Out Ambitious Plan to Disrupt Digital World Order” →

SigFox Keeps on Truckin’

by Kitty Weldon, posted in Mobilize
Kathryn Weldon – Research Director, Business Network and IT Services – Americas

Summary Bullets:

• Sigfox, while one of the first LPWAN providers, has been hampered by business and organizational problems, and faces significant competition from LoRa, LTE-M, and NB-IoT alternatives.

• At its annual Connect event the service provider hoped to turn the tide with good news about coverage and traction and a spate of service and network-related announcements.

At its Connect event in Berlin on October 25th, Sigfox sought to displace the growing concern that it is running last in the global race to provide LPWANs, in the face of standardized licensed spectrum alternatives NB-IoT and LTE-M, as well as networks based on competitive LoRaWAN technology, all of which have been gaining ground. The following public announcements from the event show a range of focus areas for the service provider, notably highly accurate, global location-based services for asset tracking, along with technologies that enhance its network performance and ease of deployment benefits.

Public Announcements

• New Micro Base Station. The Access Station Micro provides an adaptable and easy-to-install solution to significantly enhance Sigfox IoT service coverage to billions of devices. A single gateway could cover large rural areas, hundreds of square kilometers without effort. Its extremely low energy consumption enables remote IoT applications where no power source is available with a single small solar panel and a low bandwidth satellite backhaul.
Continue reading “SigFox Keeps on Truckin’” →

Tableau Conference 2018: Hello, This is Your Data Calling

by Brad Shimmin, posted in Big Data
B. Shimmin

Summary Bullets:

• Data and analytics have historically belonged to the technological elite, those able to understand the subtleties of inner vs. outer database joins or those willing to learn the difference between a scatter plot and histogram.

• That’s about to change, thanks to a groundswell of innovations emerging from analytics vendors which promise to make data analysis as easy as asking Google Assistant for the day’s weather forecast.

Here’s a very simple proposition to consider: What if we don’t really need citizen data scientists or business-savvy data specialists to realize the current dream shared by most in the enterprise data and analytics marketplace — that dream being the true democratization of data and data-driven insights.

What if instead of asking data specialist to put together a static report — an often iterative and time consuming process — anyone in an organization could type out the simple question, “What were this quarter’s sales numbers?” and get back a timely and accurate data visualization of that quarter’s sales numbers. Continue reading “Tableau Conference 2018: Hello, This is Your Data Calling” →

Your Food Chain on Blockchain: The Coming Shakeup

by Chris Drake, posted in IT Leader
C. Drake

Summary Bullets:

  • Blockchain digital ledger technology can make complex food supply chains more transparent, while delivering a range of benefits for food producers, distributors, retailers, and consumers.
  • However, these are early days for blockchain as a supply chain management technology, with limitations including the challenge of verifying the authenticity of data supplied to the platform.

Several innovative applications of blockchain, the distributed digital ledger technology, illustrate the technology’s potential use beyond its cryptocurrency origins. One promising application of blockchain is as platform for improving the efficiency and transparency of global food supply chains. Here, we are already seeing numerous applications of blockchain which promise to bring benefits to producers, retailers, and consumers. However, these are still early days for blockchain as a supply chain management tool and it is important to be mindful, not only of the technology’s potential as well as early successful applications within food supply chains, but also of its risks and limitations. Among them is the challenge of how to verify the authenticity of the data supplied to the blockchain. Continue reading “Your Food Chain on Blockchain: The Coming Shakeup” →

Microsoft’s Bottom-Up, Top-Down Approach to Change Its Siloed Culture

by Tim Banting, posted in Communicate
T. Banting

Summary Bullets:

  • Microsoft Garage provides a hub for employees to work on different small-scale, innovative projects and share ideas.
  • By driving cultural change and encouraging developers to innovate, Satya Nadella is breaking down the “confederation of fiefdoms” which has plagued Microsoft for years.

Late last week, Microsoft released a new Microsoft Garage-incubated iOS app called ‘Spend,’ an automatic expense tracking app. The Garage, a relatively unknown function within Microsoft, is a hub for employees across the company to work on different small-scale projects and share ideas. Continue reading “Microsoft’s Bottom-Up, Top-Down Approach to Change Its Siloed Culture” →

Xpand: Can the Provider Expand?

by Alfie Amir, posted in Communicate
A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

• Xpand is Axiata’s enterprise arm providing network-based services to Asian regional enterprises.

• There is still a big gap between Xpand and other regional/global carriers.

You may have heard of Axiata, but most likely not Xpand. Axiata is a telecom group with stakes in eight countries across emerging Asian markets (Celcom, Malaysia; XL, Indonesia; Dialog, Sri Lanka; Robi, Bangladesh; Smart, Cambodia; Ncell, Nepal; Idea, India; and M1, Singapore); while Xpand is the carrier’s regional enterprise arm providing network-based services such as connectivity, cloud, UC, mobilitym and IoT. Xpand positions itself as a one-stop shop for all communication solutions to MNCs and regional enterprises in Asia, This places the provider in the same market with other Asian and global carriers such as Singtel, NTT Communications, Tata Communications, Telstra, VGE, PCCW Global, and Bharti Airtel. Continue reading “Xpand: Can the Provider Expand?” →