‘Mitel or MI-o-Tel?’ – Adding a Voice to IoT

June 8, 2017 by Leave a comment

T. Banting

Summary Bullets:

  • Mitel is offering a cloud-based platform that integrates Internet of Things (IoT) technology with call routing and call control applications.
  • Hub One is working with Mitel to voice-enable IoT devices at Charles De Gaulle airport and provides text-to-speech alerts on the opening of defibrillator cabinets.

At its Elite conference in San Antonio last week, Mitel disclosed details of its platform that integrates IoT technology with call routing and call control platforms. Utilizing IoT APIs that plug into its interaction engine and business rules engine, Mitel demonstrated how IoT can be integrated with real-time communications to literally give IoT devices a voice. On stage, Mitel showed how Amazon Alexa, mapped to Mitel’s AWS-based cloud service, could trigger mass notification messages to interested parties. While this specific demonstration sent out multiple notifications of bad weather alerts to those attending a picnic (very pertinent given San Antonio’s weather!), Mitel’s IoT infrastructure is being utilized in perhaps a less frivolous way at France’s largest and most important airport – Charles De Gaulle (CDG). Read more of this post

Filed under Communicate, Internet of Things

Dazed and Confused by IoT Platforms? Help Is on the Horizon, but Buyer Beware

March 30, 2017 by Leave a comment

I. Grant

Summary Bullets:

  • The IoT M2M Council aims to provide model RFPs and a guide to potential IoT platform vendors.
  • ‘Paying to play’ raises questions over the true value of ‘independent’ platform reports.

Anyone who has to choose a software platform for their company’s grand IoT project should be relieved to know that help is nearly at hand. The London-based IoT M2M Council (IMC) is crowdsourcing from among its members a suite of ‘open source’ RFPs for companies that have to select IoT software platforms. It will also report on how different platforms stack up against the criteria in the model RFPs. IoT buyers will be able to use the RFPs as a template for procurement and the reports to short-list potential suppliers. Read more of this post

Filed under Internet of Things

Service Provider Selection for IoT Varies Substantially by Vertical Industry – Good News for Telcos

August 24, 2016 by Leave a comment

K. Weldon

K. Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • A recent Current Analysis survey on IoT investments showed that companies vary substantially on what kind of service provider they trust to provide them with consulting and professional services.
  • While equipment vendors and professional/IT service providers were selected most often, enterprises in several verticals consistently preferred communication service providers or software providers for integration and app development.

Enterprises investing in IoT deployments nearly always need help along the way. Some go to third parties for proof-of-concept testing and upfront business and technical consulting, while others need help in assembling and managing disparate hardware and software elements. Many also need an outside developer for application development and many go to professional service providers for data analytics. In a survey conducted this spring among 1,000 U.S. and global enterprises, Current Analysis asked businesses what kind of provider they sought out for these functions; choices included equipment vendors, software providers, professional/IT service providers, and communication service providers (CSPs). Read more of this post

Filed under Internet of Things, Mobilize

Vested Interests Are Delaying the Formation of Critical Mass in the IoT Market

August 18, 2016 by Leave a comment

I. Grant

I. Grant

Summary Bullets:

  • The cellular industry is scrambling to catch up with LPWA providers, but its solutions are not yet fit for purpose.
  • The jury (a.k.a. software developers and customers) is still out as technology vendors pursue their own agendas.

Leading figures in the LTE supply chain, including chip makers, device makers, equipment vendors and even operators, are following their own agendas. This is creating a kaleidoscopic picture of the IoT wireless access market that inhibits investment.

Driven by the fear of missing out, the cellular phone industry is fighting to get back on terms with suppliers of proprietary low-power, wide-area (LPWA) network access technologies for machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Anyone who needs networks to provide low-cost access and operation to justify their IoT deployments should have regard for the claims and counterclaims made by the various parties. While there is some truth in all the claims, by no means is it the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Read more of this post

Filed under Internet of Things, Mobilize

Live at LiveWorx: Industrial IoT in All Its Glory

June 9, 2016 by Leave a comment

K. Weldon

K. Weldon

Summary Bullets:

• At LiveWorx, PTC showed off exciting new capabilities for Industrial IoT, including the use of Augmented Reality, a potential game-changer for both IoT providers and customers

• The IoT ecosystem, in demos and panels, also showed off new wares, but many acknowledged a long road to meaningful revenue and profits

PTC LiveWorx, held in Boston from June 7th through 9th, is an annual “love fest” for the industrial IoT industry – the majority of presentations and demos showed off new technologies, software, hardware, analytics, dashboards, application enablers, vertical solutions, and consulting services that point to an even more compelling future for industrial IoT. In particular, the use of augmented reality, which PTC now has in its arsenal through its acquisition of Vuforia in late 2015, has the potential to allow customers to sell, demo, manage, operate, and troubleshoot their products more effectively, and cost-effectively prototype new features.
Read more of this post

Filed under Internet of Things, Mobilize Tagged with ,

The Sobering Reality of Unlicensed Spectrum Use is Likely to Give CSPs an IoT Hangover

June 2, 2016 by Leave a comment

I. Grant

I. Grant

Summary Bullets:

• IT, not communications service providers, are customers’ preferred partners in both enterprise and municipal IoT projects.

• Operators have to expand their skills base and business models to cope with the widespread use of unlicensed spectrum and to stay relevant.

A new Current Analysis report on enterprise IoT has some sobering news for mobile operators that hope to cash in on the hype around IoT. What’s more, the CA findings are backed by the Global Mobile Suppliers Association, which has just published a report on telecoms in smart cities. Read more of this post

Filed under Internet of Things, Mobilize Tagged with , , ,

Current Analysis Research Shows That IoT is Top Priority This Year Among Enterprise Development Initiatives

May 18, 2016 by Leave a comment

C. Dunlap

C. Dunlap

Summary Bullets:

• IoT represents the top cloud/mobile development initiative over the next 12 months among large global enterprises

• Other leading initiatives: mobilize on-premises apps; implement API services; develop/deploy B2C mobile apps; and implement MDM/MAM solutions

According to new Current Analysis research which polled almost 600 IT and developer professionals, mobile application development platform (MADP) implementations are well underway with over a third of companies (including 40 percent of enterprises) already having MADP implementations; and in fact, API initiatives, for adopting aggregation/management services, are already being launched among over one-quarter of those surveyed. Read more of this post

Filed under Internet of Things, Mobilize Tagged with

EMC World 2016: Is Dell EMC Your Next and Only IoT Vendor?

May 3, 2016 by Leave a comment

B. Shimmin

B. Shimmin

Summary Bullets:

  • What will happen once the dust settles from the pending Dell and EMC merger? What market opportunities should Michael Dell pursue with a toolkit that spans Dell, EMC II, VMware, Pivotal, SecureWorks, Virtustream, and RSA?
  • One possible idea put forth by EMC during its annual EMC World conference in Las Vegas concerned a nearly end-to-end IoT solution combining cloud, security, servers, storage, and analytics.

Seeing Michael Dell take the stage alongside Joe Tucci at EMC’s annual EMC World user conference in Las Vegas this week was unexpected but somehow appropriate, given the pending merger of Dell and EMC. Once completed, the merger will give rise to a single entity branded Dell Technologies, which will house and combine a shockingly broad swath of companies including not just Dell and EMC, but also VMware, Pivotal, SecureWorks, Virtustream, and RSA. Read more of this post

Filed under Big Data, Internet of Things Tagged with

The Embedded SIM: How It Is Making the Customer King

April 21, 2016 by Leave a comment

I. Grant

I. Grant

Summary Bullets:

  • The long-term nature of industrial IoT connectivity is forcing carriers to consider the lifetime value of customers and adapt their pricing accordingly.
  • Enterprises are using ‘network unaffiliated virtual operators’ (NUVOs) to disintermediate MNOs and cut costs, and new SIM technology is helping NUVOs to optimize coverage for their customers.

As cloud and IoT become the dominant models for ICT, it is increasingly obvious that the networks are only a means to customers’ ends. Big beasts though they are, telcos are merely part of an ecosystem that supports customers. As such, the lifetime value of a customer who stays inside a telco’s ecosystem is higher than the one who churns after his two-year smartphone contract ends. Smart telcos are changing their business models to reflect this. Read more of this post

Filed under Internet of Things, Mobilize Tagged with

IIoT Survey Shows Deployments Are Still Small and Predominantly Local or Domestic

April 14, 2016 by Leave a comment

K. Weldon

K. Weldon

Summary Bullets:

  • A Current Analysis survey completed in April shows that most IoT deployments are under 2,500 devices regardless of region or company size
  • The survey also showed that most deployments are domestic or local; only 28% cross country borders for regional or global use cases.

A comprehensive survey focused on enterprises that have deployed IoT solutions was completed by Current Analysis in April 2016. Among the large number of interesting trends were the relatively small number of devices deployed by respondents and the local nature of most deployments, regardless of company size or region. For example: Read more of this post

Filed under Internet of Things, Mobilize Tagged with ,

← Older posts