Category Archives: Internet of Things

Docomo, GE, Internet of Things, IoT, News & Analysis, NTT

GE, NTT Docomo to form Internet of Things alliance

GE and NTT are jointly developing IoT solutions for industrial applications

GE and NTT are jointly developing IoT solutions for industrial applications

GE Energy Japan and Japanese operator NTT Docomo signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) this week that will see the two companies commit to jointly developing Internet of Things (IoT) solutions for industrial uses.

The companies will combine GE Digital Energy’s MDS Orbit Platform, a wireless router for industrial equipment, and Docomo’s embedded communication module, which will provide remote access and monitoring capabilities.

The solution will be capable of monitoring tightly regulated (and hazardous) infrastructure like bridges and electricity, water and gas power plants for fitness and operational productivity.

The data generated by the embedded monitoring sensors will be sent to Docomo’s Toami cloud platform, designed primarily for M2M use cases, and users will be able to manage and analyse the data using strongly authenticated mobile platforms.

GE is an M2M veteran – in aviation and energy it was doing IoT well before the term became en vogue – and NTT Docomo already partners with a number of other technology incumbents embedded in the IoT arena including Panasonic and Jasper Wireless. Its parent, NTT Group, is also fairly active in other IoT initiatives. The company is working with both ARM and Intel on their respective IoT platforms.

Like many in this space the companies are keen to capture a chunk of growing IoT revenues, with the IoT and M2M communications market in particular forecast to swell from $256bn in 2014 to $947bn in 2019 (an estimated 30 per cent CAGR) according to MarketsandMarkets.

BCN and our sister publication Telecoms.com have put together a report on what the industry perceives to be the top benefits and challenges in consumer and industrial IoT. You can download it for free here.

Ericsson, Internet of Things, Interviews, Telco Cloud

Ericsson details strategic plans beyond telecoms sector

Swedish networking giant Ericsson has made no attempt to hide the fact that it needs to diversify in order to survive and the nature of that diversification just got a bit clearer, explains Telecoms.com.

In his exclusive interview with Telecoms.com late last year CEO Hans Vestberg detailed the five main areas of diversification his company has identified: IP networks, Cloud, OSS/BSS, TV & Media and Industry & Society.Ericsson has spoken freely about the first four but has chosen to keep quiet about its industry & society initiative until it was ready.

That moment has now arrived, so Telecoms.com spoke to Nadine Allen (pictured), who heads up Industry & Society for Ericsson in Western and Central Europe. She explained that Ericsson sees a massive opportunity in helping other industries to capitalize on the way the telecoms and IT industries are evolving and converging, with IoT being a prime example.

“The evolved use of ICT is becoming increasingly important to all industries as they address the opportunities and challenges that the networked society will bring,” said Allen. “There is a growing need for ICT connectivity and services in market segments outside the traditional customer base of Ericsson, such as: utilities, transport and public safety.”

Ericsson has identified five key industries to focus on: Automotive, Energy & Utilities, Road & Rail, Safety & Security and Shipping. As you can see these are mainly quite industrial sectors, and this is in keeping with how things like IoT are evolving, with the main commercial applications being of a B2B type.

“Ericsson has been a transformation partner to our customers for many decades and supported them in shaping their strategies,” said Allen. “This is a key strength relevant to customers inside and outside the telco space as they develop their connected strategies.

“We are a leading software provider and developer across all areas of the network, including OSS and BSS – these capabilities we see as being key to what will be needed to flexibly support the plethora of future use cases, some of which we can only imagine right now.”

Allen brought our attention to some specific use-cases, illustrated in the slide below. In utilities, for example, things like smart grids and smart metering are already emerging as a way to increase efficiency, while intelligent transport systems are doing the same for that sector.

Ericsson industry & society slide

All of this makes a lot of sense on paper, and Ericsson unquestionably has a lot of tools at its disposal to help industries get smarter, but combining these capabilities into coherent solutions and competing against companies such as the big systems integration and consulting firms will be a challenge. The Ericsson brand is strong in telcos, but not necessarily in transport, and it still needs to establish its consulting credentials beyond its home territory.

To conclude we asked Allen how she sees these underlying trends evolving. We believe the Internet of Things will have a profound impact in the future, enabling anything to be connected and providing ’smartness’ to these connected things will bring value across many sectors,” she said.

“The vision of IoT is a key part of the networked society and in one line I would say it is well described by ‘where everything that can benefit from being connected will be connected’. For example in a world of connected things, value will shift from the physical properties of a product to the services that it provides.”

Cisco, Europe, Internet of Things, IoT, News & Analysis, Robert Vassoyan

Cisco bolsters IoT partnerships with French startups

Cisco is beefing up its IoT strategy and targeting French startups to do it

Cisco is beefing up its IoT strategy and targeting French startups to do it

Cisco is making good on a promise made in February to team up with the French government on a $100m initiative to help fund local Internet of Things (IoT) startups, partner with local businesses and cultivate IoT-specific skills.

Among the company’s initiatives include a competition to develop enterprise-focused IoT services and apps that foster social and environmental innovation, and a partnership with the NUMA Sprint accelerator programme which will see the company support up to 22 IoT startups incubated in the programme.

Cisco also said it’s partnering with Actility, a provider of IoT and machine-to-machine services for energy management, to improve connectivity between low-power sensors using LoRaWAN, and investing in Parisian startup 6Wind, a software firm developing software-defined networking and network function virtualisation solutions.

“Innovation is in the DNA of Cisco. France has almost limitless potential and our mission is to support innovation across our entire ecosystem,” Robert Vassoyan, chief executive of Cisco France. “These first initiatives demonstrate our active cooperation with innovative companies to aid them in their development, and show that we are committed to continuing our efforts in this area to drive growth, competitivity and employment of our country.”

Cisco has stepped up its IoT strategy as of late, most recently buying connected things tracker and network security specialist OpenDNS for $635m.

Cisco, David Goeckeler, Hilton Romanski, Internet of Things, IoT, M&A, News & Analysis, OpenDNS

Cisco to acquire OpenDNS to strengthen cloud security for IoT

Cisco plans to acquire OpenDNS for $635m

Cisco plans to acquire OpenDNS for $635m

Cisco is to acquire cloud-based network security provider OpenDNS for $635m.

OpenDNS’ offering combines DNS services with a managed network security service that tracks devices and traffic and helps mitigate malware or denial of service threats. But it also adds predictive intelligence capabilities by using big data analytics to metabolise real-time behaviour and machine learning algorithms to automate mitigating action.

Cisco said the acquisition would strengthen security services portfolio, a core element of its Internet of Things (IoT) strategy.

“As more people, processes, data and things become connected, opportunities for security breaches and malicious threats grow exponentially when away from secure enterprise networks,” said Hilton Romanski, Cisco chief technology and strategy officer.

“OpenDNS has a strong team with deep security expertise and key technology that complements Cisco’s security vision. Together, we will help customers protect their extended network wherever the user is and regardless of the device.”

As part of the deal, which is expected to close sometime in the first quarter of next year, the OpenDNS team will join the Cisco Security Business Group led by David Goeckeler, the division’s vice president and general manager.

Targeting the network has become an increasingly important component of enterprise IT security, particularly with the explosion of malware and denial of service attacks – and will continue growing in importance as the IoT brings vast volumes of automated connectivity and data transaction.

The trend has seen more emphasis place on cloud-based security services, which can act as a security perimeter without needing to install anything with a datacentre. According to Gartner, the cloud-based security market with grow from $2.1bn in 2013 to $3.bn this year.

Accenture, BT, Internet of Things, Mark Harrop, News & Analysis

BT, Accenture and Cisco form Wireless IoT Forum board

The Wireless IoT Forum has announced its founding board memebers

The Wireless IoT Forum has announced its founding board memebers

Following its launch in March, the Wireless IoT Forum has announced its founding board members, featuring BT, Cisco, Accenture and Telensa among others, reports Telecoms.com.

The forum is a collaborative industry effort designed to help further define the requirements of the wireless WAN in an IoT era. Specifically, the group claims it is looking to drive the widespread adoption of wireless WAN tech by removing fragmentation and drive consolidation around a minimal set of standards for licensed and license-except wireless solutions

Ensuring the interoperability of solutions running throughout the entire IoT stack is one of the primary challenges associated with bringing the Internet of Things to fruition. As such, CEO of the WIoT Forum William Webb believes solving compatibility issues remains key to driving the broad scale adoption of IoT.

“…the risk presented by fragmentation remains very real,” he said. “Without widely-agreed open standards we risk seeing pockets of proprietary technology developing independently, preventing the benefits of mass-market scale. We are delighted today to be announcing our inaugural membership and to begin work to drive towards a collective view on the right way to deliver widespread IoT services.”

BT’s Mark Harrop reckons the IoT industry should look at using GSM as a benchmark for collaboration. “As the success of the GSM standard in the mobile world showed, working to open industry standards is critical to creating the necessary situation for mass market success,” he said. “By aligning the complete value chain in defining and promoting these standards the Wireless IoT Forum is ideally suited to make the Internet of Things a success.”

Under the remit of the association are a variety of working groups, focussing on four core areas; including marketing and requirements; review of applications and standard APIs; connectivity and networking challenges, including configurations, security and radio access for low power wide area networks; and finally regulation.

IBM, Internet of Things, IoT, Lake George, News & Analysis, Rick Relyea, The Jefferson Project

IoT, big data used to make Lake George a model for water body preservation

IBM and the Jefferson Project have teamed up to use IoT and big data to monitor and analyse Lake George's health

IBM and the Jefferson Project have teamed up to use IoT and big data to monitor and analyse Lake George’s health

The Jefferson Project at Lake George, New York, a collaborative project between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, IBM Research and The FUND for Lake George is using Internet of Things sensors and big data analytics to create a model that can be used to help preserve a wide range of water sources.

Researchers have been monitoring the chemistry of algae in Lake George for the past 35 years to demonstrate how the lake is being affected by a range of inputs including pollution, tourism, and weather activity.

But the project has recently started a new phase which has seen IBM and Jefferson Project researchers put sophisticated underwater sonar-based sensors (powered by solar energy) to measure a range of data.

Those sensors are linked up to custom software deployed on IBM Blue Gene/ Q supercomputer and IBM Smarter Planet software deployed in a datacentre on the Rensselaer campus.

Rick Relyea, director of the Jefferson Project at Lake George said the IoT sensors have greatly improved data accuracy, which has allowed researchers to improve the models they generate from the patterns being observed.

“The Jefferson Project provides the unique opportunity for biologists and environmental scientists to work closely with engineers, physicists, computer scientists and meteorologists to understand large lakes at a level of detail and intensity that is simply unprecedented,” Relyea said.

“Together, we will make tremendous inroads into understanding how lakes naturally behave and how human activities alter biodiversity, the functioning of freshwater ecosystems, and overall water quality.”

The project researchers have already used the preliminary data generated by the sensors to create a range of models that can help predict the impact of weather events, salt run-off, and heavy tourism on water circulation and the water body’s chemistry, which Rylea said could be applied to many other bodies of water in a bid to improve their health.

“The major threats to Lake George are many of the same threats to lakes around the world. Too many nutrients coming in from either fertiliser or sewage. We have contaminants coming in, those may be pesticides, it may be road salts. We have development coming in changing the habitat around the lakes, changing how much water run-off there is. And we have invasive species coming in.”

health, Internet of Things, News & Analysis

Virgin Active urges cloud players to embrace ‘the database of you’

CWF VirginIn his keynote address at Cloud World Forum 2015, the CIO of fitness chain Virgin Active – Andy Caddy – urged cloud and big data companies to find better uses for the mountains of data people are accumulating about themselves.

Coining the term “the database of you”, Caddy said that in his capacity as the CIO of a health and fitness company with 1.4 million members in 270 clubs he is acutely aware of the desire for gym-goers to track their every waking movement and a bunch of other biometric data, such as heartrate, besides.

Caddy also thinks wearables such as fitness bands are at an early stage and, in reference to the recent IPO of fitness band company Fitbit, indicated he thought wearables were currently near the most hyped phase of the Gartner Hype Cycle. He reckons it will be a few years yet before the ‘winning design’ emerges, such as happened with smartphones and the touchscreen form factor that has changed little for the past eight years.

One result of all this hype, however, is that people are constantly generating data about themselves – around 31 datapoints per year for Virgin Active members. Caddy’s concern is they they’re currently not able to do much with it, beyond gloating about how much exercise they’ve done on social media.

When Caddy surveyed members, as part of his planning for a ‘connected club’ initiative, about what they want technology in a gym context to do for them they said they want it to be device agnostic, always on and provide useful feedback and advice, as opposed to raw data. Caddy concluded with a call to the tech industry to step up to the plate and give his members what they’re looking for. “We need someone to come in and do this stuff, because it’s just begging for it,” he said.

451 Research, Apple Watch, Internet of Things, IoT, M2M, News & Analysis, wearable technology

Four-fold cellular IoT connections predicted by 2019

PrintIT analyst firm 451 Research has forecasted the growth of cellular network-based connections for IoT-devices as anticipation surrounding the tech continues to grow. It also reckons wearable tech as a major enterprise tool will become reality in the next 12 months.

According to the firm, the telecoms industry can expect a nigh on four-fold boom in cellular IoT connections between 2014 and 2019, growing from 252 million to 908 million globally. The firm reckons such growth comes down to several key factors, primarily the ease of access to and reduced costs of hardware and broadband for enterprise customers. Secondly, the maturation of cloud, data management and analytics platforms means machine-generated data can be hosted and utilised quicker than in previous years.

Finally, 451 also attributes increasing M&A activity as a positive influence on the developing IoT market, with the ongoing vendor land-grab driving advancements in technology.

“We continue to be bullish that ultimately the hype of IoT will be proven to be warranted back on business impact,” said Brian Partridge, 451’s research VP. “Over the forecast period we expect that M2M/IoT solution suppliers will find fertile ground in vertical markets such as retail and government that will adopt IoT/M2M to enable strategic digitization strategies such as smart cities and the use of digital signage, mobile point of sale, and connected kiosks to drive the transformation from brick and mortar to ‘click and mortar’.”

Simultaneously, Harbor Research has revealed some numbers forecasting the profitability of IoT applications, claiming 80% of IoT apps will be generating revenue for users within the next three years. At present, its survey suggest, 65% of apps are money making.

451 Research also looked into the use of wearable tech in the enterprise, and said that 39% of the IT decision-makers it quizzed will be deploying wearable tech solutions in the next six months, with another 24% following within a year. Of those deploying in the next six months, 81% identified smart watches as their wearable tech of choice.

“The release of Apple Watch has opened the flood gates governing wearables’ adoption,” said Ryan Martin, who’s an IoT and wearable tech analyst at 451. “Not now that the river is running, it’s less about where it will end and more about where – and when – to start. We expect wearable technology to deliver a key interface and input into the Industrial Internet of Things”.

To go alongside its research, 451 produced this handy market map for the IoT ecosystem.

 IoT Market Map 451

Actility, Foxconn, Funding, Internet of Things, IoT, News & Analysis, Olivier Hersent, Orange

Orange, Foxconn among LoRa IoT startup Actility backers

IoT partnerships are in full swing this month

IoT partnerships are in full swing this month

A group of tech companies including operators Orange, KPN and Swisscom and manufacturing giant Foxconn have put $25 million into Actility, an IoT startup focused on the LoRaWAN standard, reports Telecoms.com.

With the IoT land grab fully underway there are already calls for standardisation and collaboration as everyone looks to get an early piece of the action. The LoRa Alliance was unveiled at CES at the start of this year to support LoRaWAN low-power WAN technology. Minimising the amount of power required by IoT modules is considered critical if they’re to have the multi-year battery life required for embedded applications.

This $25 million round of funding was led by Ginko Ventures, which is a consortium consisting of the above tech companies and some VC players. The stated aim of the investment is to accelerate the go-to-market strategy for Actility’s ThingPark open standard IoT network solution.

“I decided to create Actility in 2010 based on the intuition that M2M would become much bigger and the need for carrier grade M2M infrastructure,” Actility founder and chief exec Olivier Hersent told Telecoms.com. “In terms of technology we have worked a lot with a technology call LoRa, which is one of the fastest growing alliances, on the LoRaWAN standard.

“ThingPark provides the technology to connect both long range and low power sensors over unlicensed ISM band spectrum, allowing low cost and fast roll-out of IoT networks for a wide range of IoT applications. We are delighted to have secured the backing of such prominent communications industry leaders.”

“Foxconn Group is transforming to be a high technology solution provider, including hardware and software value creation. Through this strategic investment, we will expand our current collaboration with Actility to bring its LoRaWAN technology and IoT Platform and Solutions to Taiwan, China, and the rest of Asia,” said Fang Ming Lu, executive vice president of Foxconn.

“This is a technology that comes at the right time for operators to accelerate the connection of objects,” Jean-Paul de Weck, CEO Swisscom Broadcast. “There is set to be a huge increase in the demand for IoT and we see Actility as a key partner as we expand our activities in this market.”

The feeling among Actility and its investors is that LoRa could well become the default IoT technology worldwide, and that it will only become so if it is open to all players. The commercial applications of IoT at this early stage tend to be more industrial, such as smart metering, remote monitoring and logistics applications. By seeding the market the aim is to prove the commercial viability of such IoT implementations and build momentum.

The announcement coincides with a flood of other IoT collaborations. Vodafone is partnering with EMC to develop an IoT testing platform, while Samsung yesterday announced a partnership and investment in Sigfox, which seems to be competitive with LoRa and already has some commercial networks, with a new one being rolled out by Engie in Belgium. Finally the Weightless SIG, yet another prospective IoT wireless standard, also picked this week to announce the deployment of a Weightless-N Smart City network in London. It seems unlikely that all these announcements are a coincidence and the IoT land grab is definitely gathering intensity.

Anne O’Leary, Cork Internet eXchange (CIX), EMC, Internet of Things, IoT, News & Analysis, Orna Berry, Pivotal, vodafone

EMC, Vodafone partner on Internet of Things platform

EMC and Vodafone are teaming on a €2m IoT platform

EMC and Vodafone are teaming on a €2m IoT platform

Storage giant EMC is teaming up with Vodafone to develop and offer a platform for industrial Internet of Things (IoT) service development and testing.

The IoT development platform, known as Infinite, is spread across three datacentres – one hosted by EMC, another by Vodafone, and another by datacentre and cloud provider Cork Internet eXchange (CIX).

The companies said the platform can be used to develop a range of IoT services, particularly those to support industrial automation in fields like manufacturing and fleet management, but also healthcare and higher education.

EMC and Vodafone said the companies are investing about €2m in the initiative.

“EMC Federation is leading an industrial partnership encompassing rich data and Internet of Things. The digital age’s IT transformation – cloud, big data, social, mobile and Internet of Things, is continuously and increasingly changing the way we live and work,” said Orna Berry, corporate vice president innovation, EMC Centres of Excellences (CoE). “EMC Federation and Ireland’s CoE are excited to take a dynamic and influential part in this important eventuation, with the creation of the Infinite innovative IoT platform.”

This is also the first large scale project approved for use by the Industrial Internet Consortium, a membership group of telcos, research institutes and technology manufacturers created last year and focused on developing interoperability standards and common architectures to bridge smart devices, machines, mobile devices and the data they create.

The move means the offering adheres to a range of interoperability standards being proposed or consolidated by the group.

“Infinite will prove to be a valuable Industrial Internet testbed for a countless number of industries including smart cities and healthcare. As the need for more dynamic systems continues to grow, organisations will turn to utilising mobile networks to connect to virtual systems,” said Richard Soley, executive director of the Industrial Internet Consortium. “This testbed is going to prove the viability of doing all this with systems that require the utmost security – such as those used by hospitals and emergency medical services.”

Anne O’Leary, chief executive of Vodafone Ireland, said: “We are delighted to work with EMC in this exciting development. Vodafone is at the forefront of Internet of Things technology at a global level and I am proud to see Ireland also taking a lead in pioneering the development of these new disruptive technologies. IoT has the potential to transform business in Ireland and we are excited to be in a position to provide companies with access to start developing their own IoT services.”

With IoT heating up a broad range of IT and telecoms incumbents have thrown their hats into the development platform race. Last month for instance Google unveiled Brillo, a slimmed down version of Android with a  proprietary set of APIs for IoT-specific services and communications, while SAP unveiled a thinly re-branded version of HANA in the cloud for IoT. But while telcos have long tried to get in on this segment it seems to be an interesting move for EMC, which has generally kept a low profile in IoT beyond simply tailoring the marketing around its high-IO storage arrays, and has left much of the jockeying in this segment up to others in the Federation (like Pivotal).