Global IoT platform revenues to reach $3.3 billion by 2021

Global IoT platform revenues are expected to continue to grow fast and reach $3.3 billion by 2021. We discuss IoT platform trends with Berg Insight.

Berg Insight expects global IoT platform revenues to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.8 percent between 2015 and 2021 to reach $3.3 billion (€3 billion) by 2021. According to the analyst firm, the global third-party IoT platform market grew 36 percent in 2015 to reach nearly $680 million (€610 million). Most IoT platforms currently available are either connectivity management platforms, device management platforms or application enablement platforms, although Berg Insight points out that many products offer overlapping functionality or other unique features.

Also, the shift from M2M to IoT in the enterprise market means there is greater emphasis on integrating sensors, devices and information systems across verticals and organizations to enable new business models. By facilitating a better understanding of complex systems through analytics, IoT improve products and enable entirely new services. “More and more companies are moving from selling products to selling services which will have an impact on the platform market. Third-party IoT platforms make it easier to initiate deployments and later on adapt to changes as new products and new customers are added. With IoT, organizations can also mash up data from multiple sources,” said André Malm, senior Analyst at Berg Insight, to Industrial IoT 5G Insights. “The IoT makes those platforms even more interesting because the data can be used across multiple organizations that cater for different needs and can enable different permissions. The data can also be shared between different value chains and different types of companies.”

The market for application enablement platforms (AEPs), providing functionalities such as data collection, data storage and analytics, is in an earlier phase compared to that of connectivity and device management platforms, according to Berg Insight. Existing players, such as PTC, are seeing increasing competition from new entrants, in particular large IT companies that are expanding their existing offerings to include IoT. One such company is  Amazon web Services. “PTC is getting a lot of attention, and for a good reason: they have a comprehensive platform that offers a variety of tools and that is easy to work with. New entrants like Amazon have made a number of acquisitions and are now moving up the stack to provide specific tools, especially around data management,” said André Malm. “There are many differences between existing players and new entrant starting with the fact that existing players’ platforms have been designed for IoT from the start while many new entrants are adapting their offerings to include IoT,” he added. Other types of new entrants include companies that have earlier on focused on IoT within a specific vertical and have now chosen to focus on IoT in general. Yet another type of new entrants has a background in device management. “This type of players will have less competence within data analytics,” said Malm.

Recent acquisitions mirror the consolidation the IoT platform market has been experiencing. These include PTC’s acquisition of ThingWorx and Axeda, Amazon’s acquisition of 2lemetry, Autodesk’s acquisition of SeeControl or Microsoft’s purchase of Solair, to only name a few. Analytics and machine learning are both at the centre of larger IT players’ efforts within IoT, including IBM, SAP and Oracle.

IIoT News Recap: China Unicom adds 10.5 million IoT connections in H1 2016; Du establishes 5G and IoT innovation lab in UAE; Gemalto delivers IoT security solution to DNP; PTC joins board of IoT M2M Council

IoT: China Unicom adds 10.5 million IoT connections in H1 2016

China Unicom, China’s second largest mobile operator, added 10.5 million new IoT connections in the first half of 2016, bringing its total IoT connections to over 20 million, Mobile World Live reports, referring to c114.net. The Chinese operator said its IoT network, launched a year ago, had 565,000 base stations providing service to 31 provinces and 360 cities.

5G: Du establishes 5G and IoT innovation lab in UAE

Telecommunications service provider Du announced it is taking the lead to build a 5G innovation lab in the UAE, called U5GIG, in order to prototype, test and validate 5G and IoT equipment and services, Emirates 247 reports. “We are excited to announce this initiative that will allow the UAE to effectively compete with the advanced markets and bring the UAE’s voice to the technology development debate,” said Ibrahim Nassir, chief human capital and administration officer at Du. “We plan to work closely with suppliers and SMEs and eventually train future UAE academic and industry leaders. The programme will be open for all UAE universities and industrial organisations that need to be part of the state-of-the-art 5G ecosystem development.”

IoT security: Gemalto delivers IoT security solution to DNP

Japan-based Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) is to deploy enhanced two-way server and device PKI-based authentication using Gemalto’s IDCore smart card platform. “Based on our past collaborations and long relationship, DNP and Gemalto set to build a new market together, reinforcing the trust and expertise to grow our IoT business which safeguards our clients’ privacy and sensitive data”, said Kunimitsu Sato, deputy general manager of Communication and Information Center, Information Innovation Operations, at DNP. “This is important as more government agencies, financial institutions, and automotive manufacturers are demanding strong authentication”.

Alliance: PTC joins board of IoT M2M Council

ThingWorx provider PTC announced it has joined London-based IoT alliance the IoT M2M Council (IMC). PTC’s John Schaefer, senior vice president of development, will sit on the IMC Board of Governors. “We see the membership as an opportunity to educate enterprises and OEMs about what connectivity can do for their business,” said Schaefer. “Our ThingWorx platform is designed to make it easier than ever before to deploy connected devices remotely and to collect meaningful data from them.  IMC Adopter Members list software platforms as one of their highest priorities, so our membership a natural extension of that education effort.” The IMC has today over 18,000 members.