The following are news announcements made during the past week:
PRESS RELEASE:
Research Shows Industrial Organizations Increasingly Focused on IoT Adoption, But Most Still in Early Stages
Bsquare (NASDAQ: BSQR), a provider of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) solutions, has released the findings from its first annual IIoT Maturity Study, which explores the current IoT adoption progress of business buyers in Manufacturing, Transportation, and Oil and Gas (O&G).
According to the 2017 study, 86 percent of industrial organizations are currently adopting IoT solutions and 84 percent believe those solutions are very or extremely effective. In addition, 95 percent believe that IoT has a significant or tremendous impact on their industry. However, the study also shows that most IIoT investments are focused on connectivity (78 percent) and data visualization (83 percent). In addition, only 48 percent are doing advanced analytics on that data and only a small number (28 percent) are automating the application of insights derived from analytics.
“Our study shows that while industrial organizations have enthusiastically adopted IIoT, a majority have not yet moved to more advanced analytics-driven orchestration of data insights,” said Kevin Walsh, vice president of marketing at Bsquare. “These later stages of IIoT maturity—analytics, orchestration and true edge computing—tend to be where most of the ROI is realized. This is especially important because, according to our study, the number one reason cited for IIoT adoption is cost reduction.”
Bsquare’s 2017 Annual IIoT Maturity Study was conducted in the United States in August 2017, and reached more than 300 respondents at companies with annual revenues in excess of $250 million. Participants were evenly divided among three industry groups (Manufacturing, Transportation, and O&G) and titles covered a wide spectrum of senior-level personnel with operational responsibilities, most of whom had spent an average of six years in their organizations. Key highlights from the report include:
• The vast majority (86 percent) of organizations are deploying IIoT solutions, led by Construction/Transportation (93 percent) and followed by O&G (89 percent) and Manufacturing (77 percent).
• Nearly two-thirds (73 percent) of all businesses plan to increase their IoT investments over the next 12 months, despite almost every respondent acknowledging that IoT deployments are complex.
• Nine out of 10 decision-makers feel it is very or somewhat important for their organization to adopt IoT solutions. And 95 percent perceive IoT as having either a significant or tremendous impact on their industry at a global level.
• Industrial organizations are using IoT most frequently for device connectivity and data forwarding (78%), real-time monitoring (56 percent), and advanced data analytics (48%). More mature uses of IoT, such as automation and enhanced on-board intelligence, are also prevalent in industrial settings.
• More than 90% of IIoT adopters cite device-health as the primary reason for IoT adoption followed by logistics (67%), reducing operating costs (24 percent) and increasing production volume (18 percent).
• More than half of organizations are using annual subscription models for their IIoT solutions, and 77 percent use a cloud-based model. Amazon and Microsoft were tied (14 percent) for the preferred cloud service provider.
The IoT Maturity Index outlines the stages commonly associated with Industrial IoT technology adoption. Each phase typically builds on the previous one, allowing organizations to drive maximum value as they progress through the index. The stages include: 1) Device Connectivity – on-board logic to collect data and transmit to cloud databases, 2) Data Monitoring – dashboard and visualization tools to monitor real-time data, 3) Data Analytics – machine learning and complex analytics used to develop device models and insight, 4) Automation – development and execution of logic rules that automate business activities and device configuration, and 5) Edge Computing – distribution of analytics and orchestration to the device level.
PRESS RELEASE:
Telia Estonia Launches Commercial Testing of 1oT Platform
The global cellular connectivity provider 1oT and the mobile operator Telia Estonia started providing 1oT’s connectivity management platform to selected Telia’s IoT and M2M customers. With the pilot project, Telia’s customers can manage their SIM cards and mobile data traffic via the revolutionary 1oT’s self-service platform called 1oT Terminal.
“Today’s innovative IoT and M2M device makers are not just buying internet access, they need to be in full control of their SIM cards and mobile data sessions. All this enables to build disruptive IoT and M2M services, seize big data opportunities and create autonomous and automatic services. We see 1oT’s connectivity platform fulfilling this gap at an affordable price, and as the leading mobile operator in the region, we hope to become the first to provide the necessary tools even to the smallest players on this booming market.” said Toomas Kärner, IoT Business Area Manager at Telia Estonia.
1oT connectivity management platform, 1oT Terminal, is a software solution with powerful web interface and API that enables to control everything related to SIM cards and integrate the service with third-party services with the click of a button. For example, the platform can receive real-time information about SIM sessions, detect the location of SIMs, set data limits, set up alerts for detecting behavioural abnormalities in data sessions, communicate with other IoT platforms and services (e.g. Slack), and much more. From the administrative side, MNOs are flexible in setting up custom pricing plans and fully automate end-user billing.
According to Märt Kroodo, co-founder and CEO of 1oT: “Our self-service management platform is very efficient, taking a huge weight off of mobile operator’s labour intensive operations and setting up a strong basis for downward trending mobile data costs. The automated self-service platform enables to upsell many value-added services to end-customers with just one click, such as extra security layers, integrations with third-party services, analytics tools, and in the future even artificial intelligence based service for optimising mobile data usage. All this means much less manual work and extra revenue for MNOs.”
The pilot project between 1oT and Telia Estonia is carried out in cooperation with Telia’s startup lab programme VUNK (http://vunk.eu/), which is in constant search for innovative and value-added partners to complement telecoms’ often conservative business models.
PRESS RELEASE:
PrismTech Becomes ADLINK’s IoT Solutions and Technology Group
PrismTech, a global leader in software platforms for distributed systems, is now ADLINK’s IoT Solutions and Technology (IST) group. Built on the strengths of PrismTech’s industry-leading data connectivity platforms and ADLINK’s first-in-class infrastructure product lines, ADLINK IST combines a full range of IoT domain expertise to drive business value through high-performance distributed systems.
“We had envisioned this integration of domain expertise from the start and are now in a position to define new business models and drive new business value for our customers,” said Rob Risany, Executive Vice President, IoT Solutions and Technology, ADLINK Technology. “The industry is continuing to implement and rely on high-performance distributed systems to achieve new levels of performance, cost avoidance and revenue generation—and that’s where ADLINK IST excels.”
Current customers of PrismTech will have access to the same high-quality products and support they have been accustomed to for the past several decades. ADLINK IST will continue to support and develop all current offerings, while leveraging additional resources to build new, exciting solutions.
The integration provides customers with new access to complete infrastructure-to-data connectivity solutions, a global talent pool, leading edge computing, innovation and the depth of resources available only through an international, successful and well-respected company.
Vortex Edge PMQ smart gateway is an example of the type of fully integrated Industrial IoT hardware, data connectivity and predictive analytics solution ADLINK IST offers: a small footprint, ruggedized computer for deployment in harsh environments, preconfigured to support asset data capture and PMQ results deployment at the edge.
PRESS RELEASE:
Afero, D-Link Partner on Smart IoT Products
Afero, a leading provider of an innovative, ultra-secure edge-to-cloud Enterprise IoT platform, has announced a partnership with D-Link. A global leader in networking and communications products for the home and enterprise, D-Link has selected the Afero IoT Platform to bring a new class of secure smart products to market.
“We are especially happy to be working with Afero, one of Gartner’s Cool Vendors in the Internet of Things. The D-Link Smart Water Sensor system leverages the Afero IoT Platform for its security, reliability, and ease-of-use,” stated Jack McGuigan, VP of Sales at D-Link. In addition to the elegant on-boarding, Afero provides a scalable, cloud platform for an array of solutions to address the needs of insurance customers.”
“For over 30 years, D-Link has delivered award-winning communication solutions to the home and to the enterprise,” said Afero CEO Joe Britt. “We are tremendously excited that D-Link has partnered with us to combine our technology innovation with their trusted brand, which will enable their customers, both enterprise and consumers, to rapidly onboard devices and deploy rich IoT solutions easily and rapidly.”
Gartner estimates that over 8.4 billion “connected things” will be in use worldwide in 2017 and that figure is anticipated to reach more than 20 billion by 2020. Total spending on endpoints and services is expected to reach close to $2 trillion in 2017. Afero and D-Link uniquely remove friction and complexity around both endpoints and services, supporting rapid and secure connected product and service deployments.
PRESS RELEASE:
Gemalto Launches IoT Module to Provide Global LTE Connectivity
Gemalto, the world leader in digital security, is expanding Industrial IoT connectivity with a significant breakthrough in wireless engineering – the industry’s first IoT module to provide global connectivity on 12 LTE bands plus, 3G and 2G cellular coverage all from a single device. This greatly simplifies logistics and distribution and lowers the cost of global IoT deployments.
In the decade ahead, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market value is expected to exceed $195 billion, transforming manufacturing, energy, transportation and many other sectors¹. Coined the 4th Industrial Revolution, the IIoT relies on highly efficient, global connectivity solutions that can be easily deployed anywhere in the world.
The new Gemalto Cinterion PLS62-W IoT Module delivers highly efficient LTE Cat. 1 connectivity on all 12 LTE bands while providing seamless fallback to multi band 3G and 2G networks if 4G is not available. This allows device manufacturers and integrators to develop one application that can connect anywhere in the world, even when solutions move between different regions and cellular network standards.
A powerful Java embedded system included in the IoT Module adds processing power to IoT solutions. It makes application design easier and faster by sharing memory, a large library of existing open source code and recognized software building blocks. In addition, it simplifies lifecycle management and streamlines integration with back-end IT systems.
An advanced power management system ensures reliability, and provides optimized sleep mode to preserve power and extend battery life. This is critical for remote industrial applications, a sector expected to reach 5.2 billion in by 2025.
“Ideal for worldwide tracking and tracing, telematics and fleet management solutions, the Cinterion multi band LTE Cat. 1 module with 3G, 2G fallback is a one stop shop for cellular IoT connectivity, no matter where your IoT solutions are deployed or where they move,” said Andreas Haegele, senior vice president IoT products at Gemalto. “The highly efficient Cinterion PLS62-W is perfectly suited for applications that need to operate across many different wireless network environments for many years.
PRESS RELEASE:
Radley Announces Cloud Deployment Option for MES, WMS Solution Platform
Radley Corporation, a global manufacturing and supply chain solutions provider announced the addition of Cloud deployment for their software solutions. After helping over 100 satisfied customers achieve successful Cloud computing for EDI (electronic data interchange), Cloud deployment is now available for Radley’s MES and WMS software solutions. Deployment on the Cloud provides increased security and convenience while reducing cost and resource demands.
“Radley is excited to offer our customers the benefits of true Cloud deployment”, said Kevin Cammet, VP Manufacturing Solutions Division. “Radley’s software experts manage the software and hardware requirements, which allows our customers to focus on running their business.”
Unlike on premise deployment, software deployment via the Cloud does not require customers to make an infrastructure investment. Hardware maintenance, IT resources and software upgrades are all included through a cost-effective subscription pricing model, licensed per user. The Cloud also offers higher data security & redundancy.
The customer’s data is stored at a state-of-the-art data center, protected behind a secure firewall with default encryption and off-site backup and recovery solutions. A true Cloud deployment, not a hosting service, Radley’s Cloud environment expands as a customer’s business grows, with no interruption to their daily activities.
PRESS RELEASE:
Senet Launches Global Low-Power Wide-Area Virtual Network for IoT Connectivity and Service Delivery
Senet, a leading provider of global, cloud-based software and services platforms to enable network connectivity build-out and management of the Internet of Things, has announced the launch of the Senet Low Power Wide Area Virtual Network (LVN). Moving beyond today’s antiquated network connectivity business models, the Senet LVN creates opportunities for network operators, solution providers, systems integrators, municipalities and enterprise organizations to proactively contribute to the rapid build out of global IoT connectivity and immediately benefit from revenue share models based on their level of participation.
Senet’s LVN, Managed Network Services for IoT (MNSi) and public network are powered by its proprietary Network Operating System, which is built on a common cloud-based services architecture. The Senet operating system provides extremely efficient, scalable and secure options to connect and manage low-power, low-cost sensors at massive scale and simplifies historically complex operations related to application and device registration, message accounting and settlements.
Key features of the Senet LVN include a modern IoT architecture built on a highly scalable and secure cloud-based services; a true neutral host service for Radio Access Network participants; global device provisioning and device placement on any LVN Radio Access Network; roaming between participating operators and other connectivity providers; single billing supporting global device connectivity; standardized global device activation and deployment processes; comprehensive global network operations support; revenue share models across provider classes; and access to the fastest continuously growing LoRa LPWAN network.
“There is an IoT land grab taking place among network operators while, at the same time, solution providers are struggling to model a return on investment because of high network costs and limited coverage,” said Senet CEO Bruce Chatterley. “The Senet LVN addresses these challenges by modernizing IoT connectivity and offering ways for an entire ecosystem of participants to monetize their networks and services. Our innovative LVN technology essentially creates a demand-based and incentive-based “Network Effect” or “Connectivity Marketplace” to building out the Senet global IoT network. The next big transformation taking place in IoT relates to network connectivity, and the first to market, have the most to gain.”
Unique to the Senet Low Power Wide Area Virtual Network are business models deigned for organizations to engage at various levels of participation and benefit from a revenue share model based on the role they play in the larger network ecosystem.
For example, a network operator (Cable, Wireless, Fiber or CLEC) can augment their connectivity portfolio by deploying LoRaWAN gateways on their existing tower or building assets and extend their branded services well beyond their existing footprint to generate revenue from a broader customer base. Domestic and international LoRaWAN networks will interoperate through roaming, allowing connected devices to be placed on any operator network, supporting mobile IoT applications and making global connectivity a reality.
The Senet LVN also creates opportunities for new partnerships between municipalities and service providers. Municipalities, for example, are in a unique position to partner with utility companies to create the backbone for connected city-wide services. LoRaWAN gateways deployed on a combination of city and utility owned assets create a relationship that supports rapid network deployment, broad coverage and revenue sharing without any individual party incurring the brunt of the capital equipment expense. Senet then manages these network assets using its Network Operating System. Once deployed, any device from any application or solution provider that connects to these networks generates a new revenue stream for the municipality and/or utility. Embracing such an opportunity could mean a huge technological leap forward and lay the foundation for true smart and connected cities.
In addition, Senet provides an opportunity for thousands of global IoT application providers, system integrators and enterprises to register their LoRaWAN gateways on the LVN and generate revenue based on the number of qualified messages using their Radio Access Network. This model supports both production deployments and large market trials, allowing for participation in the Senet LVN at various levels of application rollout.
PRESS RELEASE:
Raytheon, MetTel Establish Alliance to Secure Government, Industry Communications Networks
Raytheon and MetTel has announced a global security partnership to protect government and commercial communications networks against growing cybersecurity threats, including those that exploit the proliferating Internet of Things (IoT). The companies will provide a range of tactical and strategic cybersecurity offerings and support the migration from legacy technologies to ensure cybersecurity is designed into the government’s telecom infrastructure.
With the priorities outlined in Executive Order 13800, this collaborative affiliation is well positioned to support the Administration’s IT modernizing and Cybersecurity priorities, to include the emerging security challenges posed by internet-connected devices, including computers, routers and security cameras.
“Security is foremost on everyone’s mind today, especially with the constant emergence of new threat forms compounded by the exploding array of devices and network access points,” said Ed Fox, vice president of Network Services for MetTel. “The world needs a network that meets the highest government security standards and together, MetTel and Raytheon are committed to delivering that network.”
The MetTel-Raytheon alliance will provide a range of managed services, professional consulting services and technologies to detect, assess and defeat potential intrusions on MetTel-owned or managed customer networks. The principle elements of the agreement include:
• MetTel and Raytheon will build and operate Managed Trusted Internet Protocol Service services to provide to Federal government agencies through the GSA’s Enterprise Infrastructure Solutions (EIS) contract. MetTel was named in August 2017 as a vendor for the $50 billion, 15-year award.
• As part of MetTel’s team on the EIS contract, Raytheon will offer cybersecurity experts on a contract basis to Federal Agencies for custom consultations.
• In addition, MetTel will employ Raytheon’s advanced Threat Intelligence platform and other advanced security services.
“Working with MetTel, the Raytheon team will leverage 30 years of expertise and significant investment in cybersecurity engineering, and the automated technology to hunt, detect and remediate advanced cyber threats on government and commercial networks,” said John DeSimone, vice president of Cybersecurity and Special Missions for Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services.
Raytheon and MetTel will offer industry-leading expertise to Federal agencies with detailed insight and recommendations for specific requirements such as incident remediation and vulnerability testing, among others. As Federal agencies and commercial businesses aggressively pursue digital transformation on a massive scale, this partnership will be ready to support those efforts with industry leading expertise.
MetTel’s communications infrastructure supports over 10,000 customer locations worldwide. To safeguard MetTel’s service to customers, MetTel will closely integrate with Raytheon’s Virtual Security Operations Center service to proactively hunt for threats; provide advanced intrusion analysis; incident notification and triage when necessary.
“As rogue governments, nation-states and independent cyber criminals increasingly focus their attacks on commercial industry targets as well as the public sector, the need becomes apparent for the combined forces of MetTel and Raytheon with proven success in security and network management,” Fox added.
PRESS RELEASE:
Cisco Announces $1 Billion Program for Smart Cities
So-called “smart cities” have less pollution, safer streets, and better quality of life for citizens. But many finance officers struggle to fund the upgrades that will make their cities smart. To help, Cisco has introduced the City Infrastructure Financing Acceleration Program. It is a $1 billion program aimed to make it easier, faster, and more affordable for cities around the world to fund and adopt technologies that will transform their communities.
The funding will be provided through Cisco Capital in partnership with private equity firm Digital Alpha Advisors and pension fund investors APG Asset Management (APG) and Whitehelm Capital.
“Funding is a major stumbling block for municipalities beginning their smart city transformation,” said Anil Menon, Global President of Cisco’s Smart+Connected Communities. “With our partners, Cisco will bring the capital and expertise it takes to make smart city projects a reality. Digital Alpha, APG, and Whitehelm Capital bring a fresh perspective on investment in an area that has previously been perceived as too new and, therefore, too difficult to finance.”
The program helps cities assemble the right type or suite of finance instruments to fund and deploy innovative technology with minimal initial investment.Whether a city is looking to reduce energy usage, ease traffic and parking, or boost public transportation ridership and revenues, the program will help cities with solutions. Revenue-share financing, for instance, even allows a city to tie financing to desired outcomes and extend future operating budgets throughrevenue streams from the new services that a digitized infrastructure makes possible.
Additionally, at the Smart City Expo World Congress, Cisco is announcing added functionality to its newly renamed connected digital platform, Cisco Kinetic for Cities, which integrated with the Cisco Kinetic IoT data platform. The new features provide enhanced support for public safety. From the new full-policy automation options to an improved dashboard with integrated video, updates to the platform put citizen safety first. Real-time notification of emergency information now draws on additional IoT data sources and Cisco Spark Collaboration, enabling faster emergency response.
Cisco has also announced new purchasing options for Cisco Kinetic for Cities, including prepackaged starter solutions, which combine the Cisco IoT data platform, solution, and services with those from our ecosystem partners into ready-to-roll-out, end-to-end solution suites.
Cisco has added a number of new Cisco Kinetic for Cities customers. The Town of Cary, North Carolina, for instance, has created a “Living Lab” providing smart city technologies to improve the lives of citizens. Using the Cisco Kinetic for Cities platform, town officials can actively monitor the number of available parking spots—particularly spots for the handicapped—to gauge use and help with planning. “The Cisco Kinetic for Cities platform provides us the tools we need to positively affect our citizens’ lives,” said Terry Yates, Infrastructure and Network Manager, Town of Cary, North Carolina.
PRESS RELEASE:
Libelium Releases Programming Cloud Service for Internet of Things
At Smart City Expo in Barcelona (Spain), Libelium presents for the first time a cloud software service to enhance its wireless sensor platform with intelligence based solutions. The Spanish company has released the first Programming Cloud Service that will reduce development costs, increase security and speed up the time to market of Waspmote and Waspmote Plug & Sense! users by removing both the code training and the “try and test” stages in the deployment process.
On the one hand, the new service facilitates the access to develop new IoT projects to technology companies that do not count with a special engineering team for the IoT. On the other hand, the new Programming Cloud Service is thought too for those companies that want to save time and resources getting the IoT technology ready for their applications.
The new strategic tool allows to create binary files for the Libelium’s Plug & Sense! sensor nodes in minutes by just filling in an online form with all the working options like sleeping cycle, data to include in the sensor frame, Cloud destination URL, networking options, etc.
“After more than 10 years of experience in one of the most complete IoT programming API’s in the world, we have realized that our clients looks for simplicity: they just want to use the full programming potential in one click. This is how we came with the idea of relaying all this complexity to a Cloud service that could create code and compile it for them in seconds”, David Gascón, Libelium’s CTO, points out.
Due to the importance of the security in the IoT, it is crucial for companies managing real deployments to have the ability to configure nodes correctly and easily with the appropriate encryption options.
The Programming Cloud Service creates the binary files based on solid and tested source codes generated during years by the Libelium engineering team. Then it generates the algorithm specified by the user and compile it on the Cloud using the last version of the API and libraries. This way users may be confident that all the binaries generated contains all the improvements of the latest API versions.
“Smart Cities projects based on IoT need less costs and more simplicity on development stages to see the light and Libelium is working in both objectives to ease the IoT really take off”, Alicia Asín, Libelium’s CEO.
With this launching, Libelium offers different types of licenses for small, medium and large IoT deployments. Licenses titled as “Basic” and “PRO”, that enable the management from 5 to 20 nodes, are perfect to create binary files one by one. Besides, “Elite” licenses allow to create up to 100 binary files in batch by just one click.
With the new service no SDK’s, API’s or compilers are needed any more. “Now you can program the sensor nodes using a mobile phone or a tablet, as just a web browser is required to fill the programming options form”, Libelium’s CTO says. Anyway, the libraries and compiler keep accessible for experienced developers who want to keep coding and using all the API options and the flexibility of programming their own binaries.
In the near future, Libelium will offer on its cloud services platform new licenses for the management of MySignals users’ data as well as for programming other devices such as Smart Parking.
For more information: libelium.com/libelium-releases-the-first-programming-cloud-service-for-the-IoT.