Lux Research Bullish on Cold Supply Chains for Strong ROI
In a new report, Lux Research says that in certain applications, Internet of Things technology, which can link environmental-monitoring systems inside cargo containers to cellular or satellite systems for constant remote monitoring, beats out incumbent technology for monitoring perishables. The report, titled “Keeping It Fresh: Improving Cold Chain Outcomes with Sensor Platforms,” finds that vaccines or other commodities with high loss rates represent the strongest business case for deploying IoT technologies in cold chain applications.
The report calls out specific use cases with a strong return on investment. For example, it says that in developed countries, typical loss rates of vaccines and biological reagents are 1 percent to 2 percent, but investments in sensors that monitor temperature, humidity and light levels, as well as the location of cargo in transit, show a payback for companies experiencing vaccines loss rates of anything more than 0.15 percent and biological reagents loss rates of 0.045 percent or higher.
It also notes that ice cream, counterintuitively, has a far higher loss rate related to the mismanagement of temperatures inside retail locations than during transit, for which loss rates of 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent do not always justify the cost of deploying IoT technology. The report cites one ice cream retailer that saw losses, linked to power outages and temperature variations due to frequently accessed refrigerators, that could reach $80,000 during a single month. It was able to mitigate those losses by investing in an $800 IoT solution that tracks not only temperature but the status of chiller doors and electrical power.
The full report is now available toLux Research clients.
Teradata Announces New Analytics Products
Analytics services provider Teradata this week announced four new products, which it calls Analytics of Things Accelerators. These are software and services packages designed to help clients quickly begin gaining insights from data collected through deployed networks of IoT devices, in order to speed a return on their investments. Each Analytics of Things Accelerators package includes four common feature sets. A condition-based maintenance accelerator monitors and analyzes large data sets; a manufacturing performance optimization accelerator mines data collected from machine health sensors to predict production problems; a sensor data qualification accelerator recommends the optimal frequency of sensor readings, for specific industries and use cases, based on relevant anomaly patterns; and a visual anomaly prospector accelerator mines large amounts of multidimensional time series (MTS) data, generating graphs to visually convey anomaly patterns that frequently precede a key event.
The distinct iterations of Teradata’s Analytics of Things Accelerators packages are designed for customers in four industries: manufacturing, transportation, mining, and energy and utilities. All four packages are available now, but pricing has not yet been released.
Chronicled Announced Blockchain IoT Chip Registry
San Francisco-based technology company Chronicled has launched an open-source data registry, built on the Ethereum blockchain platform, designed to collect and store the identifiers of consumer IoT products—numbers encoded in tamperproof embedded microchips—in order to authenticate the products and protect consumers from counterfeit goods. Initially, the registry will require that the registered items use microchips inside Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or Near Field Communication (NFC) modules, so that consumers who purchase the products can use their smartphones to interact with them and so that brands can ensure that products containing the chips are authentic.
Chronicled says it created the registry so product manufacturers could offer a secure, interoperable digital identity and a means for enabling proximity-based consumer engagement. For example, a retailer could use the registry to deliver, via BLE or NFC, a digital perk, such as a unique photo filter, to customers who enter their stores to make a purchase. Or consumers might receive special promotions or rewards if they enter a store carrying specific IoT product that appears on the registry.
Chronicled has open-sourced the project under the Apache License. Developers are invited to build their own proprietary applications that will leverage the public registry. “It is a public good designed to outlive the lifespan of any company,” says Samantha Radocchia, Chronicled’s chief product officer, in a statement from the company. “Brands, chip companies and developers utilizing the registry cannot be locked in, monetized or forced to cede control over business critical data and customer relationships.”
To “seed” the registry, Chronicled has entered approximately 10,000 tamperproof NFC and BLE chips. Starter kits and software developer kits are available at Chronicled.org.
Juniper Research Points to Strong Growth in eSIM
In a new report, titled “M2M: Strategies & Opportunities for MNOs, Service Providers & OEMs 2016-2021,” Juniper Research concludes that embedded SIM cards—which, unlike conventional SIM cards that can be removed from a device, are instead soldered into devices and can be programmed and reprogrammed remotely via an over-the-air interface—will account for half of all machine-to-machine (M2) connections by 2020. The report outlines how embedded SIM (eSIM) modules will enhance the capabilities of service providers to update and augment offerings and subscriptions.
The report’s author, Sam Barker, says that eSIM technology will make M2M a more affordable and viable technology for applications in which wireless modules are deployed in remote regions, such as in farm fields in sub-Saharan Africa or remote sections of Asia, where growing demands for food are forcing producers to seek technology to increase yield.
However, the report also concludes that smart metering and connected-car applications will account for the vast majority of M2M connections made with eSIM modules during the next five years. It suggests that network operators focus on developing a variety of billing models for customers in order to attract end users interested in eSIM technology.
The full report is now available for download from Juniper Research. The full research suite, including market trends, competitive landscape analysis and forecasts, costs $4,124 (£3,151).