Day 2 of the Internet of Things World Forum was characterised by a similar mix of speakers as the first day, with the mobile operator community being a lot more visible and engaged in the debate. Although there was no shortage of big numbers nor of technology companies offering solutions, a new set of themes emerged.
1. Manufacturing represents the biggest immediate opportunity
Bernd Heinrichs of Cisco opened the session with a sweeping view of the IoT landscape. Much was made of the importance of integrating IT systems with operational technology (OT) systems that are responsible for managing in real-time manufacturing plants, logistics, supply chains etc. The key conclusion in Cisco’s eyes was that the biggest and most immediate opportunity lies in the manufacturing industry, with this year alone representing $4B of value. To emphasise this point, he introduced a new buzzword, “Industry 4.1”.
2. IoT as a means of building customer engagement
The opportunity to use IoT systems to increase customer engagement has already been discussed on this site. The insurance industry probably represents the most obvious example of this. John Carter of Deutsche Telekom explained how typically all interactions with insurance companies by customers are negative ones – they either involve paying their annual premium, or making a claim after an accident or damage. Connecting up the house to minimise the risk or effects of fire or flooding is seen as a way of creating more value within an insurance product. Similarly, insurance based on driving style provides means by which customers can proactively reduce their premiums. However I feel this case is overstated. Indeed, the rush of many companies, such as home appliance manufacturers, to create a ‘relationship’ with their customers, may not be reciprocated, as many people are happy to eschew such a relationship, and retain the one-off interaction at point of purchase.
3. Operators’ role under debate
A number of speakers suggested that the price of communications should tend towards zero and that operators should seek to recoup their costs in some other fashion. While these statements were deliberately provocative and ignore the billions required to provide a good quality communications infrastructure, the role of operators in the value chain remained a topic of debate. All agreed that they aim to provide high-quality data networks with global reach, though with the exception of the Connected Home, few examples of areas were given where operators are providing end services. Indeed, Shane Rooney, who runs the GSMA Connected Life programme, reinforced this message by focusing on network challenges such as security, interoperability, signalling and congestion. Given the increasing portion of revenues represented by data, expect the operators to keep fighting their corner.
4. The Web of Things and Future Architectures
David Keene of Google introduced the Web of Things, a concept based on existing web standards, whereby people can interact with ‘things’ without opening an app. Indeed, he added that, in his view, apps represented a step backwards in the openness of the web, as the intermediate step of downloading an app before accessing a service inhibits seamless and natural interaction with services. It is unclear how this will pan out, but Google seems to envisage a world whereby different services and data sources can be combined in mashups in a way that goes beyond what is practical within an app. Other angles at how architectures will evolve included a suggestion by Mike Hummel of Parstream, that the real-time requirements of many applications will require at least some of the processing and analytics to be pushed towards the device. Security was dealt with comprehensively by Paul Fremantle at WSO2 who proposed federated identity based on the OAuth 2.0 protocol and OpenID Connect.
In summary
So in a nutshell, that was it. Lots of numbers, everyone agreeing how many billions of dollars/pounds/euros there are to be made in this space, and several companies proposing ways how it can all be stitched together. However relatively little in terms of end products to show the tangible benefits to end users and businesses.
Thanks for the notes & summary Simon.