First IoT conference in Romania was a successful event, confirmed by the high level of interest manifested by participants coming from various industries. The positive beginning momentum was generated also by really emulation spirit created by the vendors, comparing with passive attitude demonstrated in other B2B conferences.

Which is the secret for such interest? From participants perspective the answers is suggested by the first IDC research figures related to IoT development on the Romanian market. According to Milan Kalal – Program Manager IoT at IDC CEMA, we already have IoT  implementations in manufacturing, smart grids, industrial process, production asset management, or home security. Tomorrow growing areas are expected for healthcare-hospitals, public transportation, retail, connected cars and entertainment area. Looking to the participant vendors, it’s easy to deduct other key factor which contributed to Bucharest IoT Forum success: some of the heaviest IoT and M2M providers and technology trends pioneers was here with keynote speeches, solution demos and 1-2-1 meetings: GE Digital, Zebra Technologies, IBM, Telekom, Microsoft and APC Schneider.

From content dimension and time reasons this article will focus on the IoT presence of two big players on the market, GE and Zebra. More personal comments related to other IoT platform and solutions will come in next articles.

GE is maybe one of the most spectacular example of traditional company transformation in order to act as digital vendor and to offer digital solutions to the customers. Big part of this transformation process is related to Jeffrey Immelt – Chairman and CEO of GE from September 2001, coined as “the father of the Industrial Internet”.

In September 2015, Jeffrey Immelt announced foundation of the new GE Digital division, as main movement in the US industrial conglomerate strategy to compete in the software industry. Managed by Bill Ruh, GE’s software chief, the new GE Digital division will provide the best industrial solutions and the software needed to solve real world problems.

GE Digital strategy is based on 4 main digital drivers: IoT, Intelligent grids, Big Data, and Analytics. In GE Digital vision, the Industrial Internet is taking place through the convergence of the global industrial system with the power of advanced computing, analytics, low-cost sensing and new levels of connectivity afforded by the Internet. It brings together three key elements: brilliant machines, advanced analytics, and people at work. It drives powerful outcomes and affords new possibilities for industry enabling businesses to reach never-seen-before performance levels.

In the opening keynote from fourth annual GE Minds + Machines conference, Jeffrey Immelt announced the key development strategy for the company in the next period. According GE’s CEO, “in the next five years GE will be a $15 billion software business, compared with around $3 billion in 2011 and around $6 billion today. Within the next 15 years, digital industrial companies will add $15 trillion to global GDP.

Zebra Technologies is a worldwide company with a rich tradition in printing, labeling and RIFID solutions. Digital revolution is transformed Zebra in one of most spectacular evolution process.

Zebra’s new approach is based on the fact: data is all around us and it’s fueling business intelligence. Business transformation is driven by the knowledge value of the data related to better understanding of information assets and efficiency optimization. Essential key factors in building business transformation model are related to:

• Improved Efficiency – Understanding how company’s assets are used and establish insight actions to improve efficiency and eliminate waste.
• Visibility – Harnessing critical data for business decisions and translating into business intelligence to maintain efficient operations.
• Real-time Data – Data is everywhere and it’s available anytime.

As Alexander Sewell – BDM New Technologies at Zebra Technologies stated in his presentation, the transformation road passed by Zebra from classical printing and logistic solutions to Zatar Avatar concept was natural, founded on the necessity of asset Identification and tracking, for printers, supplies, software, and RFID solutions. More that, analysing the digital evolution megatrends driven by IoT, Cloud computing and Mobility, Zebra released the concept of Enterprise Asset Intelligence.

Now, Zebra is offering Zatar, founded on essential approach to the IoT platform, focusing on main components like: front-end applications and open APIs. „These components are the core to the entire Zatar platform solution and are centered on the 4Cs: create, control, connect and collaborate. By addressing the 4Cs across the entire platform, Zatar provides businesses real-time insight into critical business processes.

In Zebra’s Avatar vision, Zatar is the open, cloud based way to connect and control the smart devices, being one of the first worldwide Internet of Things (IoT) Platform for Enterprise Applications. Using Zatar customers could see all enterprise devices (RFID readers, sensor tags, printers, smart phones and more) in one centralized location, communicate with them remotely, and share information for instant collaboration. Zatar offers robust IoT solutions by vertical that scale to growing markets. The focus is on key verticals that benefit most from real-time data and business transparency.

Concluding, data is all around us.  Business transformation is driven by the knowledge value of the data related to better understanding of information assets and efficiency optimization. The Industrial Internet is about the merger of the physical and the analytical worlds. This is going to happen with or without human influence. It’s about knowledge ecosystem. 

 

IoT predictions IDC FutureScape 2015:

• By 2020, 90% of all IoT data hosted on Cloud platforms.
• By 2020, 90% of all IT networks will have new IoT security policies.
• By 2018, 40% of IoT-created data will be stored, processed, analysed at the networks edges.
• By 2017, 90% of datacenter and enterprise systems management will adopt new business models to manage non-traditional infrastructure and BYOD.
• Today, over 50% of IoT activity is cantered in manufacturing, transportation, smart city, and consumer applications
• In 5 years, all industries will have rolled out IoT initiatives.
• By 2018, more than 25% of government spending will focus on Smart Cities.
• By 2018, 60% of IT industry solutions will become open-sourced allowing a rush of vertical-driven IoT markets.
• In 5 years, 40% of wearables will become consumer mass market alternative to smartphones.
• By 2018, 16% of the population will be Millennials, accelerating IoT adoption

Source: IDC.com