Internet of Things Applications

To save on utility bills using smart batteries, BeeBryte is now up-and-running and is considered as one of the fastest growing start-ups in the cleantech sector at the nexus of energy management and the Internet of Things (IoT).

At the Challenge Up final in Poland last week, BeeBryte was noticed by Intel, CISCO and Deutsche Telekom which were looking to back up to 12 promising start-ups in IoT from all around the world.

A new journey begins for this home-grown company, now with support from three tech giants. BeeBryte will continue to develop and roll out its unique cloud-based energy intelligence software-as-a-service, which is expected to reduce utility bills for businesses and homeowners by up to 40 per cent.

The man at the helm of BeeBryte is Frederic Crampé, a former rocket scientist at NASA, turned serial entrepreneur and investor who fell in love with Singapore 11 years ago when he arrived here to do his MBA at INSEAD.

See more at: eco-business.com

The “Internet of things” has been a Silicon Valley buzzword for the last few years, so it’s ironic that we seem to read almost as much tech news coverage about Internet of things hacking. In recent months, for example, VentureBeat has reported that the FBI is warning car makers and owners about vehicle hacking risks, and that IoT devices may be exploited as Trojan horses. And just a few days ago, we heard about a glitch at smart doorbell company Ring that exposed videos of users’ homes to other users.

Many of us in tech, long aware of hackers and malicious software, often assume that these are just the growing pains of a new platform. But for the average consumer, these are utterly terrifying threats, not just to their devices and personal data, but to their own physical safety and the safety of their loved ones. And as more examples of compromised devices accumulate — and new devices like Google’s just-announced Home increase the potential for vulnerabilities — the industry as a whole is being placed in jeopardy.

How did we get here? To fully grasp the problem, we need to understand at a basic level why so many IoT hacks are happening — and what we in tech must do now, to address them.

See more at: venturebeat.com

Discover how to transform your engineering processes and tools to gain a competitive advantage from the Internet of Things.

Every day, around the world, engineering organizations are exploring the new technological possibilities of the Internet of Things (IoT). Today’s products have moved beyond mechanical and electrical components to now include complex combinations of hardware, sensors, data storage, microprocessors, software and ubiquitous connectivity. Companies that can adapt to the fast pace of change in this IoT world—incorporating and analyzing data from a wide variety of sources—have an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate innovation, meet increasing consumer expectations and gain advantages in a new era of competition.

But to succeed in the IoT world, companies also have to reexamine the entire way they do business. Traditional problems can now be approached in a completely novel way, which can be hugely disruptive to incumbent players. Small startup companies with a good idea and a little crowdfunding (that is, funding raised online) are growing into global businesses within a matter of months. The ability to be first to market with innovative offerings (both products and services) is more important than ever. To do this, companies need to use the IoT innovations to revitalize their own development, manufacturing and operational processes.

Continuous engineering can help manufacturers transform their business models to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the IoT, while enabling engineers to address the challenges of developing the next generation of smart products. This white paper explores how you can use the best practices of continuous engineering to harness the power of the IoT and increase the pace of innovation to obtain a strategic advantage.

See more at: ibm.com

To celebrate the University of British Columbia’s centenary, we asked UBC Sauder professors to tell us about imminent changes in business that will transform our daily lives. From the green economy to internet security we asked them, “What’s next?”

See more at: sauder.ubc.ca

One of the interesting things about the Internet of Things (IoT): It’s not really about the things.

The IoT is a developing technological marvel. It is estimated that by the year 2020, 50 to 100 billion devices will be electronically connected in the globally emerging IoT. But at the center of the innovation that is unfolding across all geographic, industrial and technological borders is not so much those devices that are being linked together but the “connected person.” At the center is the human being who is making use of the applications and services that are enabled by the devices — the things — and their unprecedented integration provided in the IoT.

Indeed, technologists around the world have been working for years to gradually build the massive amounts of infrastructure and networking to expand more and more pervasive connectivity around the world, and the most profound impact of that effort has always been connecting more people in more ways and improving lives globally. Today, a vision is taking shape around the world of people being connected ubiquitously across smart cities, smart buildings, smart cars and, perhaps, even through sensors on or in their bodies, and the IoT is one of the foundational platforms on which this notion of the “connected person” is predicated.

See more at: wired.com

Afero thinks it has the right solution to clear up the messy Internet of Things market.

The Los Altos-based startup sells almost everything a company needs to hook up a device to the internet. The startup provides a tiny Bluetooth module with its own custom firmware on top to improve security and eliminates the need to pair. It helps companies run the backend cloud services attached to the connected device. And then it provides development tools — called the Afero Profile Editor, or APE — for building the services on top of the internet-connected device.

The company announced on Wednesday it has raised a $20.3 million Series A round to help it build a business around this platform. The round was led by Samsung (specifically the Samsung Catalyst Fund), an enthusiastic cheerleader of the Internet of Things market. Other investors include Presidio Ventures, Sanshin Electronics Co. Ltd., SoftBank, Fenox Venture Capital, Assembly Fund and Robert Dobkin.

See more at: forbes.com

There are now more connected machines than there are people on Earth and, with machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies enabling the internet of things (IoT), this is about to accelerate. Are we ready for the age of the machines?

At some point back in 2014, the number of connected devices in the world surpassed that of the human population, according to GSMA Intelligence, with 7.2bn devices versus 7.19bn humans.

Two years later, according to the GSMA’s real-time tracker, there are now 7.7bn mobile connections, including M2M devices.

We are entering a world where the internet will work for us, continuously and quietly, in the background; doing all the necessary, everyday behind-the-scenes tasks, from renegotiating home insurance to booking holidays, making smarter financial decisions to organising garbage collection and ensuring fresh milk is delivered to our smart fridges.

See more at: siliconrepublic.com

BriskInsights.com has announced the addition of “Global Internet Of Things (IoT) Market Size, Share, Trends, Growth, Analysis And Forecast To 2022” Market Research Report to their Database.

According to a recently published report, the Internet Of Things Market is estimated to grow around $662.31 billion by 2022 and it is forecasted to grow at the CAGR of 33.6% during 2015-2022. The segmentation of Internet of Things is based onapplication, platform, software solution, services and geography. The report on Internet of ThingsForecast 2015-2022 (by application, platform, software solution, services and geography) provides detailed summary as well as predictive analysis of the market.

See more at: wvalways.com

The Internet of Things (IoT) is not a futuristic concept. It is a technological evolution which is already happening and can lead the transformation of our everyday lives.

With the IoT, items around us are becoming smart and our life is getting easier. We can use the technology to tackle societal challenges like our ageing population or the need for a more sustainable development model. In addition, IoT offers a way ahead to new business cases and new markets. We are already seeing flourishing new startups around IoT, the creation of new jobs and innovative ideas being turned into reality and eventually into companies or new products, resulting in growth and wealth. Thus, developing IoT is a win-win situation for the economy and society.

Two years ago, when I joined the network technologies unit of the DG Connect of the European Commission, we used to debate around the IoT as a ‘coming soon’ idea. Today, I feel that IoT is happening, and both industry and consumers are ready for it. And most importantly, I feel that the European Union (EU) is well placed to advance the development of IoT market: We need to take the necessary actions to eliminate barriers.

See more at: inform.tmforum.org

As the number of connected devices continues to grow, industry, government, and consumers will reap the benefits of heightened convenience and productivity. The potential benefits of IoT for healthcare, in smart homes, and on roadways are numerous. But the growth of IoT also poses new risks to securing these devices, applications, and networks, and to privacy and security.

In February, the Strategic Technologies Program at CSIS released a report, “Managing Risk for the Internet of Things,” which assesses the vulnerabilities of IoT and offers recommendations for managing risk at a time when IoT technologies are transforming the way organizations communicate, collaborate, and coordinate everyday processes across all sectors.

See more at: csis.org

'Internet of things' (IoT), or 'machine to machine' connectivity (m2m) as the cellular providers define it, is now reaching a widespread level of maturity. Internet of Things World conference has its biggest event of the year in Silicon Valley May 10-12 (the other edition is in Dublin Ireland in November).

In many ways IoT is the vibrant new frontier of online innovation in the valley, with data flows from objects and devices starting to reach huge levels and projections of massive increases.

As I write this I see that Cypress purchased Broadcom's Internet of Things business for $550 million. IoT chips will represent 28% of the semiconductor market by 2021, with various parts of the market growing 36-60% per year according to ABI Research while Research and Markets expects 38% growth in connected devices in healthcare alone, reaching $163 billion by 2020. Specialized UK analyst and advisory firm Machina Research thinks the IoT market will reach $4 trillion by 2025.

See more at: zdnet.com

Two of tech’s more venerable names—Nokia and Microsoft—acquired Internet of Things startups recently. Nokia bought French wearables company Withings for $191 million, while the price of Microsoft’s purchase of Italian cloud specialist Solair was undisclosed. But both these tech giants, once at the top of their industries, might be expecting too much from the much ballyhooed Internet of Things.

Take the acrimonious shutdown of Nest’s smart home hub by parent company Alphabet. It sparked an angry blog post from user Arlo Gilbert, the CEO of a healthcare app company, who pointed out that the “thing” in the Internet of Things could be shut down arbitrarily by its manufacturer

See more at: qz.com

You can’t just assume that IT will be paying for all the new sensors, gateways, networking equipment, analytics hardware and software.

Talk to anyone with even a passing interest in the Internet of Things and they’ll quickly tell you that the real value of an IoT deployment lies in the data that it generates and the insights that can be gleaned from analyzing that data. Fair enough.

Ask the same people about who they think should be paying for all the equipment necessary to capture that data in the first place, however, and you’re likely to get a range of responses. (By the way, this is even true for consumer IoT applications.) In some instances, the answer might seem to be easy: The company that’s installing IoT technology within its own four walls, for example. But even then, however, there are often questions about which department should foot the bill.

See more at: recode.net

The Internet of Things – it’s a technological revolution that seems to be taking over just about everything, and people don’t seem to realise just how huge it actually is. Thanks to the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communication has never been easier, with real-time data being converted by cloud-based applications into understandable information that keeps people better connected than ever before. From internet apps that enable you to remotely control your home’s temperature to ‘smart’ motorways which can sense when something’s gone wrong, here’s why the Internet of Things is, quite simply, the next big thing.

See more at: pctechmag.com

Manufacturing operations management systems are not going away. In fact, many experts expect them to evolve into key components of Internet of Things applications.

More than 40 percent of organizations expect the Internet of Things (IoT) to transform their business or offer significant new revenue or cost-savings opportunities over the next three years, according to industry analyst firm Gartner. Though IoT is still in the early adoption stage, manufacturers have been integrating data from sensors and instrumentation on the shop floor via manufacturing operations management (MOM) systems for many years. This makes it all the more important that manufacturers have a solid understanding of the differences between MOM systems and industrial IoT platforms. Both have their strengths and play a role in delivering key insights to improve real-time performance and operational visibility to enable the smart, connected manufacturing enterprise.

At first glance, robust MOM solutions provide some of the key functionalities associated with IoT platforms. However, most MOM systems fall short on four components: connectivity, cloud, Big Data analytics and application development. And it is these capabilities that define an industry IoT platform, according to research firm LNS Research in its report, “The Impact of the IoT on MOM Solutions” (this research was sponsored by Epicor Software).

See more at: automationworld.com

SAP SE unveiled new offerings for customers and partners on the comprehensive SAP HANA® Cloud Platform for the Internet of Things. With a focus on the “things to outcome” part of the IoT journey, SAP can help capture the real value of the Internet of Things by connecting “things” to the enterprise to provide better insights and proactive actions giving customers the outcomes they want. This announcement was made at IoT World 2016 being held May 10–12 in Santa Clara, California.

“SAP is helping customers map their journeys through digital transformation, and the IoT has the potential to drive the largest segment of growth in new business value,” said Tanja Rueckert, SAP EVP LoB Digital Assets and IoT. “We offer the right solution infrastructure and are committed to building the strongest, most comprehensive ecosystem for the IoT in the industry. Our robust platform and line-of-business and industry applications for the IoT enable customers to improve their operational efficiency and transform their business models.”

See more at: iot.do

The difference between the typical mobile apps and IoT apps is the service they offer. Many app developers focus on niches, but IoT usually requires communications between multiple industries.

The Internet of Things is the next step in our connected journey. In the past twenty years we’ve seen the original World Wide Web, Web 2.0, our phones come online and now everything else besides. It’s a new frontier and IoT app creation is at the fore, and here are four things you should keep in mind.

See more at: socialmediaweek.org

Placing wireless sensors to try to create a “smart” nursery for his infant son is not unlike what Steve Liang faces as he helps lay the groundwork for an emerging smart world.

“When I look at the sensors in the nursery, the number of apps needed to operate them is more than the number of sensors,” says Liang, an associate professor in the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering. “This is a real problem, because these systems are not connected to each other.”

Liang has visited everyone from the World Bank in Washington, D.C., to the governments of the Netherlands and Singapore, talking to officials about adopting a single open standard for the Internet of Things (IoT), everyday objects and devices fitted with small wireless sensors and actuators, or motors capable of doing tasks.

Somewhat like smartphones, everything from clothing and vehicles to buildings and industrial machinery could be given an embedded measure of digital intelligence connected to the Internet. It could allow them to independently sense their environment, gather and even act on data, and communicate and interact with each other as well as people, he says.

See more ar: ucalgary.ca

Intel Developer Blog: How the firm is making it easier for developers to build projects around a wider range of devices

It’s easier than ever to develop Internet of Things (IoT) applications thanks to a range of code samples now available in C++. From robotic arms to stove tops, you can find tools, tips and support for 18 different applications.

The projects include guidance on connecting the Intel Edison board, and interfacing with the Edison board IO and sensor repository using the free Intel IoT Developer Kit.

See more at: develop-online.net

Researchers from the University of Michigan exposed vulnerabilities in one of the leading Internet of Things (IoT) platforms: Samsung's Smart Home automation system.

According to the team of computer scientists, the vulnerabilities they discovered allowed them to hack Samsung's SmartThings, an open platform for smart homes and IoT consumers.

The SmartThings hub is utilized by third-party developers and customers for connecting smart home gadgets, such as cooking appliances, thermostats, electronic locks and security alarm systems.

The researchers successfully constructed four proof-of-concept attacks that expose Samsung SmartThings' vulnerability. These involved secretly planting door lock codes, stealing existing door lock codes, disabling the vacation mode of the home security system and inducing a fake fire alarm. They also added that the remote attacks could be launched anywhere in the world, thus exposing a household to significant harm.

See more at: techtimes.com

The internet of things can appear double-edged. By connecting billions of devices, it is generating a great volume and variety of real-time data that makes it possible to create insight, improve services and deliver better outcomes for citizens, cities and business.

On the other hand, says Nick Monnickendam of Flexeye, the IoT introduces massive complexity. It increases the need for interoperability and collaboration. Hypercat is playing an important role in addressing both challenges.

Hypercat is an Innovate UK backed consortium that is tackling the challenge of interoperability in the internet of things and smart cities. The Hypercat standard makes it easier to discover and combine data from connected “things” to create valuable new apps and services.

See more at: www.iot-now.com

The success of Amazon's Echo, the voice-controlled speaker that can also control many Internet of Things devices, has spurred many people to dip into the world of the connected home. Using Belkin WeMo switches, users can automate every power and light switch in their home by speaking, check if their doors are locked with the right lock or lower the temperature of their thermostat. However, to fully recognize the scale of IoT, one must think of its history, that while there wasn't necessarily such an easy-to-use interface as we are used to today, there were still centralized points at which multiple devices were controlled. The scale of IoT at the infrastructural level is hard to imagine, with one data center alone having hundreds of potential 'points' to talk to.

This, among many other challenges in IoT, is why Apple's former Head of Infrastructure Strategy, Design & Development, Scott Noteboom, founded Litbit, a company that created the open source RhythmOS to talk to the many different "dialects" of new and legacy machines. One core issue of many IoT devices, which includes industrial devices that can have a 20-year lifespan, is that they all use different operating systems, which may be unupgradeable or replaceable. Amazon Echo mastered this on a much smaller scale, learning to "speak" to different points in the home such as Nest thermostats or Philips Hue light bulbs. By making RhythmOS open source (meaning that anyone could potentially code a dialect for the operating system), Noteboom is doing this at a scale of millions of points. It creates an attractive operating environment for humans and machines to interact with each other, and adds a layer of security to the internet of everything, as Litbit calls it, that is necessary.

See more: www.inc.com

There’s been an enormous amount of hype around the Internet of Things (IoT) and, for applications within the industrial sector, the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Predictions are rife that the power of connecting dumb machines with smart sensors enabling them to transmit data over a network and communicate with us and one another, is significant enough to warrant being hailed as the fourth industrial revolution. With the previous three being mechanization (powered by steam engines in the 1800s), mass production (powered by electricity and the assembly line in the early 1900s) and automation (powered by computers in the late 1900s), connected industry – or industry 4.0 – has a lot to live up to.

I personally believe it will and I’m certainly not the only one. The growing drive to realize IoT- and IIoT-promised benefits, such as improved health and security for consumers and increased operational efficiency and automation within industry, has led to near hockey-stick global growth in devices being connected via the Internet. According to research from International Data Corporation, the worldwide IoT market will grow from $655.8-billion (U.S.) in 2014 to $1.7-trillion in 2020 with a compound annual growth rate of 16.9 per cent.

See more: www.theglobeandmail.com

The Internet of Things (IoT) has dominated the tech scene this year. From its commanding presence at the Consumer Electronics Show to the barrage of analysts firms predicting that “billions of ‘things’ will be connected by 2020,” its perceived impact on the technological landscape is reminiscent of its cloud and big data predecessors.

But while IoT has begun to prove its worth in the consumer arena with wearables like Fitbits or smart lighting solutions like Phillips Hue, its impact on the enterprise is less visible today. Forrester says that IoT is a “business-led trend,” and reports that 23% of enterprises use IoT, with another 29% planning to do so within 12 months. However, a report issued from TKEsystems found that less than a quarter of businesses have gotten to the point where IoT has started to influence their organization in a meaningful or measurable way.

It takes time to show results, so how do IoT companies gain customers when they can’t show an immediate bottom line effect on business? In anticipation of your first (or next) pitch meeting, here are some tips and tricks on how to best relay the value of IoT to a prospective customer.

See more: www.forbes.com

The Internet of Things is well known, but not well understood. Here's everything marketers need to know before diving into this latest tech trend.

I know what the Internet of Things is. Everyone does.

Everyone? Surely not the person who thought “internet of things” was a solid moniker. Still, there's truth to the notion that the IoT is a fairly well known concept at this point. Whether it is equally well understood is up for debate.

At its core, the Internet of Things is the process and practice of integrating the web and data into the development of hardware and home appliances. IoT often moves in lockstep with wearable technology, and each represents the next phase of the evolution of the internet, and connectivity in general.

See more at: dmnews.com

Cisco speaks at Hong Kong StrategicRISK event and warns that many firms will be disrupted if they fail to embrace the IoT

Companies that fail to monetise the Internet of Things (IoT) will be disrupted, risk professionals heard at a StrategicRISK event in Hong Kong last week.

The IoT is the network of physical objects, embedded with sensors and connectivity, that can collect and exchange data. Research firm Gartner predicts that there will be about 50 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020.

See more at: strategic-risk-global.com

The internet of things (IoT) is already beginning to change how consumers shop and how consumer and packaged goods (CPG) companies do business. The industry is using the IoT to streamline manufacturing processes and supply chain management as it seeks new revenue opportunities. Brands are also exploring ways to build upon these efforts and use the IoT to deliver more personalized customer experiences.

Whether it’s monitoring the supply chain, tracking how products are used or gaining more insight into shopper preferences, the IoT is ushering in an era in which “smart” things can seamlessly collect, share and analyze real-time data. In turn, this data can be used to personalize consumer experiences and deliver proactive services, as explored in a new eMarketer report, “The Internet of CPG Things: What Consumer Products Marketers Need to Know Now.”

See more at: emarketer.com