IoTComplete

A Sampling of Some Big and Small Participants In The Internet of Things

(February 9, 2015; Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA)

by IoTComplete’s Jimmy Schaeffler

The Internet of Things (IoT) has created a lot of interest from some quite important people and companies. These range from the tiniest single entrepreneur, to the hugest and biggest companies of them all, e.g., those such as Cisco and Apple. From that pool, IoTComplete here offers up an eclectic, yet fairly representative, grouping below of various IoT players, intended to get our IoT reader newcomers a bit more comfortable with who’s in and who’s doing what.

Sample Silos

A handful of industry types jump to the forefront when one begins describing groups and types of businesses that have or will naturally gravitate toward early and eager implementation of the Internet of Things. Note that the following listing is far from complete, nor is it intended to be so. Rather, it is just a great sampling of some great IoT industry sub-sectors, all of which are expected to lead the way toward IoT becoming significantly more efficient, cost-effective, and valuable to human beings and their endeavors.

These “IoT Stakeholders,” let’s call them, include 1) the Smart Home, 2) Vehicles, 3) Health, 4) Industrial, and 5) Cities.

• Smart Home: Within the Smart Home of The Future (which in many aspects is already here), lights; heating and cooling; movement in, out, and around the home (also known as security and privacy), in the form of cameras, floor sensors, and motion detectors; and audio and video delivery and creation, are part of the everyday future of tomorrow. Key companies include Google/Nest, AT&T, Arris, Charter, Cisco, Apple, LG, Samsung, GE, Kwikset, and Magnavox.
• Vehicles: Also known as “Telematics,” the Internet of Things in today’s and tomorrow’s moving cycles and bikes, trucks of all sizes, and every available automobile (from built in IoT functionality, to that added to existing vehicles in the aftermarket phase), is being embraced as eMobility (focused on energy and efficiency and electrical sues) and iMobility (focused on inter-connectivity and how the Internet is so critical to the future of transportation) more and more rule the day. Key entities involved include governments and the big auto manufacturers/Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) — such as Arynga, Jaguar/Landrover, GM, BMW, Nissan, Kia, and Audi/VW — and other random suppliers, such as Expedia, Baron, Inrix, IBM, and Panasonic.
• Health: Wristwatch-like arms bands that measure human vital signs and other information is one of the most obvious and earlier examples in this field of IoT at work. These appendage-related devices typically collect data, such as temperature, or heart rates, and convey that to other devices wirelessly, which in turn can offer results and suggestions toward more efficient, perhaps cheaper, perhaps safer, and almost always more valuable practices and lifestyles. Many other examples come from imaging,  records and data collection, surgery, and daily in-hospital patient care. Entities in this realm include Apple, GE, Cisco, and Intel.
• Industrial: This is a pivotal area, where really big IoT applications will come in. Thus, be it a power station that in an IoT simulates and prepares for the obvious electrical grid failure (and thus limits the ultimate effect and cost of the real failure), or a monitoring device on a farm that automatically measures how quickly a tank depletes, and then automatically conveys that depletion to the liquid supplier, there is great common sense and wisdom and practicality supporting IoT here. Examples of entities forcing the change here include GE, Bosch, Cisco, Ericsson, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, and Qualcomm.
• Cities: Metropolises make up yet another huge set of current future IoT users and providers. Traffic and utilities are but a couple of the obvious IoT makers and shakers. The safety, efficiency, cost-efficiency, and day-to-day management of large fleets of town and city fleet vehicles is but another. Indeed, if the entire future of IoT involved only towns and cities, that alone would be a future business worth trillions of dollars! Current stalwarts among this group include most large cities, some remarkably innovative smaller cities (See, www.intelligentcommunity.org), and companies such as Xerox, GE, Intel, Philips, Cisco, and IBM.

Future www.IoTComplete.com articles will zero in on each of these particular silos, and sets of specific industry players, with a wider and often more-detailed view of trends, opportunities, challenges, gaps, balances, and takeaways. Stay on top of IoT developments, changes, and openings, both personally and professionally, by turning to the www.IoTComplete.com website regularly for additional articles, news, information and coverage of events, consulting opportunities, litigation matters, conference speaking and sponsorship, and a lot more of the Internet of Things!