IoT brings together various faculties of digital technology. Therefore, a vast variety of organisations are offering solutions here. This list is an attempt to put together the Who’s Who of this emerging industry, and provide a glimpse of what they are offering…
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1. Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Enabler: Cloud & Analytic Solutions, IT Infrastructure, Development Tools
AWS, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, entered the IoT space with AWS IoT, which it describes as a “managed cloud-platform that lets connected devices easily and securely interact with cloud applications and other devices.”
The platform can handle data generated by billions of those IoT devices such as sensors, actuators and smart appliances. It can work on trillions of messages, where each message is of 512 Kbytes.
AWS platform is equipped with all the tools from data ingestion (Kinesis) and processing (Lambda) to storage (DynamoDB), machine learning (ML) and analytics (EMR and Redshift).
Amazon also provides ways to store all that data, using Amazon Simple Storage Services (Amazon S3) or the Amazon RedShift data warehouse. The data stored is then analyzed to provide real-time metrics and real-time analytics.
Many AWS IoT Starter Kits are available for developers to help design of cloud-powered prototypes of IoT devices and connect them securely to AWS IoT. The kits incorporate MCU boards, sensors and actuators, the AWS IoT Device SDK, and a getting started guide. Examples of these kits are Intel Edison and Grove IoT Starter Kit, MediaTek Linkit One IoT Starter Kit, Microchip IoT Starter Kit, TI LaunchPad IoT Starter Kit, etc.
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HQ: Seattle, US
2. AT&T
Enabler: Connectivity, Cloud & Analytics Solutions, Development Tools
AT&T’s IoT innovations are quite tied to its cellular network, which connects machines, fleet vehicles, factories, shipping containers, and even pallets, across multiple industries. In addition, AT&T offers both service management platforms and developer platforms for the IoT.
The firm already offers millions of cellular connections to major carmakers including Tesla, Audi and GM – giving it a big position in the automotive arena. AT&T’s plug-in vehicle Wi-Fi hotspots – the ZTE Mobley and Car Connection 2.0 – offer LTE speeds which enable in-car services such as Internet radio, weather reports, video streaming, and more.
Smart Cities is another key area where AT&T is innovating. In early 2016, AT&T said it is launching a smart city framework in Atlanta, Dallas and Chicago. This IoT smart city framework now connects everything from utility meters, street lights, water systems, infrastructure and citizen engagement, to transportation and public safety.
AT&T Control Center is its service management platform which provides web portals and APIs to benefit businesses and customers with services such as flexible bill options, troubleshooting connectivity problems, customer support, etc.
AT&T’s developer platforms for IoT include AT&T Drive, M2X and Flow Designer. AT&T Drive is a connected car platform which is designed to be modular and flexible to allow carmakers improve features such as safety, diagnostics, entertainment and security for customers. AT&T’s M2X Data Service is designed for large-scale industrial IoT applications and its Flow Designer is a web-based development environment for prototyping IoT and M2M devices.
In addition, AT&T recently launched what it claims as the smallest Cat-1 module for compact LTE IoT devices used in smart cities, wearables and industrial IoT applications.
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HQ: Texas, USA
3. Bosch
Enabler: Development Tools, Cloud & Analytics Solutions
German engineering firm Bosch is a leading vendor of Industry 4.0 and IoT solutions. Bosch bets that its future – whose products range from auto parts and industrial tools to home appliances and monitoring systems – rests on the IoT.
Bosch has launched its own cloud to accelerate its efforts to develop smartcars, smarthomes and intelligent manufacturing. Some applications include sensors to help drivers identify available parking spaces, and systems which lets users connect their cars, dishwashers, door alarms and other appliances to the internet and control them by a smartphone or tablet.
The software core of Bosch’s new cloud is its own IoT Suite, which it describes as a highly efficient cloud-based IoT platform equipping all the functions necessary to connect devices, users, and companies.
As per Bosch, there are already five million-plus devices connected to its IoT Suite. The platform has been used in enabling smart factories that lets companies connect traditional production machinery on a secure cloud.
The solution uses ‘Big data management’ to allow enormous amounts of data to be analyzed. It can store rules for automatic decisions – such as “when to report patterns of wear and tear and preventive action taken to service machinery.”
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HQ: Gerlingon, Germany
4. Cisco
Enabler: Connectivity, Cloud & Analytics Solutions, Development Tools
Quite optimistic on its IoT projections, the US-based networking giant Cisco, has predicted that there would be 50 billion connected devices by 2020.
Cisco’s primary IoT solutions are its networking equipment for connecting these IoT devices including industrial access points, routers and switches.
Apart from network connectivity, Cisco’s IoT framework focuses on fog computing, security, data analytics, management and automation.
For Data analytics, Cisco has rolled out IoT Field Network Director, a software scaled to manage 10 million or more devices, and Fog Data Services which are software services that deliver edge analytics, control, and security for data in the fog.
Fog computing is growing in popularity because some IoT experts believe it is simply inefficient to transmit all the data, from an IoT device, to the cloud for processing and analysis. In a Fog computing environment, much of the processing takes place in a data hub on a smart mobile device or on the edge of the network (in a smart router or other gateway device).
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HQ: California, USA
5. Dell
Enabler: IT Infrastructure, Cloud & Analytics Solutions
Dell recently joined the IoT bandwagon with its first product for industrial IoT, an IoT gateway to collect and process sensor data while keeping it secure.
The gateway supports analytics at the edge of the network. Processing data sitting at the network edge allows making decisions faster, for instance, triggering a call for proactive equipment maintenance. This reduces the time and cost associated with transferring data to the cloud or to a datacenter.
Dell also offers new big data and analytics solutions including its advanced analytics software platform and new Analytics-as-a-Service targeting banking, healthcare and insurance.
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HQ: Texas, USA
6. Google
Enabler: Development Tools, Cloud & Analytics Solutions
Google is well-positioned in the IoT space with its open source beacons, IoT operating system, cloud, SDKs and machine learning technologies.
Google offers Android, the world’s most popular mobile operating system that powers more than a billion devices across the globe – from phones and tablets to watches, TV and cars. Many more IoT devices are expected to be powered by IoT.
In autonomous driving arena, Google is making consistent strides to expand the capabilities of its self-driving cars and has equipped many types of cars with its self-driving equipment. As of March 2016, the firm had test driven its fleet of vehicles nearly two million road miles, in autonomous mode.
In addition, Google unveiled two new technologies for the IoT – Brillo and Weave. Brillo is a new lightweight OS that is designed to run on IoT devices. Weave is a new device-to-device communication protocol which is used for sending commands, updating devices, and performing initial setup of new devices.
Google also makes Bluetooth beacons which form a part of the IoT trend. They’re little transmitters that send out information about a specific point of interest. For instance, a beacon-equipped bus stop could send out transit times to a smartphone in the range of the beacon, or stores could send special offers to customers currently in the store.
Google offers a new open frame format for BLE Beacons, dubbed Eddystone, which allows users to manage their beacons and monitor their health.
Google also provides an open source machine learning system Tensorflow that helps developers in everything from speech recognition in the Google app, to search in Google Photos, or even to smooth the traffic flow through a city.
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HQ: California, USA
7. Intel
Enabler: Electronics Hardware, Development Tools, Connectivity
One of the key enablers of IoT, leading chipmaker Intel is best known for its processors which offer the required compute performance for varied applications in IoT. To catch the waves in the automotive IoT sector, Intel bought two IoT automobile companies— Arynga and Yogitech.
While its Quark processors offer low-power computing for a variety of small form factor applications, the Atom chips provide stunning graphics performance.
Intel also makes several open source boards, such as Intel Galileo, which is compatible with Arduino shields. You can use the Galileo board to build advanced IoT projects such as a centralized image-recognition system.
The firm also offers inexpensive single-board computers for the IoT such as the Quark MCU Developer Kit D2000, for industrial equipment and wearables.
Another pillar of the company’s IoT solutions is its Gateway solutions which allow legacy and new devices to communicate with each other and the cloud.
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HQ: California, USA
8. Microsoft
Enabler: IT Infrastructure, Electronics Hardware, Development Tools, Cloud & Analytics Solutions
Microsoft is serious about IoT. The fact can be gauged from the range of solutions the firm has to offer.
Microsoft’s Azure IoT suite is a one-stop-shop platform to cloud-enable legacy and new industrial equipment. The platform helps businesses with — data and device management, insights, machine learning, and ability to control the equipment remotely. These capabilities make Azure to have a customer base across a number of verticals – manufacturing, connected car, connected health, oil and gas, etc.
Customers can use Azure IoT suite’s data analysis to identify problems before they lead to failures instead of waiting for equipment to break down, which saves the company’s time and money.
In addition, Microsoft offers a handful of new Azure IoT Starter Kits to target students, businesses, fleet operators, etc. with Windows or Linux experience, to quickly build IoT prototypes.
Microsoft has continued to embrace the evolving IoT movement with its Windows 10 I.oT Core — a flavor of Windows 10 designed to run on a spectrum of compact devices from Raspberry Pi to industrial devices to consumer computing devices. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said “Windows has been re-architected to give it a central role in the Internet of Things. Windows 10 is integral in managing every aspect of the IoT, from the sensors, mechanical systems, to the applications and analytics that underlie it.”
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HQ: Seattle, US
9. Sigfox
Enablers: Connectivity
Sigfox has emerged as one of the France’s biggest names in the IoT field. Sigfox provides an energy-efficient and low-cost cellular-type networks to enable IoT and M2M devices to be continuously powered on, connected and emit small amounts of data.
Sigfox’s network connects devices, such as electricity meters, smartwatches and washing machines.
Sigfox uses different radio frequencies that can send short bursts of data over great distances while operating at low power. Termed “Low-power Wide-area network (LPWAN)”, the technology helps in reducing network costs and requires little energy. It utilizes a wide-reaching signal that passes freely through solid objects, called ultra narrowband.
To help developers designing IoT products around the world, many products such as the Samsung ARTIKM platform and HPE’s IoT Platform 1.2 are supporting the SIGFOX’s cost-effective and energy-efficient network.
Sigfox revealed its plans to install its networks in 60 countries around the world including Japan, South Korea and 100 cities of US. The firm particularly sees U.S. as a huge growth market for IoT connectivity especially in smart cities, utilities, shipping and agriculture sectors to connect millions of sensors to the Internet.
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HQ: Labege, France
10. Verizon
Enabler: Connectivity, Development Tools
Verizon recently announced that its global IoT footprint–now extends to more than 120 countries and would reach nearly 200 countries by year-end.
Verizon’s IoT platform for enterprises, ThingSpace, has gained significant ground since its launch in October 2015. Its being used by over 4,000 developers across the globe. The platform provides developers with assets ranging from connectivity and analytics to device management and most-demanded APIs.
Built using Thingspace, the firm demonstrated a full functional weather station that measures water consumption and other metrics, and delivers all of that information to users in real time.
Verizon also opened a large 4G LTE network in the US and offers inexpensive LTE modems for IoT developers to link devices to its own network.
The operator recently revealed it has a series of new IoT deployments and partnerships geared towards multiple verticals such as public safety, agriculture, and urban development. Furthermore, it said it is leveraging its network, cloud and security capabilities to launch intelligent video, lighting and traffic management solutions.
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HQ: New York, US
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