IoT Platforms – The Experience of Vendors and Adopters

Saverio Romeo
Chief Research Officer
Beecham Research
DATA
[+] Focusing
on Sector
needs -
securely

[-] Not
Enabling
Wide
Interactions
 From the single
DATA application
IoT Applications
(business
INTERACTION purpose)
UNDERSTANDING
CONTROL towards a
INSIGHT context with
& more several
applications
and several
datasets

DATA DATA
 Defining an IoT Platform

• An IoT Platform is an intelligent layer that connect the things to the

network and abstract applications from the things in order to
enable the development of services.
• We want all this because we want to achieve at least three main
objectives:
• flexibility (being able to deploy things in different contexts),
• usability (being able to make the user experience easy),
• and productivity (enabling service creation in order to improve
efficiency, but also enabling new service development)
A Simplified Layer Stack of an IoT Platform

Four fundamental horizontal layers:

- Communication Service Layer
- Device Management Layer
- Data Management and Analytics Layer
- Application Development Layer

Security is a vertical layer security features

being necessary at all level of stack.
An Evolving Vendor Landscape

2016 2019
New Entrants

2016 2019

Acquisitions
Platform Selection is a Strategic Decision

Deep
Discovery RFP
Assessment

Exploring the IoT Technical and Writing specific and

platform landscape business assessment robust RFPs for final
and short-list of the short-list selection.
platforms that match through tools such as
requirements through hands-on evaluation.
tools such as mapping
analysis and features
assessment.
Discovering Relevant Platforms through IoT Pilot

List of Selected
platform Platforms
selected Visualisation

Final output: 1) list of

platforms matching the
adopter’s requirements.
2) Company profile and
description of offer for
each selected platforms
 IoT Platform Representation on IoT Pilot
1. Company Profile (150
Words) Device Multi-AAA
Secure
API security
Support
Security edge/gateway Services/Remediati threat protection
2. Geographic footprint mgmt
management
management
on Services
3. Main sectors of involvement App Dev
Develop/deploy Application API
Cloud services OBB modelling
location-based
tools mgmt dev tools
4. Focus of technological Advanced
Data Basic Analytics,
activities Analytics Data Storage mgmt/integratio Reporting and Predictive Analytics
Analytics
(precsriptive, ML,
5. Platform and market n (orchestration) Visualisation Tools
Simulation)
strength Discovering,
Device Health Device oriented
6. Projects scale in number of Device configuration and
Monitoring and
Support of device
Proof of scalability analytics/Edge
Mgmt settings libraries
devices management
Updates Analytics

7. Cloud, hybrid, on-site Connectivity Network

Coverage subscription Billing, rate and
Connectivity type (national/internati management and usage
offerings Mgmt protocol support
onal/global) provisiong management
8. Service offered heat-map (It
needs vendor authorisation)
Current Picture of the IoT Space via IoT Pilot
1. 104 IoT platforms represented
(11/11/2017)
2. 472 unique companies using
IoT Pilot (From 15/05/2017
until 30/10/2017)
3. Every month traffic analysed
and represented in Piloted,
the IoT Pilot Bulletin.
4. Every six month, overall
market analysed in a large
report (First issue published
on the 10th of November
2017)
 Who Is the Adopter of IoT Platform?

1. Vertical-specific solution providers

2. System integrators
3. Hardware product designers and manufacturers
4. Software Developers
5. Cities and authorities
6. Retailers
7. Industrial manufacturers
8. Energy companies
9. Others
What Does the Adopter Want to do with an IoT Platform?

The large majority of adopters are

developing IoT solutions for remotely
monitoring assets.

The combination of remotely

monitoring and controlling assets is also
becoming relevant.

The automation of assets has been

chosen by a small number of adopters.

Source: Piloted 1 – May/June 2017

Where Does the Adopter Want to Store Data?

Cloud is the dominant choice for storing

data.

Interesting to notice that a good portion

of adopters do not have a clear view on
data storage.

Source: Piloted 1 – May/June 2017

Does the Adopter Require Integration Services?

There is a clear need of integrating

IoT platforms with existing enterprise
systems

Source: Piloted 1 – May/June 2017

Does the Adopter Require Post-sale Support?

A large portion of adopters look

for forms of support and
training.

A small portion of adopters

believes that support is not
needed

Source: Piloted 1 – May/June 2017

Who is the IoT Platform Vendor?
The IoT platform vendor is an
organisation offering services
belonging to one or more layers
of the stack.

There are IoT platform vendors

aiming to offer and end-to-end
solutions through extensive
ecosystem building.

There are IoT platform vendors

focussed technologically or
from a vertical of involvement
point of view.
 Why IoT Platforms Are Important? Revenue Generator
• The rate of revenue growth in platforms is also Comparison of Growth Rates
expected to be higher than that of connections
30%
and objects. 27%
26%
• In a 5-year 2017-2027 CAGR, platform 25%
revenue growth at 17% is the highest
compared to 16% in objects and 12% in 20% 19%
17%18% 16%
connections 14%
15% 13%
• The longer term outlook for platform is 12%
also expected to be better; 2017-2027 10%
CAGR for platform rises to 18% compared
to a fall to 13% in objects and a steady 5%
14% for connections.
0%
• Revenue potential in platforms is supported by
Total Platform Total Object Total Connection
platform vendors adding features to their Revenue Revenue Revenue
software capabilities linking to analytics,
Average 2015-2017 YoY 2017-2022 CAGR
decision making, self service automation, and AI
for democratising technical decisions to less 2017 - 2027 CAGR Source: Beecham Research
technical resources.
22.11.2017 | Strictly Confidential – Presentation 17
Where do IoT Platform Vendor Need to Invest?
Securing the IoT Data management and analytics

Advanced
Analytics
Predictive (Simulations,
Analytics Prescriptive
Basic Analytics, Analytics)
Reporting,
Visualizations
Data
Orchestration

Data
Collection
and Storage
 Conclusions and Further Points of Discussions
1. IoT platforms are an essential component of any IoT solution
2. The competitive landscape is extremely alive. That brings a great
deal of innovation in the IoT space, but, also creates challenges for
adopters in selecting the right platform for their requirements.
3. Understanding (and educating) the adopters to match offer with
demand.
4. IoT platforms evolving particularly in areas such as security
features and data management features.
5. IoT platform meeting multidisciplinary of the IoT via ecosystem
building.