The Gold Rush of Internet of Things

03 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12

Labs The Internet of Things (IoT) just might change your everyday life as much as the Internet itself has done. Indeed we already embarked on this new IoT journey, aka Internet of Everything, Web of Objects, Machine-to-Ma- chine, Intelligent Systems, Connected Objects, Smart Things, etc.

The near future will see tens of billions connected devices, designed to offer new services in every aspect of our lives. New devices and their services will interact and communicate with other devices, sensors, actua- tors, industrial machines, the environment, smartphones, etc. This development will generate massive data volumes to be processed locally, in the devices themselves, or remotely: in the devices themselves, in gateways, or in the cloud. This is the Big Picture, and an ideal vision of the IoT, but today’s harsh reality is slightly different.

LET’S START DIGGING Despite all the current ballyhoo and buzz surrounding the so-called Inter- net of Things, we are just at the start of a long journey. In 2013, the IoT market is by comparison in the Golden Age of 8-bit and 16-bit Personal Computing (1980-1995): years where PCs and Macs were for profession- als and geeks only; years where computers were so numerous and so different, that choosing one was a challenge and above all, an Act of Faith: e.g. Oric vs. Spectum , Commodore vs. Amstrad , Atari vs. Amiga , etc.).

GOLD HILL Through the 80s and 90s, many companies decided to be part of this Personal Computer Gold Rush. Following the evolution of 8-bit and 16- bit microprocessors, they created their own computers, with proprietary hardware, software, OSes, and peripherals. A new mass market of computers for everyone was born and it exploded. For over a decade, users witnessed this PC war, where some brands were making lots of money while others disappeared. Eventually, the market became more mature and slowly entered a more pacified and standardized 32-bit and 64-bit world.

A NEW GOLD MINE The current Internet of Things landscape may be considered at the same level of maturity as the PC market in the 1980s but with a clear difference: As PCs back then were part of the same pretty large family with the same main features, the IoT is definitely not. Moreover, IoT solutions are entering all domains of our everyday personal and professional life. However, at present, the Internet of Things market is not just segmented, THE GOLD RUSH OF INTERNET OF THINGS THE GOLD RUSH OF INTERNET it is totally fragmented.

Each and every day, new players emerge and fade away as well. Overall, we see a proliferation of niche markets with dedicated “smart” objects. Nowadays, all “things” tend to become “smart” or “connected”: TVs, cars, glasses, watches, phones. And there is this paradox since even the simplest or dumbest things are becoming smart and connected: cutlery, bottles, or baby nappies. But do all these new and apparently smart things bring real additional services and value to users? SOGETI : INSIGHT ON INNOVATION 3 SOGETI : INSIGHT ON INNOVATION SOGETI : INSIGHT ON INNOVATION 3 THE GOLD RUSH OF INTERNET OF THINGS behavior withotherobjects. smart objectsmustoffer genuinevalueandalsobeabletoshare dataand the products willfail.Inorder tobeuseful,acceptedandfaithfullyused, in linewithreal publicandcustomers’expectationsneeds,otherwise usage in an ecosystem of people and things. The innovations need to be IoT devices need to be designed with a focus on innovative and lasting be usefulandessentialintheecosystemofpeoplewhoboughtit.Smart Protocol.thing usingtheInternet Instead,adeviceanditsservicesshould It isnotsufficient foraso-called“smartobject”toaddandshare some A GOLDENRULE or manufacturers iftheyfeelthathavebeenduped. do notliketobetreated asfools.Customers easily switchtoother devices not-so-smart” devices. However, themarketisgrowing quicklyandusers clever marketingcampaignmaysuffice todaytosellsuch“connected-but- marketing isaverypowerfulweapontosellanykindofsmartdevice.A As theIoTmarketisstillveryyoung,withcustomersthirstyfornovelties, examples? Dotheyfulfillareal need? with toasocialnetwork?Certainlyinnovative,but how useful are these when youpouradrink?Orsmartglasswhichaddsthepeopletoast the musicyouare listeningto?Oraconnectedbottlethatisabletweet For instancethissmartheadphonethatpostsonFacebookinreal time to quicklygeneratesomecashasin“don’t makesense,dollars”. ing andsellingsmartdevicesistrendy andalotofIoTGoldRushershope provide real additionalservicesandvaluetousersinthelongterm.Creat and simply fail to really explore how their connected devices are going to For manytheanswerclearlyis“no”.Manyplayersare justadventurers GOLD FEVER ing asportscapismuchmore naturalthanwearingglasses, anditiseasy Recently, evensomesmartcapswithhead-updisplays appeared. Wear Babolat Play&Connect… • Apple andGooglewatchessoon… Basis , Samsung Galaxy Gear, Pebble , or Qualcomm Toq , and probably • head-mounted display, ReconJet,GoogleGlasses… • • less appropriate use: Related to sports here are already plenty of “smart” devices with more or oxygen levels),andperformance(mentalphysical)”. consumed, qualityofsurrounding air),states(e.g.mood,arousal, blood on different aspects of a person’s daily life in terms of inputs (e.g. food to usesmartdevicesandincorporatetechnologyintodataacquisition Consider the hot topic of “quantifying ourselves” aka “the ability for users Wristbands: Nike+Fuelband,FitbitFlexJawboneUp… Smart watches:SonySmartwatch,I’mWatch ,Motorola MotoACTV, Smart glasses:LasterTechnologies ProMobileDisplay ,OptinventORA Sporting gear:AdidassmartBall, 94Fiftybasketball,tennisracquets needs, otherwisetheproducts willfail.” public andcustomers’expectations “The innovationsneedtobeinlinewithreal - - - to imagine the usefulness of connecting a smart cap with other devices to overview human body parameters. We could immediately adapt our train- ing and exercises by retrieving and displaying various data in the head-up display, for instance: • Pulse and oxygen in blood (SPO2) • Breathing • Body temperature • Electrocardiogram • Glucometer • Galvanic skin response sensor • Blood pressure sensor • Acceleration • Number of strides However, such a multi-parameter “Quantified Self” approach is not yet available. All devices exist separately and are considered “smart”, but they are not designed to be connected to sensors or devices from other manufacturers. The same problem exists with smart watches: Either they are not connect- able to other devices or they must be used with devices from a single man- ufacturer: the Galaxy Gear smart watch by Samsung can only be com- bined with Samsung tablets and smartphones. Moreover, smart watches often are nothing more than a simple remote smartphone screen. Some watches are designed for a specific situation, such as the Nismo Watch from Nissan, dedicated to driving only. Perhaps they can work indepen- dently from your smartphone, such as the Omate Truesmart watch (which replaces the smartphone itself).

“The innovations need to be in line with real public and customers’ expectations and needs, otherwise the products will fail.”

Probably only future breakthroughs will be more disruptive, such as “smart textile” (and companies like Primo1D with electronics directly embedded in yarn), or future generations of smart watches with extended battery-life. This is crucial since users need better features, functions and services from a connected devices ecosystem than an extension of their current smartphone. “Quantifying ourselves” beyond sports might well involve monitoring the health of elder or sick people, or the physical condition of army soldiers.

FOR NOW, SILENCE SEEMS GOLDEN This is the state of the art in the nascent Internet of Things market: frag- THE GOLD RUSH OF INTERNET OF THINGS THE GOLD RUSH OF INTERNET mented and also extremely segregated in each of its fragmented domains, namely: • Segregated by technology: proprietary or non-interoperable communi- cation protocols between smart devices. • Segregated by manufacturers who want to defend their turf, and do not want to share information and data from their devices (even in case of the device owners themselves) and want to keep user data “secret” for their own use. SOGETI : INSIGHT ON INNOVATION 3 SOGETI : INSIGHT ON INNOVATION SOGETI : INSIGHT ON INNOVATION 3 THE GOLD RUSH OF INTERNET OF THINGS a commonlanguage/protocol), allowingreal device-to-deviceormachine- to enableconnectedobjectsshare acommonunderstanding(insteadof In order tomovetheIoTworldnextlevel,itisnecessarychange: INTEROPERABILITY ISTHEGOLDSTANDARD IoT will remain in silos, segregated and fragmented if things stay the same. coming from devices.Butevenwithbigdataandsemantictechnologies, and developmentfocusesonprocessing andunderstandingdatastreams vices, andtheseare solde.g.fortargetedads.Therefore muchresearch Users generate vast volumes of behavioral data by using connected de customers whohavebecomeonewiththeproduct/services combination. among usersiskeyforcompaniestobetterunderstandandmotivatetheir devices andservicesthemselves.Understandingtheusagesharingdata battle isgoingon.DataanalysisanotherhugeIoTmarketinparallelwiththe users andinthemarketofanalysis,processing anddisplayingdataafierce Smart andconnecteddigitaldevicescompeteoninnovativewaystoattract interoperate. stay withthesamemanufacturer, assmartdevicesforthemostpartfailto system of smart objects to enrich or facilitate their own life, they are forced to Today, usersare trappedinavendorlock-in.Iftheywanttoextendtheireco CONCLUSION and mainstream adoptionoftheIoTare atstake. open standards where fundamentalinteroperability isthenorm.Credibility nected digitalthingswillonlybeof optimaluseinatleastanecosystemof this may work since they are multi-function devices but smart and con market was and the smartphone market is in. For PCs and smartphones interoperable smartobject,wewillfindourselvesinthesituation thePC saturated byamultitudeofsmallcompaniesproviding thesamebutnon- object has been made smart, and every time its niche market has become If this basic opennessfailstooccur there isa strong riskthat every timean tion oftheIoTmarket. of connectedobjectsisthekeytoasuccessfulevolutionandtransforma ery level,from devicetoIT, inorder toprovide aninteroperable ecosystem Standardization ofIoTcommunicationprotocols andinteroperability atev the bestsuitedsmartdevicesregarding theirownpersonaluse. ponential expansion of connected devices, for users will be free to choose machine thatis–theIoTwilltrulyaugmentpeople.Thisallowanex Only bysharinginformationatthedevicelevel–cross-vendor machine-to- ofThingsgenuinelymakesense. vendor lock-in.OnlythenwilltheInternet greatly enhancethepossibilitiesinuserecosystems,andfree usersfrom Connected devicesthatshare directly asetofinformationandeventswill each deviceforsmarterbehavior. to-machine interoperability. Alsomore intelligenceneedstobeputinto protocol)” derstanding (insteadofacommonlanguage/ connected objectstoshare acommonun level, itisnecessarytochange:enable “In order tomovetheIoTworldnext ------SOGETI : INSIGHT ON INNOVATION 3 THE GOLD RUSH OF INTERNET OF THINGS Sogeti HighTech IoT R&D/innovationmanager David Excoffier possibly fast-fadingrainbow. there willbethisproverbial potofgoldattheendacurrently brightbut anteed, playersmuststandardize andideallyopenuptheirAPI’s. Onlythen tainable development of an IoT ecosystem where interoperability is guar fortune quickly, butonlythemostinnovativeoneswillsurvive.Forsus to continue in numerous niche markets: Gold diggers hope to make their The anemicGoldRushofproprietary so-calledsmartdevicesisbound to beovercome forsmartandconnecteddigitalthingstospread out. IoT already benefitsindustriesandverticalmarketsbutmanybarriershave The rainbowshinesandweareToday, atthebeginningofajourney: the this goal. As for now, the IoT market is too fragmented and segregated to achieve way ofthinking,oursociallives,andqualitylifeinmanyrespects. of Things promisesThe Internet to transform how wecommunicate, our THE POTOFGOLDAT THEENDOFRAINBOW - -