The internet of things may still be in its early stages, but iGR notes the opportunities and market segments are vast
We have been busy this spring preparing a series of new “internet of things” reports. Obviously, IoT presents a significant opportunity for the entire technology industry, although realizing that opportunity has many challenges.
To get as complete a picture as possible of the IoT opportunity, iGR has prepared separate total addressable market and actual market forecasts for the following U.S. market segments: transportation and warehousing; connected car; health care; manufacturing; utilities; and security. Each forecast report looks at the main drivers for the segment, the addressable market and the opportunity for 3GPP, low-power wide-area network and satellite connections.
In addition, some of the forecasts, such as security and monitoring, include forecasts for the wirelessly connected IoT devices and sensors. For example, in a connected home with a monitored security system there are multiple window and door sensors, motion detectors, smoke alarms and video cameras, among other sensors, that are all connected to the main system.
When looking at each IoT market, several things become apparent:
–Each segment is a very different market. Each vertical IoT segment has very distinct characteristics in terms of drivers, inhibitors and likely development times. To treat IoT opportunity as one market is to vastly oversimplify what needs to be done.
–Different timing. Some IoT segments, such as transportation, connected car and security, are far more established than others, which will take a long time to even start to show significant growth.
–Different networks used for different applications. This is probably one of the most important aspects of IoT segment development: different segments will make use of the various networks in different ways. As an obvious example, satellite networks can address parts of the transportation segment that a limited-coverage network cannot. And LTE networks can provide broadband connectivity for video monitoring that low power networks cannot. But LPWAN can address the opportunity for sensors that require multi-year battery life that cellular modems are unable to accomplish. Each network has its specific benefits and drawbacks and hence applicability to specific vertical opportunities.
–There are benefits that apply to the overall IoT opportunity, such as improved productivity and reduced cost, but the degree to which these benefit each segment differs. In short, the return on investment varies for each segment and, in fact, each IoT application within each segment.
The net result is it’s impossible to treat IoT opportunity as a single market. It is too large, too fragmented, and has benefits and issues too specific to each segment. To date, vendors and solution providers have targeted specific applications and verticals, and the trick will be to continue to take this approach while making the solution development (network, device, software, service, etc.) more efficient to reduce the total cost of ownership and improve the ROI.
Iain Gillott, founder and president of iGR, is an acknowledged wireless and mobile industry authority and an accomplished presenter. Gillott has been involved in the wireless industry, as both a vendor and analyst, for more than 20 years. The company was founded in 2000 as iGillottResearch in order to provide in-depth market analysis and data focused exclusively on the wireless and mobile industry. Before founding iGR, Gillott was a group VP in IDC’s telecommunications practice, managing IDC’s worldwide research on wireless and mobile communications and Internet access, telecom brands, residential and small business telecommunications and telecom billing services. Prior to joining IDC, Gillott was in various technical roles and a proposal manager at EDS (now Hewlett-Packard), responsible for preparing new business proposals to wireless and mobile operators.
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