Mirroring continued consolidation in the telecom industry as a whole, this week two major market strategy and consultancies, 151 Advisors and James Brehm and Associates, joined forces under the 151 Advisors brand name.
The new combined company, with a global workforce of more than 20, focuses on mobility, the internet of things, cloud computing, smart cities and M2M.
Steve Brumer, partner at 151 Advisors, discussed the merger in a quick Q&A with Industrial IoT 5G Insights.
Q: How long has this merger been in the works?
A: “We have been discussing the opportunity to merge most of this year. It is exciting to now be in a position to offer world wide clients additional services that James offers!”
Q: How does your team expect the internet of things to develop in terms of vertical adoption?
A: “Every week new vertical markets/industries are seeking our guidance on how to either enter the IoT market or make money in the space. I believe that the next 12 months will still show that the vertical markets rapidly expanding their IoT offerings today will continue their pace.”
Q: On the consumer side, what does the continued perpetuation of the IoT mean for the way operators price data?
A: “We are already seeing some amazing pricing for IoT data from all of the carriers and MNVO’s. And the manufacturers building IoT-enabled devices are finding exciting way to bundle airtime that will allow consumers to not know about data usage but just use the products daily!”
Q: How do you see the ultimate standardization and commercialization of 5G impacting the internet of things?
A: “5G will impact our IoT world in a big way but as we advise clients, 4G and the other new network models that we have today will drive the standardization and commercialization of IoT. 5G is a great discussion point and will help explode our industry, just need to get there faster!”
Brehm, founder and chief technology evangelist of James Brehm and Associates, said in a statement: “151 Advisors has a strong global brand and unique position within the IoT and mobile ecosystem because of their in-depth industry knowledge, network and ability to drive IoT initiatives for their global clients. We believe that combining our two organizations gives us a unique and unmatched ability to serve our customers as well as the broader underserved market. We are excited to add the 151 go-to-market expertise to our team so we can not only provide market research and analysis, but also execute a go-to-market plan focused on revenue generation and increasing shareholder value for our clients.”
