The IoT Evolution Expo will be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in February. This show is designed to help us get a better idea where the “internet of things” and machine-to-machine stand in the market today and where it’s going tomorrow. This is an increasingly important and fast growing industry segment and wireless plays a role of growing importance. I believe 2017 will be very important to this industry segment.
I’ll be attending this show next month, meeting with senior executives of many different companies in the space. They asked me to speak at the conference and I am considering the offer. The more I look at this growing area, the more excited I get. I think we are at the very early stages of a rapidly growing area and I believe everyone should be interested in this space including companies, investors and workers.
The M2M and IoT space is getting hot and we are also entering a new era of incredible growth and opportunity in the wireless and telecom industry. As these industries converge, expect the birth of new ideas and technologies that will lead the way for the next generation.
Much of the opportunity is around different areas like IoT, M2M, the cloud, artificial intelligence and virtual reality. Many of these growth opportunities are in these separate sectors, while many others are around combining two or more.
2017 will be coming out party for IoT and M2M
As a wireless analyst, I am getting calls and briefings from so many different companies about all the new growth opportunities that are unfolding. Every company wants to be known as a leader in these new spaces, and there is incredible value to be able to make the claim. That’s why so many companies are using these terms in their advertising and marketing.
However, few companies are actual, big time players in these sectors today. Some are public, others private. Many of them get lost in all the noise of a growing industry, so let’s take a look at what some leaders are doing.
AT&T Mobility, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile in US
Companies often choose one of the brand name wireless carriers to help them with their IoT and M2M needs. Companies like AT&T Mobility, Sprint and T-Mobile US are players in this space, with Verizon Wireless as well to a lesser extent.
Many companies use one or more of these vendors, with services allowing companies to wirelessly network all their machines over wireless and wireline networks. This saves money on truck roles, equipment and employee costs.
Companies can also choose to do business with Kore Telematics, which is an IoT and M2M mobile virtual network operator running across T-Mobile US’ network. This is a private company and it does not have the same brand name recognition as the large wireless carriers, but it does let the business customers easily use multiple wireless networks both in the United States and worldwide. Kore works with a growing number of brand name companies as their wireless network. You may not have heard of them before, but many of the well-known and popular companies you hear advertising their services on national radio and television use Kore.
Kore helps businesses more easily manage their growing global needs by working with a variety of tier-one carriers in different countries like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile US, Verizon Wireless, Telefónica, Vodafone, Vodafone Australia, O2, KPN, Claro, Vivo, EE, Immarsat, Rogers Wireless and Optus. Most of these companies are also stand-alone competitors in this space as well.
John Horn, CEO of Ingenu, will also be a speaker. This is another interesting company in the space as they offer 2G connectivity to companies so they can communicate between their IoT and M2M devices. Ingenu says their 2G signal is less expensive and the battery life on devices lasts so much longer. They tell me as major carriers pull the plug on their 2G networks, this may be a growth opportunity for the company.
Other speakers include Steve Brumer, partner with 151 Advisors, analyst J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D., Carl Ford and others from a variety of companies. Plus, there are plenty of other large and small companies that compete in the IoT and M2M, including Aeris, China Mobile, China Unicome, Deutsche Telecom, NTT DoCoMo, Numerex, Orange, SingTel, Telecom Italia SpA, Telenor Group, VimpelCom and Wyless.
IoT and M2M continues to grow
The IoT and M2M space is a rapidly growing industry sector, and I think these will be some of the bright and shining stars of the wireless and telecom world for years to come as every other company in every other industry expands into this area.
While some telecom companies dominate, the question is will that continue or as the space continues to evolve and grow will others enter the space and will they take the leadership positions?
I see the sector continuing to expand and other players to move in. There are all sorts of new competitors that could upset the apple cart. Competitors we know like Google, Comcast, Charter and other smaller companies as well. There are plenty of new competitors that will pop up in coming years, and this space will get noisier and more complicated, but that’s a healthy, competitive marketplace.
Investors see IoT, M2M and the cloud as rapidly growing
With all that said, while not as well known as the traditional wireless industry, this segment is an important and vibrantly growing sector. Today, this space feels like a smaller cottage industry, however I see rapid growth continuing. In that world, new competitors will emerge and existing companies will be takeover targets. It will grow and evolve from a cottage industry to a high-powered industry segment.
Investors should pay attention to this space. There are plenty of opportunities and risks, winners and losers going forward. We don’t know who will be the leaders of this space five years from today, but we do know who is leading today.
The upcoming IoT Evolution Expo in Fort Lauderdale next month should be very interesting. I look forward to meeting with different companies and getting a better sense of what we should expect in 2017. In fact, I expect this space to get increasingly more important and more interesting as time passes and we move more rapidly and deeply into the IoT and M2M space.
