IoT revenue opportunity is in analytics and applications
ATLANTA–Whether the internet of things use case is smart cities or connected cows, the real value in IoT is not in the devices or charging for connectivity, but in analytics and applications, according to Bill Beesley, Fujitsu Network Communications’ principal solutions architect.
“There’s going to be a lot of money invest on this IoT, in the application space itself. Things like analytics and applications will become the revenue generator,” he said during a session at this week’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo.
Beesley shared several instances of specific IoT examples were Fujitsu has seen this play out. In one case, Fujitsu Japan has a service offering related to connecting pedometers placed on cows, which become more active when they are approaching estrus and can be successfully impregnated. In addition to increasing the rate of successful breeding, Beesley said, timing the impregnation properly can lead to a 70% chance of successfully determining the resulting calf’s sex — which offers real value to farmers.
Beesley also offered the opinion that LoRa technology will be the technology winner in the IoT space for most applications — although he added that the next three to five years may be an “even game” among technologies and completely new IoT connectivity technologies could emerge five years from now.
“You guys have the sweetest opportunity in this space that I’ve ever seen, much better than even the telcos,” Beesley told the audience at the cable show. “You have the house. You’ve been deploying a lot of Wi-Fi already. Your network already covers North America, you’ve got 120 million households that you’re connect to. … That is prime real estate. So put that gateway in the house. Put the gateways in your nodes. … But you’re going to have to think about new monetization models.
“I often equate this to the MSOs versus Google,” he went on. “The difference is, with my MSO, I pay them a monthly fee. I’m their customer. With Google, I’m their product. We have to start thinking about that way. Analytics is the next big thing. The applications are the next big thing in this industry. … Look to deliver integrated solutions versus dumb access.”
Beelsey said that cable companies’ existing franchise relationships with cities also represent a unique opportunity for the cable MSOs to provide smart city solutions.
Watch the excerpt from Beesley’s presentation below:
