Condition-based monitoring sensors will reach 277 million connections by 2026, says analyst house ABI Research, as the tech-mix to connect them multiplies and flexes, and solution vendors and enterprise users put focus on business outcomes rather than just technologies. As a new report from Enterprise IoT Insights discusses, the broad IoT market – covering short- and long-range IoT solutions – has started to collaborate better, as technology has improved and moved into the background.
Confusingly, in a press note, ABI Research fails to reveal the current count for condition-based monitoring sensors, and so there is no growth figure to discuss. But the message is the IoT market has moved beyond its entrenched tech biases to accept that all-manner of solutions are available with different benefits, and that sometimes a combination of them makes the shortest work of tracking assets in transit, and also fixed in place in industrial settings.
ABI Research noted the IoT market for condition monitoring has been dominated by data collection in metering and grid equipment, and in “motor-powered equipment”. It stated: “Much of this activity is happening in the industrial market, where companies are looking to reduce downtime by switching to more proactive maintenance strategies and reduce costs through more efficient use of machine and human resources.”
Tancred Taylor, IoT markets industry analyst at ABI Research, who features in the new Enterprise IoT Insights report on IoT in the logistics industry, and the attendant webinar on the same subject from last month, stated: “Greater variety of connectivity types, more sensor features and form factors, and greater software intelligence is enabling the condition-based monitoring market to expand into new use cases and to generate greater value for customers.”
He explains: “The condition-based monitoring market has so far been the preserve of short-range wireless technologies. Increasingly, however, we are seeing a more neutral stance toward connectivity as adopters approach use cases not from a technology perspective but from an outcome perspective. More investment in software and analytics platforms pushes the focus further toward generating value from sensor fusion and edge data execution.
“Short-range wireless, wide-area wireless, and wired technologies play different roles in growing the market into new types of assets that can be monitored. These technologies sometimes compete, but they often address distinct use cases. They contribute to expanding what is possible from condition-based monitoring solutions rather than purely competing on the same turf.”
A new report on the subject from ABI Research highlights leading solution vendors, including Fluke Reliability, VersaSense, Worldsensing, and Everactive, sensor vendors including Wika and SICK Sensors, and solution aggregators like Cisco and Advantech. It notes, as well, that these different providers are increasingly partnering to “bring [their] specialisms under a single roof”.
Taylor said: “The market is important to follow because of the breadth of use cases and the size of the total addressable market, much of which is completely unserved today. Hardware and software will continue to evolve, and there is much work to do in the ecosystem to streamline how solutions are sold. However, the growing maturity of IoT technology is increasingly leading to a situation where solution providers and adopters can focus on value first and technology second.”
Check out the new report from Enterprise IoT Insights on IoT in the supply chain and logistics industry by clicking on the image below.
