Methods, platforms, and tools
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The Internet of Things (IoT) can’t function without software, including middleware, known as
an IoT or IoT cloud platform. As a form of middleware, an IoT platform, sits between the layers
of IoT devices and IoT gateways (and thus data) on one hand and applications, which it enables
to build, on the other (hence why IoT platforms are also called Application Enablement Platforms
or AEPs).
The reality is a bit more complex as we’ll see after an overview of the essential
capabilities of all IoT platforms and what you, as a potential buyer, should know about
IoT platform market evolutions and selection criteria to pick the IoT platform that fits
your needs.
An IoT platform enables IoT device and endpoint management, connectivity and network
management, data management, processing and analysis, application development,
security, access control, monitoring, event processing and interfacing/integration
Let’s already say the IoT platform has become an important part of IoT and Industrial IoT (IIoT
) deployments and that there are several types and vendors with their own focus and go-to-market
strategies. Moreover, the reality and market of IoT platforms is complex as IoT projects, applications and
solutions come with different architectures, ways of connecting and managing devices (IoT
device management), possibilities to manage and analyze data, capabilities to build applications and
options to leverage IoT in a meaningful way for any given IoT use case in any given context: consumer
applications, enterprise IoT applications and Industrial IoT or Industry 4.0.
What is an IoT platform and how does it
help in IoT projects?
There are ample IoT platform definitions which all point to differently named but similar
capabilities and reasons why IoT platforms are important. The variety of types of IoT
platforms, as well as their backgrounds/origins and how they work together in ecosystems
matter so let’s first add a few more first.
IoT platforms: many flavors, similar capabilities,
different strengths and diverse partner models
On top of the mentioned types of IoT platforms there are large generic IoT cloud platforms from
vendors such as Microsoft, Google, Amazon, IBM and more.
Another category of IoT platforms are the so-called IoT network provider platforms with vendors
such as AT&T, Orange Business Services, Telefónica, Verizon, and Vodafone.
And then there are IoT business platforms which are often built for vertical applications and markets
such as building management, specific smart industry areas, utilities and energy, oil and gas, logistics
and transportation, the overall resources industry etc. and so forth.
As mentioned, all these IoT platforms have common types of capabilities, with one IoT platform performing
better in one area than another. It’s one of the reasons why the IoT platform market, which is still relatively
young and evolving, is one of strategic partnerships, platforms of platforms and mergers and acquisitions.
As you can see from the few names of vendors mentioned so far, the reason why the market is so diverse is
related with the origins and background of the platform which in turn says something about their strengths. It’s
clear that a platform from a network operator typically will be stronger in the communications and network
capacity area while platforms which were designed for application enablement offer stronger capabilities on
that level, platforms from device manufacturers are stronger in device management and so forth.
IoT platform definitions and essential
capabilities/benefits
IoT platforms enable to realize IoT projects and build IoT solutions faster, cheaper and better. Their
essential features/capabilities are on the level of connectivity and network management, device
management, data acquisition, processing analysis and visualization, application enablement, integration
and storage.
With more IoT devices/assets, data, related technologies, network/connectivity solutions, architectural and
infrastructural evolutions and stronger requirements to connect and leverage it all in a purpose-driven,
efficient, interoperable and secure way, IoT platforms have become a backbone of professional IoT
deployments.
In the strict sense an IoT platform is an IoT Application Enablement Platform or AEP.
IoT platforms have their roots in, among others; the need to manage, monitor, store, translate, secure and
analyze IoT data; the enablement of applications; IoT device management; the bridging of gaps as a
result of the lack of standards and interoperability in IoT; connectivity and integration; security, firmware
updates and subscriber and access management; visualization and interfacing with applications, users
and developers.
Selecting an IoT platform: business-related
and functional criteria
As mentioned in an article on the MachNation 2018 IoT AEP ScoreCard, the
MachNation MIT-E test lab for IoT platforms looks at several IoT platform test
categories from the perspective of performance and overall evaluation.
Performance of course is key when selecting an IoT platform. The categories which
MachNation uses for its test and rankings are divided into several subcategories where
performance is gauged.
Among those many criteria in selecting the
best IoT platform for your business ask
following questions:
What is the track record of the IoT (business) platform vendor? Has the vendor been adapting to
evolving market and technology realities? What projects has the platform been deployed for and
what were the results? What is the roadmap of the vendor and does that roadmap fit with yours?
Does it look as if it will still be around tomorrow? Industry recognition? Consortia?
How does the ecosystem of alliances, channel partners and overall ecosystems of the vendor
look like? Is it part of stable ecosystems and/or does it have good ecosystems itself? Does its go-to-
market approach (you will need channel partners, niche experts, system integrators and so
on) include the use cases you have in mind? Does it have a vertical approach or a vertical ecosystem
for your specific type of business/industry?
How user-friendly and effective is the IoT platform in performing/enabling essential tasks? How long
does it take to onboard new IoT devices? Is it rather ‘zero touch’ or does onboarding take too much time? Does
it work with a third-party zero touch (and secure) device onboarding/provision/management systems? What
about the time it takes users to perform other tasks? How user-friendly are interfaces and functions, whether it
concerns communication protocols, visualization, decision-making, the various applications in a scope of use
cases it supports?
Is it an open, interoperable and developer-friendly platform? What cloud platforms are used? What
programming languages? How easy is application enablement? Are there pre-packaged data and application
features? How well does it connect with the business applications and other IoT applications you need and
want? Does it support the proper standards, devices, communication technologies, etc.?
How scalable is the platform? Again: you don’t just select an IoT platform for the right
here and now. By the time your IoT deployment is finished there will probably be new
opportunities, possibilities and innovations, requiring your IoT platform to support far
more IoT devices than in an initial project. This has implications on many levels including
the mentioned onboarding, security, bandwidth, latency, performance and perhaps even
more protocols and most likely interoperability with additional solutions and providers of
services.
What about security? Although we’ll look at security in a scope of edge capabilities below we of
course need to mention it among the many IoT platform selection criteria overall. And it’s more
than a matter of authentication, certification and encryption or about just a few parts of the overall IoT
stack such as IoT devices or communication protocols and networks. While edge capabilities typically
are seen as adding to security for several reasons, IoT projects and deployments need security by
design in an end-to-end way (and with legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulation and
ePrivacy Regulation making waves across the globe right now soon also privacy by design in affected
use cases involving personal data and identifiers). Security plays on all levels of the IoT stack so
certainly also in selecting the best IoT platform for your needs, use cases and roadmap.
This list of IoT platform selection criteria is far from complete. There is also the pricing
model (and the hidden costs you might encounter, in specific types of platforms such as
those of mobile network operators, costs for instance can also include the data plan costs
for mobile connectivity). And when you start looking at each of the different levels of
functionality you can go further. I
The IoT platform market: opportunities,
challenges, winners and dynamics
The IoT platform market challenges
As said, one of the major issues with IoT platforms is that there simple are far too many and
that the young market is still taking shape with the mentioned mergers and acquisitions,
essential ecosystem partnerships (strengthening offers for the customer who wants an end-to-
end solution, not the pain of acquiring or building a tool) and undoubtedly some players poised
to either go very vertical or get out sooner or later.
The market for IoT Platforms continues to get more crowded and fragmented. However, the
dynamics are shifting: While we continue to witness a constant stream of new startups entering this
space, most of the larger vendors seem to have made their bets by now – organic new entrants by
multinationals are becoming rare
From an IoT platform type, IoT Analytics
structures its list around the follow
parameters:
Application enablement
Device management
Analytics
Cloud storage
Connectivity backend
IoT platform growth and spending
IoT platform vendor and solution dynamics
There is one thing everyone agrees on: the market is fragmented, complex, far too
crowded and confusing as ever more players want a piece of the pie and, except for
the established players who are clearly formulating their strategies and roadmaps in
ecosystems of collaboration and partnerships, it’s hard for buyers.
This doesn’t of course mean that new players have no place and the race is over, well on
the contrary. Several new vendors have a fresh and different approach, often within a
specific vertical or several areas in the above mentioned lists of parameters and
capabilities where IoT deployments need capacities that only emerged in recent years and
become more important now.
To dive deeper into those evolutions it’s important to distinguish between the various IoT
platforms from an industry focus. As the mentioned IoT Analytics update confirms the
largest chunk of IoT platforms is focusing on manufacturing and industrial, followed by
smart cities.
On a more generic level, MachNation points out that rather than building their own
platforms, enterprises are choosing to purchase cloud-based offerings from best-in-
class IoT AEP vendors.
IoT platforms fit in a broader strategy of vendors. In an article on LinkedIn Akash Bhatia,
partner at The Boston Consulting Group points out that the real money isn’t in the IoT
platforms. He emphasizes that IoT platforms represent €15 billion of the €250 billion that
will be spent on IoT in 2020 and play a role in a bigger strategy to gain market share in
the rapidly growing top layers of the IoT stack: IoT applications and analytics.
IoT Application Enablement Platform
(AEP)
AEP vendors have a technology-centric offering with the goal to deliver a best-of-
breed, industry-agnostic, extensive middleware core for building a set of interconnected
or independent IoT solutions for customers, MachNation says. AEP vendors rely on a
flexible deployment model; a comprehensive set of device and enterprise backend
connector SDKs and APIs; and a set of well-documented developer resources.
Platform-Enabled Solution (PES)
A PES is not technology-centric but solution-centric. It is optimized to reduce the
time to deliver a fully-enabled, end-to-end, vertical IoT solution to customers,
MachNation writes.
