SAP Plans to Invest €2 Billion in Internet of Things by 2020

SAP announced investment plans of €2 billion over five years to help business and government entities benefit from the transformation enabled by IoT. The company plans to accelerate innovation in its IoT solution portfolio, increase sales and marketing, scale service, support and co-innovation, and grow its ecosystem of partners and startups.

SAP seeks to make sense of data from IoT devices through IoT solutions that apply machine learning and integrate with core business applications of SAP S/4HANA.

SAP is also introducing so-called Industry 4.0 packages that feature IoT solutions to enable customers’ digital business strategies. An example of the packages is SAP’s “jump-start package” that is designed to initiate operational and business system connectivity to monitor equipment effectiveness and provide insight into shop floor operations.

SAP has also acquired PLAT.ONE, which is an enterprise-grade IoT provider that simplifies the process of creating, deploying, and managing complex IoT solutions. PLAT.ONE will boost multiple capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud Platform, including lifecycle management of IoT devices, device connectivity, edge capabilities, e2e security, and development tools for IoT applications.

SAP recently announced an IoT partnership with Bosch.

Source: SAP IoT Connects the World to Enable Live Business, http://news.sap.com/sap-iot-connects-world-to-enable-live-business/?url_id=banner-us-homepage-row1-iot-live-business-oct16r1

MIT Researchers Develop a Technique That Could Guide Self-Driving Cars in Fog or Rain

Researchers at MIT have developed a technique that can recover visual information from light that has scattered due to interactions with the environment. One example is light that has passed through human tissue. The technique could enable medical imaging systems that use visible light or computer vision systems that work in fog or drizzle. The latter could find potential applications in self-driving cars since current algorithms for guiding self-driving cars do not work in conditions such as fog or drizzle.

The system relies on pulsed laser that emits ultra short bursts of light and a high-speed camera that can distinguish the arrival times of different groups of photons.

Source: Algorithm could enable visible-light-based imaging for medical devices, autonomous vehicles, http://news.mit.edu/2016/all-photons-imaging-algorithm-0929

Huawei and ABB Form a Partnership around LTE, Robots, and Industrial Automation

Huawei and ABB have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate for the integration of Huawei’s LTE-based OneAir products and technologies into ABB robots and industrial automation solutions. The cooperation will involve among other things the realization of remote wireless robotic monitoring, management, configuration, and analytics.

According to Huawei, "Reliable industrial wireless networks are an important component during the automatic, digital, and intelligent transformation of industries. We are positive about the prospect of incorporating LTE wireless communication technology into the industrial sector. Huawei, with its profound wireless R&D and innovation competencies, will join hands with industrial leader ABB to develop E2E wireless products and solutions tailored to industrial characteristics and requirements. In the future, Huawei and ABB will fully leverage their respective strengths and extend cooperation and influence to multiple vertical industries."

Source: Huawei and ABB Sign a MOU on Cooperation at HUAWEI CONNECT, http://www.huawei.com/en/news/2016/9/Huawei-and-ABB-Sign-a-MOU

Shipments of VR Devices Bundled with Consoles and PCs Are Expected to Continue to Soar in Q4

According to Digitimes Research, the penetration rate of VR-enabled smartphones and tablets, and the shipments of VR devices bundled with gaming consoles or PCs will continue to soar in Q4 2016.

Other findings by Digitimes Research include:

• Shipments of VR video-enabled smartphones (e.g., Samsung Galaxy S6 and S7) and VR devices bundled with consoles (e.g., PlayStation VR) will be higher compared to other devices
• Vendors of VR-enabled tablets and PC VR (e.g., Oculus Rift or HTC Vive) should initially target niche markets
• Gaming and video are still the dominant VR applications in 2016
• Sony is expected to ship over 3 million PlayStation VR devices during Q4
• Shipments of VR video-enabled smartphones are expected to reach 70 million units in 2016, accounting for 5% of global smartphone shipments

Source: Digitimes Research: Shipments of VR video-enabled smartphones, bundled VR devices to soar in 4Q16, http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20160923PD203.html

Self-Driving Cars with Full Autonomy May Still Be Over 10 Years Away

An article in Forbes warns that fully autonomous cars are not exactly around the corner yet. Full autonomy refers to level 5, that is, full robotic driving in the stages of autonomous driving defined by the Society of Automotive Engineers. At level 5, the car can autonomously take a passenger from anywhere to anywhere at any time under any circumstances (including darkness, snow, ice, etc.). Current self-driving cars are still at level 2 where drivers must be ready to take control when the car cannot handle the situation on its own.  The Forbes article cites Gill Pratt, Toyota’s executive technical adviser, who has stated that to achieve full autonomy, the on-road reliability of autonomous cars needs to be measured in trillions of miles. Today, the industry is measuring on-road reliability in millions of miles. In other words, one million times better reliability is needed.

Ford plans a level 4 autonomous vehicle by 2021. At level 4, cars drive themselves most of the time, except for conditions such as extreme weather.

Andrew Moore, dean of Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science estimates that fully autonomous in-town driving will not be available until 2028.

Source: Warning: Driverless Cars Are Farther Than They Appear, http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2016/09/28/warning-driverless-cars-are-farther-than-they-appear/#1648a67017de

Salesforce Announces Platform Services that Bring AI into the Core of Its CRM Solutions

Salesforce announced a set of platform services in the form of an initiative called Einstein that bring Artificial Intelligence capabilities into the core of Salesforce’s CRM solutions. Einstein promises to remove the complexity of AI, enabling any company to deliver smarter, personalized and more predictive customer experiences.

Einstein is powered by machine learning, deep learning, predictive analytics, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and smart data discovery. Salesforce says that Einstein’s models are automatically customized for each customer and that they will learn, self-tune, and get smarter over time. Further, Einstein’s intelligence can be embedded in the context of business, automatically discovering relevant insights, predicting future behavior, recommending best actions and automating tasks.

Source: Introducing Salesforce Einstein–AI for Everyone, https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2016/09/introducing-salesforce-einstein.html 

Revenues from Enterprise Augmented Reality Apps to Reach $5.7 Billion by 2021

Juniper Research forecasts that revenues from enterprise AR apps will reach $5.7 billion by 2021. This represents a ten-fold increase compared to 2016. Consumer AR app revenues will remain below enterprise AR apps through to 2021.

Enterprise interest in AR technologies has continued to grow thanks to improvements in field of vision and latency of AR HMDs (Head-Mounted Displays).

However, the high cost of HMDs and consumer hesitancy around public usage will deter consumers from purchasing AR glasses in the short term.

Source: Enterprise augmented reality app revenues to approach $6bn by 2021, as business embraces AR, http://www.juniperresearch.com/press/press-releases/enterprise-augmented-reality-app-revenues-to-appro

Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm Form Global Cross-Industry 5G Automotive Association

Audi, BMW, Daimler, Ericsson, Huawei, Intel, Nokia and Qualcomm announced the formation of the 5G Automotive Association, which will develop, test and promote communications solutions, support standardization and accelerate commercial availability and global market penetration. Applications that the companies cite in the press release include connected automated driving, ubiquitous access to services and integration into smart cities and intelligent transportation.

The companies say that 5G can better support mission-critical communications for safer driving and will further support enhanced Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) communications and connected mobility solutions.

The association is open for further partners. The initial partners do not include any mobile network operators.

According to Ericsson, “The success of 5G is dependent on cross-industry work in new eco systems to digitalize industries. With the creation of this Association we will leverage our latest technology, 5G, and work closely together with the car industry to jointly develop solutions as well as provide input to regulation, certification and standardization. We are excited to be co-founder and to work with leading automotive companies shaping the connected car solutions for the future.”

Source: Telecommunications and automotive players form global cross-industry 5G Automotive Association, http://www.volkswagenag.com/content/vwcorp/info_center/en/news/2016/09/5G_Automotive_Association.html

PlayStation VR – Virtual Reality’s Best Chance at Mainstream Adoption?

Sony’s PlayStation VR has two major advantages over the likes of Oculus Rift and HTC Vive: an installed base of 40 million PS4s (no need to buy a high-end VR-ready PC) and a lower price (around $400).

Forbes is asking [1] what will happen if PlayStation VR will not succeed in bringing VR to the mainstream (Oculus Rift and HTC Vive have neither succeeded in doing so).

One could imagine a few alternative scenarios:

• A killer application will eventually emerge after a slow start, taking VR to the mainstream
• VR will not go truly mainstream, gaining adoption only among hardcore gamers and specific use cases in industries (e.g., PC VR for design in manufacturing)
• PC VR will not go mainstream but light-weight mobile VR (e.g., Samsung Gear VR etc.) will find adoption in specific use cases (e.g., consumption of short VR clips) since it is affordable and easy to access
• The real opportunity turns out to be Augmented Reality (e.g., Microsoft’s HoloLens) or Mixed Reality (e.g., Intel’s Project Alloy)

[1] If Sony's PlayStation VR Doesn't Make Virtual Reality Mainstream, What Then? http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2016/09/22/if-sonys-playstation-vr-doesnt-make-virtual-reality-mainstream-what-then/

Systems Integrators and Vendors with Integrated Cloud and Analytics Solutions Are Gaining Ground in IoT

IDC released its Global IoT Decision Maker Survey. Some of the key findings in the report include:

• 31.4% of the surveyed organizations have launched IoT solutions
• 55% see IoT as strategic to their business as a means to compete more efficiently. 21% regard it as transformative.
• Top concerns for organizations looking to deploy an IoT solution include security, privacy, upfront cost, ongoing costs, IT infrastructure, and lack of internal skills
• Top benefits of an IoT solution include improving productivity, reducing costs, and automating internal processes, which highlights an internal and operational focus by organizations over the short term rather than external, customer-facing benefits
• Vendors who lead with an integrated cloud and analytics solutions are being considered as critical partners in an organization’s IoT investment
• Network and traditional IT hardware vendors are losing ground to software and systems integrators
• Industries that lead in the adoption of IoT include financial services, retail, and manufacturing. Lagging sectors include government, healthcare, and utilities
• IBM and Microsoft have taken a leading role in almost all IoT segments, especially in analytics, software, systems integration, and providing an IoT platform. The reason for their success is blending a cloud strategy with analytics and software capabilities.

Sources:

IDC's 2016 Global IoT Decision Maker Survey Finds Organizations Moving Past Pilot Projects and Toward Scalable Deployments, http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS41788916

Internet Of Things By The Numbers: IDC Survey Finds It's All About The Data, http://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2016/09/22/internet-of-things-by-the-numbers-idc-survey-finds-its-all-about-the-data/

Oracle Wants to Challenge AWS in Cloud Computing

Oracle’s Larry Ellison declared in Oracle's OpenWorld conference that Amazon’s lead in cloud computing is over with the arrival of Oracle’s upgraded “second generation” Oracle Cloud. Ellison calls AWS’s cloud infrastructure as “slow first-generation cloud infrastructure”. Among other things, Oracle says its benchmark tests show that an Oracle database running on the Oracle Cloud performs up to 24 times faster than an Oracle database running on AWS.

Not all analysts buy into Oracle’s claims, saying that the company still lags behind competitors like AWS, Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce.

Amazon has emerged as a rival to Oracle, attracting Oracle’s database customers over to AWS.

Sources:

Larry Ellison says Oracle's new cloud will crush Amazon — but the rest of the world isn't so sure, http://nordic.businessinsider.com/larry-ellison-oracle-cloud-amazon-web-services-2016-9/

Oracle Beats Amazon Web Services in Head-to-Head Cloud Database Comparison, https://www.oracle.com/corporate/pressrelease/database-benchmarking-092016.html

SAP and Bosch Partner for Internet of Things

SAP and Bosch announced that they have formed a strategic partnership for IoT and Industry 4.0. The goal of the two companies is to speed up manufacturing and logistics processes and increase the safety and quality of products and services for their customers. Together, SAP and Bosch can process large quantities of data for IoT applications in real time, using SAP HANA and the Bosch IoT Cloud. The companies will also work to combine their software and cloud expertise. Bosch will make its IoT services available on SAP HANA as a way to connect different IoT devices and provide secure and efficient connectivity for them.

According to Bosch’s CEO, to get IoT and Industry 4.0 solutions implemented universally, standards and reference architectures are needed.

The announcement was made at an Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) meeting.

Source: SAP and Bosch Team Up to Advance IoT, https://news.sap.com/sap-and-bosch-team-up-to-advance-internet-of-things/

Mobile Phone Market Is Expected to Stagnate for the Next Five Years

CCS Insight forecasts that the mobile phone market is going to stagnate for the next five years. While smartphone sales are expected to grow, the total number of mobile phone shipments will remain constant at two billion units per year.

CCS Insight also expects component prices to rise, making life difficult for phone manufacturers with low volumes.

Source: Mobile phone market to stagnate for five years, http://telecoms.com/475827/mobile-phone-market-to-stagnate-for-five-years/

Top 10 Industrial IoT Cloud Providers

RCR Wireless News lists the top 10 cloud providers for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). They are:

• Amazon Web Services, including offerings such as AWS IoT Device SDK, Device Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, and Registry
• Microsoft Azure, which promises to easily connect millions of devices, enhance security of IoT solutions, analyze and visualize large quantities of operational data, integrate with existing systems and applications, and provide scalability
• IBM Bluemix, which provides device management; responsive and scalable connectivity; secure communication; and storage and access to data
• Google, which offers security (including full encryption), real-time and actionable insight, and real-time and reliable processing of IoT data
• Salesforce IoT Cloud
• Cisco IoT Cloud Connect platform, which is a subscription-based horizontal IoT platform that is suitable for various vertical industry applications
• Oracle, which has features in its cloud designed specifically for IoT use cases, including device virtualization, high-speed messaging, endpoint management, stream processing, data enrichment, event store, enterprise connectivity, and REST APIs
• SAP’s HANA Cloud Platform PaaS
• Bosch IoT Cloud
• GE’s Predix cloud, which is based on a multitenant gated community model that limits tenants of the Predix cloud to members of Predix’s industrial ecosystem

Source: http://www.rcrwireless.com/20160906/telco-cloud/iot-cloud-providers-tag31-tag99

1.2 Billion Cellular IoT Connections by 2021

According to a study by Beecham Research, there will be 1.22 billion cellular IoT connections (including 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G) by 2021, up from 261 million at the end of 2015.

The growth in cellular IoT connections is driven by:

• Development of smart city, energy and environmental IoT applications in Israel and Arab states
• Remote payments, health care, water systems, and agriculture in Africa
• Smart homes and industrial IoT in the U.S.
• Smart metering in western Europe

Source: Global cellular IoT connections to reach 1.2 billion in 2021, http://www.rcrwireless.com/20160923/asia-pacific/global-cellular-iot-connections-reach-1-2-billion-2021-tag23/amp