New business opportunities around IOT

Internet of Everything (IOT) is no longer a buzzword.  Businesses, Govt and people in general are adopting new technological processes faster than expected.  Here's an attempt to highlight some of the areas where IT Enterprises are working to increase their adoption in larger enterprises.

1) Industrial IOT:  Lot of engineering enterprises are looking at solutions that tie up their manufacturing processes and machine performance on IOT platforms.  Through use of advanced analytic functions, IOT Platform software can predict the fail rate/time of connected machinery thereby providing intelligence around predictive maintenance and idle time of costly manufacturing equipment leading to optimum usage of resources.  Another example is adoption of  Connected Manufacturing processes and Industry 4.0 standards.  These lead to integrating machines with the ERP packages thereby linking scheduled delivery and manufacturing processes with the machinery upkeep and maintenance.  Sensors on IP and SCADA networks providing useful data in Oil Fields have been around for sometime.  Now Smart Energy management solutions, Smart Building Management Systems and smart monitoring are reducing wasteful energy expenses and also automating security monitoring using Video Analytics solutions leading to IDP (Intrusion Detection and Prevention) as well as optimizing spend on people.   Lot of solutions are coming up that connect non-IP based systems e.g. tube-lights, fans, monitors etc. through Zigbee platforms on an IP based system.  These IP based systems allows policies to be written that reduce energy consumption in an automated manner.  Companies like Brillio have created these interfaces on Cisco Energy Management packages.

Today companies are implementing advanced warehousing solutions through use of RFID tags and sensors incorporating dynamic analytics.  These provide intelligent inputs around placing fast moving packages to be placed near the exits points.  RFID Antennas linked to the Supply Chain Management solutions provide dynamic allocation of space and location.  Digital Engineering companies e.g. Brillio is implementing many innovative technologies in the pharmaceutical and process engineering industries.  

2) Agricultural IOT: Lots of farm owners in the advanced economies are shifting to low powered sensors being implanted in the fields.  There are challenges of implementing IEEE 802.15.4 LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks) based devices with specification defining the PHY and MAC layer of low power devices supporting 250 Kbps data rates.   There are multiple use cases of sensor data providing Soil properties information e.g. electrical conductivity, temperature, moisture; Soil nutrients composition of Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), Potassium (K) and Spectral reflectance for plant nutrients.  These information do provide timely updates to farmer to supplement costly fertilizers e.g. NPN and subsidized ones e.g. Urea.  " Give what is needed" type of fertilization policy can bring about rationalized and correct usage of  fertilizers.  Collective gathering of these information can save subsidy on costly fertilizer imports like Urea.  Collaborative approach with Institutes like ICAR along with Telco Service providers and sensor manufacturers can bring about the next generation of Agricultural Revolution.  

3) IOT Usage in GEO Fencing: There are multiple use cases around providing Geo fencing solutions for school transportation, transport operators waiting to transport goods in ports and in various types of mines.  Many schools globally have started providing solutions to parents that track the journey of school buses utilizing Geo fencing solutions using GPS and GPRS.  School transport operators get alerts when a bus changes its route for pickup/drop or is stranded at a point beyond a certain time frame.  Companies are providing very innovative solutions in open pit mines to regulate passage of ore laden trucks on narrow roads leading to efficiency around loading and unloading of ores.  Workers in mines can be tracked using wearables with sensors around location based sensors that is picked up using rugged industrial Wi-Fi routers.  Hamburg port has implemented an SAP based Geo fencing solution that warns truckers not to enter the city precincts if there is shortage of parking space in the docking/unloading areas.  They get automated alerts on time available for them to get inside the parking areas of ports resulting in just in time implementation of Supply Chain mechanics.

4) IOT based Wearables for Healthcare management:  Lot of companies are providing IOT sensors on wearable devices that allow tracking of basic health metrics e.g. blood pressure, pulse rate, blood spO2 etc. and linking these health metrics through home DSL/ADSL or 3G/4G data cards to a cloud based server.  Health care specialists in hospitals/nursing homes get alerts whenever there is a large variance in these test results leading them to schedule a para-medical staff visit as a precautionary measure to a person's home to check on their well being.  All of these are at a cost for sure.  This provides a great facility for people not wanting/willing to schedule visits to nearby health center every now and then, its a great boon.  

5) IOT in Smart Cities: Smart Cities initiatives announced by the Govt of India is a great validation of Society and Policy Makers to vastly adopt Hi-Tech ideas into people's daily lives.  The use case in these kind of environments are plenty and lots of our universities and research institutions are working to provide a workable solution.  Innovative companies have created home  based controllers running on Wi-Fi SoC supporting 802.11 b/g/n platforms that controls ACs, Refrigerators, TVs, Humidifiers, Dust & Pollution control equipments automatically by sensing the ambient temperature and regulating usage based on number of people present at any point in time in their houses through M2M communication rather than Human 2 Machine interactions.  Coming years will see intelligent prompting of grocery items depending on sensor data in refrigerators.  

ICT technology has brought the Telcos and SIs at a unique juncture where each of them can leverage the other's architecture using open APIs to provide just in time services to a wide level of citizens wanting to live in Smart City zones.   The real challenge will be to create a viable model in conjunction with municipalities that offer these smart solutions at affordable cost.  People cannot be burdened with hiked up taxes and surcharges for these additional benefits alone.  A sustainable living experience suited for the Indian conditions has to be arrived.  

My experience with people conducting business over smart phones and widespread adoption of Apps clearly indicates that common people are willing to pay for technology in improving their lives.

Its time that we leapfrog into the world of Smart Cities like we did during the Telco revolution of late 90s when the penetration of telephones in India was less than 2%.  IOT will provide a similar experience for this nation where communication and information technology will start providing a wholesome living experience to those who want to technology to change their lives.