The ‘world’s largest Internet of Things (IoT) event’ has come to a close at the Santa Clara Convention Centre in the US, having attracted over 12,000 people and 200 exhibitions.
IoT World, which kicked off on May 10th, has seen a plethora of talks on the future of connected devices. Topics included areas such as IIoT, autonomous cars, smart cities, wearables and intelligent devices.
Tech heavyweights in attendance
As well as this, tech heavyweights like Apple, Intel, Samsung, Microsoft and SAP attended the event to discuss the IoT revolution. Car sharing apps like Uber and Lyft were also there, and led a panel on shared mobility and smart cities.
London turned into smart city
One of the most interesting announcements was that Westminster City in London is to be connected up to the Internet of Things. Silver Spring Network, a provider of smart grid products, has plans to wire Westminster with its IoT mesh network.
The IPv6 mesh canopy will run across tourist attractions like Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament, turning London into a smart city. Westminster City Council, in partnership with Silver, will connect 4,000 lighted signs and traffic lights to the network at the start. This, it says, will aid public safety and reduce costs.
Talking about the benefits of IoT for cities, Eric Dresselhuys, executive vice president of global development at Silver Spring, said: “By embracing IoT technology, cities can enhance the sharing of information between people and their city to deliver a more efficient, prosperous and economically thriving community.”
You might like to read: Mayor of London touts UK capital as smart city
Other announcements
The event saw a ton of product announcements, including from Canadian billing solutions company LogiSense. It showed off its new usage rating and billing automation platform, which is helping IoT providers like Numerex, Ingenu and xMatters tackle a range of revenue management challenges – including cost efficiency, scalability and value chain complexity.
Flavio Gomes, CEO of LogiSense, said: “The ability to scale and monetize offerings in the rapidly growing M2M and IoT marketplace depends on a service provider’s ability to be prepared with the right back-office support systems. The EngageIP Usage Rating and Billing platform fuels the type of high growth needed for the Internet of Things with agility and flexibility.”
German software manufacturer SAP used the event to accelerate its Internet of Things line-up, too. It announced new offerings and partners for its IoT cloud platform SAP HANA. New additions include an IoT foundation bundle, which offers improved data management, as well as an IoT intelligent edge processing feature.
SAP’s platform is used by industry players like Siemens. The company also confirmed it’ll be teaming up with Hitachi to develop IoT solutions for transportation, logistics and manufacturing.
Tanja Rueckert, executive vice president at SAP, said: “SAP is helping customers map their journeys through digital transformation, and the IoT has the potential to drive the largest segment of growth in new business value.
“We offer the right solution infrastructure and are committed to building the strongest, most comprehensive ecosystem for the IoT in the industry. Our robust platform and line-of-business and industry applications for the IoT enable customers to improve their operational efficiency and transform their business models.”
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IoT cities hackathon
IoT World not only showcased the latest developments in connected technology, but it also aided its growth. On May 11th and 12th, there was a hackathon where over 200 qualified developers and data scientists pitched product ideas capable of solving the challenges faced by modern-day cities.
Ideas tackled traffic, parking, public safety and more. Up for grabs was $10,000 in cash and a scholarship for Coding House School. The winners are yet to be announced.
“The next era of Intelligent Cities starts by digitizing the physical city and empowering individuals, innovators, and entrepreneurs to change the way they live, work and play using data,” said John Gordon, chief digital officer at Current.
“We’re looking forward to partnering with the developer community to leverage insights from intelligent infrastructure to propel economic growth and bring to life new ideas that unleash a whole new world of potential.”
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