IoT Platforms and Software 7th edition

IoT Platforms and Software 7th edition

IoT Platforms and Software is the seventh strategy report from Berg Insight analysing the latest developments on the IoT connectivity management, device management and application enablement platform markets. This strategic research report from Berg Insight provides you with 160 pages of unique business intelligence including 5-year industry forecasts and expert commentary on which to base your business decisions.

IoT Platforms and Software 7th edition

IoT platforms provide developers with tools to connect and manage devices and integrate collected data into various applications and services. These platforms are intended to reduce the cost and development time for IoT solutions by providing standardised components that enterprises can build upon. Broadly speaking, most IoT platforms fall into one of the following three categories: connectivity management platforms, device management platforms and application enablement platforms.

IoT connectivity management platforms (CMPs) enable mobile operators to support their enterprise customers by providing functionality for provisioning, subscription management, cost monitoring and event management. About 31 percent of the global installed base of 2.1 billion IoT SIMs were managed using third-party IoT CMPs at the end of 2021. Cisco is the largest IoT CMP provider by mobile operator partners, supporting the IoT operations of more than 60 mobile operators worldwide. The main challengers are Ericsson, Vodafone and MAVOCO. Thesecompanies focus on reducing the complexity associated with multinational deployments ofcellular IoT devices. The China-based vendors Huawei and Whale Cloud are key players on thedomestic market.

The product concepts of Nokia WING and floLIVE’s floNET encompass IoT CMPs and distributedcore networks deployed in key countries and regions, which are offered as a managed service.Several IoT MVNOs, including 1NCE, Eseye and Soracom also provide white-labelled or brandedIoT connectivity services via mobile operators. The major US-based IoT MVNO Aeris’ acquisitionof Ericsson’s IoT business marks a significant development in this space and will bring thenumber of IoT connections managed by Aeris to more than 100 million. Addressing enterprisepain points related to multi-platform SIM deployments, IoTM provides a bring-your-own MNOplatform, enabling management of large-scale SIM deployments through integrations with thirdpartyCMPs.

Providers of IoT device management and application enablement platforms span from start-upsto major technology companies, device makers, industrial software vendors and equipmentmanufacturers. The market is today in a stage of transformation, driven by major cloud serviceproviders’ investments and move up the stack. While IoT platform vendors have always hadstrengths and weaknesses, recent developments have led many vendors to re-align theirsolutions with a renewed focus on core capabilities. In many cases, vendors that have built IoTplatforms on public cloud infrastructure are transitioning to provide higher-level building blocksthat can be used as a starting point when building solutions or end-to-end solutions for specific use cases. The trend has accelerated in 2020–2022 as a number of major industrial software vendors no longer offer their IoT platforms as a standalone product.

The industrial IoT segment comprises the largest addressable market for IoT platform providers. Both Microsoft and AWS have pushed to extend their reach into the industrial markets in recent years, and work closely with customers to help them integrate foundational IoT platform services such as Azure IoT Hub and AWS IoT Core into their products. PTC and Software AG are other major players in the space with strengths in different areas. Asset-heavy companies like ABB, Hitachi and Siemens leverage their expertise in both the operational technology and information technology domains to help customers increase asset performance and process efficiency. Important IoT platform providers with high involvement in the industrial sector further include the vendors Altair Engineering, Amplía, Davra, Device Insight, Eurotech, Exosite, Losant, Relayr, Telit and Waylay.

A varying degree of system integration is still required to build and deploy an IoT solution. While large customers typically have the capabilities to integrate devices into their system architecture in-house, small and medium-sized firms turn to system integrators when investing in IoT solutions. To address this gap in the market, a group of vendors have developed full-stack IoT platforms, spanning hardware, firmware and platform services. These solutions are designed to provide an integrated set of customisable building blocks to shorten the journey from prototyping to deployment. Tuya has emerged as the most prominent full-stack IoT platform vendor with a strong presence in the consumer electronics market. Other vendors with similar product concepts are Twilio that acquired Electric Imp in mid-2020, as well as Ayla Networks, Blues Wireless, Embever, Particle and Taoglas. Berg Insight estimates that the market for commercial device management and application enablement platforms amounted to US$ 3.2 billion in 2021. Growing at a CAGR of 19 percent, the market value is expected to reach US$ 7.5 billion in 2026.