Yes, that's right. I work 20
years in the IT industry for 15
years for IBM, many years as an
internal market development
advisor. Over the last years, I
changed my role. I'm an analyst
now with a complete focus on
IoT, not only on the industrial
space, so we are looking really
in all other verticals also. But
I'm completely focusing
currently on IoT, and especially
on IoT platforms. And I'm
following these market now over
the last five years. And I
choose two terms here, which are
still relevant for this market
of IoT platforms. We still see a
lot of complexity in this
market. It's still very
confusing. What is an IoT
platform what is not an IoT
platform, still complex. We as
analysts, we are sometimes part
of the solution. But sometimes
we also part of the problem,
right? Because we have all our
own definitions. And users have
our own definition. So it's it's
really complicated. And we jump
a little bit also into into this
complexity, and discuss a little
bit. Okay, what makes sense that
we call it an IoT platform. Or
maybe it's not an IoT platform.
But what I see also is really a
fast evolution. And a fast
evolution. Many vendors are
jumping into this market, we saw
many big guys like SAP like AWS,
Microsoft, are joining this
market of IoT platforms with the
last years and by acquisition,
but not only when you look at
Siemens, so some companies are
also developing their own IoT
platforms to become an
irrelevant vendor of the
solutions in the market. So we
see a huge complexity, a lot of
interest from many companies
from many vendors to become here
really a relevant player in this
market. I mentioned I work 20
years for in the IT industry 15
years, IBM five years. As an
analyst. I have to talk quickly
about my company. I work for
Pac. We exists in 7060. And we
are an analyst house with one
clear focus on the European
market, on IT services and on
software. This is our
background. This, we do this now
for many, many years. We are
even older than OSIsoft right is
started in the market. And 1980
right. So we are really for a
very long time already in the
market. We have two sister
companies, and we are going
currently through a rebranding
so Pac as a brand will disappear
and we will Become together the
Technology Group. Anything else
unchanged? So let's dive into
into the complex market of IoT
platforms. And I know it's
always a little bit boring to
talk about what he said
definition on. So I know it's
boring, but it's really still a
complex market. And it's
important to discuss this also
how we see the market, but you
can see it also different. So I
never say my definition is the
right one, right. So this is
really still open what we need.
And we are still struggling to
have a joint definition of what
an IoT platform is. I hope that
the market evolution will go
forward very fast that we really
come fast to unchained evolution
to reduce the complexity and the
confusion we still see you see
in the market.
So why are basically IoT
platforms helpful? Well,
basically when we We look very
holistically at the layer IoT
platform is between the IoT
infrastructure, all the devices,
and between the IoT applications
on the other side. So this is
really at the intersection
point. And the relevance is
really to manage all these
devices to manage data to manage
applications, right. So this is
the purpose of an IoT platform
to be here in the middle of
these two layers. So the the
most agree to this on this, this
is not a part of the of the
complexity, the complexity is
really starting, when we go one
level deeper and when we want to
discuss, okay, so what are the
capabilities behind an IoT
platform, and then we have
really a lot of confusion,
because now you can argue, okay,
and I accept only an IoT
platform which really delivers
all kinds of capabilities,
integrated capabilities, right?
This is the advantage of a
platform that you have
integrated capabilities. You can
build your own IoT platform, of
course. So you can select many
solutions here to build your own
platform. But the big advantage
is really there to have an
integrated solution integrated
platform with integrated
capabilities. This gives you
much more flexibilities speed,
release speed to market, this is
really very important. And the
discussion between the analysts
and users is really going back
and forth about regarding these
capabilities. So some really
argue Okay, you need all kinds
of these capabilities, you have
to do Device Management, you you
need to manage the connectivity,
you have to visualize the data,
you have to enable application
development, application
integration, also machine
learning. So when this is your
argumentation that you will read
Looking for integrated
capabilities a platform with all
these capabilities, you will not
find many out there in the
market. Right? But when you
start on the other side, and
when you say, okay, it's enough
when just one capability when a
vendor just provide one
capability or two capabilities,
then we end up and I hear this
often that we see hundreds or
even thousands of IoT platforms
out in the market. Yes, it
really depends on the
capabilities you see behind them
platform. From my perspective is
it really makes sense. When we
talk about an IoT platform, you
should have some of these
capabilities Not, not
necessarily all of these
capabilities are necessary for
all the use cases, right? And
what we also see in the market,
let's face it, the reality is,
all the vendors are coming from
different perspectives. They
have different starting points
and we release They are abroad
and more and more their
capabilities. But we see many
IoT platforms. They're starting
in the in the data management
and analytic space in moving
forward to other areas. But we
see also other IoT platforms
with a strong focus on Device
Management. And they are also
trying to extend their
capabilities to provide more
capabilities. So it really
depends on what kind of
capabilities to you today need
because currently, from my
perspective, there is no perfect
IoT platform out there in the
market, which delivers all kinds
of use cases. This just not
exist. This is a wish we maybe
come to this stage in the
future, but this is not a
reality today we have. So when
but the question is more what I
get always from from clients is
really, okay, so I'm looking for
one platform right now. Want to
have one platform for all my use
cases. So the perfect way many
clients see it, okay, I only
need one IoT platform, this is
really efficient. And I want to
build different use cases on top
of these platforms, you can do
this with internal developers.
And you can use and system
integrator, whatever you want.
So internal or external
resources, to build applications
on top of on platform. So this
seems to be a perfect approach
to IoT to have everything
integrated on one platform. What
I mentioned, this is not the
reality I see today in the
market. And as I mentioned, I'm
still looking for five years in
this market and we are still not
there that there really are many
IoT platforms out there, which
provide
a platform for all kinds of use
cases. So you Still in the
market, we see that IoT
platforms have sweet spots and
limitations to specific use
cases. But when you look into
this, the major problem for many
users is still, they have some
use cases in mind today, right?
How they want to start, but they
don't think about Okay, what
what is maybe the next step. And
what I learned is, at the
beginning, I looked at the IoT
platform market really
holistically and looked Okay, so
what what kind of capabilities I
see across all these platforms,
but what I learned, and as I'm
doing benchmarks in this space,
you have to be specific
regarding definitions. You have
to be specific regarding the
criteria as you're evaluating.
And I learned quickly that I'm
comparing apples, cherries and
bananas when I throw all their
IoT platforms in the in one
segments on. That's the reason
why we started early to segment
the market, even when the
segmentation is not perfect. We
start with different use cases
and say, okay for these kinds of
use cases, from our perspective,
this is currently the best
platform we see here in the
market. And we still see a lot
of differences in the market
regarding the capabilities. And
but when we talk about IoT
platforms, we should not only
focus about on technology,
because it's also very important
that you look at the broader
ecosystem around the pond around
the vendor because this is it
even very important and I will
tell you shortly why I have this
perspective.
So many questions from from
clients to identify maybe one
perfect IoT platform and what we
do, we we created a set of of
criterias we use for our
benchmarks. And as you can see
here, we are not only looking
into functionalities, how broad
the portfolio is, we also look
into the qualitative
perspective. So we also looking
into references, user
references, what the users are
telling us about the platform.
But from our perspective, it's
also very important to go a step
further to go beyond poor
technology, to look at the
company, really to understand
what is the strategy of the
company, what is the ecosystem,
they go to market, because when
you choose an IoT platform, this
is a long term relationship,
right? So it's, it's not the
intention of companies that you
change your IoT platform when
they're back and forward. The
intention is really to find one
trusted partner for many, many
years. So many, many criteria.
Yes, I don't want to confuse you
about this. But what I want to
show you is, from my perspective
and our role as analysts are
currently really changing,
because what we have done in the
past regarding a benchmark was
basically we are looking for
technology, we are looking for
feature function, we are looking
for four qualitative aspects of
this technology. From my
perspective, this is not anymore
enough. And the reason is clear,
what we see, we we are in times
now that solutions are
accelerating, are innovating so
fast. This means for me when I
do a benchmark on IoT platforms
now, and we just have done one,
and then I have to do the next
one and two in two weeks from
now, because so many features
and functions are really coming
on weekly on a daily basis. It
doesn't make sense only to look
into technology. It's more and
more important for me as an
analyst to predict how an IoT
platform will evolve over the
coming time. That's the reason
why it's much more important for
me, not only to look into the
current capabilities, but also
to understand how a company is
positioned and is moving
forward. So what are really the
next steps and not only the
roadmap, in this case, also,
it's very important to
understand the ecosystem. How
strong is the ecosystem, that
overall the total solution is
really further developing very
strong, because what we see in
the market today is really, that
these platforms are really
evolving very, very fast. And
this will go on in the future
and this is not only the case in
the IoT space, we see this also
in the industry. areas
especially around the cloud.
So let's talk about the market
segmentation. So I mentioned
when we throw all the IoT
platforms in one baskets, we are
not comparing apples to apples,
we really see different kinds of
IoT platforms. And basically,
you can split the market of IoT
platforms very basically, in,
okay, who is using this IoT
platform? Because on one side,
we really have the developer
space, right, the developers who
are using a platform, but more
and more we see we realize that
companies have really limited
resources regarding developers.
So they are looking for specific
IoT platforms, which non
developers can also use. They
call it often rapid application
deployment, they call it often
low code platforms. So these are
the two different Different
kinds of segments we see
regarding IoT platforms. And
when a company is now starting
looking for the right IoT
platform, it often they start
and try to start with one
platform regarding rapid
application deployment, because
they're really easy to use,
right? So you can really do very
fast connect the first devices
to visualize data to do a little
bit of event processing. But
it's maybe not the right
decision for the company when
they're just try to start very
fast, because sooner or later,
often they need completely other
capabilities, which are maybe
more much deeper in the analytic
space. And so maybe it was, it
was the wrong approach to start
with a local platform. So
basically, we see this the split
of, of IoT platforms regarding
Okay, who is really the user and
when we look here, on the Right
side, on the side of the IoT
platforms for developers, the
world is complex for developers,
and they are in depth the reason
why we see here different market
segments currently for for
developers, one set of IoT
platforms really focuses on
analytics and machine learning.
But there are two more segments.
And so there's also another
segment, which really focuses on
device management for all kind
of devices. And
but you can split this also up
into two areas. One is really
regarding bigger devices, but
there's also a new area emerging
and then we are quickly in the
embedded space right. So then we
are talking about very small IoT
devices and many, many devices
you want to connect to one cloud
and they do not have a normal
Linux operating system. So they
are Running a real time
operating system. But we will
see more and more that also
these small devices will be
connected to an IoT platform,
and somebody tries to manage
them. And often more and more
via low power wide area
networks. So these kinds of
technologies will become also
important. So you'll see the
world of developers is much more
hitter heterogeneous and
complex, we still see different
different segments here, and
different IoT platforms with
different capabilities. So what
will change? As I mentioned, we
just have released our latest
benchmark on IoT platforms. And
the interesting thing is what is
really changing is we see two
things in parallel. On one side,
we see constantly datian of the
market, but on the other side,
we also see an explanation. So
does this really fit together or
when I explained you how this
fits together? And what we see
here and this is the first step,
this is really the consolidation
of IoT platforms around
developers. So the three
segments I mentioned earlier, we
see more and more overlap
between the vendors in this
space to providing more and more
capabilities. So, we see, we
expect that very fast. This will
merge together to one integrated
market segment IoT platforms
with deep capabilities to
develop complex IoT use cases.
But they are in use by
developers right. So this is the
one trend we expect to see which
will go on which already started
and which will go one, but the
other one is on this rise as
again, the complexity right.
Beside IoT platforms, we see
also new market segments are
emerging around IoT platforms,
right? Because you cannot look
only into IoT platforms in
isolation, you have to see it
also together with with other
technologies. And what we have
done this year for the first
time, we really looked into this
new emerging market segments
around IoT platforms we see So
one example is augmented reality
platforms for connected workers.
Today not really integrated with
IoT platforms, but we see that
the first Wenders are thinking
and looking in this direction to
combine an IoT platform with an
augmented reality platform to
visualize data also in this
aspect to use us what we also
see and we look the first year
also into IoT platforms based on
open source and we will surprise
there already Several IoT
platforms out there in the
market. And based on open
source, not so many, but we see
already some of them. So we have
taken a first look also into
this market, maybe also
interesting. I know some clients
are really scared about this,
but data exchange and
monetization is also a topic,
which is at our doorstep, right.
So this does not mean that
somebody is abusing your data.
But we see IoT platforms
emerging. They are not IoT
platforms today, but we expect
that IoT platforms and platforms
for IoT data exchange and
monetization, they will merge
together in the near future.
Today, this is not the case.
today. The vendors we see here,
they are testing a lot of
things. They are not successful
in the market today. But you're
testing a lot regarding
blockchain for micro payments,
so on A lot of trials and tests
are going on in this field. And
we believe that this will be the
next step that we see the
integration of these
monetization platforms if they
become successful if the clients
really want this, but it makes
sense, right? We see more and
more IoT, and data emerging. And
you can think about, okay, do
you want to hand them over to
your supplier network, maybe you
can sell them. So it's not
meaning that somebody is abusing
your data. But you should be in
the position that you can sell
your data if you want to do this
also to others. So this is also
an interesting segment. And what
we also see from an from an
vendor perspective is that
vendors have an IoT platform.
This also makes perfect sense
for me. They have established on
IoT platform, they're building
more and more applications on
top of this platform by
themselves or by ISVs. They have
more and more devices connected
to their IoT platforms. The next
step is really that you say,
Okay, we have connected many
devices, this is done. So what
we want to realize now is more
and more different use cases.
And they are thinking and have
the intention to go in the
direction and say, okay, it's
not necessary that I built all
these applications for my use
cases by myself. And so it would
be much easier when there is a
ecosystem of ISVs. They are
building directly, applications,
IoT applications on top of
another platform, and I can use
them if this makes sense for me,
and this will emerge in the
market. So we believe that this
will be the next step for many
IoT platforms to develop an open
marketplace for many different
applications to serve many
different For use cases, some
provided by the vendor of an IoT
platform, but not necessarily,
it's even more important that
you have a strong ecosystem of
ISVs of partners around these
platform. And they are helping
you building applications on top
of this. And this is very
beneficial for many users.
Because the interesting point
is, you do not have to build
your applications by yourself.
You can test you can try
applications, and you have
connected already your devices,
right, and you can really test
an application is working for
you. Okay, it's great. It's
valued and you can use it or
you're saying no, it's not
really helpful for me. So this
is the next step we expect to
see. And we see it mainly in two
areas emerging. One is more
regarding horisontal
application, so or horizontal
use cases, which means more,
let's say remote monitoring
track and trace, let's say a
little more simple use cases.
But we see this also emerging
especially for the industrial
space, much more complex
solutions for dedicated use
cases in the industrial space.
And these are the front front
runners from our perspective,
and in this development,
so on what is the impact on the
existing vendor landscape this?
So also interesting to see, as I
mentioned, I'm following this
market now for many years. And
you see between 2014 and 2018,
we saw many acquisitions from
bigger companies to enter this
market of IoT platforms. Not
only it related, right, so we
see also industrial companies
like coca like Siemens, also
very interesting insurance
company Munich Re they also
acquired an IoT platform. So
it's really interesting to see
that also other companies are
thinking in this direction and
think about, okay, how can I
utilize an IoT platform? For my
purposes, right. But this was
the was the time between 2014
and 2018. So we saw a lot of
acquisitions, the big guys are
entering the market. But what
happened Lastly, was really the
first real market exits. This is
interesting to see. So we see
the consolidation in the market,
but not anymore only
acquisitions. So real vendors
are leaving the market that were
not successful a Wind River,
left the market transfer their
assets to tell it Samsung,
Samsung closed their IoT
platform c three IoT very
interesting. They still do a
little bit of IoT, but they even
changed the name of their
company to see three AI So
focusing on artificial
intelligence. Not any more
strongly on IoT use cases, GE
digital. Maybe they were too
fast and too aggressive to the
market expected too much revenue
in too much in too short
timeframe. This, this was not
the reality. And so what we see
here regarding GE digital, they
still have their IoT platform
predicts it still exists. But
it's very interesting for me to
see as an analyst, because when
I want to talk to GE regarding
predicts, they don't want to
talk to me anymore about
predicts. So they talk about
their MDS solution. So they're
moving also into the application
space. There are more going in
this direction, and so predicts
there's not still not a strong
investment anymore. from GE in
this space. And what do we also
see this is also interesting to
see we really see an evolution
collaboration around IoT
platform. So at the beginning,
all the AI big IoT platform
vendors really tried to work
together with the big CNS eyes,
right? To get access to clients
to enter the market. And in the
next step, they realized, okay,
we do not have all the
capabilities and vendors users
are looking for. So this was the
starting point, that we saw a
lot of collaborations and we
still see between IoT platforms,
right? Because they really
realized, okay, we do not have
all the capabilities. And to
provide a total solution to my
clients. I need cooperation with
other IoT platforms. So we see
this really a lot in the market.
And what we see lately is really
that more and more the hyper
scalars, and here specially
Microsoft, and AWS become
relevant. So we see more and
more IoT platforms that are
closely with Together with AWS,
Microsoft, not only regarding
the cloud infrastructure, they
are also leveraging their IoT
capabilities for them. So, we
see a strong role of these two
vendors currently in the in the
IoT space, Google not that much
they also active but they are
not so strong from my
perspective. And what I
mentioned already earlier, we
see refocusing from from many
vendors to moving to new areas.
And this the reason behind this
is really the consolidation we
are seeing in the market. So
some have to leave the market
they see more and more strong
competition from AWS from
Microsoft, in call areas here in
the middle of the chart, so they
are moving to new areas to to
provide their clients with more
value and also to escape the The
consolidation game which is
currently going on.
So this was an overall overview
to two IoT platforms. I see
currently in the market going
on. As I mentioned, we have done
trust and benchmark, I want to
dive into one of these
benchmarks, which is maybe the
most interesting for your
regarding IoT platforms for
industrial applications, so
dedicated to this space. And I
included here again, the key
evaluation criteria, we see for
an industrial IoT platform, with
one focus on more and more
applications around them, right.
And this is really what we
expect what we will see in the
near future. We split it up in
three areas. The basic is really
a technology, right? So it
doesn't make sense that you have
an IoT platform which really
missiles, these kind of
technology related capabilities.
So you will really need real
time data management
capabilities. It's perfect when
you can really connect as many
different devices as possible
directly to this platform
without any complications. And
also, what I mentioned is this
open marketplace, really an open
marketplace, not that just one
vendor is building applications
or only one system integrator.
This is not fast enough from our
perspective. So we really
believe that an IoT platform,
which helps the users best
possible should be an open IoT
platform with an open
marketplace and many different
ideas, we have the capability to
build industrial applications on
on top of this. So this is
technology related. So this is
this is the I'd say this is the
starting point, right of the
game. But even more important is
to build up the ecosystem. We
see many IoT platforms out
there. They tell me, I have a
perfect platform, I have
technology related, I can do
Device Management, they are
application management. And we
can do this everything in real
time. We can scale, but they
have no ecosystem around them,
and they will fail. The
technology alone is not enough.
You need good technology as a
starting point, no question
about this. But it's very
important to build up the
ecosystem of IO v ICS. To
deliver more value to your
clients in the future.
Otherwise, without an ecosystem
this will not be possible. And
then the last point is is gross
related and I see it really as
an wheel right. So when I and
platform have has often Two
sides of a market. So we have
the users on one side, we have
the platform in the middle. And
on the other side, we have
applications and hopefully more
and more applications. But you
will not get any ISVs. And
applications on board. When you
don't have any users. When you
have many users on your
platform, you're really very
attractive to many ISVs. So they
say, okay, it really makes sense
for us that we focus on this
platform and build applications
on top of this, because there
are many clients out there,
right. So and this is the wheel
what I mean, and this is really
important. You only get ISVs on
board. When you have clients you
only get clients on board in
future when you also have many,
many ISVs using your your IoT
platform. And when we can come
to OSI soft and then I have to
say that OSIsoft is the company
with good technology, definitely
good technology. But they are
also really strong already on
the ecosystem side, and also on
the customer side. And what I
see in the market, I see many
IoT platforms, from big vendors
with big names, but not a lot of
clients behind them. This means
they do not earn a lot of money
with them. And then you do not
get any ISVs on board of your
platform. That's the problem.
And the big advantage from
OSIsoft is really, they started
many, many years ago with this,
right? They do this for so many
years, they have so many
clients, and they are in a very
good position to further grow
this platform for the benefit of
OSIsoft but also for the benefit
of all the users on top of these
platforms, because you will see
more and more. I yes, we are
really building
application On top of this
platform, and that's the reason
so here is the is our graphical
perspective, how we see the
market currently, I focused a
little bit in so we are here
looking at competence and market
strengths. These are the two
areas we are looking in. And you
see, our perspective is
currently very clear. OSIsoft
has a very strong starting point
to have a leading position in
this market of IoT platforms. Of
course, they are really strong
players behind him, right. So
Siemens is investing heavily we
see also Microsoft and AWS and
that they are focusing more and
more also on the industrial
space. But what I see currently
in the market is OSIsoft has
really the strongest total
solution from technology side
from the ecosystem side and from
the ISVs To further Go on, I'm
coming from Germany. And just
one comment, you see a demos and
zoom, maybe here is a whip,
maybe the one or the other is
familiar with these IoT
platforms, they get a lot of
attention in the market, right?
So a lot of discussions in the
in the media about these
platforms, and don't want to say
they have bad technology. But
the problem is, they do not have
any clients. They don't have
ISVs on top of their platform,
and this will not work. This
will basically not work the
technology is not enough. You
really need two sides of the
market to become successful. For
all for everybody in this in
this space for the for the ISVs
for the platform provider, and
also for the user. And we have
also included here for come for
companies an MBs vendor who is
going also in the direction to
build on that open platform. We
expect to see More MEMS vendors
also moving in the direction of
an IoT platform. Does this make
sense? Yes, it really makes
sense for them, because they see
their MEMS application as a core
application based on an IoT
platform. And they're trying to
build more and more related
applications around this core
application. And maybe one
comment also to some enzyme I
mentioned, maybe also want
comment to ASAP. We saw a lot of
investment from SAP in Leonardo.
And But what we also see is that
these investments slowed down
significantly. So they have done
a big push in the market what we
saw, but what we currently see
is that the focus is not anymore
so strongly to position the SI p
Leonardo in the market, and they
even collaborating very strongly
with AWS and with Microsoft. So
you see even big vendors are
struggling to become success
successful. And we're filled
with an IoT platform.
And with this, I'm open for any
questions.
Yeah. Hello, one question. Where
do you think that the market
with IoT platforms is heading?
Like, where will it be in like
five years from now?
So I expect really that we'll
we'll see two different things.
Let me go quickly back. And so I
expect really that we will see
IoT platforms with market
segment within very broad
aspects, which are providing
some basic use cases around IoT
for many different verticals, I
think we will see this, but we
will also see very, very
specific IoT platforms for very
dedicated industries, we will
see very specific IoT platforms
for connected cars, because this
is a very sensitive area right
regarding security also, when
cars are driving more and more
autonomous, so, this will be a
very sensitive area. So, I will
really see that we will have one
layer of IoT platforms for many
different verticals and with
generic use cases and very
specific not.
No more questions. One
Thank you very much. Yeah, the
Munich Re acquisition of relayer
always fascinated me. Insurance
Company getting to that, do you
think that was a one off
transaction? Or do you expect to
see insurance companies and
banks doing this sort of thing
directly?
Michael, I was really surprised
because as I saw it, I was
really surprised to see this and
then I have done an analysis and
I found another one. So, the, to
the, to the insurance from
Switzerland, they acquired
brought box. So they acquired
also an IoT platform, right. And
the intention is really okay to
sell and new, new solutions. So,
so they intentionally two
things, right. One is really to
use these IoT platforms, and
that more and more companies are
selling products as a service,
and they are building the
financial system behind this and
the other one is really You two
big infrastructure projects,
they have really an interest to
put sensors nearly everywhere,
right? And when they see, okay,
something is breaking, we know
it really so fast. And that's
that the harm is really limited,
not huge. So these are the two
use cases I'm seeing in this
this space and yeah, I see
already two of them.
Interesting. Thank you. Sure.
Yes.
I the comparison of the
different IoT solutions or
vendors, could you give more
detail and how that was done? On
what On what basis? Did you come
up with that Raider? evaluating
the different platforms?
Okay, so this was really the big
gaming. malware I mentioned the
key crime Here we are. So we are
using right. So, these are the
key criteria. So we are using
for for these platforms and when
I mentioned Okay, we are not
only looking into the technology
feature and function we are also
looking into into other aspects.
But basically you put the value
behind of this behind each of
these criterias and then you
come up with total value for
competence and also for market
strengths.
I don't think for free but I can
share of course.
Any other questions?
Is that deck for free by the
way?
Yes, of course.
We got something
cool. No more questions. We're
good.
We have one more apparently, you
know,
Good. Thank you. Thank you very
much. Thank you.
