Internet of Things Makes a Showing at the CES 2015

Invited by the IEEE-SA to participate on a panel called the “IEEE IoT Soiree,” I recently had the pleasure of attending my first CES show. Our panel critiqued a few startups in the IoT space (http://ces.ieeesa-events.org/). A key take-away from this event was that investors are really actively not investing in IoT, but investors seem to be looking for companies that will change the way people do things and enhance their lives. The products must have a strong lifestyle changing effect. The startups that were presented centered on edge devices, but some may be service provider worthy and turned into a viable service business. Cisco panelist Maciej Kranz said that the industrial IoT is where the money is, but enterprises are still fearful of taking the leap because of unknown security issues and unsubstantiated return on investments. Although true, there are sustainable IoT designed to show sustainable IoT scenarios and businesses that service providers can leverage. Another take-away centered on how to stimulate enterprises to embrace IoT and use the solutions for their own benefits.

 

After the event I began my exploration. This was the first time I attended the CES event and it was impressive. However my first impression was “crowded”! Why? This year the convention—the largest CES to date with more exhibition space than last year—hosted 170,000 people and about 3,600 exhibitors. The event was distributed between two convention centers and hotels throughout the Las Vegas strip.  However, it was organized with themed areas, for example, fitness, wearables, privacy, home security, and branded aisles showcasing French, Israeli, Korean and Chinese technology. The exhibit locations were itemized into product categories such as 3D printing, digital Imaging/Photography, online media and wireless devices and services.

There were plenty of commercial products with IoT solutions or marketing touting “connected” devices as well as wearable watches and fitbit-like devices. Mind control products, using the frontal lobe, were quite intriguing.  3D video experiences were also popular (via TV, glasses for gaming, etc.). I was particularly interested in the health, biotech and wearables areas, promising for service providers (thank goodness they were close together!). See forecast (link to press release). One example of cutting-edge connect solution development was exhibited by Jeff Li, vice president of iHealth, http://community.ihealthlabs.com/Protals/Home.aspx, who mentioned that it is now building out a cloud service aimed at service providers . 

The event although overwhelming, it did reinforce that IoT can be a viable service business once providers figure out how to address the market, security issues and prove return on investments. But if you plan to go to CES 2016 my advice is to invest in good, comfortable shoes because you will be walking for miles!

For more information about ACG's IoT services contact sales@acgcc.com.

Dennis Ward

dward@acgresearch.net

acgcc.com

CES 2013: One Big Step for Mobility

CES 2013, which has truly established itself as a major mobile venue for North America, wrapped up with record attendance last week, with major innovations and announcements by vendors of all sizes and industry segments. The show has transformed itself from a pure television and consumer electronics forum, to a cross-industry event representing market segments ranging from Ultra HD TVs to a Rolls Royce electric car. Interestingly, it was only eight years ago at this show during Bill Gates’ Windows Media Center demo, which resulted in the historic blue screen of death. 

Bits and bytes

Also present at CES was FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski. Despite some heckling, he announced additional 195MHz of spectrum will be allocated in the 5GHz bad for WiFi 802.11ac, also known as Gigabit WiFi. This is the first time in more than 20 years the FCC has allocated such an amount of public use spectrum without a multibillion dollar auction process. How times have changed ….

Although Mobile World Congress continues to be the leading global mobile industry venue, CES has received noticeable attention from mobile infrastructure, devices, platform, and ecosystem vendors this year. All major device and platform vendors made key announcements, ranging from Huawei’s 6.1 inch Android smartphone to Panasonic’s 20 inch tablet. 

Mobile got star attention at CES 2013. Gone are the days of titans promoting Blu-ray disc format to mainstream vendors.  Instead there were displays of the latest processors and handheld devices running Android. Chinese vendors spent significant resources to showcase new innovations, with Huawei receiving very positive media attention (rare in the North America trade press). 

With the absence of US tech giants (Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.), Samsung stole the show with its bold announcements and innovations. Traditionally known for its conservative methods, Samsung surprised the industry and openly discussed developing projects such as its San Jose, CA, Display Lab innovations (featuring flexible screens) and spoke about its partnership with ARM, showcasing first- generation Octa-core processors. 

CES 2013 captured the mobile industry’s attention and this is significant, especially where tweets, specialist bloggers, and trade media rarely have spent keystrokes to recognize the venue. Oddly, this year trade media financed their editorial staff to cover the news and events. Even mainstream pundits who had publicly denounced and written off the CES event this year, later embarrassingly admitted they were wrong. CES is now a mainstream mobile venue for North America.

For more information about ACG’s mobility services, contact sales@cgresearch.net.