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Internet of Things Platform Market Reaches Maturity

CIOs and CTOs report that they continue to explore new internet technology apps. According to the latest worldwide market study by Berg Insight, the global market for the Internet of Things (IoT) device management and application enablement platforms reached $1.1 billion in 2017.

Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 36.2 percent, the total market value is expected to reach $4.9 billion in 2022.

Internet of Things Platform Market Development

IoT platforms provide middleware 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 standardized components that enterprises can build upon.

The IoT platform market is notably crowded and hosts a multitude of players spanning from small start-ups to major legacy companies in the technology and industrial sectors. These pioneers have developed offerings that typically have a specific focus on a set of capabilities, often related to their core businesses.

As an example, GE and PTC spearheaded the effort of promoting IoT in the industrial sector on a broader scale. While GE has shifted focus to mainly provide solutions rather than its Predix platform alone, PTC has emerged as the leader in the space.

The Software AG Cumulocity IoT business and the wireless IoT module vendor Telit have also built strong positions in the industrial sector. The Software AG platform has been selected by Siemens to complement its IoT operating system MindSphere.

Telit holds a strategic partnership with Wind River that leverages their technology in its Helix Device Cloud. Additional providers with high involvement in the industrial sector include Bosch, IBM, SAP, Oracle, Exosite, Device Insight and Altair Engineering.

According to the Berg assessment, during 2017 and 2018 the major cloud infrastructure vendors will continue to invest heavily in their IoT offerings -- primarily to drive new growth in their public cloud computing business.

"The involvement of the cloud infrastructure providers will lead to commoditization of some services currently offered by vendors in the IoT platform market, and result in further specialization of IoT platform providers," said Fredrik Stålbrand, analyst at Berg Insight.

Outlook for More IoT Application Innovation

So, what does the future have in store for IoT market development and innovation. Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity has risen sharply, now the market has entered a consolidation phase.

However, some level of fragmentation in the market is expected to remain due to lack of standards, but also due to specific requirements in industries characterised by mission critical applications -- such as automotive, healthcare and manufacturing -- as well as in the critical infrastructure industries.

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