IoT platform business will usher in a big cleaning IoT platform is a strategic layout
At present, the global Internet of Things technology system, business model, and industrial ecology are still evolving, and enterprises are rapidly moving toward the tide of the Internet of Things. Facing the "complex and messy" Internet of Things industry environment, the Internet of Things platform as a "strategic fortress" has always been a battleground for the strategic layout of the Internet of Things!
In the past one or two years, the "battlefield" of the Internet of Things platform has become so popular. Traditional IT companies, communication operators, communication equipment vendors, Internet companies, industrial solution providers, and new startups have sprung up. Into, and then through the booming period, platform precipitation into the second half of consolidation, IoT platform based on IaaS (infrastructure as a service), PaaS (platform as a service), SaaS (software as a service) three cloud computing service models, and gradually improved Its functional system, namely ICP (Infrastructure Cloud Service Platform), CMP (Connection Management), DMP (Device Management Platform), AEP (Application Enablement Platform), BAP (Business Analysis Platform), etc. Platform integration, player shuffling, and platform vendors after sorting out seem to be destined, but in reality the competition turns into undercurrent. Then, how to clarify the situation in the iterations and consolidations, recognize the challenges, give play to their own advantages, and seize the opportunities of the future? We may wish to explore the current challenges of the IoT platform, the direction of upgrading and transformation, and future trends.
1. The IoT platform is facing challenges
Figure: Number of IoT platform companies in 2015-2017
The IoT AnalyTIcs research report shows that the number of IoT platform companies has grown from more than 360 last year to more than 450 this year, and is still growing very fast. Behind the surge in number is the performance of the initial stage of the Internet of Things: the platform infrastructure and functional building have matured, and various functional platforms have emerged, leading to deep data islands and information chimneys.
Platform companies rely too much on "basic skills", resulting in insufficient differentiated services. In this vast Internet of Things industry, most companies' development ideas tend to be consistent, and the core is based on the platform to create the ecology of the Internet of Things. In the early days of the development of the Internet of Things platform, any company can claim to be building an IoT platform with certain functions, or a full-featured platform. However, this “following†image has led to the platform only making achievements in basic capabilities, focusing on standardized services, and seriously lacking customized services, which cannot effectively solve the industry's pain points.
Platform vendors are in charge of each other, creating another “fragmented†market IoT platform to reflect its industrial ecological value by solving various equipment interconnection problems, data collection and storage, and so on. However, due to the lack of industry standards and the emergence and independence of a large number of platforms, the original intention of interconnection has been violated, which has intensified the fragmentation of the Internet of Things, thus forming deep data islands and information chimneys.
2. The next battle of the platform: continuous iteration, seeking transformationFaced with the lack of differentiation and incompatibility of platform services, how to find a platform suitable for their own projects among many products is a sharp problem in front of B-side users. Users need to dig deeper into platform capabilities, while platform vendors need to look for service upgrades and transformations.
(1) Both soft and hard, Oasis platform is on the way to upgrade
How a platform with basic functions is based in the industry, and long-term user trust is not an easy task. Therefore, the initiative to change, to provide users with differentiated quality services has become a "housekeeping skills" that platform operators must practice. For traditional IT service providers, the integration of their own genes and the successful experience of IT services will play a multiplier role in building a new platform. As the leader in IT operation and maintenance, Xinhua San not only has deep accumulation of hardware (routers, gateways, servers, etc.), but also has accumulated many years of software (big data, cloud computing, security operation and maintenance), and enters the Internet of Things based on IT services. Platform business. On the Oasis IoT PaaS platform, it has realized a wider range of data access, more focused solutions and dynamic security protection.
Data access, comprehensive perception
At present, the tentacles of the Internet of Things have reached all aspects of production and life. However, with the birth of communication technologies for different scenarios and the addition of devices with different ports in various industries, it has brought multiple difficulties for data interconnection. The Oasis Internet of Things platform provides platform access ports for IoT devices in the city through the “Terminal Management Subsystemâ€; the internal management of different terminals, different protocols and different identities is realized through the “Identification Management Systemâ€, and the complexity of the underlying layer is shielded. , an excuse call to make rules uniform. It is possible for equipment manufacturers, network operators, and end users to monitor data status and collect data indicators for all-round sensing and normalized management.
Application enablement
In the past, IoT solutions for different needs have emerged one after another. But a development team needs to consider many underlying factors: infrastructure extensions, data management and aggregation, communication protocols, and communication security. How to reduce costs and shorten development time is an urgent problem for the development team. The emergence of the Internet of Things enabling platform has broken this deadlock. The Oasis platform provides IoT application developers with a platform for rapid development, deployment, and management of applications. It not only provides developers with tools for complete application development tools, middleware, business logic engines, but also provides data storage and application servers. APIs for interfacing with third-party systems, and integration of terminal management, connection management, data analysis, and business support. While continuously expanding the platform functions, it integrates the experience of IT services accumulated in various industries, deepens smart cities, smart industries, smart medical care, smart education, smart agriculture and other scenarios, and utilizes channel advantages to effectively aggregate all links in the industry chain.
Dynamic protection, Zhiyu future
In the future, the IoT industry chain will be interlocked, from equipment to cloud to application, and security must be strengthened. Any problem in one link can lead to paralysis of the entire system. Security is a problem that we are emphasizing at all times, but the security of the Internet of Things era is different. Behind the explosion of cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence technologies, IoT security will change the static and passive protection modes in the past, and use active data maintenance and artificial intelligence prediction to maintain. On the basis of safe operation and maintenance, Xinhua San's Oasis Internet of Things platform has also established a unified security certification system, including terminal certification management, tenant certification management, third-party platform certification, developer certification management, etc. Safety in all aspects.
(2) Seeing the situation, ecological transformation
When each platform has its own technology and scene services. Customers can choose the right platform for solution deployment based on their needs. However, with the increase of business, the expansion of service scope, and the provision of services for certain special business needs, how to provide consumers with multi-faceted industry-leading services on the same platform has become a major challenge for platform vendors. For example, traditional customers based on a long-term cooperation basis will choose to deploy a considerable number of services on a platform vendor. However, due to the lack of a certain service capability of the platform vendor, the customer will eventually encounter bottlenecks in a certain stage of business expansion. And from the current development situation, the problem is difficult to be effectively solved!
The core service provided by the IoT integrated platform is based on “connection†to realize the interconnection of devices and provide data information processing, instead of establishing more information islands and data chimneys. The transition from a closed ecosystem to an open ecosystem service platform will undoubtedly become more popular in future markets. This trend has been recognized by some platforms. Xinhua San's Oasis platform modularizes each system, opens APIs, and can be quickly integrated into other IT systems to interface with enterprise legacy systems, providing a docking foundation for accessing third-party platforms. .
3. Forward-looking layout to create a one-stop service
Connection, perception and intelligence are the three stages of the development of the Internet of Things. The platform provides comprehensive services for enterprises through integration and integration of network communication, big data analysis, edge computing, deep learning, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other new technologies. In addition to the platform traders running wildly on the main track, there are many factors outside the game that dominate the game's wins and losses! For example, the developer center, application center, operation and maintenance center, etc., which Xinhua Sanzheng is building, will provide users with one-stop service, which will be the development trend of the future platform.
The IoT platform continuously integrates various common capabilities, horizontal empowerment, and vertical integration, which will accelerate application and promote industrial transformation. And IoT platform providers are also constantly exploring, and combining their own advantages to explore the development of the platform!