According to a new report by ABI Research, in a very crowded Internet of Things (IoT) platform ecosystem, multiple vendors are targeting the Smart Cities vertical segment with optimized and dedicated solutions, and vying for dominance in this very promising market.
Per the study's executive summary, "While established players like Cisco and Verizon excel in the width and depth of functionality offered across the value chain and vertical segments, others like IBM and Bosch are embracing next-generation technologies like AI, blockchain, and sensor data crowdsourcing to enable a new urban economy based on sharing, service, and cognitive business models for smart city services such as community-based parking, automated surveillance cams, and blockchain-enabled freight tracking."
"But this is not the whole story," notes Dominique Bonte, vice president, End Markets, at ABI Research. She adds, "To really enable holistic smart city solutions and manage dynamic technology lifecycles, city governments increasingly rely on vendor-agnostic standardized and/or open source platforms. For instance, InterDigital's Chordant platform's adherence to the oneM2M standard, and FIWARE's open source API approach offer the promise of flexible, pay as you grow, future-proof solutions enabling yet unknown applications and services. Standardization organizations like ETSI are also actively preparing smart city data and platform standards."
ABI's Bonte continues, "However, many generic, horizontal IoT platforms offered by carriers, network infrastructure vendors, and other suppliers are also targeted at the smart cities vertical, but often lack specific functionality required by the public sector. At the other end of the spectrum, city platforms built around specific verticals such as energy, buildings, utilities, or transportation are offered by players like Itron, Siemens, Schneider Electric, GE, and Hitachi. These players are typically focused on OT rather than IT."
Finally, the new report from ABI Research notes that "product or technology specific smart city platforms may include solutions built around cloud technology (Amazon / AWS, IBM, Microsoft), IT (SAP, NEC, HPE), AI surveillance (NVIDIA), connectivity modules (Telit), cellular connectivity (carriers), and smart lighting (Philips)."
ABI's Bonte concludes, "Ultimately, no single platform will be able to offer all features for all verticals in a smart city environment characterized by a 'platform of platforms' approach -- with open, interoperable platforms interacting with and complementing each other in a 'system of systems' constellation and open ecosystem."
