Are you thinking about how to connect today's devices to the Internet of Things? Many are. Industrial automation vendor Advantech announced that it is expanding its offerings related to the Internet of things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications at its annual Embedded World Partner Conference in November 2013. At the conference, Advantech announced plans to develop IoT and Smart City solutions with Intel and others.
“As the number of Internet-connected devices tops 15 billion nodes by 2015 and exceeds 40 billion by 2020, we will see huge opportunities for computing platforms in the market, which will help make the Internet of Things a practical reality,” said Advantech President Chaney Ho. “There will be more than 5 billion edge computers produced to support the linkage between all these devices [that will] will empower the functions of connectivity, manageability and security.”
More than 500 participants from nearly 30 countries listened to three days of trend analysis, technology and new product presentations from Advantech, Intel, IBM and others. At the conference, Ho said Advantech announced that it will work with Intel in the development, manufacturing, testing, marketing and selling of computing platforms for the IoT industry.
Intel is working to accelerate the development and deployment of the Internet of Things to drive business transformation, said Rick Dwyer, Intel sales and marketing group vice president and general manager of worldwide embedded sales. “The development of gateway platforms, like those in development with Advantech, will help to seamlessly connect the more than 85 percent of existing legacy devices to enable the aggregation, filtering and sharing of data from the device to the cloud.”
The vice president of Advantech’s embedded computing group, Miller Chang, said, “Though the intelligent industry opportunities are huge, the gap between technology and market needs will be there for years. Customers will still find that it’s challenging to acquire robust and complete embedded M2M solutions for implementing complex remote communications, and for connecting devices to develop monitoring and remote control applications.”
To bridge the gap, Advantech established a new product division called Embedded M2M Solutions. The division will focus on “providing ready-to-use embedded M2M solutions by integrating Advantech’s current embedded platforms, wireless modules, and remote control software in collaboration with ecosystem partners,” said Chang. Advantech also acquired the British company GPEG this year, which is focused on intelligent displays for the European gaming market. It will merge with Advantech's Embedded Core Computing Group.
Advantech was cited recently by Johan Svanberg, senior analyst at Berg Insight, as a major provider of both industrial automation equipment and embedded cellular connectivity products. “Backbone network communication and remote monitoring are the two largest applications for cellular M2M connectivity within industrial automation,” said Berg.
“Increasing automation levels and rising wages in emerging markets are changing the global manufacturing landscape. To stay competitive, companies in developed regions need to find strategies beyond moving production to low-wage countries,” said Svanberg. “Wireless M2M solutions can play an instrumental role in connecting resources, equipment and systems.”
