Monday, 30 October 2023, Singapore
Convergence is about ‘making IoT Ecosystems interoperable to remove frictions and complexity for end users to drive Massive IoT adoption’.
Convergence is not a merge of Technologies, but a collaboration between IoT Technologies depending on use cases. This collaboration also applies to terrestrial and satellite networks complementing each other (infrastructure monitoring, environment, agriculture, or utility).
However, in many IoT applications, a Best-of-Breed approach using ONE single IoT technology is perfectly relevant.
Convergence is a customer-centric approach supporting IoT Customers to collect data and solve business issues whatever IoT Technology they choose, or in fact, not have to choose at all at the end of the day, because they will be freed from this problem.
UnaBiz is positioned as an IoT integrator able to propose one single Best-of-Breed IoT Technology (Sigfox, LoRaWAN, Cellular, Wifi, BLE …) or Convergence (collaboration of IoT Technologies) offering a Device to Application integration.
Why Convergence is Important and What Problems Does It Solve?
Convergence aka the ‘capability to combine multiple IoT technologies’ aims to resolve three main business issues supporting the IoT market to scale faster:
- No IoT Technology is able to cover all IoT use cases
- No IoT Technology has a pervasive coverage globally
- End-to-End (Chip2Cloud) integration is complex for IoT Customers and Solutions Providers using multiple IoT Technologies
Convergence is Happening Now Because…
- Each IoT technology spent years driving adoption and figuring out its own sweet spots
- Each IoT Technology has successfully covered most of its use cases of choice and is now experiencing limitations when attempting to cover new use cases
- The market needs have evolved over time from domestic to more international projects, from urban areas to also sub-urban and remote areas requiring Satellite reach and collaboration, and from one use case to multiple use cases per IoT customer
- IoT Customers have climbed up the IoT competency ladder and discovered that no single IoT technology fits all
What Are the Benefits of Convergence for IoT Customers
- Easier cost-effective integration and Operation of multiple IoT technologies and access to more IoT use cases
- Expanded coverage for some use cases like asset tracking, water metering, or agriculture
- Increased network resilience and higher network capacity mixing complementary IoT Low Power Wide Area Networks like Sigfox, LoRaWAN, and Cellular (for instance in water and gas metering markets)
- Access to technology-agnostic middleware and vertical platforms to simplify IoT Operations and better exploit IoT data collected from multiple IoT Technologies
What Are the Benefits for IoT Ecosystems (Device, Modules and Solutions Makers, and System Integrators)
- Derisk investment in multiple IoT Technologies (one single product enabling multiple LPWAN)
- Access to a larger market implementing hybrid modes (Sigfox, LoRa & Cellular) leveraging multiple Ecosystems
Watch this space for more about UnaBiz’s Technology Convergence strategy. Let’s ignite a revolution in the IoT landscape together!
Written by Rémi Lorrain, Vice President of Convergence at UnaBiz. This article was first published on LinkedIn Pulse.
