#askiotworld #1:

Which LPWAN will dominate bigger cake.. SigFox ke… LoRa-Private ke… LoRa-Operator ke.. NB-IoT ke… CAT-M1 ke… RPMA ke… ?

Response:

This battle between the different LPWAN standards will be the main topic of discussion in the coming 1-2 years. It seems each one of them has their advantages due to the different frequency, spectrum, protocol, message sizes, power, etc.

However, normally I will evaluate based on the business factors i.e. business model and whether it’s more proprietary, alliance based or 3GPP.

SigFox is seen coming from a Startup company and quite a “closed” system whereby LoRa is seen as more open. Cat-M1 and NB-IOT are seen coming from 3GPP that are more friendly to mobile operator’s natural evolution path.

RPMA coming from the company Ingenu boasted using a single AP can cover the same area as using 18 LoRa APs or 70 SigFox APs.

I think the fate will happen to the proprietary and alliance type of standards just like WiMAX try to compete with LTE. If they are unable to take that window of opportunity, NB-IOT or Cat-M1 will be the main winner which I believed will have the bigger cake.
They are still some market that will use the proprietary and the ISM band for their own use but not as widely as NB-IOT and Cat-M1.

Unlike the era of 1G, 2G, 3G where the strategy of “Build and the customer will come”, it will not be the same as IoT. Previously, the customers are people/humans but in rolling out LPWAN, it’s more complex because the not all areas have IoT solutions. It’s like chicken and egg – why should a telco deploy when there is no demand for IoT solution?
One of the key factors is the availability of NB-IOT and CAT-M1 devices/nodes. Where are they? Which devices/sensors are equipped with that communication standards? Thus, telcos are reluctant to invest heavily until they are confident that there will be thousands or millions of devices going to get connected. Can anyone promise that?

As stated in the article written by Kasey Panetta “7 Technologies Underpin the Hype Cycle for the Internet of Things, 2016”

“The IoT itself will help digital transformations but will take 5 to 10 years to gain mainstream adoption,” said Alfonso Velosa, research vice president.  The IoT remains on the peak of inflated expectations for the third year in a row as vendors push the hype even higher, but most companies struggle to find use cases beyond proof-of-concept.”

CIOs will be responsible for the implementation of IoT but given the diversity of technologies, it will be difficult to get all the right skills in-house. This will the main factor why many companies failed to plan or even execute the IoT strategy. The companies don’t have the necessary building blocks which I termed as “DNA”.

What’s the DNA of Internet of Things?

DNA comprised of three building blocks:

1. D – Digital Transformation
2. N – Networks
3. A – Applications

What differentiates a successful planning, execution, implementation, and adoption of IoT in a company is their maturity of their DNA.

1. It’s an utmost important factor to get the mindset ready with their strategy in adopting Digital Services within the company. We might be talking Digital Economy or Big Data Analytics whatsoever but without a Champion that can break down all the barriers especially in the mindset, that company will be doom within the next 3-4 years when everyone else has increased their productivity multiple folds and create new revenue streams by adopting digital services. Both front-end and back-end systems must be in digital form. Interacting with customers no longer sufficient with a human but must extend the reach using online and mobile services. We have to do away with pen and paper process to be more competitive. Everything MUST be in digital format otherwise your business will be eaten away by your competitor.
2. Taking control of your assets utilization and understand how your customer use your products are very important. Thus, the assets MUST get connected to allow the companies to monitor their pattern of usage. Find the best connectivity options regardless whether it’s inside a building or outside. It can be either a fixed or wireless, short-range or long-range, low-speed or high-speed network – everything depends on the kinds of data that the sensor transmits.
3. Get ready to transform your new process workflow. It will never be the same again. IoT will break down unnecessary barriers and automate the process flow. You might face some resistance internally when these new processes will obsolete many manual tasks and jobs. However, with the new process, you might need new applications to manage and thus new jobs are created. Thus, you will see many applications are custom built due to the legacy systems that need to be integrated. But it also opens up unlimited possibilities for new applications to be created for companies who wish to replace their old systems or just wanting to adopt a new business.

IoT is a journey and every journey needs to start with a single step. Along the journey, you might encounter different barriers and probably different options to arrive at the same destination. Choose the path that suits you because every company has its own DNA.

Ask yourself – Do you have the DNA of Internet of Things?

About the Author

Dr. Mazlan Abbas is currently the Co-Founder and CEO of FAVORIOT Sdn Bhd. He is an IOT Evangelist and a Thought Leader. He received an award as 50 Most Impactful Smart Cities Leaders by World CSR 2017. He is ranked No. 20th Thought Leader in IOT by 2014 Onalytics Report – “The Internet of Things – Top 100 Thought Leaders”, ranked Top 10 in IoT Top 100 Influencers by Postscapes 2016/2017, ranked Top 100 in Smart Cities Top Experts by Agilience Authority Index May 2016. He is also a Global Vision Board Member. You can reach him on LinkedIn or Twitter. Check all his presentation slides HERE.