Volume LVI, Issue 4

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In This Issue

IoT Will Turn Every Company into SaaS

Excerpted from BostInno Report by Dylan Martin

If you’ve been paying attention to the rise of Amazon’s fast-selling Echo voice command device, what you’ve really been watching is the Internet of Things (IoT) catch even greater traction within the consumer market.

This connected devices category saw an earlier boost with the introduction of Nest Labs’ learning thermostat in 2011 — a company that was later scooped-up by Google for $3.2 billion.

And, according to multiple reports, the market is only going to get bigger from here, and may turn every company into software-as-a-service (SaaS) in the process.

The IoT will be the topic of BostInno’s second State of Innovation meet-up Wednesday night at LogMeIn’s new home in Boston — and for good reason.

According to research firm IDC, the market for connected devices is expected to more than double to $1.7 trillion in 2020 from $655.8 billion in 2014, and that the number of connected devices is expected to nearly triple to $29.5 billion in 2020 from 10.3 billion in 2014.

To give us an idea of how tech companies plan to seize the opportunity, BostInno enlisted three local tech leaders… Read More

Verizon Expands Asia-Pacific Cloud Partner Program

Excerpted from The VAR Guy Report by Christopher Tozzi

The Verizon Partner Program is expanding to the Asia-Pacific region, where Verizon hopes to add new cloud service offerings.

Verizon hopes the channel will be the key to establishing a stronger presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Verizon announced the program March 22nd, saying it will “allow the company to serve a broader range of clients.”

The offering centers on Verizon’s networking, managed security, cloud, and support services and products.

The move is an expansion of the existing Verizon Partner Program, which launched in the US, and currently counts about 1,300 companies, according to Verizon.

For now, Verizon’s channel play in Asia-Pacific will be restricted to healthcare, financial services, hospitality, manufacturing, and BPO companies in Japan, Australia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

That makes it less extensive than an all-out jump into the channel in this region — and the initiative notably excludes mainland China — but for Verizon, a company that has so far tended to focus on western countries, the move is significant… Read More

Singapore ICT Market Overview 2016

Excerpted from Research and Markets Press Announcement

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Singapore ICT Market Overview” report to its offerings.

Singapore’s information and communications and technology (ICT) market is quite mature and growth in most of the sectors has become stagnant.

Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the sectors that is still in the stage of infancy and has the potential to change the landscape of the overall Singapore ICT market.

In the cloud and data center market, competition between local and global service providers is increasing.

Moreover, there are large-scale data center build-outs by both captive and outsourced data centers and the whole market is going through a phase of rapid data center construction.

Singapore, which is considered one of the most connected cities globally, faces a large number of cybersecurity threats and these are expected to become more intense in the coming years.

Key topic areas include Services to Drive Spending in IoT, Preparing for the Next Wave of Cloudification… Read More

Report from DCIA CEO Marty Lafferty

Click Here for Video.

We hope to see you this week at the third annual Internet of Things (IoT) Asia.

This year’s theme is an important one — Closing the Gap: From Vision to Reality — and the 2016 conference promises fresh insights on IoT developments, not only in Singapore, but also around the world.

IoT Asia 2016 takes place this Wednesday and Thursday at the new Singapore EXPO, and aims to further advance conversations and ideas on this rapidly advancing technology movement and how it will impact our lives by delving into the real issues beyond the possibilities.

What’s new for 2016?

A fresh focus on design dimensions: learn how design is being applied and discover new ideas you can apply in your organization.

Blockchain applications in IoT: gain insights on the business and industry implications, because there’s more to blockchain than fintech or cryptocurrencies.

The Mayor of Eindhoven, Rob van Gijzel, will deliver the Opening Keynote Address.

And developments in smart retail: thought leaders in the Smart Retail Forum (SRF) and its showcase at the exhibition will present useful examples to spur your thinking.

Backed by insights from IoT Asia’s International Advisory Panel (IAP), this year’s event aims to bring you more critical perspectives by sharing real use-cases and case studies, adoption experiences, and challenges faced by practitioners in the field — insights that address the real issues and questions you have.

The conference features five tracks, covering: Smart Cities — highlighting urban projects from around the world, their impact, significance, and lessons learned;

IoT Data Analytics — exploring how different organizations are deploying analytical techniques to derive value and business insights, and their experiences from the front-lines;

Design Applications — zeroing in on the value of applying design perspectives in IoT deployments, from product and process design to user and service experience design, supported by examples;

Wearables — featuring discussions on issues like usability, integrated services, and value for individuals and enterprises, as well as emerging applications; and

Industrial IoT — with project case studies, initiatives and insights from test-beds, and new models for IoT deployments in the industrial space.

Register now for the All-Access Conference Pass to enjoy maximum benefits at IoT Asia 2016. Share wisely, and take care.

New Starbucks CTO: Hyper-Connected Coffee Shops

Excerpted from GeekWire Report by Madeline Vuong

Starbucks hired its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Gerri Martin-Flickinger, just four months ago.

While she’s new to the coffee chain, she already has a clear dream for its future — that every Starbucks store will feel like your own neighborhood Starbucks, by leveraging data and new technology to create personalized customer experiences.

“Imagine you’re on a road trip, diving across the country, and you pull into a Starbucks drive-through that you’ve never been to before,” she said at the Starbucks annual shareholder’s meeting Wednesday in Seattle.

“We detect you’re a loyal customer and you buy about the same thing every day, at about the same time.”

“So as you pull up to the order screen, we show you your order, and the barista welcomes you by name.”

“Does that sound crazy?” she asked.

“No, actually, not really. In the coming months and years you will see us continue to deliver on a basic aspiration: to deliver technology that enhances the human connection.”

Martin-Flickinger comes from Silicon Valley… Read More

Big Data, IoT and Blockchain: Yellow Brick Road?

Excerpted from Sys-Con Media Report by Ed Featherston

Disruption. You can’t have a discussion today about business or technology without the term entering the conversation.

I think it’s become an unwritten rule. It’s almost as if no one will take you seriously unless you’re talking about business disruption.

Or how disruptive technologies can be used to advance business and provide a competitive edge.

Take Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT). Both rank highly on the list of disruptive technologies.

As with most technologies, there are areas of great synergy that ultimately provide a yellow brick road to real business value. Recently, a new topic has enlivened the disruption discussions: Blockchain technology.

And with it, the requisite stream of questions. What exactly is it? How does it help (or does it help) provide business value? How will it affect my current initiatives? Are there synergies to be had – or do I have to worry about it blowing everything up? If you do a Google search on blockchain, you’ll find several results that inevitably pair the terms “blockchain” and “Bitcoin.”

That’s because blockchain technology enables digital currencies like Bitcoin to work.… Read More

Industrial IoT Poised to Disrupt Supply Chain Ops

Excerpted from Research and Markets Press Announcement

Research and Markets has announced the addition of the “Supply Chain Evolution – Tectonic Shifts in the Value Chain” report to its offerings.

This study examines the transformations in global supply chains mainly based on the key disruptive themes that have sprung from the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

It also analyzes the challenges faced across the supply chain, market motivators, and the implementation approach of key applications within each theme.

In this research, the expert analysts thoroughly study the following disruptive themes: Smart products, Control On-the-go, Track and Trace, Advanced Supply Chain Management (SCM), Big Data and Analytics, and Advanced Logistics.

The research focus is primarily on supply chain operations conducted across key industrial sectors.

The influx of Big Data across the supply chain, in particular unstructured data, has resulted in key value chain participants looking for state-of-the-art analytical platforms to convert raw data into actionable insights that improve the overall operational efficiency… Read More

Equinix CEO on Exploding Cloud & IoT Industries

Excerpted from The Street Report by Scott Gamm

Equinix is smack in the middle of two burgeoning areas: cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT).

“The primary driver for us is the continued rollout of the cloud computing paradigm shift going on in the world today,” said Steve Smith, CEO of Equinix, when asked what factors will drive the company’s expectations of 30% revenue growth in 2016.

“Equinix is providing the on and off ramps to a lot of this cloud computing.”

Smith said within the cloud computing space, Redwood City, CA based Equinix is serving household names such as Amazon, Microsoft, and Oracle, among others.

“They use our data centers,” he said. “We have 145 data centers in 40 of the largest cities in the world in 21 countries. We’re pretty much where companies have employees, where they have customers and where their revenue is.”

Aside from cloud computing, the company is investing billions of dollars in the growing Internet of Things (IoT) space.

“We bought the No. 2 IoT player in Europe — we’ve been the No. 1 player,” he said… Read More

Internet of Things Cybersecurity

Excerpted from AutomationWorld Report by David Greenfield

In every discussion about the Internet of Things (IoT) at every industry conference or event, the question of security always arises.

And there’s a good reason for that. To embrace the IoT concept and position yourself to be on the receiving end of all its potential game-changing benefits, you have to connect many of your plant floor devices to the Internet.

Thereby potentially exposing your operations to every hacker in existence.

Viewed from this perspective, the cybersecurity challenges of the IoT seem overwhelming.

And the ongoing rush of new security products and approaches — from embedded devices to in-depth IT policies and procedures — makes it even harder for many manufacturers to determine what to do first.

Alan Grau, President and Co-Founder of Icon Labs, offers a different view of the issue to help industrial companies approach the problem.

“Part of the challenge is recognizing every IoT device requires a different approach to security,” he says… Read More

“Apple vs. FBI” and the Internet of Things

Excerpted from Machine Design Report by Carlos Gonzalez

The biggest story involving security to hit the news since Edward Snowden and the NSA is Apple against the FBI.

The issue started when the FBI recovered an iPhone used in the shootings that took place in San Bernardino, CA.

The FBI wants Apple to disable the encryption protection on the phone.

In 2014, Apple changed its operating system (iOS) so that all iPhones were encrypted by default and Apple had no access to the encryption keys.

Apple’s security automatically erases the information on the device after 10 failed login attempts.

The FBI wants Apple to deactivate that feature so they can make multiple attempts at determining the passcode.

Apple has resisted on all requests and filed court motions to oppose the FBI requests to create a backdoor. In an interview with ABC News, Tim Cook spoke about the case saying:

“Apple has cooperated with the FBI fully in this case.”

“They came to us and asked for all the information we had on this phone and we gave everything we had… Read More

Unclear if Encryption Helped Brussels Bombers

Excerpted from The Hill Report by Cory Bennett

The top House Intelligence Committee Democrat on Tuesday emphasized that officials are not sure whether encryption helped terrorists plan a series of bombings in Brussels that killed at least 34 people and wounded more than 100.

“We do not know yet what role, if any, encrypted communications played in these attacks,” Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) said.

“But we can be sure that terrorists will continue to use what they perceive to be the most secure means to plot their attacks,” he added.

Brussels on Tuesday was rocked by three coordinated blasts, two at Zaventem airport and another at a metro station near European Union buildings.

The city has gone into lockdown, and the country has set its terror threat alert at “maximum.”

The deadly assault is the third major terror attack in a Western country in recent months, following the assault in Paris that left 130 people dead and the shootings in San Bernardino, CA, which killed 14 people.

Lawmakers and investigators say authorities are increasingly blind to these plots because of extremists’ use of encryption… Read More

House Establishes Encryption Working Group


Two House Committees on Monday revealed the creation of a joint encryption working group.

The panel, composed of four Republicans and four Democrats, will examine potential solutions to the challenges law enforcement officials face as encryption becomes more widespread.

While the technology is seen as vital to digital security and online privacy, investigators warn it is also helping criminals and terrorists increasingly hide from authorities.

Leaders from the House Judiciary and Energy and Commerce committees came together to create the working group.

“The bipartisan encryption working group will examine the issues surrounding this ongoing national debate,” said a joint statement from the two top lawmakers on each committee, including Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and ranking member John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) from Judiciary, as well as Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI) and ranking member Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) from Energy and Commerce.

“Members will work toward finding solutions that allow law enforcement agencies to fulfill their responsibility without harming the competitiveness of the US technology sector or the privacy and security that encryption provides for US citizens,” they said… Read More

Google Showcases Cloud Efforts

Excerpted from NY Times Report by Steve Lohrmarch

In the cloud computing business, Google’s technology prowess is rarely questioned. Its commitment, however, has been doubted.

Google, which trails Amazon and Microsoft in the fast-growing market, hopes to change the industry perception that it is halfhearted about its cloud computing service with product announcements, technology demonstrations and strategy briefings at a two-day conference in San Francisco, CA that began on Wednesday.

The company is showcasing its cloud software for machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence.

It has a new speech service: Feed in audio, and the software issues a transcript.

Its recently introduced vision service for identifying images also will be more broadly available soon, Google said.

And new tools and training aids are available to help developers build machine-learning applications more easily.

These are the first significant steps since Diane B. Greene, a respected Silicon Valley technologist, became Senior Vice President in charge of Google’s cloud business in November. Ms. Greene is a co-founder and former chief executive of VMware… Read More

Irdeto Launches 1st Government Approved DRM in China

Excerpted from Television Post Report

Irdeto, a world leader in digital platform security, has launched Irdeto Rights with China DRM support, the first-ever Chinese government-approved and Hollywood studio validated digital rights management (DRM) solution.

The launch of this solution stands to transform China’s over-the-top (OTT) video market and is offered together with Irdeto Tracemark forensic watermarking.

Irdeto’s solution for China DRM is fully compliant with the standards of The State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT).

The Chinese movie market is the second largest in the world today, with box office revenue for 2015 reaching more than 44 billion RMB.

It is expected to exceed 60 billion RMB in 2016, becoming the largest market in the world.

Irdeto Rights, which meets the standards set by Hollywood studios, will secure premium video delivery with China DRM so that it can be offered to the Chinese OTT audience and open up the market potential.

“When compared to the movie market, the OTT market in China has great potential for growth… Read More

The SEC Takes Stock of Its Web & Mobile Strategies

Excerpted from Baseline Magazine Report by Samuel Greengard

Staying current with web and mobile trends is a challenge for any organization.

For the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), charged with overseeing and enforcing federal securities laws and regulations, it’s a mammoth task.

A few years ago, the agency, which manages upward of 21 million filings for publicly traded companies, was coping with rapidly growing volumes of traffic on its website and limitations on its infrastructure.

It was a very big problem. The SEC gets about 18 million page views per day, including investors researching publicly traded companies and individuals looking for information about financial investment professionals.

“We experience consistently high demand for content at the site, but we also experience substantial surges in traffic when there’s an initial public offering [IPO] or major earnings report,” notes Laura Kurup, who heads up the SEC’s web modernization effort.

In October 2012, the SEC embarked on a major web and mobile modernization initiative. Working with IT consulting and integration firm Accenture, it migrated to Akamai… Read More

Is Fog Computing the Future of The Cloud?

Excerpted from Datoconomy Report by Hannah Augur

The IoT already produces massive amounts of data. It’s time to start dealing with it.

Are Fog and Edge Computing inevitable? What happens when the cloud isn’t enough?

This is a modern problem if there ever was one. Experts are saying 2016 will mark the rise of a new system: fog computing.

Fogging involves extending cloud computing to the edge of a network. It helps end devices and data centers work together better.

Fog computing is one answer to several questions. In fact, the term “fog computing” is a recent creation of Cisco, and is often interchanged with “edge computing.”

The “edge” simply refers to points nearer where data is produced than to the database and centralized processing centers. This means the edge of a network, or even access-providing devices like routers.

The IoT and interest in Big Data mean that the future will hold a lot of data, physically… Read More

Coming Events of Interest

IoT Asia 2016 — March 30th-31st in Singapore. IoT Asia returns in 2016 with fresh insights on Internet of Things (IoT) developments around the world. The 3rd edition aims to further advance conversations and ideas on IoT and how it will impact our lives by delving into the real issues.

Delivery of Things World — April 25th-26th in Berlin, Germany. DevOps specialists, continuous development strategists, architect newbies, development geeks, and cloud geniuses from across the spectrum of DevOps transformation come together at this stimulating and innovative event.

DataCloud Europe 2016 — June 8th-9th in Monte Carlo, Monaco. The 2016 conference will focus on cloud computing advances and changes in data management, with a stellar line-up of speakers including global infrastructure leaders and subject matter experts.

Cloud and DevOps World Forum 2016 — June 21st-22nd in London, England. Now in its eighth year, C&DWF is firmly established as the leading content-led exhibition for the European Cloud and DevOps community and the premiere meeting place for CIOs.

Security of Things World — June 27th-28th in Berlin, Germany. Topics include securing cyber physical systems for IoT, expanding IT security with intelligence-led ops, business continuity management considerations, data privacy in an interconnected world, and security strategies.

Mobile World Congress Shanghai — June 29th – July 1st in Shanghai, China. MWC Shanghai is a very unique gathering that brings together industry participants ranging from C-Level mobile executives to end-user consumers passionate about mobile.

Industry of Things World Europe — September 19th-20th in Berlin, Germany. IoT business models, new IoT markets and strategies, product lifecycle management, next generation data handling and value assessment, IoT organizational impacts, and IoT security issues.

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