29. April 2019

Anyone interested can find a variety of different IoT platforms for industrial applications on the current market. Looking at all these different offers, it becomes apparent how big they actually are. Most important to your company is therefore the question how to make sense of all possible applications and how to make sure that you end up choosing the best possible platform.

To gain an overview of similarities and differences of the respective platforms, our partner research institute FIR at the RWTH Aachen conducted an extensive investigation of different IoT platforms. More specifically, the institute examined eight IoT platforms currently available on the German market.

In the following, the most important results of this study are presented, providing an initial overview of the wide range of solutions on the Industrial IoT market:

Interestingly, suppliers appear to focus on very distinctive platform functions. One platform provider, Tulip,  emphasizes user-friendliness, but cannot compete with other offers in the areas of predictive analytics and data mining.

Another provider, T-Systems, prioritizes the secure and stable connection of sensors to the platform, but provides less support in operation for the user, such as visual scripting or graphical editors.

Analyzing the in-house platform developed by Bosch, shows significant disadvantages in user-friendliness as support for documentation through visual editors or other ease-of-use features can be improved further. However, advantages of the platform are open source, open standards and extensive analysis features.

Oracle offers ready-made solutions from the cloud that accelerate the launch of the platform, while integrating systems is limited to the cloud.

IBM, on one hand, offers advanced, application-oriented functions for industrial equipment, for instance buildings and vehicles, and adds value through the platform’s cognitive functions, developed in IBM Watson. On the other hand, this IoT platform lacks ready-made integration interfaces, making it increasingly difficult to integrate existing systems.

Due to its business linkages in mechanical engineering and plant construction as well as industrial know-how, the platform provider Adamos scores high in user sympathy but lacks standard integration interfaces used to implement software.

Most prominent to PTC are the platforms’ functionalities and their core flexibility which are scalable through the usage of apps. However, the business is still lacking a sustainable competitive advantage with regard to basic functions such as data mining, business intelligence and decision analysis.

Another provider, DXC, focuses on Big Data Analysis and wins over users who favor the ease of platform integration. Yet, usability, documentation, analysis functions and automatic data cleansing need to be developed further.

Looking at the entire dynamic market of platform providers, a total of eight different providers with diverse emphasis were analyzed. Comparing these in depth demonstrates just how big of a difference platform providers show in terms of focus and scope of services. As such, no one-size-fits all approach is able to meet or exceed existing individual needs of the various companies, in short: there is no universal solution on the market yet!

What exactly does that mean for the user?

The selection process for IoT platforms appears to be extremely complicated. Thorough analysis of the necessary functionalities of an IoT platform is just a first step in a tedious selection process. At the same time, management has to formulate specific platform requirements with regard to the existing IT infrastructure in times of confusing market conditions.

At this point, the IoT platform study of the Center Connected Industry should provide the right tool for your company! Our team of experts will work together in a consortium to develop a structured concept in support of the IoT platform selection. In doing so, we draw on both scientific expertise and relevant field experience with reference to platform development and application in a wide variety of industries. As an active member of the consortium, you are able to define and solve your own company’s challenges and actively engage in the initial solution process!  Participation in our market study offers you extensive opportunities to play a leading role in the ongoing digitalization process!

Your organization will be able to capitalize on long-term benefits arising from a systematic and target-oriented decision-making approach in real time. Because of this, you can decide on the perfectly suitable IoT platform supported by our study results faster than your competitors.

Take advantage of the unique opportunity and participate in our study!

 

For the platform comparison described, see also:

IoT-Plattformen für das Internet of Production, Hrsg. Günther Schuh & Volker Stich, FIR-Edition Studien 2019
ISBN 978-3-943024-37-1