Advantech B+B SmartWorx Announces Connected Intelligence Ecosystem
Ottawa, IL – January 20, 2015 – Advantech B+B SmartWorx, formerly B&B Electronics, today announced an acceleration for the Internet of Things (IoT) landscape with its Connected Intelligence Global Partner Ecosystem. As a manufacturer of network connectivity technologies which serve as the heart or technical glue of IoT end solutions, Advantech B+B SmartWorx is launching the ecosystem to enable complementary partner companies to make intelligent connections with each other, combine expertise, and build effective IoT applications for end customers in the demanding, non-consumer IoT space.
Initial Connected Intelligence Ecosystem Partners include IoT technology providers such as Cumulocity, Davra Networks, ILS Technology, ParStream, PLAT.ONE, SeeControl, Skkynet, and ThingWorx, along with MVNO partners such as KORE and Mobius Networks, and a variety of international carriers. http://advantech-bb.com/our-partners/
According to Harbor Research, the non-consumer IoT space is approximately 50% of the total IoT market opportunity, comprised of managed services (analytics, system applications, mobile and cloud computing, value added application services), enablement hardware (wired or wireless hardware attached to or embedded in each machine) and network services (carrier and data services). Advantech B+B SmartWorx products fall into enablement hardware while other Connected Intelligence Ecosystem partners fall into the managed and network services areas.
Mike Fahrion, director of IoT and edge intelligence product development at Advantech B+B SmartWorx explained that Advantech B+B created the ecosystem to combine complementary partners under a virtual roof to facilitate IoT applications. “Finding the right partners to fit a specific application’s requirements enables our customers to achieve better results than a ‘one size fits all’ approach.”
From assets to analytics starting at the network edge, the ecosystem aims to create intelligent networks that can collect, manage and analyze the data generated by billions of sensors, transforming that data into actionable intelligence that lets companies make predictions and prescribe actions to cut costs, increase productivity or increase revenue.
Advantech B+B SmartWorx provides the network connectivity “technical glue” – the hardware and connectivity stack – of the ecosystem. Advantech B+B’s IoT Edge Processing Architecture – a combination of its Wzzard wireless intelligent sensing and edge connectivity platform and its cellular edge gateway devices – aggregates data from existing equipment, translates disparate machine protocols into a language IT can understand, transforms that data into useful information and delivers it to applications ready for analysis.
“Rather than trying to become a vertical service provider itself, which can turn partners into competitors, Advantech B+B is smart to focus on its pedigree and core connectivity competence and recognize that an ecosystem of partners, leveraging each other’s core expertise, brings the most value to the end user,” said Glen Allmendinger, founder and president of Harbor Research. “Advantech B+B’s technology roadmap is impressive, positioning the company as an emerging leader in what Harbor Research calls the ‘enablement hardware’ slice of the industrial IoT pie, a category we project will grow from $16.2B today to $43.8B by 2020.”
Advantech B+B’s CEO, Jerry O’Gorman, added, “We’ve aligned with companies who are credited with some of the most innovative technologies and solutions in their industries. Together, our focus is on extending the capabilities of our combined technologies to provide broad solutions for customers in areas of strategic importance to the global market.”
Generating Business Insight via Connected Intelligence in the Partner Ecosystem
“We are excited that ThingWorx® technology will be a core aspect of the Advantech B+B SmartWorx Connected Intelligence Ecosystem,” said Chris Kuntz, vice president, ecosystem programs, ThingWorx. “The age of the IoT is upon us and working with forward thinking companies such as Advantech B+B SmartWorx enables us to deploy our leading technology so that customers can profit from complete, end-to-end solutions.”
“I applaud Advantech B+B SmartWorx bold entry into the IoT Marketplace as a deviceWISE Ready partner. Our two companies share a common strategy of providing robust solutions with Intelligence at the Edge as well as a proven track record with enterprise customers within the industrial market,” said Fred Yentz, CEO ILS Technology, a Telit Company. “Our strategic and technical alignment and our global reach will provide customers an enterprise ready, fast time to value IoT experience.”
“The IoT has a huge opportunity to connect non-consumer devices to the cloud to collect and share data making factories, automobiles, buildings and cities more intelligent,” said Stefan Vaillant, CTO of Cumulocity. “Advantech B+B SmartWorx complements our portfolio of software system solutions for IoT.”
“IoT is the hottest topic in IT circles as customers look to connect assets they’ve never connected before and make real time decisions based on data collected from the coalface of their business,” said Paul Glynn, CEO of Davra Networks. “Using Advantech B+B SmartWorx Wzzard Sensing Platform gives our customers easy access to information and data that they’ve never had access to before.”
“This ecosystem has the potential to bring industrial process control to a whole new level,” said Paul Thomas, President of Skkynet. “Combining the Advantech B+B SmartWorx platform with Skkynet’s SkkyHub service means remote devices in any location can now connect directly and securely to the cloud, enabling real-time monitoring, control, networking, and big data collection at a far lower TCO than previously thought possible.”
“Enterprise-Grade applications require a robust edge computing infrastructure such as Advantech B+B is providing with Wzzard,” said Filippo Murroni, CEO of PLAT.ONE, the first Enterprise-Grade application platform.
