In my last blog “Internet of Things and the Intelligent Environment”, I wrote about lighting as an IoT killer app. This last week, I read an article about the use of LED lighting in the Sistine Chapel. In a nutshell, a system of LED groupings that use 5 different controlled color channels (red, blue, etc.) to custom configure the temperature of the lighting provide up to 10x brighter illumination, but with lower power consumption and no UV radiation. This new system will enable visitors to the chapel to see all of its frescoes with more detail and clarity than ever before. So, here is an early example of how the combination of LED technology, networked, controlled lighting and art provide a whole new experience for us.
At our upcoming 3DExperience Forum in North America, (November 11-12, 2014), we are delighted to have Alex Blanter from the AT Kearney management consulting firm speak as a keynote for the High Technology track. His topic will be about the Internet of Things. In one of his recent presentations, he points out that the buzz around IoT is ramping up significantly with 6x more tweets than 12 months ago and 3x more searches within an eighteen month time period. Why? Because the business opportunities are enormous, but potentially dramatically disruptive:
Most interesting is that AT Kearney predicts that the IoT’s potential for disruption of existing businesses ($3.5B) is 10x larger than the potential for incremental revenues ($334B)! If this is so, there will be businesses that will not survive. Of course other businesses would then reap large rewards from this disruption. For me, the net is that IoT cannot be ignored. Each business today must do a SWOT assessment of its relationship to IoT, then define plans and actions in anticipation of the coming changes. To do this, it’s important to break down IoT into constituent elements then analyze each of those elements individually. By way of example (and not necessarily representing the perspective from Dassault Systemes), ATKearney outlines some top level capabilities needed for IoT to work successfully.
From this example, the implication is that the system will require competencies and disciplines that traverse a wide variety of technologies, businesses and even industries. Of course, it’s very likely that larger companies will be able to vertically integrate and offer most if not all of an entire experience. Other companies will need to join eco-systems to create those whole experiences. Regardless, the design challenges will be similar:
Systems engineering and design will play a critical role in assuring robust, reliable experiences
Effective coordination of concurrent design and engineering will also be critical
Variant management and IP reuse will be essential for maximizing ROI and market penetration
Architectural understanding of entire experiences will be needed to maximize value for individual experience elements
Innovation will likely be discontinuous, with big wins coming from unexpected sources
We’re likely only covering just a few of the critical success factors and competences required to succeed within the IoT market. We welcome your thoughts on this.
