The Internet of Things (IoT) is a fast-paced, rapidly evolving and growing sector of technology that is impacted by new developments in tech, as well as emerging and driving trends. Economic impacts can create challenges, such as the chipset shortage of 2021. Or on the flipside, economic impacts can create new opportunities for digital transformation, such as workforce and supply chain challenges still creating economic waves from the height of the pandemic.
Changes in roaming agreements or shifting network sunset dates can significantly impact new legislation that tackles data privacy or sovereignty. New infrastructure builds and 5G rollouts are important to note or growing trends in technology, such as IoT for Good.
This is why each year, KORE hosts a state of the industry in its IoT Tech and Trends webinar series and this was the first year that KORE expanded the series to a Global Roadshow that covered not just Europe and North America, but Australia and Brazil, as well. The series was hosted between June 6 and 8, where industry experts discussed the top-of-mind technology and trends of 2023.
A primary topic in Europe centered on developments in IoT connectivity with a particular focus on satellite connectivity. Iridium’s Ian Itz explained how IoT satellite connectivity has become more resilient and reliable with a Low-Earth Orbit (LEO), L-band licensed system, and satellite cross-links approach that creates global communications that are high quality and can manage adverse weather conditions.
IoT satellite connectivity is driving new and enhanced capabilities in use cases with IoT such as remote sensing, asset and fleet management, energy, industrial, and autonomous systems, as well as serving verticals in maritime, land and mobile, aviation, and government.
Cradlepoint’s Graham Doe discussed Fixed Wireless Access and 5G and how it is driving new digital transformation through wireless Wide Area Networks (WAN) for deployments without friction. Doe shared an interesting use case about automation in smart buildings and how this digital transformation was enabled.
Everynet’s Ignacio Leon was on hand to discuss low power wide area networks and how it is impacting emerging use cases. Smart cities and buildings are a significant area within the Green Agenda, a segment of IoT for Good, which focuses on supporting sustainability. This can be achieved through applications such as smart lighting, waste management, parking management, energy monitoring, and building monitoring and control to help reduce energy waste, improve efficiency, and minimise resource consumption.
Check out the recording of the webinar here.
To kick off the discussion of IoT technology and trends in North America, KORE’s Steven Baker tackled the developments in and impacts of 5G and how the sweet spot for 5G is found in the capacity layer, or C-band. Baker continued by explaining that 4G LTE offers a lot of capacity and many of the exciting new use cases around 5G will come once 5G Standalone is implemented, which is still a few years to come.
For now with LTE and 5G Non-Standalone, a new sector of IoT is emerging called high bandwidth, which can support applications in facial detection and recognition, EV charging, drones and high-data sensors, as well as internet replacement to swap out DSL and cable for cellular, or in mobile applications supporting connected cars, public transportation Wi-Fi, or pop-up internet.
In further discussion on the close relationship between LTE and 5G, Federated Wireless’s Deepak Das gave details and insight on private wireless networks. Private wireless networks for enterprises, he explained, are built for use cases at the edge in sectors such as government, education, real estate, agriculture, manufacturing, logistics, retail, healthcare, smart cities, and large venues and event spaces.
GeoSensorX’s Monte Moore followed up by sharing his organisations experience in IoT delivering fleet solutions from edge to cloud and how one of the primary challenges in meeting customer needs is creating solutions that are highly usable and can work out of the box. He explained how partnering with KORE IoT managed services has helped GeoSensorX scale significantly.
You can watch the full recording here.
Brazil is positioning itself to be a global economic leader by putting a strong focus on IoT development through comprehensive planning, strategy, and value-added benefits for enterprises seeking global expansion. The overhaul in creating a business-friendly environment has led to developments in regulation for more leniency, as well as identifying key areas for IoT growth. Healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing, and smart cities have been outlined as target verticals in a Brazilian IoT strategy, but strong use cases lie in the fleet industry and industrial IoT.
Financial technology (FinTech) in Latin America has been booming over the last several years as a wave of digitalisation in point of sale, payment system, and digital banks have grown. According to the study, The Rise and Impact of Fintech in Latin America, there were 300 million users of digital payments and 30 million users of digital banks in 2021, with high concentration in Brazil and Mexico1.
One way of tackling the connectivity challenges associated with not just FinTech, but all segments of IoT is eSIM, which the panelists detail during the webinar.
In other connectivity technology discussions, the panelists give insight into the 4G LTE and LoRaWAN markets in Brazil.
Catch up now with the recording.
Agriculture is a growing sector in IoT, particularly in Australia. Agriculture represents a microcosm of dozens of use cases. For example, equipment monitoring can allow for autonomous control, location detection, voice calling, and even diagnostics.
Irrigation can be supported through soil sensors for moisture detection and salinity and then irrigation can be automated based on that data.
For data-driven farming, plant diagnostics and crop health can determine automated seed and fertilizer dispensing as well as spraying due to environmental monitoring. Satellite connectivity, as Iridium’s Itz points out, is a key connectivity technology that can support widespread deployments across the globe, even in the most rural and unconnected stretches of land.
Catch up with the recording here.
Whether your IoT focus is in Europe, North America, Brazil, Australia, or beyond, KORE has you covered with our global presence and connections in more than 190 countries. Reach out to talk to us anytime and we hope to see you next year at the IoT Tech and Trends Global Roadshow.
1 The Rise and Impact of Fintech in Latin America,” Bas B. Bakker ; Beatriz Garcia-Nunes ; Weicheng Lian ; Yang Liu ; Camila Perez Marulanda ; Adam Siddiq ; Mariusz A. Sumlinski ; Yuanchen Yang ; Dmitry Vasilyev