The IoT and the Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies

[Andrew at MEA]

The IoT and the Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies

Yet again, I’ve received an invitation to a gathering of knowledgeable folk who will present various high-level speakers to “share insights on the future of Australian life over the next 14 years, specifically the changes that the Internet of Things and related emerging technologies will have on the world around us".

In August 2014, the IoT reached the ‘Peak of Inflated Expectations’ (according to the Gartner report on Emerging Technologies), predicting real product in the mainstream market 5 to 10 years hence (2019-2024).

Here’s the story:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2014/08/18/its-official-the-internet-of-things-takes-over-big-data-as-the-most-hyped-technology/#3ef7083d3aca

Our Engineers Australia IoT forum will soon be one year old.

Can anyone provide me with a list of successful Australian IoT technologies that have reached technological maturity and have a profitable business model?

I could do with some statistics when I enter that roomful of IoT experts…

Or is the IoT still only hype?

[Heath Raftery]

I'm interested to see the responses to this. I know the IoTAA is busy assembling a "maturity index" which has as one of its aims the compilation of organisations that have achieved some business sustainability via IoT products. It would be a great source of the stats you seek but I think it's still a work in progress. There's about 180 of us in the "startups" worksteam (WS6) so there's plenty vying for some traction.

There's a scattering of good news stories getting about but I'm not aware of a list yet...

[Andrew at MEA]

One Australian company with commercial IoT product in the market is Taggle: http://www.taggle.com.au/

I had a visit from their Chief Product Officer - Marc Englaro - earlier this week and took some notes as he responded to my questions: -

1. Taggle offer their own networks targeted at water utilities for water metering and rainfall measurements. 
2. Taggle's systems are largely based within towns and cities, allowing them to deploy their own hubs and control their own network roll-outs
3. Taggle sell their radios for water meter transmitter for <$100 each in large quantities (the sort of numbers used by utilities).
4. Taggle's radios operate on the 920MHz ISM band, using one-way transmissions
5. Data cost per site is under $1 per month. The primary cell battery will last about as long as the water meter. Range is typically 5 kms.
6. Taggle have put these out onto about 40 000 water meters made by an Australian company out of Melbourne
7. Taggle’s technology arises from CSIRO spin-offs by the rf group that invented Wi-Fi
8. Taggle have reached 25 Australian utilities, most recently SA Water under their Smart City program.

All errors and omissions are mine in this reporting