Harbor Research has long examined the evolution of Smart Systems in intelligent buildings. During all our time observing the space, siloed, vendor-specific solutions have always been the norm in building automation, leading to unnecessary inefficiencies for customers. In order for OEMs, service providers, and building managers to harness equipment data…
Smart City programs cannot be defined by a single “top down” approach or central organizing schema that sets preprogrammed limits. They will be defined by individual citizens, who are motivated to collaborate with each other to create new use cases and applications that solve specific local problems. Smart cities will…
The IoT is a distributed computing challenge. Smart Systems and IoT deployments are by their very nature distributed systems. We hear lots of talk about the “cloud” as it relates to the IoT to the point that in many cases it seems like the “cloud” is being presented as the…
We have portrayed a vision of smart energy driven by real-time, interactive communication networks that provide services and are adopted in a manner very similar to the evolution of the web and the Internet. In this vision, customers and consumers would be able to see variable pricing changes in real…
Many IT equipment suppliers, silicon suppliers, enterprise software players and wireless carriers have re-elevated their interest in the Smart Systems and Internet of Things arena because of the arrival of 5G wireless technologies. Many of these players are “old hands” having focused on connected opportunities for some time and many…
The “Smart Home” has always had the potential to unleash unprecedented value for comfort and convenience as well as safety and security. The sheer volume of manufacturers, service providers and tech companies addressing the residential arena is a testament to its potential. However, today’s smart home market remains fragmented with…
Marvin Minsky, a cognitive scientist and one of the fathers of artificial intelligence, liked to say [in the early 2000s] that we can make a computer capable of beating the reigning genius of chess, but we can’t make a robot capable of walking across the street as well as any…
The concept of network effects states that the value of networks grows exponentially with the number of nodes connected to it. Given the emergence of the many different types of networks for voice, video, sensors, machines, mobile radios and more, our society is at the cusp of a “perfect storm”…
Who will be the winners and who will lose as the Smart Systems Platform opportunity develops? In the much larger and more complex world of business-to-business technology, there is no vendor that has the clear leadership position. While the “Internet of Things” platform opportunity represents a market of vast potential,…
