Study shows the global installed base of systems reached 3.3 million units in 2018 and is expected to rise.
ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘berg-insight’ CATEGORY
Aug 08, 2019 • Software & Apps • News • Berg Insight • fleet • telematics • report
Study shows the global installed base of systems reached 3.3 million units in 2018 and is expected to rise.
Jul 23, 2019 • News • connected devices • future of field service • Medical Devices • Berg Insight
Research finds that high use of connected care solutions in North America.
Research finds that high use of connected care solutions in North America.
A new report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight has found that around 18.0 million people in North America were using connected care solutions at the end of 2018.
The figure refers to users of medical alert systems, connected medication management solutions and remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions in Canada and the US. RPM is the largest and most mature segment having a total of 16.1 million users at the end of 2018. The market for medical alert systems is considerably smaller with an estimated total of 3.1 million users, whereas the number of connected medication management users reached 900,000 at the end of 2018. There is an overlap between the market segments as medical alert users can also be equipped with a medication management solution or an RPM solution, and vice versa. The market is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.3 percent during the next six years to reach 49.4 million connected care users by 2024.
The leading use case for RPM have thus far been sleep therapy monitoring. Patients that suffer from sleep-disordered breathing such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are typically prescribed an airflow generator, but many patients find the device unpleasant to use and poor compliance is common. Payers thus increasingly require that patients comply with their treatment plans to be reimbursed for the device which has driven equipment vendors to connect the devices. Philips is the largest provider of connected airflow generators. ResMed follows closely thanks to the company’s decision to include cellular IoT connectivity as standard in its Air Solutions product family.
The North American market for connected care solutions is affected by several trends and developments that will have an impact on the competitive landscape in the following years. Changing demographics is driving the demand for home care, while technological developments and regulatory changes affect the competitive landscape for solution vendors. One of the major ongoing changes is the sunset of the landline telephone networks and cellular 3G networks, which forces equipment providers to upgrade their products. At the same time, the industry is becoming more patient-centric which calls for integrated systems and improved interoperability of connected care solutions. New companies are entering the connected care market and connected medication management solutions are today in the centre of attention for start-ups.
Jul 19, 2019 • News • future of field service • Berg Insight • smart meters
A research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight also says smart meter penetration among electricity customers in the UK and Canada Over is projected to increase from around 60 percent in 2018 to more than 80 percent by the end of 2024.
“North America has long been at the forefront of smart grid technology adoption and a large share of the major utilities in the region are now either fully deployed or in the implementation or planning stages of full-scale rollouts. The market is however highly heterogenous in terms of penetration. Some states or provinces remain skeptical towards the business case for advanced metering investments whereas others are soon to begin a second wave of deployments”, said Levi Ostling, IoT Analyst, Berg Insight and author of the report.
Canada has reached a high penetration of smart meters through ambitious initiatives in its most populous provinces. Continued growth in North America the next few years will largely be driven by the large investor-owned utilities in the US that are yet to roll out smart meters for their customers. In addition, the large number of smaller cooperative and municipal utilities will also be playing an increasingly central role for penetration growth.
According to the report, yearly shipments of smart electricity meters in North America will grow from 8.8 million units in 2018 to 19.9 million units in 2024. Over the next few years, first-wave deployments by utilities such as Consolidated Edison, Duke Energy, Ameren, Entergy, PSEG, National Grid and Xcel Energy will boost shipments. Second wave deployments will gradually make their way into the shipment numbers at the end of the forecast period. “While increasingly powerful meters with edge intelligence capabilities coupled with advanced data analytics software will drive second wave deployments, the utilities are now also looking to leverage their existing RF mesh networks for a wider array of applications beyond metering, bringing an increasingly diverse set of devices onto their networking platforms,” concluded Mr. Ostling.
Jul 03, 2019 • News • future of field service • research report • Berg Insight • IoT • cellular
Growth was driven by exceptional adoption in China, which accounted for 63 percent of the global installed base. By 2023, Berg Insight's research now projects that there will be 9.0 billion IoT devices connected to cellular networks worldwide.
“China is deploying cellular IoT technology at a monumental scale”, said Tobias Ryberg, Principal Analyst and author of the report. “According to data from the Chinese mobile operators, the installed base in the country grew by 124 percent year-on-year to reach 767 million at the end of 2018. The country has now surpassed Europe and North America in terms of penetration rate with 54.7 IoT connections per 100 inhabitants.”
The Chinese government is actively driving adoption as a tool for achieving domestic and economic policy goals, at the same time as the private sector implements IoT technology to improve efficiency and drive innovation. Berg Insight believes that the role of the government is the main explanation for why China is ahead of the rest of the world in the adoption of IoT. Like other advanced economies, the country has widespread adoption of connected cars, fleet management, smart metering, asset monitoring and other traditional applications for cellular IoT. It has also given rise to new consumer services enabled by connectivity like bike sharing. The most distinctive characteristic of the Chinese IoT market is however the way that the government is systematically using new technology to implement its vision for urban life in the 21st century.
In the report, Berg Insight also analyses the IoT business KPIs released by mobile operators in different parts of the world and found significant regional differences. The monthly ARPU for cellular IoT connectivity services in China was only € 0.22, compared to € 0.70 in Europe. Global revenues from cellular IoT connectivity services increased by 19 percent in 2018 to reach € 6.7 billion. The ten largest players had a combined revenue share of around 80 percent.
Jun 25, 2019 • News • 5G • future of field service • Berg Insight • IoT
Berg Insight estimates that global cellular IoT module shipments increased by 16 percent in 2018 to a new record level of 221 million.
Berg Insight estimates that global cellular IoT module shipments increased by 16 percent in 2018 to a new record level of 221 million.
Annual revenues grew faster at 24 percent, reversing the previous trend of decreasing average module prices. The 3GPP standards for LTE – Cat M and NB-IoT – will contribute substantially to growth in the next coming five years.
These new standards are designed to be less complex to limit power consumption and are priced more favourably to address the mass market and make it viable to connect entirely new applications. In the first half of 2019, several vendors announced 5G NR modules that will become available to developers in the second half of the year. Early adopters will include companies active in the PC, networking and OEM automotive segments.
The results of Berg Insight’s latest cellular IoT module vendor market share assessment show that the four largest module vendors have 61 percent of the market in terms of revenues. “Annual module revenues for the four largest market players Sierra Wireless, Sunsea AIoT, Gemalto and Telit increased by 13 percent to US$ 1.85 billion, with the total market value reaching approximately US$ 3.0 billion”, says Fredrik Stalbrand, Senior Analyst at Sweden-based IoT analyst firm Berg Insight. Sierra Wireless leads IoT module revenues, followed by Sunsea AIoT and Gemalto. Sunsea AIoT leads in shipments and Quectel is number two in terms of volumes and in fifth place in terms of revenues. Fibocom reported the highest growth of 122 percent during the year, reaching US$ 189 million in cellular module sales.
The year marks the first in which a China-based vendor ranks as high as the second largest cellular IoT module vendor by revenue and six of the top ten vendors were from China in 2018. Sunsea AIoT emerged as a new major industry player in 2017 through the acquisitions of Longsung and SIMCom, which had been the market leader by volume for three consecutive years. While there has been some consolidation among the larger suppliers, the long tail of companies with activities in the cellular IoT module market is growing. A number of new players have been attracted to the market, particularly in the emerging NB-IoT and LTE-M segment. Notable examples include the major Bluetooth LE SoC vendor Nordic Semiconductor and the Japanese electronics company Murata.
May 28, 2019 • News • 5G • future of field service • Berg Insight • IoT
The first 5G cellular IoT modules will become available to developers this year, enabling early adopters to create the first IoT devices based on the standard. Based on the experience of previous introductions of new standards, 5G will however not be an instant hit. By 2023, Berg Insight forecasts that 5G will account for just under 3 percent of the total installed base of cellular IoT devices.
“5G still has some way to go before it can become a mainstream technology for cellular IoT”, says Tobias Ryberg, Principal Analyst and author of the report. “Just like 4G when it was first introduced, the initial version of 5G is mostly about improving network performance and data capacity. This is only relevant for a smaller subset of high-bandwidth cellular IoT applications like connected cars, security cameras and industrial routers. The real commercial breakthrough will not happen until the massive machine type communication (mMTC) use case has been implemented in the standard.”
mMTC is intended as an evolution of the LTE-M/NB-IoT enhancements to the 4G standard. Since NB-IoT has only just started to appear in commercial products, there is no immediate demand for a successor. Over time, fifth generation mobile networks will however become necessary to cope with the expected exponential growth of IoT connections and data traffic.
The report identifies homeland security as an area where 5G cellular IoT can have a major impact already in the early 2020s. “5G enables the deployment of high-density networks of AI-supported security cameras to monitor anything form security-classified facilities to national borders or entire cities”, says Mr. Ryberg. “How this technology is used and by whom is likely to become one of the most controversial issues in the next decade.”
May 16, 2019 • News • Berg Insight • fleet • Fleet Insurance • telematics
May 03, 2019 • News • future of field service • Oil and Gas • Berg Insight • IoT
According to a new research report from the M2M/IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of devices featuring cellular or satellite connectivity deployed in oil and gas applications amounted to 1.3 million at the end of 2018.
According to a new research report from the M2M/IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of devices featuring cellular or satellite connectivity deployed in oil and gas applications amounted to 1.3 million at the end of 2018.
Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.8 percent, this number is expected to reach 1.9 million units by 2023. Remote monitoring of tanks and industrial equipment in the midstream and downstream sectors comprise the most common applications for wireless solutions in the oil and gas industry. Berg Insight expects that shipments in the upstream sector will grow faster, although from a much smaller base, as cellular communications become an increasingly viable alternative to proprietary radio due to improved 4G LTE coverage in North America and broader support from the industry.
While the market has been affected by the decrease in oil prices in recent years, significant developments have taken place in regard to the industry landscape and technological advances. Major automation vendors such as Emerson, Siemens, Schneider Electric, Yokogawa, Honeywell and ABB are investing heavily in the development of software platforms to support use cases surrounding predictive analytics and digital twins. Recent developments further include Rockwell Automation’s joint venture agreement with the major oilfield service company Schlumberger to create Sensia, an integrated automation solution provider in the oil and gas industry. On the communications side, several initiatives have been launched to promote the adoption of cellular technologies in the utilities industry, primarily in the US. In early 2019, leading cellular device providers, including Sierra Wireless, Cisco, MultiTech Systems, GE and Encore Networks together with spectrum licensees and utilities formed the Utility Broadband Alliance (UBBA) to advance the development of private LTE networks for critical infrastructure industries.
Solutions for remote monitoring of assets such as wellheads, storage tanks and pipeline infrastructure are offered by major industrial automation vendors, as well as a large number of specialised providers. “Key consolidators in the market for remote monitoring solutions are the private equity held companies Quorum Software and DataOnline that have acquired six and three businesses respectively between 2015–2019”, said Fredrik Stalbrand, IoT Analyst, Berg Insight. He mentions recent deals such as Quorum’s acquisitions of the Coastal Flow Measurement family of companies and Flow-Cal in March 2019, as well as DataOnline’s purchase of Sierra Wireless’ iTank business in December 2018. Important vendors that specialise in remote SCADA and tank monitoring further include AIUT, Critical Control, eLynx Technologies, Silicon Controls, SkyBitz, WellAware, Zedi and ZTR Control Systems. “Several players continue to have inorganic growth as a key strategy, so further M&As can be expected among IIoT solution providers targeting the oil and gas industry in 2019–2020”, concluded Mr. Stalbrand.
You can read the full report here.
Apr 22, 2019 • News • Automation • future of field service • Berg Insight
Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33 percent, the installed base will reach 483 million units in 2022. About 4.5 million of these devices were connected via cellular networks in 2018. The number of cellular connections in the building automation market will grow at a CAGR of 44 percent to reach 19.4 million in 2022. In terms of revenues, Berg Insight estimates that connected devices into the global BIoT market generated revenues of more than US$ 1.2 billion in 2018. This figure will grow at a CAGR of 21 percent to almost US$ 2.7 billion in 2022.
This study from Berg Insight analyses the market for building automation in smart buildings along multiple verticals ranging from well-known ones such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), indoor lighting, fire & safety, access & security, to lesser known ones such as electric vehicle charging, irrigation systems and pool monitoring. The most successful building automation solutions to date, in terms of sold units, include access and security, fire and safety, HVAC systems and elevators and escalators management. These solutions are marketed by product OEMs such as Assa Abloy, Avigilon, AMAG Technology, HID Global, Comark, Tyco, Albireo Energy, Cimetrics, Delta Controls, ENGIE Insight, Silvair, KONE, Otis, Schindler and ThyssenKrupp. The automatic control may be done through a centralized system such as a Building Management System (BMS). Examples of BMS solution providers include ABB, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Schneider Electric, Siemens and United Technologies.
Building automation has been around for many decades but there is a new urgency due to factors such as energy conservation as well as mandates for green construction. The latest smart building solutions leverage new technologies such as IoT, big data, cloud computing, data analytics, deep learning and artificial intelligence for the benefits of saving energy, reducing operational expenditures, increasing occupancy comfort, and meeting increasingly stringent global regulations and sustainability standards. “A major change is starting to happen now especially in new construction, where the primary driver is changing from cost reduction to features that enhance the user experience and change how users and buildings interact. Instead of there being a single killer-app, we are starting to see a combination of use-cases”, said Alan Varghese, Senior IoT Analyst, Berg Insight.
These use-cases leverage the Internet of Things, sensors and connectivity to enable customization of spaces in offices and conference rooms based on occupancy levels and occupant preferences, efficient mobility throughout the building, and they help occupants with location and wayfinding – all controllable by mobile platforms. Most important, they are capable of predictive awareness of individual needs.
You can download the report here.
Leave a Reply