Until recently, scalable IoT solutions that could transform businesses were only available to those with large R&D budgets or those with connections with manufacturers. Now, the IoT Marketplace makes the benefits of this transformative technology accessible to everyone.
The IoT Marketplace represents a first in the IoT industry. It’s a single, digital location where individuals and companies can explore the diverse world of IoT products, ranging from complete end to end solutions to tools and building blocks for developers.The IoT Marketplace helps businesses gain access to an ecosystem of connected solutions, devices and elements that historically have been hard to obtain.
Smart devices have been around for several years and Cisco projects there will be 50 billion of them by 2020. The explosive growth has created a fragmented market making the process of getting started with a viable project a random set of events. Those interested in learning have had to search for resources and cobble together their own components, and when they are ready to move from concept to deployment they still need to assemble multiple parts and services with little ability to evaluate their options.
The IoT Marketplace makes it simple and efficient to explore the growing landscape of IoT solutions. It’s a one-stop shop with options for companies seeking plug-and-play solutions that come ready to use and ready to connect to the AT&T cellular network. Those wishing to build their own devices can choose from a variety of IoT starter kits, which come with all the necessary components to build and connect IoT prototypes.
Ready to Use
Businesses of all sizes are seeking ways to leverage the potential of IoT. For various reasons, companies often struggle with finding the right components and assembling them into systems that can be deployed in the field. The IoT Marketplace helps simplify the process by providing a path to IoT enablement for almost all levels of experience across multiple industries. Companies with little-to-no IoT experience can now gain access to ready-to-use solutions and services, quickly and efficiently deploying and manage IoT solutions within the business environment.
For example, a company with a fleet of vehicles can learn about IoT fleet management solutions for monitoring and streamlining operations, then compare and buy those solutions. The solutions come ready for deployment over the AT&T network via AT&T IoT Data Plans (also available in the IoT Marketplace), so there’s no need to engineer a large project to configure and deploy the devices. These types of ready-to-use solutions makes it easier for companies to comply with new regulations, fuel usage, driving times, and recordkeeping—without costly capital expenditures.
Ready to Experiment
The bedrock of developing new IT applications is experimentation. Experimenting with an idea and the tools available to bring that idea to life have lead to breakthroughs throughout history. However, experimentation has been hard for small and midsize companies because it requires R&D time and budgets, followed by testing and iterations to make the solution robust enough for field deployment.
The IoT Marketplace makes it possible for companies of any size to experiment with IoT and turn their own ideas into reality. A range of starter kits let both technical and non-technical users test their ideas and create an IoT device prototype, bypassing the difficult and confusing process of assembling a set of hardware and software components that work together. Starter Kits include all the elements required to collect sensor data, connect to the AT&T network, and utilize various cloud services for the management, storage, and analytics of a connected IoT device.
Ready to Connect
Whether a company chooses to procure an off-the-shelf and field-ready solution or build their own, they still need to connect the devices to a network and manage usage. That, too, is conveniently available in the IoT Marketplace. IoT Data plans (with optional international roaming) can be purchased and managed in one environment, and shared across any number of devices. Compatible SIMs can also be ordered to match demand—from one deployed device to hundreds.
Ready to Start
As IoT opportunities and benefits to industries continue to grow, identifying, acquiring, and even creating an optimal solution will become a critical function of the business environment. With the launch of the IoT Marketplace, these opportunities become available to companies for whom the benefits of connected devices have been, until now, out of reach. Having access to the information, products, and connectivity necessary for deploying and scaling IoT solutions means companies can turn their ideas into reality, and they can get started today.
