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New Annoucements,

2009-07-08T22:24:00.005-06:00

Moblize launched
1) Remote control of virtually any machine from anywhere in the world using web services eg. reduce speeds, increase speeds, turn valves, chokes and much more
2) Chief Editor of Hart E&P talks to Moblize "Leveraging knowledge with Technology" http://www.moblize.com/documents/Leveraging%20knowledge%20with%20technology.pdf
3) Moblize selected as partner of Smith Services (NYSE: SII) for drilling operations

Moblize makes big strides in 2007

2007-12-26T23:51:00.000-06:00

Readers, its my pleasure to announce with focus on value creation and immense efforts from Moblize team, we achieved 2 major milestones this year:

We made it to M2M 100 for 2008
We announced a partnership with Schlumberger in Energy Vertical.
Stay tuned for some major announcements in 2008, building blocks have been laid in 2007 based on our winning business model.

Vendors wake up and think hard : Smart Services

2007-12-24T14:48:00.000-06:00

Hello All, Merry Christmas to everyone. My advisory team shared with me some results which i thought we can summarize and add to the blogs for everyone. Based on our projects in Advisory Services around Smart Services in 2007, we feel the M2M/Smart Services Landscape has revenue potential around following areas for vendors to capitalize on. Here is a food for thought. Issue we see is everyone claims to do every thing and then don't get even 1 thing right. Hence, its critical that the vendors introduce self imposed constraints on what they are really good in the value creation model (refer to image) and focus on those areas only and for remainder create an innovative eco-system via collaboration/partnerships which is relies on Interdependence vs. Independence. There is money for everyone...if done right including the end users!!

Learn lesson from adoption of Standards in Energy

2007-11-29T13:20:00.000-06:00

Hello friends, I wanted to get back to blogging world and share perspective on advantange of standards adoption, a lesson from Energy Vertical. Energy started 7 years back with Witsml ( WellSite Information Transfer Mark up language) a standard way for variety of applications to speak with each other. 7 years down the road, the Witsml standard is being widely adopted and showing results never imagined before. Why Witsml acceptance happened? As big operator companies (users) took the lead to form governance body to make Witsml a standard. Today, i see in many new industries standards are more being promoted by vendors vs. users. Users can drive adoption much faster than vendors, thats my 2 cents. In oil and gas 7 yrs really mean 7 months to 1 yr in other verticals ( as generally speaking Energy industry moves at slower pace). Lets talk about Witsml. Witsml is enabling many applications exchange relevant subsets of data amongst vendors/users and other 3 parties merging humans/technology/workflows. This is a big step change than how oil and gas companies have operated in the past. The above is leading to enhanced decision making, 2-6% increase in reservoir recovery, up to 25% reduction in opex, upto 12% increase in production rate and much more. There is a lesson here for everyone...if users push standards adoptions, the time scale of mass adoption can be much quicker..any comments?

Real Market vs. Perceived market of m2m

2007-10-17T20:06:00.000-06:00

Hello readers

I was asked a very intriguing question today during one of the meetings which i wanted to pose to the entire community.

We hear a lot about M2M/smart services being billions of dollar market in 2011. However, what is actual market share today and the market share split amongst M2M vendors? Any ideas?

Peggy, Mike i am guessing you may have answers to this?

Cheers and looking forward to some feedback

Amit

Moblize launches Kanak3.0 software to enable Real Time Operations Centers

2007-10-03T08:32:00.001-06:00

Moblize today unveiled the Kanak 3.0 software to rapidly enabling Real Time Integrated Operations Centers for wide variety of industries. In Energy Vertical, as part of Digital Oilfield of the future over 145 centers have been built since 2006. Recent research study by CERA indicates these centers have proven to increase oil and gas production by 2-6%, recovery from reservoirs by 2-10% and reduced operating expenses by 15% for Energy companies. Enable Real Time Integrated Operations Centers for your companies and achieve the same or even better results. To learn more click here

Moblize launches web portal to monitor fixed/mobile assets

2007-09-17T17:11:00.000-06:00

Hello readers,

I am delighted to announce release of Megs portal version1.5 which allows our clients to monitor both fixed and mobile assets now.
Fixed assets like pipes/tanks/compressors/buildings etc.
Mobile assets like commercial trucks/fleets.

We are currently offering this service as a "Managed Service " to minimize our client headaches. Our clients say to us all the time, we want a soluton with zero maintenance, zero headaches and that keep our assets (mobile/fixed) up and running all the time. Hence we came up with solution to enable that. The software not only allows client to monitor any asset type, but also makes your mobile workforce more productive with its Workflow module. To learn more please call us on 713 622 1082 or email us at info@moblize.com.

Our 1st major user of this product is one of world's largest mine, where we are monitoring their fixed facilities and mobile assets (CAT trucks) and here are some comments from mine executives.

"We love this system, its helped us go away from having silos of disparate applications for different asset types which dont talk to each other, to now having one solution which I can view anywhere, anytime", Mine Manager

"Earlier our trucks will sit at the hopper and we would not be aware why?, now we know instantly if our trucks are sitting at hopper via live real time videos from MEGS1.5, compare that to weight of coal in the facility real time and we can instantly take action, I see huge potential with this system" Operations Manager

"This system can pull data from any of our legacy facility system we installed years ago, so easily and present nicely in one simple web view, we never imagined that was possible" Mine IT Manager

Stay tuned for another major product launch we will be doing early October Kanak3.0 which has some major companies already lining to place orders. This product will help our client bridge the gap between asset teams/workflow/technology instantly.

Cheers
Amit

Join a winning team: Moblize is hiring

2007-09-15T15:44:00.000-06:00

Readers,

Looking to make a difference, be in an organization who believes in people first and solutions later?, where your performance is directly proportional to rewards, want to work in an entreprenuerial environment? then send your resumes to staffing@moblize.com.

Moblize is looking to expand its senior management team. We have immediate openings for 2 senior managers in our Product and Advisory Services Group.

Product Manager/Sales Marketing Lead Products

Person must possess: a winning attitude, has demonstrated exceptional tangible results in the past. Qualifications to include:
Selling and creatively marketing new enterprise software solutions preferably in Energy Market, ability to articulate ROI on complete software solutions,track record of setting and meeting demanding sales objectives, Knowledge on SCADA, automation. monitoring technologies a plus, demonstrated ability to rapidly create markets for new enterprise software solutions.

Sales lead/Engagement Manager for Advisory Services

Principal Duties & Responsibilities: Immediate opening in our Advisory Services Group for someone who has big 4 or mid tier consulting experience in areas of Business/Management consulting, selling strategic/operational consulting services.
The role involves: Assisting in providing direction and smooth delivery of consulting projects including: vision and strategy, planning and performance management.
Delivering value that meets or exceeds clients' expectations.
Developing and maintaining client relationships, articulating business value propositions.
Helping clients build strategies, conceptualize and implement end to end real time technologies to connect enterprise systems to remote assets.
Finding logical or innovative solutions to complex problems to enable businesses in real time.
Continuously learning and mastering key technical, functional and professional skills.
Contributing as an effective team member, organizing workloads and maintaining accountability.

The candidate MUST have:
Business/Management Consulting experience or significant project experience
An excellent academic record
Have excellent client-facing skills and be approachable and communicative.

Product to Solution/Services

2007-07-28T11:20:00.000-06:00

Sorry friends

Its been busy times so have been out of world of blogging. Interestingly today i couldnt stop myself from sharing a huge gap we are noticing on why M2M/Smart Services etc. projects are not catching on like fire....we recently are working with 2 of world's largest companies in this area and i noticed a pattern: a) There is serious lack of skill shortage to transition from products to solutions offerings. b)Sales to commercialization process for new innovative solutions is completely missing or being assumed same as traditional product oriented. c) XXXXXX waiting to hear what your valuable thoughts.

Cheers
Amit

M2M United 2007: Good, bad and ugly

2007-07-01T14:24:00.000-06:00

Hello All,

It was my 1st experience at M2M united 2007. It was a well organized event with roughly 200+ participants. Thought participants were predominantly from M2M vendor community i believe it was good as it was one of its kind event to meet so many competition/partners 1st time face to face.

Day 1, I listened to some speakers in Business/Operations track and they attracted less attention than the Technology tracks. I wasnt very surprised as typically vendor community is hungry for whats next. As I mingled and talked to many peers there was a general frustration/confusion amongst many on what M2M is, why we have mixed signals in education market ( some calling it Smart Services, some M2M , how, why etc. etc..) I was impressed at the analogy drawn by Yankee group team , that M2M community is like European union vs. USA...one union but different thinking...which made sense.

Day 2 was another exciting day, very good topics covered/addressed. I was hoping Deloitte/Accenture during their presentation will throw some light being vendor agnostic but their presentations were very generic like others and didnt communicate any huge take aways for M2M vendors. I started to notice all case studies had a very common theme, actionable data/actionable information vs. monitoring....which was good...The presentations by capitalist group like Investment banks shows the market potential is enormous and no matter what you call it, its happening....Highlight of day was award ceremony and it was wicked..Mike/peggy should consider calling it M2M hollywood :) it was amazingly conducted, red carpet, big TV screen, black tie event...wow, very impressive !!

Areas of Improvement: I think M2M united is a great community and Peggy/Mike and their team put a phenomenal show at this large scale. i encourage them to do an event with Harbor or other research groups to get a good balance of end users/vendors. I saw lack of audience participation which should be encouraged as General discussion sessions vs. Ques/Answers after ppt. I absolutely believe the commercial aspect should be thrown away from these presentations and focus should be value. Some presenters used M2M united as a platform to showcase sales pitches which wasn't prudent in the track sessions. Some topics and their presenters were wrong match but i guess when you organize an event at this large scale it can happen. It will be nice to see next yr more forums/discussions with variety of users and less track sessions topics as it can get very challenging to match speakers to session topics. I hope to see 50:50 mix of end users/vendors in upcoming years.

Making money on After Sales Services with M2M/Smart Service or whatever you want to call it

2007-06-07T15:00:00.000-06:00

Hello Readers,

Hope to see many of you at the M2M united conference. I will be speaking at one of the forums on day 2: Operations Track on Service Oriented M2M. It's a good topic (thanks to Michael Jarosik) and i thought i will share with my readers some insights or call it sneak peak of my presentation....Since web has better global reach I do encourage my readers to provide 2 cents on their experiences etc. on additional revenues they are seeing by connecting remote assets to the enterprise. I will share our experiences/insights on the blog after the conference if you all desire in details. We believe M2M/Smart Service or whatever you call it has revenue opportunities in many areas ( at least we are seeing that already) and one of them is after sales services. I am attaching a diagram which shows how you can potentially make additional revenues in "After Sales" as an overview. If you have any burning questions and/or not attending the M2M united conference feel free to contact me.

Smart Services 2007

2007-05-20T09:09:00.000-06:00

Hello Readers

Lately I have been reading/hearing a lot of the new concept "Smart Services".
It is slowly seeming to be such as a generic term like "Supply or Value Chain" which was buzz word in 1998. I remember back in 1999 where we would be telling clients how to apply supply chain concepts to better their businesses, clients would go huh? but my situation is unique/different.

Hence to ensure we can apply right supply chain concepts to right specific situations, we came up with a 2Dimensional matrix breaking every products sold into "Functional and Innovative "products". This helped us realize/categorize what is "the right supply chain for the companies".
Why? As
Functional products had predictable demand and hence required Efficient supply chain, so responsive supply chain won't work whereas
Innovative products had unpredictable demand and hence required Responsive supply chain and making supply chain efficient won't work.

So strategies to execute both varied dramatically.

I may be wrong, but as i read more and more on Smart Services, i am thinking can we break it down into something which will make more sense when individual companies try to think/apply "Smart Services" to their situations. So i thought let me open this dialogue with my readers . Any thoughts on how we could start to think and categorize "Smart Services" if possible at all?

A

M2M and six pillars

2007-04-30T10:33:00.000-06:00

Hello friends. I apologize for being out of loop for a while. With grace of god, we signed a major industrial lubricant provider to launch real time surveillance services for various industry verticals with focus on revenue generation vs. cost reduction and hence its been busy time lately.

Anways, I want to reignite my lost momentum on blogs by focusing on M2M pioneer issue by M2M mag which i read on plane last week. It was very creative on Michael's Jarosik part to categorize M2M in 6 pillars i do encourage everyone to get a copy and read it.

I dont agree with all definitions on Telemetry/Telematics...etc. which are highlighted but i completely agree with Mike on the fact, in the end what they all have is common is "connecting the world to a network". I want to add network is as important as the nodes in the network (node could be people/devices/sensors/systems etc.) A network is as important as its nodes only..eg. see on IM when you connect corporate people positive value emerges, whereas if you connect people who are socially challenged, it becomes negative value eg. nightmare for law authorities.

Hence, what you really want is a network which can create positive value and you dont have to connect everything on that network. Key is to think what nodes if connected in the network will generate positive value i.e. increase productivity, reliability, safety etc. etc...

Quick update of my definition of Telemetry- its connecting fixed assets doesnt matter at what speeds you connect them
Telematics- its connecting mobile assets doesnt matter at what speeds you connect them
Smart services- its taking Telemetry/Telematics to next level and start to make proactive decisions/influence processes vs. purely monitoring of fixed/mobile assets.

What will A2A/M2M/Smart Services create??

2007-03-07T13:49:00.000-06:00

Hello Readers, Sorry been out of loop for a while...its just i like to write when i hear or get asked about a burning topic by potential or existing clientele...so this time over last week or so i got asked a lot;

Hey What do you think M2M/A2A/Smart Services will create? I had to poise over this for a while, and i did give my 2 cents which i will share here, but do encourage you all to build on it i.e. within your blogs or in my blog so we can really start a dialogue.

In my opinion:
-A revolution in how we interact with technology
-A world where we do not notice the Internet
-A world of multiple connected devices that have different usage characteristics
-Personalized services and content
-A culture of technological assistance rather then searching
-An environment, making us all think less and act more
-More service oriented businesses

lets see what my other blogging friends can add....so shoot guys!!!!

Some business ideas: M2M/A2A/Smart Services in __________________

2007-02-26T10:47:00.000-06:00

Good morning to everyone. I thought while we are on the topic of making money, lets focus on how M2M can be exploited across various industry verticals to generate money...again i will mention only few, though internally we have over 100+ value propositions (which can make money using M2M/Smart Services/A2A) defined....for different industry verticals.

M2M in Financial Services
Themes
Strong interest in mobile banking, Time sensitive notifications, Payment infrastuctures needed

Business Ideas
Wireless bill payment, P2P payments, Kiosk banking, Wireless mortgage broker, Payments/billing infrastructure for network carriers.

M2M in Retail

Themes
Localized, personalized services, Understand applicability of devices to different products

Business Ideas
Mobile phone impulse buying, Integrated alerts/ads with purchasing, Cash register access

M2M in Medical
Themes
Bring technology closer to the patient, Reduce manual errors, Create intuitive interfaces for doctors

Business Ideas
Wireless prescriptions, Guarding physical access to drugs, new food services, Wireless access to formulary insurance info, emergency vehicle dispatch.

M2M in Enterprises

Themes
Opportunities to create operating efficiencies, deepen customer relationships
capture new revenue streams, improve inventory management

Business Ideas
Supply chain transparency, Change travel arrangements, Managed Services, Minimize downtime %age, fewer engineering escalations, accelerated time 2 repair, sell more service contracts.

Challenges with M2M/A2A or Smart Services

2007-02-22T12:31:00.000-06:00

Hello Readers

I know i have have written numerous articles on M2M deployment challenges in previous posts and magazines. Depending on who you ask challenges can be classified in many ways...recently while in a meeting with C-Level exec of a fortune 100 company he asked to explain him M2M/A2A/Smart Services challenges in the context of Business /Customer Experience/Technology categories so i thought might as well do the same once on my blog....Before i go any further let me exemplify Moblize vision on A2A...or Any 2 Any...which is again an old term but since many have asked me i thought lets explain it...we believe A2A is bigger than M2M or Smart Services (i.e. M2M/Smart Servics/SCADA/AMR etc. ) are all child to Parent A2A... Well then what is A2A?
A2A will harness the flexibility and variety of new delivery and connectivity platforms toward defining entirely new Business opportunities as interactions moves from PC centric to diverse set of internet enabled smart devices.

So lets dive into challenges with A2A/M2M/Smart Services solutions in above 3 categories and why many struggle to take it from pilot to full blown enterprise solutions: ( again only few listed for obvious reasons).

Business Strategy Challenges
1) Understanding the relevance of ubiquity and persistence yourself 1st before explaining it to your bosses. i.e. Data, services, availability, experience, relevance, devices, networks, geographies
2) Who Owns the customer relationship- Everyone wants to own it, carriers, machine intrument providers, application service providers, OEMs themselves etc.

Customer Experience Challenges, my friend Mickey from Maya wowed me with his emphasis on User experiences..so here are our 2 cents in this arena:
1) How to optimize offerings to perform efficiently across a variety of network technologies and device form factors?
2) How to immediately present relevant choices that matter to my audience?
3) How to make offering so intuitive that lay man can use it.
4) The unique contexts in which people live and how business is conducted is a very important aspect often ignored by many building A2A/M2M solutions that can generate $$s.This is a science in itself and not many clients want to pay for the study of this science as they think its obvious, a huge mistake.

Technical Challenges

1) Security: The security scheme must not hog precious bandwidth nor should it require the user to engage in a multi-PIN scheme.
2) Storing content in a generic form to enable presentation across multiple device form factors.
3) Integrating mobile applications with voice infrastructure, try getting a car with voice enabled features and you will know what i mean...

Hope this helps!

Harbor Research "Smart Services" forum, my 2 cents

2007-02-18T21:40:00.000-06:00

Hello All

I thought before i talk further on some burning issues, it may be good idea to summarize my take on Smart Services forum organized last week in bay area by Harbor Research...in lay man terms Harbor Research is defining connecting remote asset to enterprise as "Smart Services". The conference was surely well attented which confirmed to me the interest in connecting remote assets to enterprise is surely catching momentum...Some key observations are worth sharing with my readers

- There was heavy focus on User centric applications to encourage adoption of Smart Services or M2M or A2A applications. Mickey from Maya stressed the use of user dimensions which gets ignored often many times when these services are introduced. I do believe this is a great dimension when considering M2M/A2A/Smart Service applications, but having clients pay for user analysis can be challenging.
- Most of the case studies presented were all in pilot modes with no one really clear how we will make money at this, hence i summarized some ideas on by previous post on potential revenue models.

- Panasonic gurus presented future of connected vehicles which was amazing...imagine you can get information on fly eg. give me emails, show me feedback on hotels/restuarants nearby etc.

- In general every company(OEM) who presented was a very cash rich organization who made ideal candidates for OEM enabled service for their end clients..most of them have been in pilots for avg. 3 yrs and still thinking what is ideal way to scale this and make $$s.

- There was heavy emphasis on lets get the plumbing right ( i.e. make connections between remote assets and enterprise) and then think on what will be differentiated offering ...my worry is if we dont know what the differentiated offering will be, the base foundation we lay may be flawed or require changes in future.

- Most of current Smart Services future was focused on lets replace after sales service i.e. via phone to via web...the real smart services is still far away but its good to start taking 1 step at a time.

Overall a great conference, hats of to Harbor Research for organizing this and i applaud their efforts to keep pushing this topic.

I think Smart Services or M2M or A2A will happen, its a old topic (at least 8-10yrs old) but will surely happen in few yrs as bandwidths go everywhere, open stds prevail and computing power keep doubling/tripling. Only reason it didnt happen earlier is the 3 phenomenas i mentioned are becoming reality now vs. 10 yrs back.

Benefits from M2M or Smart Services or Any 2 Any applications

2007-02-16T13:41:00.000-06:00

Hello Readers,

I thought today i will cover some questions i have been asked a lot on where do we reap benefits from M2M or Any 2 Any applications , where is ROI, how we differentiate our offerings so it becomes revenue generator vs. overhead etc. Moblize Advisory helps its clients exploit various toolsets to identify tangible ROI potential before M2M application foundation is laid. I encourage potential adoptors to start dissecting the offerings they are considering around following what we call benefit dimensions/attributes of M2M( pls note cant disclose all so just mentioned few to get you all thinking)

1)Information always at hand (eg. wireless emails)
2)Timely/Personalized (eg. streaming stock quotes, game scores)
3)Localized (Location tracking (e.g., child, employee, pet)
4)Function Specific( doctors can view medical history, medicineinformation)

This can be further classified under efficiency OR revenue generating value. Since many people will 1st focus on efficiency value as its very obvious i would like to talk here about certian potentiall Revenue Generating value types,.Think off (Again only few discussed)

1) Incremental Transactions possiblility in your space (like one-click purchasing today).
2) Subscription Based possibility in your space(like personalized service/ISP charges).
3) Licensing/Syndication possibility in your space(Syndication of certain content to your user groups which matters).

If you want to learn more feel free to contact us or me directly. In next few posts i will explore some more potential M2M opportunities/challenges around customer experience/business and technology ...For deployment challenges in this space please refer to my older posts or article being published by Control Engineering in the March issue 2007.

Off to bay area ...Smart Services forum

2007-02-13T13:42:00.000-06:00

Hello friends..hope everyone is having a smashing week. I am heading to Harbor Research smart services forum for next 2 days so look forward to my summarization on return or from the airport..

Cheers
Amit

Reality Check: Remote Product Services (RPC)

2007-02-09T11:31:00.000-06:00

Recently during my regular surfing, i came across the link on (RPS) Remote Product Service White paper with underwriters Qualcomm/Wavecom/QSI and Aberdeen Group written in Nov/Dec 2006.
I am trying to figure how to include link or pdf itself..Before i go any further for benefit of my readers i wanted to define what RPC means, atleast what i think it means..RPC in simple lay man terms mean, you wrap a service (real time) around the product you sell.

This was a great article giving some analysis on market/its trends/adoption examples and potential ROI. I thought some things however deserved a reality check so i thought to put my 2 cents

My comments in /// ///

a) They define SCADA as emerging technologies, which was a shocker...///SCADA has been around for ages now...guess before i was even born..///
b) In section on recommendations for Actions to accelerate RPC adoption (summarized below i have put my comments in ///)
1) Avoid passing on initial RPS deployment costs to your customers.
The primary hindrance of wider adoption of RPS solutions is the inability of OEMs
to build a convincing business case to their own executive teams and to asset
owner/operators. Asset owner/operators often are unwilling to pay a premium for intelligent services prior to experiencing the benefits firsthand. OEMs should first build an ROI case on the foundation of service cost savings, SLA compliance, and higher customer retention.///before you actually reduce OEM cost savings, fact is 1st cost will go up as OEM dont have dedicated sales force to sell this value add services, they have to think on new incentives for the sales force adding more work, they have to train their workforce mainly blue collar which seems like a extra added challenge in my 2 cents///

2. Bundle RPS “smart service” offerings with initial product sale.
With some exceptions, many asset users/operators will resist pressure from their
OEMs to pay a premium for RPS-enabled services. Lack of awareness of the potential
benefits of preventative and proactive asset maintenance on their own financial
and operational performance is the primary reason for such a mindset. /// I recommend instead of bundle, just position it as an option and it may work///
3. Base RPS-enabled PM contracts on asset utilization, not time elapsed.
Service organizations predominantly schedule preventative maintenance (PM) calls
at regular intervals throughout a calendar year. This approach ignores the possibility of variance in asset utilization based on business conditions, company size and industry type. ///there is an old saying if it aint broken why to fix it, the above holds true in very competitive cut throat competitive businesses like consumer oriented, in business 2 business it may not fly as changing contracts etc. means more legal fees/new procedures which both OEM,end clients want to avoid simply as they have strong relationships///

4. Prioritize asset data types to be captured.
Limitations on time and resources necessitate that OEMs focus on information that is
most relevant to improving asset and service performance. One can easily get lost in
the myriad of data that can be collected as a result of a RPS solution. The best-in
class companies follow the 80/20 rule. They set thresholds and focus on the 20% of
data that indicates 80% of the asset’s performance.///Very good point as too much analysis can lead to paralysis///
5. Train service technicians to evangelize the benefits of RPS.
Field service technicians in the near future will continue to perform
most break-fix, installation, and planned maintenance, disposition, and refurbishment
tasks. Since technicians operate on the front lines and are most often in direct contact with asset owners/operators, OEMs should leverage them to begin to educate asset operators on the benefits of RPS-enabled services.///Very interesting perspective. We have actually tried this and the reality check is workers in field love non real time as they dont have to immediately respond to anything, if things are more real time they will be on hook which they want to avoid...infact just having cell phones bother them as dispatchers can now catch them and request service asap. This perspective may work for companies with field workers as contractors vs. employees///

Who really goes to Real time conferences?

2007-01-28T15:49:00.000-06:00

Just last friday i was very excited as we were chosen as one of the 8 real time technology providers by Society of Petroleum Engineers(SPE) gulf coast chapter who are creating Smart Real Time environments/innovative services. We were amongst Rockwell Automation, Halliburton etc. to name a few.

This was a heavily marketed event, but my excitment wasnt long lived as 90% of the audience(attendees) were non decision makers. We had junior engineers, new recruits to big companies, big 4 consultants and obviously competitors making notes. So where were the real decision makers?

This really made me think on is this another factor why real time (M2M) technologies dont get right attention it deserves? This is 2nd time i experienced that audience didnt have real decision makers which is another reason why adoption suffers in my opinion.

Mesh Networks in long range (Wide Area Network) still impractical as well

2007-01-21T13:43:00.000-06:00

Moblize Advisory tests with a number of manufacturers this time in long range, we believe one of the possible economical practical designs for long range wireless mesh would be a hybrid mesh vs. a complete mesh. Hybrid Mesh involved creating a partial mesh design as explained with an example below. An East Texas City achieved this design after Hurricane Rita hit East Texas. The city had a typical hub and spoke layer2 wireless network that carried data, voice, and video for the remote city offices. During the hurricane the wind disrupted several of the wireless paths and blocked data from getting out of some remote locations. After the hurricane the city decided to improve their network to achieve a more resilient network in case of another hurricane. They achieved this by turning their hub and spoke network into a partial mesh network which gave their network the ability to self heal and increased overall bandwidth of the network.
Creating a full mesh network was impractical because of high costs, terrain and foliage. Most of the manufactures today touting mesh networks in long range are really focused more on campus environments vs. Wide Area Network environments. Wide area networks with Mesh may become a practical reality in 1-2 years in our opinion.

Practical Challenges in deployment

The biggest challenge in deploying a wireless mesh network in the long range (outside the campus environment) is cost. The cost can dramatically go up as you add more data paths because they are point to point. The second challenge is most of current products in the long range mesh solutions are focused on the campus environments mainly because current technologies only allow for point-to-point links when you’re talking 6-10 miles wireless shots. Also current mesh products are very power hungry The power requirements are typically 48vDC, 10W, 110V AC which may not be a concern for AC powered area.. However in DC power areas only way to run this high powered gear 24 by 7 will require heavy weight battery/solar panels/bigger enclosures making the solution impractical compared to its Point/Multi point network.

Gaps in Zigbee based mesh networks in PAN (Personal Area Network)..practical lessons from tests done in various industries

2007-01-16T15:40:00.002-06:00

Hello Readers, Sorry been little slow in writing lately..Was under weather for a while ..but slowly life coming back on track...Our advisory group has been testing disparate mesh networks from many providers today, for last few months and i thought we will share some high level learnings with my readers on practical challenges/key lessons which will eventually be addressed but for now are pure marketing hype unless you want to use proprietary solutions.

Lets 1st describe a mesh network

“Mesh networks” is a broad term describing wireless networks where each node can relay signals to several other nodes allowing:
Multihop routing (message between nodes can pass through intermediate nodes in several hops), No Central point of failure, adaptive routing(dynamically choose route depending of availability of the nodes), dynamic discovery(allowing network topology adapt itself as new nodes become available), self healing...etc.
Zigbee is an association of companies working together to enable reliable, cost-effective, low-power, wirelessly networked, monitoring and control products based on an open global standard.
1) Some Test results in Agricultural Setting: We conducted first tests using Zigbee complaint mesh nodes in softer environment (non industrial) for agricultural, and other life sciences monitoring using tiny, battery powered routers/end points/coordinators. The test revealed good results as we had clear line of sight, end points powered by 2000 millAmp hour batteries, but the routers didn’t have to mesh so in reality it was more of a star configuration vs. true mesh.
2) Some test results in Building Automation: We conducted second tests using Zigbee complaint mesh solutions in architectural monitoring and controls, mainly HVAC and lighting. Tests in this application revealed that though the meshing was achieved, the routers were not actually "wireless", because they needed "wires" for full-time power to mesh/control the data traffic.
3) Some test results in Oil and Gas Facility: We conducted some third tests using Zigbee complaint mesh solutions in Oil and Gas facility to monitor liquid levels/flow rates/pumping equipment. The test revealed many gaps like Many manufacturers claimed in their marketing literature to be "Zigbee ready". This really means that only the chipset for the RF layer in zigbee complaint, but no other parts of the Zigbee protocol are yet in place, Many manufacturers don’t support industrial I/O's (i.e. 4-20mA analog inputs, 0-30V digital inputs and RS-485 Modbus) options in Zigbee nodes (end points). Many are just "wireless" RS-232 and USB "cables" for "office use only". A few did have some "sensors" for industrial usage but the UL certifications and packaging are far less than "industrial" grade, Commercial, indoor-use-only Routers for any Zigbee 802.15.4 standard may be very low cost. However, pole-mounted, outdoor, industrial grade and UL certified Routers for industrial applications doesn’t pass the cost justification at least for now etc.

For more elaborate information on this port, refer to upcoming issue of Remote Magazine publication.

Harbor research believes OEM should step up to the plate and network-enable its manufactured objects now? should they???

2007-01-06T15:58:00.000-06:00

I came across this interesting note by Harbor Research on how "Enter Smart Services" an alignment of Product and Services. Its a very well thought out article and I know they have been believing this for a while now.
By 2010, the Pervasive Internet and Smart Services could drive a total opportunity in the hundreds of billions of dollars for the companies involved in device enablement, device monitoring, and new services driven by device-generated data. The largest opportunity will exist for value-added integrated product and services providers, and thus access to device information will become a de facto part of most service or sales contracts."..and how OEM should step up to the plate.

I have to agree with them on the fact that many OEM companies (infact some of them we have consulted with last year) are telling their teams that their products will become commodity eventually and they must consider wrapping new services around it, but across the board there is no real sense of urgency for the above. Hence i believe harbor's predicition on 2010 may be very optimistic.

Depending on which industry you are refering to, OEMs have such deep rooted relations with their end users that wrapping value add services is not a pressing need/top priority....In many industries the larger players (customers) have standard approval processes and it can take forever to get past the approval process and who knows this better than the OEMs..hence anytime a new integrated service is introduced around the products the approval process cycle has a tendency to repeated. Hence i believe this will discourage OEMs in big way. Some may argue that the smaller players who compete with large OEMs will grab their market share which in theory makes sense BUT in practice i doubt it as smaller OEM know, they will bleed trying to penerate the circle of influence with big end users. Hence, smaller OEMs will be always more inclined to serve smaller players (end users).

I think market is worth billions of dollars by offering services around networked products but it is very dependent on which industry/its customers/supply chain dynamics etc. vs. being generically true across the board in all industries.

Leadership qualities in the Machine Era

2006-12-30T14:45:00.000-06:00

Today over a morning coffee with a friend, he asked an interesting question which i thought was worth sharing with my readers. Amit, What are qualities of future leaders in the M2M or Machine era.
Let we 1st exemplify what i mean by Machine Era vs. PC Era?

I believe 1990-2000 was PC era, where more emphasis was on people 2 people communications hence the relevance of internet..that still continues but this era i.e. 2000-2010 and beyond will be machine era i.e focus will be more on machines talking to machines and with humans...

Back to the leadership qualities in the machine era....here are some my 2 cents:
First, whether is machine era, pc era or XYZ era leadership qualities often remain same, I would say 80% qualities are always similar with 20% variance. What is that 80%, let me first answer that.

1) Leaders must have and infuse sense of urgency in their teams, This applies to whether you are discussing crisis, major opportunities, new ideas etc.
2) They must have empathy for their people, many leaders forget the real power lies in making their people empowered vs. thinking power lies in them.
3) It doesnt cost you anything to truly appreciate people when they deserve it. I often see leaders who love to take credit for themselves. This leads you know where.
4) Remember you are a leader because you are a problem solver. Devils like stress/crisis will always encircle you. Face them boldly with your teams vs. get emotionally caught up and sweat.
5) Earn earn earn respect vs. demand respect.
6) Let your teams play devils advocate to your vision. It will only help you refine it vs. get show down...
7) Have every idea with a solid execution plan, if you dont execute flawlessly you are doomed and your teams will never take you seriously..Talk is cheap.
8) Ensure all your moves result in Cash flow 1st. Revenues are great, but if you cant pay the monthly bills it wont matter..its easy to run an unprofitable business.
9) If you dont think you are adding value everyday to yourself, then quit because chances are you will be fired eventually.

I have to say i believe leadership characterstics cannot be taught 100% from books and applied as cookiee cutter in situations, .leadership skills required in a small company can be different that those required in big corporations. Now lets focus on the 20% i believe in the machine era.

1) Understanding of technologies in M2M space. You dont have to be expert just know at high level. its a MUST!
2) Understand the true business value or What problem your technologies really will solve in the M2M space. If 10 people say we reduce downtime, great! you dont have to be 11th one saying that as well..because that is obvious.
3) Dont always apply your old approaches which worked for you in the past when you were CEO of X company to current M2M company you may be leader of. Be open to new approaches.
4) Kill Kill politics, i have seen some phenomenal products in this space, with worst teams which is a sure recipe for disaster.
5) Be prepared to face new uncertain territories..M2M though an old topic, is new buzz for many and leaders must be ready to lack solid tracks to show their teams and shareholders that you know what you are doing. If you dont ask your team.
6)Chances are if you were a leader in the past, you know this. Lead under pressure is obvious..If you havent lead under pressure, then be prepared for it..it will happen in this space.
7) Form a network of like minded people, learn more them, talk to them...dont stay in isolation that you know everything...The beauty of this space is no one knows everything and everyone is learning from each other so why not be open to it.
8) Do the right things, dont take strategic actions to please your shareholders only..remember most the the investors(shareholders) in this space are themselves clueless....they just invested because they believe in you..so if they ask you to make decisions which you dont agree with challenge them..as you ideally should be able to see beyond the obvious...and if they dont make it it a point you can prove via facts...otherwise ultimately you will all loose.

I encourage you to fill more in the 20%...as i am also still learning......

Cheers and Happy new year.

Machines that listen are on its way

2006-12-28T21:42:00.000-06:00

Recently i read an article which got my attention so thought should share. Smaragdis out there has created software that can listen and track movement audibly...The company is betting this technology will one day supplant visual imaging for many industrial applications. I personally like this technology and see its potential as its cheaper to capture and procss audio than video. A hight quality camera can cost $500 vs. microphone costing $50. They also eat less bandwidth...Some potential applications envisioned my company:
- In the computer tiny microphones can monitor hard drive for wear/tear and send warning messages
- In the car microphones can analyze clanks/creaks of carriage and tell you when you buy new muffler or replace brake pads.

and much more..

Merry Christmas to you by machines!

2006-12-23T22:02:00.000-06:00

Can you imagine your machines become intelligent enough to wish you merry christmas...happy holidays!!! Can you imagine them process information like our brains do and based on context of the situation take actions..can you imagine them love some machines and hate another machine(s) just like we humans do, can you imagine machines forming their own communities and discussing common topics of interest, taking those suggestion and implementing them in their realms, can you imagine machines forming peer to peer connections, making buddies and much more.....Why not?

If the connection of internet could enable the above between people in the last decade, what stops the connection of machines of enabling the same in this and next decade? When people, everyone being unique got connected miracles happened, .same will happen in machine world once connected..infact i feel more than what happened amongst human will happen with machines connected..Why? simple that there are 100 times more machines than people in the world and Machine DNA is not smarter than human body DNA hence sky could be the limit. Day is not far when machines will listen , talk, act, react and much more...Wishing all humans merry xmas and happy holidays by Machine...hey readers did u know I am Amit's machine and wrote this post when he was asleep...believe me.... !!!!!

Take aways from American Trucking Association Conference 2006

2006-12-21T22:59:00.000-06:00

Recently some of my guys attended this conference in Dallas and few interesting take aways especially for people interested in Telematics arena:

-Hardware companies like Intermec, Itronix believe they can charge premiums for hardware/mobile computing devices by focus on reliability/robustness/multi functioning features of hardware devices. Multi-functioning means by combining Bar codes/scanners/cameras/RFID all in one. Infact Itronix handhelds lowest end product is for $2000/unit and highest for over $4,000 depending on features its packed with like robust case/MDT/in built GPS/Screen size/touch screen/expandability options/inbuilt wifi etc.
-Lot of companies view Qualcomm is becoming vulnerable due to serious lack of innovation which will open doors for them. Example Terion getting JB Hunts trailer business when Qualcomm already had the trucking business. I viewed this as a pure competitive stunt as Qualcomm is growing significantly today with no sign of dropping sales. Also many new players are leveraging technology vs. Qualcomm old offerings. We do see Qualcomm playing a catch up now.

-Big mantra being touted by everyone was “Innovation, innovation and innovation”. No one mentioned openly on RFID but we do believe product launches in next 6 month will come but current vendors are still struggling with value proposition. We believe the ones who are working directly with some flagship or end customer at strategic level will have a differentiating offering. In-cab experience is also being touted as new innovation but again no one had real clarity on what real value will it deliver.

-A general comment, lot of companies were lacking a laser focus on where they see themselves in 3-5 yrs, which could make them stand out. Many seemed to be living in isolation and not being aware of even their competitor growth/subscriber size etc. in same market.

-Trucking companies at the conference were really concerned with government regulations, compliance and fuel costs as immediate issues.

For more hit me...

M2M is still a vision despite 6 plus yrs Why?

2006-12-19T15:10:00.000-06:00

Gary had an interesting comment from Om Malik in his post "Om Malik brought up device to device connectivity. Om doesn't think the technology has caught up to the vision.

This is an interesting observation by Gary and Om Malik. My take is new technologies emerge, so do visions/business values around them. Legacy systems had X value proposition, ERP Y, SCM Z and so on..Logically connecting the dots we will see Legacy systems in their days had good adoption rate as nothing existed to compare it with so companies had no choice but to adopt it, ERP surely had value around enhacing internal processes, SCM around connecting external partners and when nothing was left to connect, some wise guy came with term well now lets go a step further and bring Machines or remote assets i.e. wireless in the loop..Problem was, if you notice that most of the previous technologies focused on people to people interactions and value across them was justifiable and more obivious (on the surface) to atleast decision makers in board rooms. I had read somewhere a while back more start ups are formed around consumer goods vs business good as they experience consumer issues daily...along similar lines fact is most of us dont deal with machines directly except our laptops unless we are blue collared workers...you go to them and sell the value of machine to machine and they instantly get it..but unfortunate fact is adopting this new era of technology is dependent on guys in board room who have probably never interacted with machines they deploy directly ever...Hence inspite of value being obvious its very very hard sell.

In next session i plan to cover....

2006-12-17T14:22:00.000-06:00

-Selection Criterions for Remote Asset to Enterprise Technologies/Solutions.
-Raising M2M to the next level, how?
-What about a case study (sterilized of course to protect the innocent) that shows examples some of some of the content from your last few posts?
-If you want me to write on specific topics please do make suggestions.
- Stay tuned.

Are bigger vendors slowing companies down or helping them reduce time to market.

2006-12-17T13:51:00.000-06:00

I decided to write about it based on numerous personal observations on why fortune companies transformation or M2M initiatives keep running as science projects and never meet desired results envisioned on time.Why? In my opinion, they dont make e prudent choices to begin on who to partner from start. The fact remains the old saying "Its not what you know, but who you know" which does matter. Let me share with you some answers we heard when engaged after fortune companies already had been experiencing difficulties executing their transformation initiatives and have spent average $1m+ only to discover oh man :( . Check the answers we got on asking, "Why you chose this partner"?
- "Well we wont fired for having this company lead the initiatives."
- "Well their C level executive sits on our board, so we had no choices."
- "Well the 2 C level executives are friends and they decided ovee breakfast we should work together."
- "They are big names and we don't think they will go wrong".
With few exceptions, i would say that bigger companies based on their immense contacts/network always have an upper edge irrespective of their delivery/performance and they can get to right managers in fortune buyers 1st...this is great but what surprises me these change agents at fortune buyer companies being so smart still pick these big players as old saying is " you never get fired if you select bigger player". No doubt big companies have right contacts, right visions but the fact that they were successful in building an internal cash cow (which made them big today) through a product line 5-10 yrs back, doesnt guarantee automatic success in other new areas/technologies you may have engaged them in...Review articles on Harvard Reviews and they are flooded with articles on "Management Innovations", "Changing corporate cultures", reducing red tape etc., operational improvements etc. in fortune companies so why do the fortune buyers forget that the fortune companies they are buying from are no different than their organizations? I absolutely agree that large companies can help you scale, have bigger R&D budgets, can help you support etc..which cannot be denied..but you can only scale/support if you can launch new innovative products/solutions Right on time when it matters...so key for fortune buyers in my opinion is to carefully plot the concept to reality value chain of their major transformational initiatives and then figure where the big companies should play and where they should engage smaller organizations...this will give them best of both worlds, the execution flair of smaller flexible organizations and scalabity/support by fortune supplier. The key to note is this selection on who plays where, should be guided by the fortune buyer vs. left solely in the hands of fortune sellers..as you know what they will do? they will just bring their preferred partners to the table irrespective of whether the combined duo can solve real problems.

Richard Branson, Donald Trumph and many other billionaires i have read about/analyzed businessm odels off have a unique common denominator, i.e. their big initiatives always have a combinination of older people with younger blood working together...i suggest fortune buyers think along same lines and combine fortune sellers (experience) with smaller companies(younger blood) and watch the results....if you need help in how to select who should play what role in the value chain feel free to contact me.

Key Deployment Challenges with remote asset to enterprise solutions

2006-12-11T18:24:00.000-06:00

One of my really good friend uses a tag line in his auto signatures which has so much depth to it that its worth mentioning in this post "Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil,and you're a thousand miles from the corn field. Dwight D. Eisenhower, September 11, 1956".

Deploying Remote asset to enterprise connections is a different ball game than talking about it in board rooms/meetings. let me tell you a personal hands on story which made me too date truly appreciate deployment challenges. We were doing a pilot for a client 3 yrs back and my entreprenuerial blood told me to go and help in install to appreciate what it takes. So i go to the site myself and planned a 2 day trip only thinking, oh its only 10 sites and should be done by 3 people in 2 days. Guess how long was i there? 7 days...no kidding.!!!..i really mean it "7 days"..which taught me so much that today when i sit in board rooms and people talk great theory on deployments i laugh inside...

Deploying remote asset to enterprise challenges is full of unseen/unexpected challenges which must be thought through carefully when planning not just pilots but also enterprise wide deployments...obviously i can't mention everything as we learned the hardway perfecting it over time and helping clients today do Right things first time via our Advisory Services but i would mention some high level areas which you should watch out for:

- Buying remote asset to enterprise parts is not the biggest challenge, go to our site www.fieldmonitoring.com or go to individual vendor sites who you are aware of and order individual parts....the real challenge and hidden costs comes in ancillary parts like tubings/manifolds/pipes/cementing/conduits/rods etc. etc...the above combined with labor can end up costing you equal or 50% higher than major parts. If you havent budgeted for this you are in for a sticker shock!

- Lot of clients under estimate the install time frames...depending on what assets you want to connect, install time can vary tremendously...so plan ahead for it.

- Plan for damages which can occure in shipping goods as it does happen. Imagine if your staff arrives on time at the site but shipped goods got damaged, you are still paying time/material costs.

- Weather delays can rack up your install cost tremendously...this is taken very lightly but oh boy i request you to keep this factored in or pre-negotiated with your vendors.

- Ok last one, otherwise my team will zip my mouth for sharing soo much, do installs in a way that they are easy to reach if they need to be fixed if broken or damaged...for any reason.

Good luck in your installs...if you need any more insights or have some specific challenges you can email me directly...would be happy to help.

What is mesh sensors value chain?

2006-12-08T18:00:00.000-06:00

I was attending a workshop organized by one of the industry leaders and when they presented the value chain of mesh it shocked me. It was no way close what value chain means..and guess what this meeting was being attended by some of the top shots of 2 fortune companies. What a shocker!!! This made me realize that is a new territory what real value does a big company add who has all the relations a small company would die to have...i will cover more on big companies and their impacts in the pos titled "Do big technology companies slow you down..." for now i decided its very very important to educate my readers on what is real Mesh value chain...Well lets 1st define what value chain means before i get into Mesh Sensors Value chain?
Value Chain "describes steps in the creation of value for that industry". It is very different from supply chain and often people get it confused..so i thought of starting with definition.

Now since definition is clear lets Zoom in on value chain for mesh sensors in my opinion.

If you have looked at any mesh sensor solution, it contains following parts: Silicon (microprocessor), Printed Circuit Board Assembly, Embedded software suite, Gateway, Back office application. This is the value chain of wireless mesh solution. I purposely kept end-end providers out of my discussion as i am expemplifying value chain components in this post.

So if you are looking at analyzing players in mesh sensor solution arena, categorize them in the above sectors and see what real value they add. Evaluate the technology providers who want to partner with you, where in value chain they fit, what value they add in the chain, why they are better than others and you will start to get clarity into realities...and easily gather right partners for right needs..Below i have added a picture to further exemplify the value chain/parties involved/ and some players...if you have any questions shoot! oops the picture is failing 2 upload so i will try it later soon i promise.

M2M definition?

2006-12-07T17:06:00.000-06:00

I have surfed so many blogs/reviewed so many journals and its amazing how every 5 yrs we get fasciniated by #2 between two alphabets and market analysts show billions of $$s around it..the same happened around few yrs back with some wise person coming out with terminology "M" 2 "M".

Just to give you some history, back in my days of consulting we came out with term "A" 2 "A" when we didnt know what else can we do beyond "B" 2 "B" OR "B" 2 "C". We had so many projects and the market was getting commoditized with new firms popping up everyday in our space, so we decided alright guys time to re-think strategy..and hence was borm A2A, meaning Any to Any..what it meant was Any device can access/present anything to Anyone or any application utilizing Wireless..sounded cool huh! we even managed to grab over 10 clients and some companies even recieved fundings to build this...unfortunately market was still busy healing from bubble burst and the concept vanished or was too early for the market...

I had concluded that time, anything with #2 is possibly jinxed, hence always stayed away from it..but to my surprise fast forward 6 yrs and i heard M2M...wow! its like all old memories came back..i called my old friends and news spread like fire in my circle on this latest trend...we had a joke going around 2 is back..watch out :)

Not sure what the fate of M2M companies will be, but at the end of day its just an old concept with new face lift..i.e. How you can connect your enterprise to remote assets..Asset can be machines/people/buildings etc. etc. ..so to my readers i request whenever you think of M2M or if new to the world of M2M and hear about it, just think in plain simple terms, its nothing but way to connect remote assets to your enterprise. and life will become easier...

Next logical step will be what is value chain of connecting remote asset to enterprise...my answer..think of KISS..

DATA COLLECTION - DATA TRAVEL - DATA DESTINATION and things will start to fall in place...good luck! as always comments are welcome...

I always want to stress the readers, to get the new M2M source book where Peggy Smedley, the editor/publisher of M2M magazine gives a good definition of M2M.

M2M vs. SCADA? Industrial Controls community perspective.

2006-12-04T16:53:00.000-06:00

I recently posted this question to the industrial controls community which have some of the sharpest "Real engineers" i have ever known. Real meaning people who get their hands dirty with technology vs. just talk about it.... It was quite surprising to see their response to difference between M2M/SCADA etc.? I have summarized the responses below:

SCADA, Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition, refers to long distance control systems such as are used in cross country power transmission or pipeline systems.

M2M, Machine to Machine, refers to communications between individual machines. Clearly machines don't talk to each other so I have to assume they really mean com's between PLCs that control machines. This sounds like a superfluous acronym since PLC and DCS networks have been doing this for many years.

The SCADA market is a real market. It has been around a long time, had many established vendors and employs many people. The $100G M2M market is some consultant's speculation. If I asked, "What would be the market for a hyperspace transporter" I'm sure I would get a figure like $100G as well, except that there is no such thing. But hey, I'm going for IPO and if I get enough money I'll spend a lot of quality time in Hawaii thinking about it. Maybe I can even hire some local 'consultants' to advise me.

My personal perspective from the above summarized response is that the control engineers are very focused on Process data using DCS, PID controls etc..whereas M2M is more focused on monitoring aspects only....hence a difference of opinion...any comments?

-Why Wireless Mesh Sensors for most part are still science projects and not scaling as envisioned?

2006-12-02T17:21:00.001-06:00

Mesh Sensors has been a hot topic for last 3 yrs or so....so many companies came/went/merged..some infact relocated to overseas....lets me 1st define what mesh sensors are: essentially they are sensors transmitting/exchanging data wirelessly and forming a mesh..in lay man's term...There can be 2 types of meshes:
- Sensors combined with RF/Power
- Sensors independent of RF/Power

Mesh sensors started as university projects and moved into commercial tracks quickly..believe me or not there were over 200+ companies who claimed to have developed mesh sensors .....today still roughly 100 exist in some form..the one's who have started to break slowly from the herd have millions of dollars from their investors..not to mention the relationships ..so dont be fooled if they tell you that they have the better technology than others and hence are winning...

Initially most of the companies started with their own standards but the industry quickly saw this and thanks to Ember/few others the Zigbee standard was proposed and got heaving backing..Problem was standards development is never an easy process and its delays/maturity encouraged vendors to release their products as proprietary mesh with an interesting twist "we are zigbee ready?" i love marketers...in US...

-So having given you some background on roots of Mesh sensors, lets focus on why mesh for most part is still science project..With exception of few vendors, most of them developed/build on mesh in labs(isolation), hoping the cool technology will just perform in any industry...vs. co develop it with vendor in an industry/in the field or its place of use..even today i see many vendors who call us and say i have better mesh product and if you ask them back what industry this is best fit in, answer is it can be customized into any easily..?? it baffles me....focus, focus , focus is lacking in a huge way...thought i must admit in last year or so vendors are now realizing and correcting their mistakes.

-Another key flaw we noticed is, most of the mesh companies at least in the past wanted a big name behind it so they can raise $$s, get mass acceptance within the company and then build on it.....little did they know that big companies are like oil tankers who just move slow..i wish some had in a given industry focused on smaller players/got the technology perfected and then approached bigger players.

-Another key flaw was most of the vendors just didnt take time to map customer requirements/cost factors i.e. product value chain. design/develop/test/deploy and SUPPORT...Yes "Support" Mesh obviously was a technology innovation, developed promoted by technologist who probably failed to empathize by what clients need the most/value most..its not the technology but its usage. Why Microsoft won over Apple in the past, Apple was superior innovation ( very few will deny it) but Microsoft was better at ease of use/execution to scale it...take same concept in mesh and if you deploy 1000s of these who will support them, how will people be trained to use it etc..that lack of answers kept the technology in science realm...

There are many more reasons but i thought the above are good as starters to initiate some thoughts before i dig deeper..so do comment?

In next session i plan to cover....

2006-12-01T09:29:00.001-06:00

-Selection Criterions for Remote Asset to Enterprise Technologies/Solutions.
-M2M vs. SCADA , Controls community perspectives
-Why Wireless Mesh Sensors for most part are still science projects and not scaling as envisioned?
-Are bigger vendors slowing companies down or helping them reduce time to market.
-Definition of M2M?
-What about a case study (sterilized of course to protect the innocent) that shows examples some of some of the content from your last few posts?
-If you want me to write on specific topics please do make suggestions.
- Stay tuned.

Does CIO mean Chief Information Office or Career is Over?

2006-12-01T09:12:00.000-06:00

Few weeks back i was having dinner with a CIO of a fortune 250 company and as we sipped 2/3 glasses of wine it was obvious brain will start to wonder in many directions...but when he said CIO means Career is Over, i realized its its 2nd time a CIO friend has told me that...here is common thread i found in comments/perspective shares by both...

CIO traditional job was centered around back office systems only focusing more on maintaining hardware/software/integration in offices etc. etc...they generally never treaded on COO territory...and there was clear line of demarkation..However with 3 trends
-Bandwidths everywhere
-Open stds prevailing
-Computing power doubling/tripling

the CEO are realizing that if they ignore the above trends they will get doomed, and hence CIOs must assume more responsbility as applications/integration/hardware will go out of the office..in other words IT is out of the office what do you do? Many clever CIOs I know are either making themselves business savvy(mainly with processes) or learning it as tradionally they know how to take business requirements and mesh them with Technology....but in doing so they start to enter the territory of operations which is where the problem begins....CEOs want CIOs to assume bigger role but not at the expense of making COOs unhappy...and COOs in general are very good at processes but never with Technology....hence what do u do? even if CIOs are loved by CEOs for their saviness, they will not just get rid of COO or put CIO incharge of the operations...especially in public companies as its surely a recipe for investors selling your stock....so question is what does a CIO do? as its like saying i want you to pick up 100 items in a grocery but you are not allowed to use a cart....good luck! no wonder CIOs are starting to get frustated...its time for CEOs to find the a healthy balance....

How to solve the OEMs dilemma of having cookie-cutter solution to meet needs of different markets?

2006-11-29T14:36:00.000-06:00

One of the consistent comments i hear from service providers/manufactures is how we can chart the maze of remote asset to enterprise technologies, how we integrate newly acquired companies and have a cookie cutter solution to serve different clients?

I always tell my clients (current and potential) , think of this problem as manufacturing of car..in the world of manufacturing its called the "T" model. i.e 70% common processes (like need a chassis/wheels/seats etc.) and 30% customization (color etc.)...ideally the goal should be how we can get %age higher for common and lower for customization.... but in practical world achieving 70% common is great trust me due to reasons like market segmentation/disparate technologies/processes etc.

Translate this into your world and evaluate what is common and what is not ...and you will start to get closer to addressing this question...Having worked in many different industries, visiting over 100 industrial plants in various sectorss worldwide as part of my education back in those days seeing what works/what doesn't etc....and moving through Manufacturing Systems to ERP-Ebusiness-Wireless world we came out with this clever software agent which can essentially sit on any PLC/Machine/Device of any manufactuer in any industry vertical..you should check it out Kanak Service Agent Now imagine you have disparate products you sell or acquire to different markets and you simply embed this small software footprint in it...it makes all of them talk instantly one global internet language, it can now easily feed your central systems specific to the industry verticals, it can report by exception, it can help you launch innovative after sales service models, it helps you extend support globally, it helps your client reduce downtime, mean-time to repair etc. etc.

Some companies say that answer to this is middleware software which works great in all centralized application scenario, but in relam of remote asset to enterprise, i ask them a question back; if you put 10 humans in different remote areas, centrally knowing where they are/what they upto makes sense, but if we expect their brains to be in central place they will remain dumb and not be able to change/adapt/react to their individual circumstances.....so sure make some things central, but making source(s) intelligent will be game changer especially with computing power doubling/tripling every year/bandwithds going everywhere....and cost of hardware decreasing rapidly....think about it!!

The world of Remote asset to enterprise, its not rocket science

2006-11-28T13:27:00.000-06:00

Today the maze of wireless technologies is packed with so many choices that i am not surprised either companies are sticking with what they know or just waiting for others to try and test the new wireless technologies..pratically everyday i hear about a new gadget out which can change the world of wireless communications...the key for CIOs is to think what we do today can be exploited leveraged tomorrow as more and more wireless technologies enter our worlds....i will try and summarize how you should think about wireless technologies and if you can any specific questions feel free to just ask me directly.

The world of wireless technologies is a function of distance in my opinion....though lines between them keep blurring everyday , i encourage you to think of different wireless technologies using following framework

Anything that falls in 0-1miles (example your personal gadgets/your rooms/your tanks etc.) - Zigbee/Bluetooth/Ultra Wide Band/RFID Wireless Technologies

Anything that falls in 1mile- 20 miles (example a room/an office etc.) - Wifi, 900Mhz Wireless Technologies

Anything that falls in 20-50 Miles-(example rural area, beach to your home etc.) Proprietary Wimax Wireless Technologies (yes proprietary today believe me!)

Anything beyond 50+ miles (example offshore rigs etc.) Satellites, Cell connectivity (GPRS/CDMA etc.)

When you look at any wireless technology try to envision them within these 4 buckets and life will get easier...Depending on your application/business/operations needs you can use one of the above or in combination to achieve your objectives. As far as possible try and stick with IP based wireless technologies and you will do good....

Zigbee vs. Bluetooth in Building/Home Automation, who will win?

2006-11-27T17:34:00.000-06:00

Home/Building Automation is predicted to be one of the 5 fastest growing applications of Remote Asset to Enterprise market and not surprisingly many vendors are flocking to get a piece of action...Recently over a dinner, a friend asked me who will win Zigbee or Bluetooth in this arena and i thought it will be interesting to share my perspective....

A typical building requires monitoring/ integration of many different systems to ultimately provide better access to information....list may include:

Fire: detector service
Security: doors, PIR
Access: doors etc.
Energy: utility, heat, lighting etc.
Lighting: schedules etc.
Elevators: breakdown, maintenance
Monitoring: car park utilization, breakdowns etc.
HVAC: air-handling units, fans, pumps etc. and more...

Oh before i go any further lets 1st cover what the 2 terms means:
Zigbee:Google definition: ZigBee is a published specification set of high level communication protocols designed to use small, low power digital radios based on the IEEE 802.15.4 standard for wireless personal area networks (WPANs).
Bluetooth: Google definition: An open specification for seamless wireless short-range communications of data and voice between both mobile and stationary devices.

With so many applications (mentioned above) which of the 2 wireless technologies are best suited to address the future challenges? My 2 cents depends on what you trying to achieve.

Some generic differences

Bluetooth is best for say file transfers/ad-hoc networks while Zigbee is better if you want to network lots of devices, infrequent use, small data packets.
I can take a deeper dive into technology details to explain this point but just note Zigbee overall is more optimized for time critical applications.
Zigbee has more simplified protocol stack vs. Bluetooth
Zigbee may offer longer battery life in some applications vs. bluetooth equivalent.
Zigbee price $1.5-$2.5, Bluetooth units: $5

Now if you compare both wireless solutions to wired alternative it doesnt matter which of the two wireless solutions you pick as both will still be cheaper..since Power Line Carrier Based units are expensive, offer no mobility, have interference from noisy inductance into the system, restrictive in use (where existing power lines).

So my conclusion is all the 3 applications with co-exist easily with Zigbee/Bluetooth dominating in yrs ahead...Zigbee being suitable is some and bluetooth in others....any thoughts..?

Gaps in Implementing Telematics Solutions

2006-11-26T13:20:00.000-06:00

This is another interesting subset of Connecting remote assets to enterprise arena...Based on our experiences with major fortune 100 companies i believe that it is important to share some viewpoints/perspectives on why many strategic initiatives in this realm which go on forever and/or fail to meet original percieved objectives..

We notice many clients focus on short term solution around one dimension, i.e. how do I track my vehicles. This has delivered good short term results however in long term has resulted in either replacing or discontinuing deployed architectures completely as technology advances and business needs evolve.

Let me try and summarize some Gaps...

Business Gaps

Time and again we see that ROIs are built around tracking trucks only as it can enhance driver productivity/fuel expenses etc....interestingly we have seen that the ROI compared to actual investment on Telematics solution is pennies...especially for larger fleet sizes...
We often see lack of work done/ framework to compare industry key metrics and value impact drivers as benchmark study....If you are planning to invest heavily in Telematics solution its key to have benchmarks.
Many companies dont take the time to evaluate the competitive landscape..did you know there are over 200+ GPS hardware sellers/100+ types of AVL systems, 50+ type of fleet management software, 20+ end-end solution providers etc....we see time and again companies just working with preferred partners of back end software vendor they already have or just getting influenced by Microsoft etc. who can give you 10 free developers...
Many companies fail to think and analyze benefits beyond pure tracking....and make decisions which can prove costly in long run especially as you want to implement/incorporate more Dominating/Game changing value offerings and much more..

Operational Gaps

Typical AVL systems pushing geo location data 5-15min may generate multiple replicas or variances of vehicle location data especially as the vehicle passes through the tall buildings/other interference sources etc. Many companies forget to cover basis causing lot of frustrations..
Typically installations of hardware inside the vehicles can take 1.5-5 hrs depending on the complexity. This factor can play a major role in enterprise wide extensibility of the chosen solution set(s) especially as your fleets are always on the move.
I have yet to meet a company who had conducted proper analysis seen on understanding who needs to know what, when they need to know it and how to best get the data to those that need it....in designing a enterprise wide solution.

Technology Gap

I typically never hear a good story on redundancy plans on public networks which are used to connect fleets to enterprise.
Black Box typically chosen are not expandable (limited ports) to add new things later
Typical box should have more serial ports/few Ethernet/few USB ports/data compression schemes for future expansion
GPS boxes considered only supports TAIP, NMEA format as O/P data formats versus open languages like GPSml which can help tremendously over time.
Many next generation communication options under consideration are good but today there are many better options than traditional satellite/wifi/cellular combo which can enable communications at much higher speeds and low costs. Companies often fail to develop plans on how to incorporate upcoming portable WAN, WLAN options and work towards leveraging them to sustain a competitive advantage.

Some unique mistakes/pitfalls in implementing solutions that connect your remote assets to Enterprise

2006-11-25T13:15:00.000-06:00

This is a very interesting topic personally to me....though every client is unique even in same industry vertical I observe unique mistakes to be common denominator across the board and they are very repetitive ....Honestly i can write a journal on this as personally i started my career in helping companies in medical/energy/financial/retail raise $$s to implement A2A (Any 2 Any) concept today which is known by different names M2M/M2E and what not....bottomline all have same objective i.e. How to increase visibility to your remote assets. Refer to my Terminology post...

As i moved through the world of ERP, Supply Chain, E business, wireless and now machine its amazing that thought terminologies changed/business cases evolved/era's evolved some unique mistakes remained same to date...Lets me start and surely i encourage my readers to add to this list based on their experiences...

- A key to repeated failures of many initiatives is formation of wrong teams...in Supply Chain 2 E business transition consulting with over 100 companies we realized the key difference between successful and failed initiatives were formation of teams to start/run these strategic projects from day 1..hence we came out with role based competency model called Digital Org....today i see that mistake being repeated fast forward 8 yrs... Successful Implementation of strategic initiatives in Connecting your Enterprise to remote assets require a team with mix of members from right disciplines/roles like Strategy/Operations/IT and often i see no project has right mix of this skill or even thinks about it.......what happens in this scenario? The team hires big consulting firms (no one gets fired to hire big brand name consultants) or consultants they already have worked with in the past (friends) and downfall begins.

- IT never does to date understand appreciates 100% of field/operations in their company and operations/field never understands 100% of IT....this is a classic gap which adds to failure of many projects which otherwise could have been a grand success Operations/IT traditionally had fine lines drawn, which unfortunately today is blurring..hence IT teams must assume a broader role and get their hands dirty just like field/ops to earn mutual respect and work towards a common goal.

- Connecting remote asset to enterprise is assumed to be just another project which can leverage everything we already have in the back end....surely will lead you into a dead end.

- Thinking of M2M/Asset to Enterprise benefits around 1 of 3 dimensions only...vs. all 3 and how evolving solutions will impact all 3Ds..oh forgot to mention 3 dimensions...Business/Operations and Technology..in my opinion...

- Trying to leverage what products/solutions we already are comfortable with by dressing it up....and calling them new strategic initiatives....new ways of thinking requires new approach and fitting older thoughts.solutions in new approach will surely lead you to dead end. Please note i am not saying lets throw away all what we invested in, i am saying lets leverage older systems and be open to new thoughts....why companies do this? as company is made of group of people and people are scared to loose their jobs/so they like to stick to what they are comfortable with...

- This point, especially true for larger companies...same goals but running 2 many different competing projects...what a nightmare.....vs. saying lets 1st evaluate/screen all current initiatives running in this area, learn from them and then if they cant be leveraged/or are going in right direction mix/match and focus on one..

Some companies like Motorola/Morgan Stanley had seen the above mistakes and did a very clever thing..they pulled change agents from within the company and these agents were put on new strategic initiatives bypassing every policy/prodecure otherwise which must be followed in a typical large organization..Result launching clever products fast/making huge profits from them....and giving competition run for their money....

If i hear more from readers on their experiences i would love to categorize these mistakes into broader disciplines .....so do write back if you think i missed anything...

Beyond the obvious value drivers in connecting remote assets to your Enterprise

2006-11-24T12:49:00.000-06:00

This is actually my favorite topic as especially being an entreprenuer we live by beyond the obvious value we add to ourselves everyday/our clients.....so whatever we do if we dont see a value its never worth our time..same concept applies to decision makers who have a big task on visioning what is beyond the obvious value than, "the usuals" preached by consultants/vendors like reduce downtime, track assets, enhance productivity/value of using your data/predictive maintenance etc. in connecting remote assets to enterprise(Real Time Enterprises)........having spent numerous yrs in this areas with different size clientele' i have tried to summarize some beyond the obvious value drivers which are typically not thought of clearly while building business case by new adoptors........ofcourse remember that value impact will vary depending on clients/their size/their industry/ customer segments and above all the maturity of their current offering to the market etc.. and we can get into those details if you want to send me an email directly...

Beyond the obvious value drivers which I see often ignored are:

What is problem resolution cost per service case in your company/industry? can i reduce this?Avg. cost per case can run anywhere from $20 for level 1 support to $5000+ for level 4 support. 1 being phone call and 4 being actual visit to site.

A managed service model added to your portfolio can help you win move from selling one time products only to a recurring montly services oriented model. Can i move to this model?

Can i add expert services to the managed services and offer my clients superior bundled offering and charge a premium for it?

Can I introduce Pay per use models in my industry like Auto Insurance(pay per mile), jet engines(power by the hour, medical (pay per test) etc. Can i introduce this as a game changer in my industry and win more market share?

Enable 24 by 7 worldwide reach to support my offering?

Sell more service contracts, i have yet to see this in action but its truly possible.

Go to fixed cost install services vs. time and material and win more business?

Bigger the market bigger the product vendors list, what can adoptors do?

2006-11-22T15:38:00.000-06:00

I was at the Remote Monitoring conference Nov 2006 in LA....A great show with good topics covered. As i went through the show i realized being savvy in remote asset to enterprise topics that the cloud of confusion is fast approaching the buyers ultimately resulting in non clarity of buying right things..Why?
- 4-5 mesh sensor companies out there, each one trying to say they are the best...in my opinion all were same with just some differences in functionality they offer.
- 4-5 vendors on wireless communication devices all again trying to say they are the best but not really.
- 4-5 vendors of gateways/sensors/battery/fuel cells etc...and all trying to say they are unique but at the end of day very similar and much more...

I dont think vendors are wrong to toute their products..problem is like the story in Alice in Wonderland,"Alice asked the cat what road do i take, cat asked "where do you want to go?", Alice said i dont know and Cat replied, well any road will take you there...I felt Alice was the audience and Cat were the vendors...who instead of asking what your needs are? were more focused on selling what their products offered....I see there is a big education whole to be filled between customers "Real vs perceived needs" and vendors offering which will surely affect the adoption rates..For adoptors who are serious about enabling machine 2 enterprise solutions, I do encourage them not to spend heavy $$s with big 4 consulting shops as frankly speaking them have limited exposure in this arena i.e. limited to boardrooms/labs....and trust me it takes much more than that to select.build.deploy. scale machine to enterprise systems..stay tuned on my session on "Selection Criterions for Remote Asset to Enterprise Technologies/Solutions" which will build on some of thoughts i present here"...

Is Machine Era next big wave?

2006-11-22T14:23:00.000-06:00

10 yrs back i was in consulting and we came out with a term called A2A i.e. Any 2 Any...we helped 5 companies in utility/water/oil/medical/banking sectors to raise capital to enable new innovative business models by letting machines dictate human activities vs. the other way. All had great models/great plans but there growth was ceded mainly due to following factors that i believe today are core to the M2M and/or any other term described in maximizing visibility to remote assets.
Today
- bandwidths are reaching everywhere, you can be at starbucks/airports and connect to Internet
- Open standards are prevailing, example use of browsers etc.
- Computing power is multiplying crazily, look at new smart handhelds/cellphones etc.

If these 3 pillars existed back in 1997 the companies we had helped raise funds would have won..but fast forward now and the same concept is reborn under different name...M2M, remote control of machines etc. which will help companies launch game changing innovative offerings/business models. As I see it:

Innovative applications/business models will emerge that leverage the strengths of new smart connections to remote assets.

Smart Remote Services will reach customers in new locations, via new devices, with functionality and frequency that reaches far beyond traditional PC

Interactions will move from a PC-centric environment to a diverse set of internet-enabled devices/remote assets

No wonder the market is now touting:

"$100 billion combined in revenue seen by 2010 for US, Japan and Western Europe in M2M business.“ McKinsey and Company

"There will be more invisibly connected machines and physical objects than visible humans from 2005 onward.“ Forrester Research

"Mobilizing the machine means enabling a machine to transmit and receive information through a cellular connection whenever and wherever the need arises-limited only by the coverage area of the cellular network."Deloitte Research

"By 2007, there will be between 100 million and 160 million machine-to-machine connections worldwide that use wireless mobile phone networks.“ Gartner Group

"WDRG expects the total M2M market, including hardware, software and services (both network and professional) to grow from about $3.4 billion in 2002 to over $28 billion in 2007.“ Wireless Data Research Group

"Worldwide device-related revenue streams by 2011 in excess of $290 billion.“ Harbor Research

Does anyone disagree???

What is terminology to describe remote asset/machine to Enterprise Connectivity?

2006-11-22T14:16:00.000-06:00

If you are looking at real time enabling your enterprises, some common terms you must be hearing or should be aware of are:
M2M- Machine 2 Machine
A2A- Any 2 Any
Mesh Sensors- Sensors/RF/Battery combined in one
AIDC- Automatic Indentification and Data Collection- example barcodes, RFID etc.
Telemetry- A way to remotely diagnose your fixed assets like tanks/pipes etc.
Telematics- A way to remotely diagnose your mobile assets like trucks etc.
SCADA- Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition
First Mile Technologies- All Technologies that connect any remote sensors to the enterprise.
Las Mile Technologies- All Technologies that connet any remote sensor to the enterprise

My 2 cents: All these terms are great and like all different religions in this world, point towards same core message:
How to connect remote/distributed assets which live outside our office to the office and transform business/operations.

If you have any other jargons you have heard in the realm on connecting remote devices/machines to enterprise please share with me.