NRG Magazine Edition 17

‘FEAR HAS NO PLACE IN THE ALGORITHM’

FEATURING:

ENCS • CGI • HUAWEI • TRAKKIES • VICREA

INSIDE:

PROGRAM OF "INTERNET OF THINGS" CONGRESS

EDITION 17 • SEPTEMBER 15 • RETAIL PRICE € 5,50

KEVIN ASHTON

www.jbk.com.ua JEWELLERY BOUTIQUE "KOLEKTSIYA" jewellery boutique, 4 Teatral'na st., Lviv, Ukraine, phone: + 38 (032) 235 68 76

M

EDITOR’S LETTER NRG Magazine is a quarterly publication First edition published in 2011 Controlled circulation: 5,000-7,500 copies per edition Publisher Stolyga Media Printer Veldhuis Media Editor in Chief Mariia Stolyga Design Marina Guskova Cover Illustration Dariia Pashkova Sales Leon Pathuis Website: www.nrgm.nl (previously www.nrgmagazine.nl) Twitter: @nrg_mag

You are holding our 17th edition, focusing on the Internet of Things. If you are familiar with our publication, you are probably surprised with the choice of this topic—and rightfully so. When we started in 2011, we were covering mostly the energy sector, hence the name “NRG Magazine”.

At a first glance, going from energy and sustainability to connected devices seems like a great leap. In reality, the borders between these two (and many other) domains have been blurred by our ceaseless efforts to interconnect things.

Everything is interrelated, and no field seems to be immune to the rise of sensor technology and wireless communication. Consumers fell prey to the IoT marketing machine, but so did oil & gas companies, utilities, and governments.

What about me personally? Completing this issue made me understand the topic better but did not make me relate to it. Talking people still thrill me much more than “talking” things. While obsessing with technology, we tend to forget about the human factor that makes it all possible. That is why I tried, as much as I could, to bring the human back on the (IoT) stage. I think it worked out perfectly in our interview with Kevin Ashton, the technologist who came up with the term in the first place. I imagine being him in the 1990s, thinking how to explain a new concept to the old-school top managers at Procter & Gamble. Could he have predicted that more than a decade later his “ungrammatical” expression, as he himself calls it, would become viral? Read his interview to find out what he thinks about it all.

Ashton pointed out the fact that technology is linked to information access, and thus—to shaping human individuality. His thoughts inspired us so much that we couldn’t imagine anyone else on our September cover. Our illustrator Dariia Pashkova created the artwork now gracing the cover of this edition.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/NRGmagazine

There are other just as interesting IoT stories too. Klaus Kursawe (ENCS) explains why the time is right to integrate security measures in the EV chargers; Ralph Bissсhops and Martijn Frints (CGI) talk about the role of IoT for utilities; Jurjen Veldhuizen (Huawei) gives an idea of what 5G networks will be like…

LinkedIn: www.linked.in/company/6431589

We’ve been exploring various industries to try and understand the true scope of what IoT will bring around. The result is this issue.

All our copies can be viewed online on: www.issuu.com/nrgbattle

I hope you enjoy reading it.

Contact General inquiries info@nrgm.nl Content of this issue editor@nrgm.nl Advertising and sales sales@nrgm.nl

Mariia Stolyga, Editor in Chief.

For subscription options see last page

No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced without written permission of the publisher. The publisher and authors do not accept liability for damages of any nature whatsoever, resulting from actions and decisions based on the information in this magazine. This issue was produced with utmost care.

Editor's Choice

"THE WEAKEST LINK" page 14-17

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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#IoT Special. COVER STORY 6 INTRODUCTION TO THE EDITION What is IoT? 8 NRGM INTERVIEW Kevin Ashton, the original “IoT” inventor 12 CGI Staying ahead of the times in the age of IoT 14 CYBERSECURITY Hack the charger, hack the grid 18 PROGRAM OF THE “INTERNET OF THINGS” CONGRESS 20 MOBILE NETWORKS What will 5G bring?

22 IOT IN TRANSPORTATION Sensors are changing South Holland 24 IOT IN EVERYDAY LIFE Trakkies is your answer to losing things NRGM FEATURES

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28 Q&A WITH DR. FINANCE 29 NRG FACTS OR FICTION 30 EXPERT COLUMN 31 START UP-DATES 32 NRG MARKETPLACE NRG Magazine - SEP15

FOREWORD

‘WE’VE BEEN IN MOMENTS LIKE THIS BEFORE: THEY WERE LIKE DOORS TO THE ROOMS WE DID NOT KNOW EXISTED’

W

hen Captain Cook sailed into Botany Bay, Aborigines kept fishing.

They did not see a boat. The Endeavour was too big and too strange —to them it was an island. Only when Cook lowered a small boat did they react. They attacked immediately.

This is how we react to ontological change, the deep change that shocks our belief in reality. We keep shifting our worries into the more rigid old patterns of what is real, what is true and what is normal. To define normality belongs to real power. And real power is what I am interested in.

It has been said before that defining what is normal mostly has to do with language. Language defines the meaning of data, information, knowledge and wisdom. This seems so obvious that it is a blind spot even to those who are very much aware of it.

We are in a moment of human history when a particular intelligence—that of the engineer, the maker—focused fully on here and now, has occupied the full extent of our capabilities to make future scenarios and, by consequence, to act. We’ve been in moments like this with the fire, the wheel, the book and the machine. These moments were like doors to the rooms we did not know existed. Always, though, there were voices envisioning and predicting the existence of these doors. Some even described the rooms. Up until now, humankind has not been able to harvest from such visionaries the practical implementations that would turn these harsh and disruptive moments into a gentle transition of accumulated experience.

ROB VAN KRANENBURG

So why, then, do I think that it will be different with the Internet of Things? I have three reasons.

The first is that IoT is the fifth iteration in about 50 years from the cybernetics of Stafford Beer, IBM’s pervasive computing, Xerox PARK’s ubicomp and the vision of ambient intelligence of Emile Aarts at Philips. Victor Vina made connected objects in the 90s, and FET programs such as “The Disappearing Computer” built smart offices and e-health that worked. But now it is happening as the Internet of Things because the term belongs to no brand in particular.

The second reason is that more and more people begin to see that IoT needs a system perspective. Whoever gathers data will rule the 21st century. Why can it not be a set of new entities having the qualities of states, companies and citizens?

But the most important reason that makes me positive about our agency to gently and collectively dismantle our current decision-making structures, before they collapse under the weight of accumulated combinatorial innovation, education and freedom to share data and information, is that the main actors—the engineers are actively seeking real support and real insight from the other types of intelligence that do not focus on incremental innovation, efficiency and cost-cutting, but on the real and simple human needs of the ordinary people we all are.

Founder of the IoT Council, a think-tank in the field of the Internet of Things. Apart from being involved with the Council, van Kranenburg is currently the Community Manager at the EU project SOCIOTAL, which is addressing the issue of IoT for Smart Cities.

We should give them that support. This means to rethink security and privacy as a trade-off in an increasingly monitored world, open up all databases to everyone and build new formats of quality in information and knowledge, and look upon ourselves as increasingly connected beings that need to rediscover internal channels where to withdraw in and where to find temporary isolation.

It takes quite some courage to not only understand this digital transition, but to actually want it in a pragmatic way. I don’t really trust those who long for it, but I fully realize, there is no going back either. Let’s be realistic about it. And build it ourselves before someone builds it for us.

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Human health Self-tracking, wearables, targeted insurance services

Homes Home automation, smart appliances, intelligent security systems

The New Revolution The term Internet of Things (IoT) was coined in the late 1990s. Web users first showed interest in the concept around 2006, but it was not until 2014-2015 that IoT found its real fame. In fact, during the last two years, the attention paid to it was enormous. Why?

Cities Intelligent street lighting, sensor traffic control, energy management

According to McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), as popular as the concept has become, the hype surrounding IoT is still an understatement of its real potential. MGI singled out nine settings where IoT is expected to have the biggest impact (including vehicles, homes, health, and others). The Institute estimated that the IoT-technology in these sectors would have a total potential income of $3.9 trillion-$11.1 trillion per year in 2025. Our interest in IoT is thus part of a well-calculated and rational intention to make the most out of what technology offers. Only IoT can offer more than just increased business profits.

Oil & Gas Pipeline monitoring, asset management, optimized use of equipment

Struggling to explain what IoT is about, many turn to home appliances to illustrate how IoT can change our lives. They describe intelligent fridges that will “re-stock themselves” and dishwashers that will only start working when the pressure on the grid is lowest. While all of this might turn out to be true—sensors will indeed change consumer lifestyle as we know it—it is important to realize that IoT will also touch upon many other layers of modern industry and economy. It is expected to affect not only households, but cities and life in general: including the way people and goods are transported, as well as the way we shop, stay fit, make money, and experience the world.

Utilities Proliferation of smart meters, further development of smart grids

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Transportation.

Driverless cars, high-speed trains

# IoT SPECIAL 8 Kevin Ashton #IoT revisited 12 CGI Leading in IoT 14 Klaus Kursawe Cyber threats to EV chargers

KEVIN ASHTON: #IoT REVISITED

NRGM INTERVIEW

KEVIN ASHTON IS A BRITISH TECHNOLOGIST WHO IS REGARDED TO BE THE AUTHOR OF THE TERM "INTERNET OF THINGS".

evin Ashton coined the expression in 1999 when he was a young executive at Procter & Gamble. While working there, Ashton became preoccupied with the fact that the company's many products often didn't make it to the stores' shelves while lying in abundance in the storage rooms. In his interview with Steve Paikin in June 2015 Ashton explained: "I wanted to understand what was causing this problem.

It wasn't that we didn't make enough product ...

The stores knew that they kind of had it in the warehouse, but they didn't know if the individual product level was on the shelve."

Ashton decided to track the merchandise using microchips that were sending a radio signal. That was the first time the Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology was employed to manage physical objects. Having to explain the idea to "a bunch of old male Procter & Gamble executives", many of whom didn't understand how to use a computer or what the Internet was about, Ashton put together a PowerPoint presentation and titled it the "Internet of Things".

Following this, Ashton moved on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he continued working on the concept and where he co-founded the Auto-ID Center (now Auto-ID Labs). The latter became the leading global research network of academic laboratories in the field of Internet of Things. Among its other achievements, Auto-ID Center has developed a global standard system for RFID. In his 2009 post in RFID Journal Ashton argued: "We're physical, and so is our environment. Our economy, society, and survival aren't based on ideas or information—they're based on things. If we had computers that knew everything there is to know about things—using data they gathered without any help from us—we would be able to count everything, and greatly reduce waste, loss and cost." In 2015, this statement is more relevant than ever, as tech companies around the world are actively experimenting with, testing and propagating the Internet of Things.

Ashton believes that our future is completely predictable and makes some very specific forecasts regarding it. According to him, already 15 years from now very few new cars will have a steering wheel; about five years from now a lot of computer devices won't have batteries; and, finally—our grandchildren will be blessed with having a three-digit life expectancy. In Ashton's words, there's no reason to be pessimistic about our future lives, because "pessimism is a cheap and intellectually lacking way of sounding clever."

IMAGES: HAYESHAYES.COM

Almost twenty years after coming up with the original IoT concept, Ashton remains a prominent figure in the societal discussion regarding the ongoing computerization, ever-growing use of sensors, and overall human relationship with technology.

He has been writing about these and other topics for The Atlantic, Politico, and Quartz, to name but a few. In 2015, Ashton published a book called "How to Fly a Horse,” where he addressed the problems of human creativity and the many myths that people tend to associate with it. >>

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INTERNET OF THINGS •

It's been nearly two decades since you first coined the term "IoT". Now, it is one of the most popular concepts in the technology industry worldwide. Back in the 1990s, did you foresee this happening? Could you predict the popularity it obtained? No, not at all. It was a cool name for a concept, at a time when we had to come up with names for everything, because everything was new—or at least not widely known. The term spread a little in the first few years, became somewhat common between 2005-2010, and then really leapt to prominence in the last 5 years. Twitter may have helped.

The hashtag #IoT is really short and distinctive, and very widely used.

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‘SOME OF THE CONCERNS I HEAR ABOUT ARE BLOWN OUT OF PROPORTION. OTHERS ARE SIMPLY RIDICULOUS’

What is your biggest fear in the context of IoT? I don’t really have any fears. It’s an inevitable, and important, technology. Some of the concerns I hear about, like privacy and security, while real and significant, are blown out of proportion; others, like artificially intelligent robots rising up and enslaving humanity are simply ridiculous. I’m an optimist. If you have big problems to solve, define them clearly, then treat them calmly.

Fear has no place in the algorithm.

What is the current biggest challenge to bringing out the full potential of IoT? What does this field need, that is not currently there? Machine learning is the wild frontier right now. We need to get really good at automatically making meaning out of vast streams of disparate data, and we need to do it with high confidence in real-time.

That’s a really fascinating problem in math, statistical analysis, and computer science.

There is some excellent work being done, and it is really exciting to watch.

NRGM INTERVIEW

‘THE EQUATION OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS AGE IS SIMPLE: MORE INFORMATION EQUALS LESS BULLSHIT. IT’S A ZERO SUM GAME—ONE THAT INFORMATION, AND THEREFORE INTELLIGENCE AND INDVIDUALITY, IS WINNING’

Did IoT develop as you thought it would? Which aspects were, in your opinion, really foreseeable? Was there anything along the path that really surprised you, something that no one really thought IoT could bring/cause? I think we got some of the big things right. That networked sensors would be far more valuable than standalone devices, for example; that prices would fall rapidly while performance improved massively; that the Internet would be transformational; that wireless would be everywhere. All of those things seem obvious now, but they were highly controversial in the late 1990s. I got a lot of things wrong too: the rapid advance of ad hoc technologies, like machine vision, for example; or where the big application areas would be. I would have expected RFID throughout the global supply chain long before self-driving cars, for example; it’s clearly going to be the other way around.

How do we, as humans, cope with the increasing pervasiveness of the digital sphere into our lives? Given the onslaught of sensors, and hence wireless communications and tracking, how can we hold onto our individuality and individual intelligence? Should we? Those things are complementary, not opposite.

Digital information enables individuality and intelligence. The more we know, the more we become. You don’t hear this often, but the rise of LGBT rights and marriage equality, for example—led from the Netherlands, of course—is in part a consequence of the rise of pervasive digital intelligence. It helped people organize, find one another, and discover the truth about themselves and others. We are seeing the same thing now with the exposure of police brutality in the United States; that is, in large part, a result of pervasive digital cameras, and the means to disseminate video and images. The equation of the Internet of Things age—in fact of every age since at least the Enlightenment—is simple: More information equals less bullshit. It’s a zero sum game—one that information, and therefore intelligence and individuality, is winning.

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STAYING AHEAD OF THE TIMES IN THE AGE OF IOT In this article, we explore CGI’s outlook on the Internet of Things (IoT), by talking to Ralph Bisschops and Martijn Frints.

What makes the company stand out from the rest in this dynamic competitive field?

Ralph Bisschops (left) and Martijn Frints (right) at the newly opened Spark Innovation Center Unlocking IoT for utilities The Internet of Things is seeping into the utilities sector, helping consumers take control of their energy behavior, and companies—to offer effective services, meet energy demands, and cut operational costs. The growing overlap between IoT and utilities also leads to an emergence of new business models, but it is the most agile companies who will benefit from this trend and drive innovation. One of these companies is CGI. The Canadian-based company has been working with utilities for more than 30 years and has been integrating IoT applications well before the term became so well-known. It is particularly strong in offering smart metering data services, worldwide, as well as in The Netherlands.

Martijn Frints, Senior Business Consul‐ tant at CGI, says: “Our main customers are grid operators, who are looking into possible ways to increase the grid capacity and meet the evolving electricity demands. Of course, one solution is to put more copper into the ground, but it is a scenario we do not want in The Netherlands. An alternative is to put more intelligence into the existing grid.”

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Recently, CGI has contributed to the case of smart meters in The Netherlands, by freeing a grid operator from the burden of a single telecom provider. Frints explains: “Normally you are locked-in with a particular telecom provider for the time a smart meter operates, which is around ten to fifteen years. Switching has always been a problem, because, unlike in a mobile phone, changing the SIM card in the meter requires at least one on-site technician.” Cumbersome aspects of changing the provider deprive grid operators of their leverage against the price volatility. Luckily, last year’s updated telecom legislation has enabled grid operators to sign a contract with a provider on the wholesale telecom market and become an operator of their own smart meter SIM card.

Furthermore, if the grid operator is unhappy with the price or the service, he can switch between providers without switching the card. The central solution to reroute the signal was implemented

by CGI. Frints: “The consumer doesn’t have to stay at home, the grid operator doesn’t have to send technicians to all the houses—we can do everything for them.”

This is an example of enabling greater flexibility in the energy sector. Most

importantly, the power was given to the grid operators, who can now vote with their feet if unsatisfied.

Also, 2013 became a notable year for CGI, when the company signed a £75 mln deal with the British Smart DCC that holds the license to manage communication between smart meters and main actors in the country’s energy sector, e.g. energy suppliers and network operators. According to the deal, CGI became responsible for developing the solution that would link 53 million smart gas and electricity meters to the utilities in the UK. This contract builds on CGI’s experience in delivering smart metering data services based on its Instant Energy solution. Frints: “We developed ‘Instant Energy’, which is in essence an IoT platform, to collect the data from the smart meters of eight different British utilities and to distribute it to the companies that need to know the metering values.” This service will enable the utilities to access information on the energy usage to provide more accurate bills.

In addition, consumers will benefit from the tariffs that suit their lifestyle best and enable them to better understand their energy use patterns.

Leading in IoT platforms for Smart Cities One important aspect that IoT can do for the industry in general is eliminate the “stovepipe solutions”, says Ralph Bisschops, CGI’s Product Manager in the areas of IoT, M2M and asset management. These are the services that do not share their functionality with other products, although it is possible. This is about to change—products which used to be implemented independently are merging. Bisschops says: “Our problem lies in creating many different solutions for different problems, instead of creating one solution to solve them all.”

He gives an example: “We have a solution for charging the EVs and a solution for operating street lights. Uniting them in one platform would enable us to switch the lights at the particular EV charging spot when the car is there to charge. When self-driving cars arrive, we can connect them to the same platform as well.” The idea is to use information from many systems simultaneously and to tap into their enhanced functionality. To do this, we need IoT platforms.

CGI's Spark Innovation Center in Rotterdam

CGI works with dedicated partners in hopes to strengthen the proposition and to enable the end-to-end IoT service delivery. Resulting from these partnerships are enhanced quality and security, something that CGI is well known for. For instance, IBOR is CGI’s independent and scalable IoT solution for the remote management of objects in the public space, e.g. street lights, bridges, and traffic installations. IBOR was built as a cloud solution running on Microsoft Azure. The municipality of Utrecht was the first to test IBOR on the local street lights, which allowed cutting the energy costs by 27%.

The Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment implemented IBOR to operate lights on the highways A50 and A1 and then decided to use it for 7,500 light spots in the Eastern Netherlands.

Another example is the Charge Point Interactive Management System (CiMS) for Electric Vehicles, which won several ICT awards and was nominated for Global Mobile Awards. CiMS is used by multiple customers across Europe.

“The IoT-platforms can enable you to have all kinds of devices connected. We are looking into working together with different parties and combine the communication technologies for optimal results,” says Bisschops.

Putting the customer in control IoT is giving way to a reinforced flow of information. Bisschops says: “We are getting a ‘big data lake.’ Its possibilities are enormous.” We might not be capable of analyzing absolutely all of the data collected—but we will, eventually.

“The value of the data will increase as you collect it. Start collecting it, and then think of what you can do with it.

We are providing our customers with integrated solutions, as well as with the ability to conduct data analysis. This

allows them to react to market changes quickly. This is the true power the IoT is going to bring—being able to build a solution for tomorrow’s problems, and fight off the competitors entering your market,” continues Bisschops.

Here, Frints adds: “There’s a big degree of uncertainty regarding how the energy sector will develop. What we do know for sure is that our energy consumption needs to get more ‘smart’.

We also know that we need to collect all possible data and combine it for the customers in a way that would enable them to make the right decision.”

Bisschops comments: “One of the things we noticed about IoT is that companies tend to move from buying the solution to using it in the cloud. It makes the life of a customer a lot easier, and I think we are quite well-positioned to be a player in this area. Many of our IoT solutions are offered in a form of Software as a Service.”

Of course, there is also the issue of privacy and data ownership, currently one of the most heated topics across the industry. Bisschops admits that not all the companies are comfortable with transmitting their sensitive data into the cloud. Meanwhile, information security is strongly on CGI’s agenda. The emphasis is on protecting not only the data that’s being transferred, but also the assets connected to the Internet, and the platforms themselves. Both Bisschops and Frints admit that, security-wise, CGI’s products and services are strongly positioned, thanks to the continuous involvement of security experts.

To sum it up, it should be said that one of CGI’s strongest points is the fact that its experts possess not only the very detailed knowledge of how ICT works but also understand how to implement it best, across a variety of sectors.

Founded in 1976, CGI Group Inc. is the fifth largest independent information technology and business process services firm in the world. Approximately 68,000 professionals serve thousands of global clients from offices and delivery centers across the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, leveraging a comprehensive portfolio of services, including high-end business and IT consulting, systems integration, application development and maintenance, infrastructure management, as well as a wide range of proprietary solutions. With annual revenue in excess of C$10 billion and an order backlog of approximately C$20 billion, CGI shares are listed on the TSX (GIB.A) and the NYSE (GIB).

Website: www.cgi.com.

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THE WEAKEST LINK

CYBERSECURITY • INTERNET OF THINGS

IN THE SWING OF THE ELECTRIC REVOLUTION, LITTLE ATTENTION WAS PAID TO THE DIGITAL SECURITY OF THE EV CHARGING STATIONS. IT IS TIME TO SET THINGS RIGHT..

HACK THE CHARGER, HACK THE GRID The vulnerability of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations was brought to the public attention before. Namely in 2013, at the Hack in the Box Security Conference in Amsterdam, Israeli security expert Ofer Shezaf dwelled on some of the security issues of the EV chargers.

The list included physical accessibility, unprotected communication channels, and poorly encrypted RFID cards. He explained how hackers can conduct identity and financial theft, as well as "denial of charging service". Shezaf’s talk brought home the realization that an EV charger is nothing more than a computer behind a panel, located on a street corner—an exceptionally vulnerable device.

Given the rapid digitalization taking place in the utilities sector, it is time we paid attention to another security threat associated with the EV chargers—the threat to the power grid itself.

One of the experts advocating this notion is Dr. Klaus Kursawe, Chief Scientist at the European Network for Cyber Security (ENCS), the independent, non-profit member organization that brings together critical infrastructure stake owners and security experts. The ultimate goal of ENCS is to make European energy grids and infrastructure secure. Together with its partners Enexis and ElaadNL, ENCS has begun studying security protocols of EV

charging points as a part of their integration into the Smart Grid.

Until 2003, Dr. Kursawe has been working for IBM on various issues around Trusted Computing. He then became the Senior Researcher at the Philips Laboratories in Eindhoven, where he headed the “Trusted Systems and Services Cluster”.

Several years ago, he was one of the few researchers arguing against the onset of the smart grid, warning that the society and the industry simply “were not ready” for it. “I was standing on stage and telling people to stop the smart grid. It made me well-known, but not very popular. I have since then seen the light,” he laughs.

At ENCS, Dr. Kursawe is participating in a project that involves testing the vulnerability of the EV chargers. The research is being done together with the Dutch power network operator Enexis and the innovation center in the field of charging infrastructure ElaadNL. Thanks to them, ENCS’s laboratory was fitted with a fully operational charging point. Dr. Kursawe’s team is exploring the possible scenarios of cyberattacks and suggests security measures to prevent them. It is while leading this research that Dr. Kursawe realized the full range of security issues faced by the EV industry. Most of all, he is worried about the attacks that can compromise grid stability.

Here is how he explains it: “If one Tesla goes on supercharging, it would feel to the grid as if 120 households have come online for half an hour.1 Imagine a street where five Teslas are charging simultaneously—this can be physically damaging to the grid, the fuses might blow.” Hypothetically, one can devise an attack that would involve manipulating the load, damaging the grid, and cutting the area of power. Because the charger is communicating with the electricity grid, in the future it can potentially serve as an entry point into it. In case an EV charger is not properly protected, the utilities could face yet another security loophole.

“Everybody talks about security, but not everybody does it,” says Dr. Kursawe. According to him, the energy sector has suffered its share of security incidents, primarily related to smart meters, but the problem does not stop there. “The smart grid is still developing, and it will be attackable within five years. Snowden bought us two years by distracting the hacking community with the NSA, but their attention is turning back to the industrial control systems. It’s just a matter of time before it happens to the energy sector.” The increasing use of IoT applications by the utilities does not make the situation easier. >>

1 Ed. Estimation made on the basis of comparing the energy rate of an average Californian household to that of the Tesla

supercharger. Source: Supercharging More Electric Cars Risks Crashing the Grid—Here’s What Might Help, by Sabine Bergmann, posted in California Magazine on November 4, 2014.

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INTERNET OF THINGS • CYBERSECURITY

‘WE HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE THREATS AND SET THINGS RIGHT FROM THE START, SO WE DO NOT RUN INTO TROUBLE WHEN THE ELECTRIC VEHICLES REALLY KICK OFF’

Dr. Kursawe: “We already have an insanely complex system, yet we are making it even more complex. I do see the opportunities of the IoT, but we are moving at a really high speed, and we keep connecting things, often without understanding how the whole interconnection works.”

It creates a situation where we do not need an attack for the incident to happen—with the system being so complex, it becomes hard to predict when and why things will go wrong.

THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS A few assumptions can be made regarding the parties potentially interested in hacking the EV infrastructure.

DR. KLAUS KURSAWE

Anyone’s first guess would be an acclaim-seeking hacker, and rightfully so.

Dr. Kursawe: “It could be a teenage hacker because if things go the way he wants them to go, it makes him famous.” Next in line are competing operators of the EV charging spots. “We have seen it happening in other fields when competing companies are either hacking each other or paying the hackers to do the attacks.” As the rivalry on EV charging market intensifies, this notion does not seem unlikely.

Finally, one could also imagine that the countries dependent on oil export have the capacity to conduct cyber-attacks on the electric car infrastructure, motivated to sabotage the electric car market.

According to Dr. Kursawe, no major attacks took place just yet. This can be explained by the fact that the full-scale EV charging infrastructure has not arrived.

“We know that the people have previously hacked cars; we know that hacking has been used to harm industrial competitors; we know that states are using hacking to defend national interests.

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Yes, so far the link to the EV charging stations is hypothetical, but there is also no charging infrastructure big enough to be worth attacking.”

While the smart grid is in the growth phase, we have an opportunity to properly test out things in small pilot projects, and get to grips with security before the chargers are installed en masse and the EV infrastructure finally shapes itself.

This can be expected in ten years from now, according to Dr. Kursawe. He says: “Once it’s there, you cannot go and say— sorry, I did it all wrong, let’s replace those hundreds of thousands of chargers. Nobody will be able to afford that. This is why we have to think about the future threats and set things right from the start, so we do not run into trouble when the electric vehicles really kick off.”

Larger forces are at play when it comes to making the EV infrastructure secure.

“There are a lot of market players, and everything is very unregulated. The charging spots are controlled by the companies different from the power grid operators, and they have different things to worry about. The whole market setting doesn’t encourage anyone to invest in security. We’ve seen some devices that are extremely lacking in protection.”

Particularly the operators of the charging stations have little incentive to ensure that their infrastructure is digitally secure, and no one can force them to do otherwise. “If I start a charging company and put almost no security in the chargers, no one can stop me. By law, I have to be allowed to the grid,” says Dr. Kursawe.

As a result, the grid operators are putting up with poorly protected charging facilities that compromise the stability and health of the electricity grid.

CYBERCECURITY • INTERNET OF THINGS

THE LOW-HANGING FRUITS With enough effort, any system can be broken into—this is a well-known truth among the security experts. This does not mean that we cannot implement security measures. First of all, we have to cover up the existing security holes gaping at the face of the hacker community. Dr. Kursawe calls these loopholes “the low-hanging fruits”, because they are relatively easy to lay hands on even for semi-professional hackers. “Here, a car owner cannot do much. It is the job of the EV charging spot operators,” he says.

physically attack a device, I have just that one device, and that’s it. I cannot corrupt the rest of the network. It is important that the stations can only talk to a protected system, and not to each other.”

Because we mostly cannot move the chargers away from the streets, the operators have to look into other options of safeguarding them, and one way to go around this is getting the system architecture right. A standalone charger should not be used as a gateway to the rest of the EV infrastructure, and, hence, the grid. Dr. Kursawe comments: “Preferably, the charging spot should not be connected to the Internet and not contain any critical information. So, if I

Finally, Dr. Kursawe takes the security discussion even further: “One of the biggest missing things in cyber security is personal liability. When a CEO of any company that handles large amounts of personal data knows that he will get fired or go to jail in case a system gets hacked, he will make sure security measures are in place. I do not say that we should put more CEOs in jails, but there is certainly a necessity to impose liability on people who make end-decisions and set the

Security issues need to be raised in a vendor-buyer dialog. “You have to be aware that many vendors do not have security systems in place,” explains the expert, “It is your responsibility to inform the vendor what you want—doing this will prevent you from buying something without any integrated security measures.”

budgets—they should feel responsible for the digital security too, and not just the Chief Information Officer who eventually gets fired.”

This idea seems to be shared in Brussels.

Earlier this summer the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union agreed on the main provisions of the Network and Information Security Directive. The Directive articulates that, when it comes to critical infrastructure, the companies operating in this field should become responsible for ensuring the digital security of their systems, and failing to do so will result in sanctions.

Should this Directive be implemented, cybersecurity will stop being an ephemeral threat, and rather become a direct responsibility of specific managers.

Dr. Kursawe sums it up: “Keep monitoring or build a strategy to begin monitoring, and get the tools in place. If something happens, you need to find out as soon as possible.”

CURRENT STATISTICS

According to the Netherlands Enterprise Agency, the total number of electric vehicles in The Netherlands in July 2015 was 60,490. This number includes Fully Electric Vehicles, Extended Range EVs and Plug-in Hybrid EVs, as well as electric buses, quadricycles and motorcycles. To cater for this electric fleet, in the same month, there were 6,838 public charging stations (access 24/7) and 8,379 semi-public ones (limited access). There is no data available regarding the private chargers; according to the estimation made in December 2014 their number was 28,000, although this is merely an extrapolation from the research conducted in 2012.

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29

TUESDAY

INTERNET OF THINGS •

SEPTEMBER

2015 MERCURE HOTEL

AMSTERDAM

What to Expect at the First Strategic Internet of Things Congress?

Keynote speeches, innovative pitches, roundtable discussions and panels with experts from Business, Politics and Academia

• What can you achieve with the Internet of Things?

• What are the benefits of using sensors?

• What else is there except the smart thermostat and smart fridge?

• How do you develop new products and business models?

PROGRAM *This is a translation of the original Congress program. The working language of the Congress is Dutch.

09.00

Registration and welcoming coffee

09.20

Opening of the Congress.

Annemarie van Campen, Online Communication Architect

09.30

Opening Speech. The Netherlands is an innovation country thanks to the Internet of Things Willem Vermeend, Member of the Board, Internet of Things Academy

09.50

Internet of Things: from disruptive technology to business opportunity Cees Links, Founder & CEO, GreenPeak Technologies

10.10

Strategic focus needed to succesfully implement an IoT solution Rami Avidan, Commercial Director M2M, Tele2 Group

10.30

Internet of Things: cities and society—a vision of the Government Rob van Gijzel, Mayor, City of Eindhoven

10.50

Break

11.20

Connecting everyone and everything Armijn Spreitzer, Director of KPN IoT, KPN

11.40

Panel Discussion 1

12.15

Innovation pitches by start-up entrepreneurs Featuring, among others: Omar Link and Simon van der Jagt, NoWi; and Diderik van Wingerden, Manager of Technology at Think Innovation.

12.30

Lunch

Security, data privacy and governance: the balance between technological possibilities and the needs of society Marino Strik, Director Security & Connectivity Applications Lab, NXP Semiconductors Leo J. van der Putten, Director Sales & Marketing, Clickey Danny Mekić, Founder, NewTeam

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• INTERNET OF THINGS

13.30

Choose between attending one of the parallel sessions or a workshop.

13.30

Session 1

Giezeman, Initiator of The Things Network IoT as a practical example in traffic management. Frans op de Beek, Principal Advisor Traffic Management, Rijkswaterstaat.

Wim Broeders, Director, MAP Traffic Management

Workshop is hosted

by Internet of Things Academy. Here, you will be taught to put together your own smart garbage bin.

Session 2

Hosts: Jurjen Lengkeek and Maaike Anema, IoT Academy

A IoT as a Business Case: how do I start a project? Wienke B

14.05

13.30

A The energy supply of “things”. Omar Link and Simon van der B C 14.40

Jagt, NoWi, TU Delft.

From the Internet of Things to the Internet of Everything. Mobile, Sensors, Data and the contextual future. Ruben Horbach, Biohacker & Creative Innovation Technologist Starting Up an IoT project. Business case of Vebego.

Session 3

A The transformation challenge of Smart City Eindhoven. Gaby B C

Sadowski and Guus Sluijter, Municipality of Eindhoven How to develop an operational "thing"? John Tillema and Diderik van Wingerden, Totem Internet of "living things". Hans Izeboud, Dutch Phenotyping Partners, Aris BV

15.10

Coffee break

15.45

Industrial Internet of Things: the next industrial revolution Dr. Ben van Lier, Professor at Seinbeis University in Berlin; Director of Strategy and Innovation at Centric

16.15

Panel Discussion 2: Governance & Governmental Policy IoT will lead to the creation of more data and knowledge, which is as essential for the businesses and the Government. This will have a real impact on the human and the society. How can we assure proper governance and proper policies to guide the introduction of IoT down the right track?

Facilitator: Rob van Kranenburg, Founder, Internet of Things Council; Community Manager at Sociotal Panel members: Floris Beets, Digital Officer at D&B Mobile, D&B Facility Group Dr. Ben van Lier, Professor at Seinbeis University in Berlin; Director of Strategy and Innovation at Centric Maarten Botterman, Director at Global Networked Knowledge Society (GNKS) Henk-Jan Vink, Director Networked Information, TNO

17.00

Closing speech by Annemarie van Kampen

17.05

Networking and Drinks

17.30

Congress ends

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INTERNET OF THINGS • MOBILE NETWORKS

5G for IoT WHAT CAN EXPLAIN THE GROWING HYPE AROUND THE NEW GENERATION OF MOBILE NETWORKS? ONE EXPLANATION IS THAT THE ARRIVAL OF 5G WILL MARK THE REAL BEGINNING OF THE INTERNET OF THINGS ERA. Three major characteristics will differentiate 5G from its mobile network predecessors. That is according to Jurjen Veldhuizen, Senior Telecom Marketing Manager at Huawei, who has been previously leading the applied telecom research at the Dutch think-tank TNO. Veldhuizen says that 5G will be the first network to enable the super-connected Internet of Things world, achieving near-instantaneous connectivity between people and objects.

Frist of all, the end-to-end latency, which is the time needed for the packet of data to travel from a network source to the destination, will be decreased to less than one millisecond. This is a drastic improvement of network performance compared to the current average of 53.1 milliseconds across the 4G networks. Close-to-zero latency promised by 5G is an important enabler of driverless vehicles and other intelligent transportation which requires real-time control without communication glitches.

5G networks also promise the increase in data rates—these will grow up to a minimum of 10 Gb/s or more to support high-definition video, virtual reality applications, and mobile cloud services.

Finally, capacity will also surge. In 2014, almost half a billion (497 million) mobile

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devices and connections were added to the global mobile network systems, and this number will continue to grow. Fortunately, 5G will address the increasing data requirements, supporting billions of new applications and machines.

Veldhuizen says: “With 5G networks we will be able to support one million connections per square kilometer.”

All of these properties are critical for the majority of IoT applications. However, for 5G networks to arrive, several major technological bottlenecks need to be eliminated first. What is holding up the arrival of 5G? A primary obstacle is the “spectrum crunch”—the lack of radio frequency bands necessary for wireless communications. The frequencies currently in use will not be able to support even a thousand-fold capacity increase expected to take place by 2020. Veldhuizen says: “The spectrum we currently have for the mobile networks in The Netherlands and EU is not enough to reach the necessary speed, so we have to wait for the new frequencies to become available.

The traditional ones like, for instance, 800, 900, 1800 and 2100Mhz remain interesting, but we also now that the 700MHz will soon be auctioned in Germany and France, for instance.”

Apart from waiting for the new frequency bands to free up, the industry will also be leaning heavily onto the technological know-how. Veldhuizen suggests working around the existing network architecture. Some of the steps include improving the existing bandwidth, using massive MIMO, and conducting the simultaneous reception and transmission of data. He says: “We need to look at how the antenna design can be optimized for receiving multiple spectrums at the same time.

If we can stack spectrums, we can increase the speed of data and the number of connected devices.”

MOBILE NETWORKS • INTERNET OF THINGS

The 5G networks are critical for the Smart Cities because they will be bringing around a better vehicular connectivity, e.g. autonomous cars and highspeed trains. With the 5G networks in place, cities will see more context-aware sensors integrated into the critical infrastructure like roads and dikes. Data will be flowing freely through the traffic cameras, street lights, parking spaces and other building blocks of the modern cities—there will be enough computational and communicational capacity to quickly make sense of it all.

Huawei has been involved in the development of 5G technologies since 2009; the Chinese multinational company has allocated $600 mln in R&D funds for the advancement of the new network for the coming three years.

A big share of this investment will be channeled into developing the 5G Standard, which the company is working on together with other parties in the ICT industry. “We are not the only ones doing this—every self-respecting mobile network supplier is working on 5G standardization. Although, if you look at the market closer, you will notice that Huawei and Ericsson are the two companies pushing for 5G the hardest,” says Veldhuizen. Huawei plans to carry out the first 5G proof of concept during the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Moscow.

Mobile devices themselves need to change. The new smartphones and wearables will have to support a totally new range of capabilities and perform computational tasks fast while using low-energy sensors and long-lasting batteries.

The transition from 4G to 5G has already begun, although it might take another decade before we see any real 5G implementations in our every-day lives.

The new generation of mobile networks is still in its early research phase—the global 5G Standard is expected to arrive in time for the World Radio Conference 2018. This will be followed by the deployment stage in 2020s-2030s.

Once they arrive, the 5G networks, built on a combination of the existing and new radio access technologies, will be able to support at least a hundred billion devices. No longer restrained by capacity limits of the current mobile networks, the machine-to-machine (M2M) services will be rolled out in full. M2M (or device-to-device) communication is the term used to mark the exchange of data directly between user equipment without the use of the core network. It is this particular type of communication that is underpinning the widespread adoption of IoT, and that is seen as the lifeblood of the future Smart Cities infrastructure.

“There is some serious demand for 5G coming from the industry, from the businesses that want to drive down the prices and the energy consumption of connected devices,” shares Veldhuizen.

However, it is certainly too early to write off 4G as a thing of the past—these networks will continue to evolve until their 5G successors arrive in scale; the potential of 4G has not been achieved yet, and companies continue to invest in these networks too. Veldhuizen explains that, between 4G and 5G, we will also experience an in-between network in a form of 4.5G, which will be largely based on the existing infrastructure but with additional new elements for a better capacity and support of M2M.

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INTERNET OF THINGS •

Boats Cloud in a

THE PROVINCE OF SOUTH HOLLAND IS GETTING HELP WITH MONITORING THE INLAND MARITIME TRAFFIC. VESSELS MOVING THROUGH REGIONAL RIVERS AND CANALS WILL BE TRACKED BY SENSORS IN REAL TIME, AND THE AGGREGATED DATA WILL BE STORED IN THE CLOUD. THE NEW SOLUTION WAS DEVELOPED BY THE DUTCH GEO-ICT COMPANY VICREA TOGETHER WITH ITS PARTNER LIBELIUM.

J

ust like the rest of the country, South Holland boasts a well-developed and complex closed water infrastructure. According to the Dutch Central Agency for Statistics, the total length of the waterways in the Province in 2014 was 937 km.

Commercial and recreational vessels are navigating through local rivers and canals non-stop. Because smooth traffic is crucial for the local economy, the Province of South Holland needs to monitor the situation continuously. Technology is there to help.

Daniël de Klerk, Innovation Manager at Vicrea, says: “This service was developed for the closed waters.

While all the vessels in the open sea are obliged to identify themselves, this is not the case for the inland waterways. Here, there are many recreational ships that pass completely unidentified. Because of this, there is no complete picture of what’s going on and we often do not know the exact amount of boats on the water. This issue should be addressed.” Vicrea has developed an advanced laser sensor technology to identify and track the passing vessels, and even more than that.

De Klerk goes on to explain how it works: “We use sensors to detect and identify the ships: these

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sensors are sending out a specific laser pattern that reflects on all the objects it comes across. Our software can then tell you whether that moving object is a ship, and if it is—what kind of it, and where is it going.”

First, the collected information is sent wirelessly to the central unit, and from there—to Vicrea’s cloud platform. In the cloud, the new data is combined with other already available information concerning a particular location. This way, one can see a comprehensive account of the maritime traffic at each particular spot, instead of being confronted with bits of independent data.

“From the cloud we can share the information with others, for instance—with the people responsible for opening and closing bridges. The algorithm calculates the time at which the boats will arrive at the bridge, as well as how many of them will be there.

The vessels will not need to stop, they will just pass through in a row.” This, in turn, minimizes the traffic delays and increases the waterway capacity. There will be more boats passing through, and each of them will spend less time stopping and waiting at the intersection.

• INTERNET OF THINGS

“

THE IOT WILL BECOME CENTRAL WHEREVER THE GOVERNMENT SEES ITSELF RESPONSIBLE.CURRENTLY, MANY SECTORS IN THE NETHERLANDS STILL STRUGGLE WITH THE “STATIC” DATA, WHEN WHAT THEY REALLY NEED IS THE DATA THAT IS MORE DYNAMIC.

”

Thanks to the new approach, authorities will be able to find out crucial information concerning the traffic in the canals and the state of the relevant infrastructure. Here are some of the questions they will now get an answer to: - Does the current state of the canal hold up to the traffic intensity? Should maintenance works be carried out?

- Overall, how does the maritime traffic look at a particular time and place? How is it working out in the region as a whole?

- Should the schedule of opening and closing the bridges be optimized?

Vicrea will first start testing out the sensors by placing them at the so-called “bridge heads”: those are the locations right where the rivers narrow down before meeting the bridge. Technically, however, sensors can be located anywhere along the canal.

Surely, this is not the first solution developed to monitor the inland shipping traffic in The Netherlands.

However, the new approach offered by Vicrea is more cost-efficient than the solutions previously adopted

in South Holland. According to de Klerk, by switching to Vicrea, the Province will be able to cut the costs by 80% compared to the technology currently in use.

If all goes as expected, the solution might have far-reaching effects on the Dutch traffic, cars and boats alike. Boat owners will experience fewer delays, and so will the car drivers waiting for the bridge to fold back down. Proper traffic management will allow for more water space, and hence—for an increased number of boats passing through the canals.

The solution also yields benefits for the environment: when ships sail without stopping, there’s less pollution and less noise, something to be appreciated by the local residents.

De Klerk expects that there will be more IoT solutions integrated into the Dutch transportation system in the coming time. “IoT will become central wherever the Government sees itself responsible. For the authorities, a better urban planning requires filling the missing gaps in the available information. Currently, many sectors in The Netherlands still struggle with the ‘static’ data, when what they really need is the data that is more dynamic. That is when the IoT comes in. Its possibilities are enormous.”

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Nothing

INTERNET OF THINGS • EVERYDAY LIFE

FORGOTTEN

THE AMSTERDAM-BASED STARTUP CALLED TRAKKIES TAPS INTO THE POWER OF IOT TO PREVENT YOU FROM LOSING YOUR PRECIOUS POSSESSIONS. VICTOR WIERDA, COMPANY’S HEAD OF OPERATIONS, EXPLAINS HOW SMALL SENSORS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE.

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EVERYDAY LIFE • INTERNET OF THINGS

TRAKKIES TEAM

Victor Wierda (bottom left) is currently Head of Operations at Trakkies, where he is responsible for the commercial development of the company.

T

rakkies produces micro-computers known as “nodes”.

They look like tiny round badges, the biggest one still just 29 mm in diameter. Although small, these devices are a perfect example of how IoT applications can positively alter our stress-ridden, time-pressured urban lives.

“There are a lot of ways to look at what we are offering. Let’s just say: we have created mini-computers that can make any object smart and allow people never to lose their stuff anymore,” explains Victor Wierda.

It’s simple: hang the nodes on things that matter to you, and you won’t lose track of them anymore. The objects, interconnected by the nodes into one mesh network, communicate with each other, sending regular updates about their location and signaling in case they are being moved. Wierda continues: “Basically, they can “see” what’s going on around them, and they react if they are being forgotten somewhere.” For instance, if you are leaving the house without your phone, the other things in the network notice that the distance between them and the missing object is growing. They will let you know about it through sending a warning to one of the nodes still with you.

Similarly, nodes will let you know when something is stolen or has fallen on the ground. You can also use them to keep an eye on your pet. Furthermore, a node can be turned into a “panic button” to automatically notify someone in case you are in danger. It can also be transformed into a programmable Bluetooth button to operate lights and electric appliances, or flicker through songs on your music player.

Trakkies nodes are available in two forms: as micros and taggs, the main difference between the two being their size, battery life and tracking range.

Wierda says: “I would put a micro on my keys, and a micro on my bag, and I would put tags on my laptop, my wallet and my little notebook. When I get to the office, I will put all my things on the table, except the keys that will remain in my pocket. All these items can still communicate with me over a large distance. So, if I’m away for a cup of coffee and meanwhile someone touches them, they will send a warning to my keys.”

Nodes form a peer-to-peer network: although the phone acts as the Internet gateway, the rest of the objects in the network keep “talking” even in case it dies.

Naturally, objects like keys, wallets, bags and various personal electronics are the most popular items to be tracked by their owners. However, there’s always one “mystery item” which differs with every user. Wierda explains that the majority of people prefer to buy a set of five Trakkies nodes, and the fifth one is always something unexpected and not necessarily expensive in monetary terms. To Wierda himself, it’s his battered two-dollar-notebook, for instance. “We are selling a philosophy similar to that of a smartphone: my phone is different from yours because we downloaded a different set of apps depending on our different lifestyles. It’s the personalization that matters.

Personalization makes technology wanted. We developed a technology for people not to lose their things, but it is their personal choice which things they prefer to track. Isn’t this cool?” >>

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INTERNET OF THINGS • EVERYDAY LIFE The idea that your personal possessions can actively communicate with each other, preventing loss and robbery, seems like a painfully simple concept. So why didn’t anyone create anything like this before? Don’t be lulled by the seeming simplicity of this technology, laughs Wierda. “We equipped Trakkies with an incredible intelligence and ability to learn. When we started out, there was no technology of this sort.” In fact, one of the central parts used in Trakkies nodes won’t come out until the end of this year. Wierda continues: “A lot of people see this little piece of hardware, and they think it is readily available from any Chinese factory. But it’s not even about hardware alone—it’s about software too, and that aspect is super complicated.”

‘WHEN WE STARTED OUT, THERE WAS NO TECHNOLOGY OF THIS SORT’ First research around the technology at the heart of Trakkies started in 1999 by Adrian Blackwood, now the company’s CEO. The idea about interconnecting objects in real time and space came to him while he was working for NAVTEQ, now a subsidiary of Nokia specializing in GPS data and navigation software.

Observing how objects move around the maps, Blackwood was thinking: how can we enable physical things to let us know about their whereabouts?

Most of his research was then carried out in Noordwijk, at the Business Incubation Center of the European Space Agency.

Wierda recalls: “ESA saw potential in what we were doing because our technology can help them in space, primarily when it comes to asset management.”

ESA’s Business Incubation Centers are known for helping entrepreneurs turn their space-related ideas into viable technology companies.

The major task was to create the software that could empower regular things to actively communicate with their owner. In order to make this a reality, Blackwood wrote a special “language” which became the cornerstone of the technology behind Trakkies. Wierda explains: “It’s very interesting because the language we are using is based on the IPV6 protocol. We make objects talk in IP addresses. It’s a whole new language but based on something everyone already knew. That’s why it’s scalable.”

It turned out, however, that the real challenge was still lying ahead. In 2015 the team was expecting that the necessary hardware would simply be produced by someone else in the industry. They soon discovered that the necessary hardware did not exist.

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Now the team is waiting for the final parts to arrive from Nordic Semiconductor. This Norwegian producer of wireless chips known for being capable of running on the smallest sources of power, e.g. watch batteries, for a long time. Namely the chip to be implemented in Trakkies is the company’s nRF52 Series released earlier this summer: it is being positioned as the most efficient Bluetooth Smart SoC to date, particularly tailored to the rising Internet of Things sector.

Wierda says: “When the company announced the new semi-conductor, our whole team kept their fingers crossed— we were so happy to find out that these parts were exactly what we needed to finish the product, and even better.”

Trakkies nodes will become one of the first devices to run on this chip, even though they are not mass produced at the point and won’t be delivered until December 2015.

“We had to wait for the world to get ready, so to speak. It took three years to finalize the software, and now that the hardware was finally announced, it still won’t arrive until the end of this year. It’s hard to develop things when their components do not exist. ” The team expects to sell 400,000 units until the end of this year. This alone might seem like enough of a feat for a starting company, but according to Wierda, it’s even more interesting to think beyond the rigid numbers of items being sold. “Think about the value we are bringing to the world, to the lives of real people. It’s not about the device itself, it’s about the solution it offers.”

What is the future of IoT? “IoT as a term will be gone, because people use it without any real definition of it: it’s an empty word. But the idea of having people, places and objects digitally connected—no, that’s not going to go anywhere, ” assures Victor Wierda. He doesn’t doubt it one bit that the amount of value we can possibly create with IoT is not just big—it’s enormous, both in terms of the economic profit and the impact on our daily lives.

The IoT report published by McKinsey, which became widely referenced in the industry, estimates the potential economic impact of IoT to be as big as $11,1 trillion per year in 2025.

Regarding this, Wierda comments: “I think that the number put forward in this report is slightly too high, they are giving it as an optimum in case absolutely everything is connected. The basis of IoT is not about offering a single solution to a world’s only problem, it’s about providing a myriad of little solutions simultaneously to make our lives better.”

NRGM Features 28 Dr. Finance Q&A with Gerard van Baar 30 NRGM Expert Column Manon den Dunnen 31 NRGM Start-Updates Hyko

Q & A with Dr. Finance

Dr. Finance

Answering your Questions about The Money Side of Business

T

rakkies is offering more than just finding something if you forget where you put it.

If you think about it, this should be a must-have for the Big Four* and the law firms, because it’s not only about the value of a device and the hassle of losing it—it’s even more about the information on the device, especially if it’s about your clients. Furthermore, the Big Four could earn back their investment in Trakkies by asking their insurer a lower risk premium. Or the other way around: insurance companies should think about supplying Trakkies to their customers.

“What are common financial pitfalls and opportunities in combining or transitioning from hardware sales (free software) based model to a subscription based model?” (V. Wierda, Head of Operations, Trakkies) At Microsoft, you can see the difference in pricing for buying or subscribing to MS Office. Subscribing is much cheaper at first, but in the long run it is more expensive. It also needs to be updated.

Microsoft also illustrates the illogical situation of offering both the purchase version and the subscription version at the same time. Because if you offer both, you won’t have the advantage of no longer supporting the old versions. That could have been one of the reasons for Microsoft to offer the upgrade for Windows 10 for free.

This is just the beginning, and that’s when Trakkies needs to make a decision. Will the old Trakkies be entitled to software updates? Or are these only for those Trakkies owners that have bought a subscription? Or can you only buy a subscription after you’ve used the product for some time?

But Trakkies is not merely software. Trakkies combines hardware and software, like Apple. And maybe Apple should lead the way here. Apple offers OS software updates for free, and a lot of other additional apps you can buy. Most often those are developed by the third parties.

Subscription, as opposed to a direct purchase, is becoming more and more usual. It makes life a lot easier for the software developers for several reasons. First, it will save them the costs of supporting the old software versions, as well as the need to allocate time to keep the old versions running.

Second, it will help preventing the occurrence of illegal software copies.

Part of Apple’s success is that many Apple users strive to have the latest Apple hardware. The free upgrades for old hardware don’t stop them from buying a newer version of hardware with better screens, faster processors and longer battery life.

A subscription is also called Software as a Service (SaaS), which clearly makes it a part of a bigger scheme—the cloud computing. This way, the big advantages for clients also become apparent: not only working with the latest version but also working in the cloud with the program, support and maintenance of the software developer.

This will also be the case for Trakkies. Even though the current product is based on the newest technology, in the future there will be even better, smaller, extended-range Trakkies.

Meanwhile, the users will be waiting for these newer Trakkies, getting the software updates from time to time. This further ties them to the brand.

I don’t think this is a question of financing. It is rather a question of a core strategy and brand positioning—which, in the end, will pay off. *Big Four is a group of four largest firms offering legal and financial services, which includes Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG.

Gerard van Baar Gerard van Baar is an independent financial consultant. His expertise is drawn from many previous positions, including his role as Managing Director Finance & Sustainbility at the Holland Financial Center. In this position, he was involved in the plans for and discussions on the Green Investment Corporation. Van Baar also raised Deloitte’s European Energy & Commodity Risk Management practice.

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NRG Facts or Fiction

• INTERNET OF THINGS

WHAT IS FACT AND WHAT IS FICTION IN THE MODERN ENERGY WORLD? NRG MAGAZINE LOOKS AT THE TECH DEVELOPMENTS THAT OVERTHROW OUR CONVENTIONAL BELIEFS.

Fireplaces are eco-friendly FACT or FICTION?

Not necessarily. Authorities generally agree that fireplaces are an inefficient way of heating the house. Many fireplaces, especially those built before 1990, result in additional firewood waste and smoke pollution that has been linked to diseases like cancer and asthma. Fireplaces are often overlooked when insulating the house—as a result, instead of keeping the house warm, they siphon the warmth out. One way to go around this issue is to avoid using fireplaces as a primary source of heat. Besides, the smart heating market might have a solution just for you. For example, the American startup Ecovent promises “room by room temperature control” with its smart air vents. Dutch startup Nerdalize uses computer servers as sources of heat. And the UK-based CoControl turns the heating model on its head by allowing consumers in social housing to establish the monthly fee first and then control their homes accordingly. This is being done through a cloudbased heating control system.

Plants are a source of power FACT or FICTION?

Research conducted at Wageningen University in The Netherlands proved that plants indeed can serve as a source of clean energy. At the heart of the technique is lies the Plant Microbial Fuel Cell, a device that generates electricity while the plants continue to grow. When the plants convert CO2 into organic compounds, it uses some of those for its own growth, but the rest gets eliminated through the roots. Surrounding the roots are micro-organisms that break down these compounds, and the electrons released in this process can be gathered to generate electricity.

Whether this technology is suitable for large-scale applications is yet to be known.

We cannot cope with the decrease of drinkable water FACT or FICTION?

Although shortage of fresh water is expected, science is here to help. Already several key techniques exist to transform dirty, salty or contaminated water into fresh, drinkable one. For instance, LifeStraw® is a water filter which looks like “a pipe composed of two textile filters, followed by a chamber with beads impregnated with iodine” . All you need to do is suck the water up the pipe—whatever you swallow as a result will be clean from harmful bacteria.

Sources:

United States Environmental Protection Agency www.ecoventsystems.com http://www.climate-kic.org/start-ups/canary-control/ http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/show/Plants-create-energy.htm http://www.medgadget.com/2005/05/lifestraw.html

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NRGM EXPERT COLUMN

Manon den Dunnen

David and Goliath

Y Manon currently works as a Digital Transformation Adviser. Apart from this, she enjoys being a freelance blogger and covers topics like Smart Cities and emerging technologies.

ou know that feeling, the anxiety when something great is about to happen? In July, at the monthly Internet of Things Meetup in Amsterdam, one guy pitched the idea of crowdfunding an open Internet of Things network that would be free for all. Why, he asked, should we again become dependent on the big Telco’s or other companies that charge subscription fees and take our data, when the cost of setting up a LoRa-network is so low? His initiative was met with great enthusiasm, and I felt thrilled. A free and open IoT-network for all, this could be a tipping point! Think about the possibilities: it now becomes affordable to attach a tracking sensor to all your things. And even though my dog is not a real “thing”, she does tend to get lost chasing the rabbits...

Not even 6 weeks later a network covering Amsterdam was launched. The core team of enthusiasts had found enough companies willing to invest in and host gateways on their buildings. The Things Network was a fact. Their goal now is to conquer the world, and a variety of cities in different countries have already joined the initiative.

An impressive accomplishment like this seems very disruptive for Telco’s like KPN and Sigfox. KPN has long prepared to roll out its network and now a crowdsourced one becomes available for free in Amsterdam within 6 weeks.

And although it will still take some time before The Things Network will be easy to use, making money on infrastructure is becoming increasingly difficult.

Having an open network available will be a great boost for innovative startups—several use cases can already be found on the website. One example is a sensor that notifies the boat owners about the water influx, which is very handy in the canals of Amsterdam. The sensor can either text the owner or a service company that comes to clean out your boat. As far as the Internet of Things is concerned, the only limitation is our own imagination!

What makes The Things Network also special is their dedication to realize a network architecture that provides real privacy by routing the data directly from sender to receiver instead of via a central entity. Having the gateways in place was just the first step and enough of a challenge, but realizing a decentralized architecture and an easy interface are the challenges that still lie ahead—challenges to which everybody can contribute! And that is the beauty of the initiative—this modern David is an open international community. My Advice to the Goliaths of this world is to join them and make a business model out of the services that can be provided on top of the network.

*Expert Columns in NRG Magazine serve as a platform for independent experts to express an opinion of their own. Such opinions may not be interpreted as those of the editorial team. Expert Columns are not paid endorsements.

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HYKO • NRGM START UP-DATES

Hyko:

the power of gamification

M

eet Hyko. This gadget in a form of a little white bear responds to fluctuations in energy use by changing its color. Hyko teaches kids about household energy savings in a manner that’s engaging, educational and fun: when too many appliances are on, it alarms you by turning red. Similarly, when the energy consumption normalizes, Hyko turns a peaceful shade of blue. Whenever the electricity usage is out of normal (for instance, when the fridge door is left open), the bear reacts immediately and communicates its “feelings” to the kid.

The company behind Hyko, CareToSave was founded in Amsterdam in 2014. Its CEO Andriy Shmyhelskyy became engaged in the matters of nature conservation during his studies in Oslo, where he was researching consumer behavior and behavioral change in the context of energy usage.

Shmyhelskyy saw that hardly anything could make people reconsider the way they use energy, and got busy with developing his own solution. Hyko is the result.

Shmyhelskyy explains: “In The Netherlands, we target those households with children that use at least 4,000 kWh electricity per year, which constitutes up to 2.16 tons of CO2 emitted or more. By engaging children, Hyko could lead to energy savings of up to 30%. However, even with a 20% reduction in energy use, the CO2 will be cut by 0.43 ton. Moreover, during testing we noticed that when people reconsider their electricity consumption, they start to save water and turn down the heating. They also pay more attention to recycling. It is about changing the whole mindset.”

Every bear comes together with Hyko Senses (a non-intrusive device combining current clamps, to be attached to the main cable of the electricity meter), Hyko World App, and Hyko Cloud access. Hyko Senses works with any meter, as long as the distance between it and the bear is not more than 50 meters. It sends all the necessary data wirelessly to Hyko, the bear, by using the 868 MhZ radio frequency.

Meanwhile, the exact account of the energy consumption is stored in a cloud, and can also be viewed via a dedicated Hyko App. Hyko is ready to share stories about his home North Pole in “Hyko’s Adventure”, which is an interactive book app. By doing this, Hyko spreads awareness about climate change, melting ice caps and the endangering of polar bears.

During the recent crowdfunding campaign, parents could pre-order the Hyko package for a special price of €99 (instead of €199); Hykos will be shipped to their families at the beginning of 2016. CareToSave is the alumnus of Rockstart Smart Energy Accelerator.

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NRG MARKETPLACE

NRG Marketplace Oh Crystal ball, crystal ball…

Branto USA

This stylish smart home system can: - give you a full remote presence through its 360° FullHD camera, speakers and a micrcophone; - keep track of your home’s security by identifying suspicious movements and noise, and sending you video footage; - control smart appliances in your house, e.g. lights, locks, thermostats, etc.; - stream music through its speakers, and do many other things.

Branto is perfectly portable and takes data protection seriously. The product’s campaign on Indiegogo raised more than $87,000 in one month. Lucky early adopters paid $279 per orb—they are expecting to receive the devices in December 2015. For more info visit: www.branto.co

A Branto Orb looks like a shiny crystal ball, perfectly obscure except the fluorescent line of light.

The spin doctors SPIN remote The Netherlands

Dubbed as “the simplest, most stylish remote ever”, SPIN remote is truly an ode to simplicity.

This gadget’s stylish minimalism is hard to miss: rather than decreasing the number of buttons, the creators of this remote simply rid it of the buttons altogether. Instead of sinking your fingertips into plastic sockets, you are now offered two options: touch it into action, and rotate.

SPIN remote activates the moment you touch it and then sends infrared signals in all directions: this means that you can turn on multiple devices at once, and these can include even non-networked TVs. For €99 you can buy one SPIN remote in a brushed aluminum shell, or spend 29 more and receive a colored shell of your choice. Pre-order and more info at www.spinremote.com

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NRG MARKETPLACE

A SELECTION OF THE LATEST IOT-RELATED GADGETRY, FRESH OFF THE CROWDFUNDING MACHINES.

Home assistant inspired by Star Trek Homey, The Living Room The Netherlands

This voice-controlled personal home assistant can operate any appliance in your house: everything from TVs to thermostats. Co-founder Stefan Witkamp explains it: “Although we have a lot of supposedly smart devices, they are unable to collaborate and combine powers, so homes and environments stay dumb.” Homey solves this problem and rules out the need to use an app as an in-between point connecting the person and the devices—just tell Homey what to do. Admittedly, this gadget was inspired by sci-fi movies, where living environments are operated by voice commands only.

Homey is a powerful device, designed beautifully.

The Homey Kickstarter campaign was a huge success—the product already received more than €200,000 in funding. Super early birds were able to get their hands on Homey for €179. For more info visit www.athom.com

One button to rule them all Flic Sweden

Flics come in a rainbow of colors.

Finally, you can let your phone rest for a while, with a wireless button serving as a shortcut to your favorite action of choice. One touch to call a taxi, take a selfie, open the door or call the emergency—your own needs and fantasy are the only limits when setting up the Flic button. All your favorite apps and appliances become accessible with just one push. Flics use Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy and can be attached to any surface thanks to a re-usable double-side adhesive or a clip. As its Indiegogo campaign said, “it has the perfect satisfactory click feeling you can expect from buttons on your most used gadgets,” and that is about enough to have us sold.

One Flic + a matching clip cost $39. You can order them at www.flic.io

*this section contains gadgets that were selected by the editorial team independently. It contains no paid endorsements.

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About NRG Magazine NRG Magazine is the English-language printed magazine and blog about the Dutch technology and energy sectors. The first edition was printed in 2011, and from that point on new issues were published every quarter. After the publication was bought out in 2015, NRG Magazine also became known as a web portal (www.nrgm.nl). We cover the developments in the field of: oil & gas, alternative energy projects, smart grids and smart cities, makers and hackers, Dutch space technology and others.

In our next edition, you can read about… Circular Economy!

Every edition of NRG Magazine focuses on one major theme, and next time it will be Circular Economy. You have certainly heard this term before, and we think it is about time we explored it in detail. There is so much for humanity to reconsider: from energy production to processing waste, and from urban design to transportation. The 18th edition of NRG Magazine will bring together experts, companies and organizations busy with making the Circular Economy work. As always, you can expect interviews with leading experts in business and academia, as well as articles about new energy startups.

NRG Magazine is the media partner of the Circular Economy Congress, organized by Euroforum and to be held in Amsterdam on the 4th of February 2016. Check the program of the Congress and secure your seat at www.smart-circle.org/circulareconomy/

Advertise with NRG Magazine With a combination of print and digital formats, NRG Magazine offers flexible and efficient advertising options. Request a media card by e-mailing sales@nrgm.nl

Subscription to printed copies All copies of NRG Magazine can be read on www.issuu.com/nrgbattle. Except this, copies are delivered to the readers on our distribution list which have been combined over the years and includes partner organizations, energy and technology experts, members of business and academia, PR professionals and students in tech and engineering. If you’d like to receive new copies too, please e-mail editor@nrgm.nl.

Price per copy is €5,50, excl. VAT. If you received a printed copy by mistake and/or would like to make changes to the subscription, please e-mail us at editor@ nrgm.nl and we will take care of it.

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