IoT Now: ISSN 2397-2793
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INNOVATION SUPPLEMENT 2017
PTC THINGWORX INTERVIEW Why platforms can expose the data needed to augment realities and generate real industrial value
INSIDE: MWC AMERICAS 2017 EVENT PREVIEW
PLUS: What is artificial intelligence and why does it matter - apart from the love and sex? • The latest augmented reality and artificial intelligence news • Why intelligence will be more automated than artificial when it comes to IoT AI deployments • More innovation news online at: www.iot-now.com
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CONTENTS
INNOVATION SUPPLEMENT 2017
S12 ARTIFICIAL
S6 INTERVIEW
INTELLIGENCE
S14
S10
MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS AMERICAS PREVIEW
AUTOMATED INTELLIGENCE
IN THIS ISSUE S4
S6
INNOVATION NEWS Research reveals augmented reality appetite in connected cars, virtual reality headsets start to gain traction INTERVIEW Mike Campbell, the general manager of the ThingWorx business at PTC tells IoT Now how IoT platforms can expose the data needed to augment realities and generate value for industrial enterprises
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IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
S10 AUTOMATED INTELLIGENCE Marc Ambasna-Jones explains why intelligence will be automated, not just artificial S12
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Jeremy Cowan asks what artificial intelligence actually is and why it matters?
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MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS AMERICAS SHOW PREVIEW The world’s largest mobile event initiates its North American spin-off. IoT Now brings you a comprehensive preview
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INNOVATION NEWS Growing case for virtual and augmented reality in retail car sales, EU research shows NEWS IN BRIEF MAGIX takes over simplitec GmbH as VR video forecast to exceed US$6bn by 2020 MAGIX Software is investing in virtual reality (VR). The software producer claims to have “significantly expanded” its VR sector and is announcing the launch of a VR Suite in spring 2018. MAGIX has been working in collaboration with Intel (Alloy) and Microsoft (HoloLens) on VR projects for some time. The company recently acquired Dresden software firm simplitec to tap into the virtual reality market. The simplitec team is now said to be fully focused on VR development under MAGIX management. According to Digi-Capital, the VR video market will grow to over US$6 billion by 2020. With more than 2.5 million professional customers and software products VEGAS Pro and Video Pro X, MAGIX has access to a broad targeted group with a high level of interest in virtual reality.
Huge investment in VR support accelerates innovations and expands application scope, says Frost study
New research across Europe’s five largest economies polling 1,000 people who either own, or plan to buy a car, highlights the potential for immersive technologies in the automotive marketplace.
perspective that is wholly unique to the medium. Seeing the vehicle in front of you to scale as you create it is truly compelling, driving value at any stage of the customer journey whilst delivering efficiencies for the brand.”
Commissioned by automotive visualisation specialist ZeroLight, the research addresses how technologies such as virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) can be used to engage consumers “as part of their purchase journey”, says the company.
The survey also finds that VR has the potential to pull customers into the dealership and make them engage more with the dealer’s portfolio.
In total, 82% of respondents to the survey agreed with the statement: ‘I would like to see, explore and configure a car to my preference at scale using immersive technology (VR/AR) prior to purchase.’ Just 5% of respondents disagreed. Support for the statement is strong across all age ranges but peaks at a significantly high 90% in the 25-34 age bracket. Commenting on the results, Joseph Artgole, associate marketing director at ZeroLight, said: “We know that customers demand digital-led experiences that offer them complete control over their purchase. What we see here is further validation of VR within the automotive retail space. Immersive technologies offer a
Studio, and enables companies to go from signing up to creating their first AR experiences in just minutes.
ThingWorx Studio offers free AR trial programme
The report, titled: Future Applications of Virtual Reality (Immersive Computing), projects that the global VR hardware and software market is expected to grow from US$1.37 billion in 2015 to $33.90 billion by 2022, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 57.8% between 2016 and 2022.
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82% of respondents would welcome use of immersive technology to aid car configuration prior to purchase
New ThingWorx Studio augmented reality free trial programme launched for Industrial IoT
Biosensors, speech recognition, movement mapping and space perception will give a significant boost to the market prospects of virtual reality (VR) technologies, according to findings from analyst firm Frost & Sullivan’s TechVision Team. The rapid growth of the VR market is attracting substantial private and government investments to innovative start-ups, mostly in the areas of video, services and solutions, games and apps. With technological advances and improvements in user experience, VR will become more ubiquitous in industries such as healthcare, automotive, education, manufacturing, retail, design, aerospace and defence, and entertainment.
Nearly two-thirds of the car-buying public across the five countries polled (65%) said they would be more likely to visit a dealership if they knew it had an immersive technology experience in place, while half of the sample (50%) claimed they would be more likely to explore more of the dealer’s range of cars if they knew a car dealership offered such an experience.
PTC has launched a new ThingWorx Studio augmented reality (AR) free trial programme for the Industrial Internet of Things (IoT). The programme enables companies to utilise the ThingWorx Studio AR authoring and publishing tool to rapidly prototype and develop AR experiences that can bring new value to their businesses. The free trial programmme gives companies access to the newest features of ThingWorx Studio and enables them to begin creating their first AR experiences in just minutes. Companies interested in joining the ThingWorx Studio free trial programme can sign up at the company’s website. The free trial programme features the newest capabilities of ThingWorx
The ThingWorx Studio free trial programme is expected to draw in companies that are focused on using AR for five primary use cases: visualising IoT data in augmented reality dashboards, augmenting step-by-step service instructions, training tutorials, sales and marketing, and design reviews. These use cases demonstrate the broad applicability of augmented reality in the industrial and enterprise markets, particularly when it is combined with IoT. “Augmented reality has incredible potential for the Industrial IoT, but creating AR experiences needs to be fast and simple,” said Mike Campbell, general manager for the ThingWorx Platform at PTC. “We designed ThingWorx Studio to take the complexity out of AR. By joining the ThingWorx Studio free trial programme, companies have access to one of the most powerful AR development tools available, and users can begin creating AR experiences in mere minutes.”
IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
INNOVATION NEWS Companies join Microsoft HoloLens group to explore how to make the most of mixed-reality Three companies in the UK have been chosen by Microsoft to help businesses use its mixed-reality headset to transform how they work. Fundamental VR, Black Marble and REWIND have been added to Microsoft’s HoloLens Agency Readiness Partner programme, which has been expanded from the original 10 members to 16. The three UK firms, from London, Bradford and St Albans respectively, join Germany’s Zuhlke and France’s Holoforge and Immersion as new entrants in the cutting-edge initiative. They will use their skills in development and 3D art design to help companies across the world bring their products and information to life via HoloLens holograms. Fundamental VR specialises in the healthcare sector, and is developing new simulations for pharmaceutical
companies, equipment and device manufacturers, medical colleges and hospitals; Black Marble focuses on cloud-connected next-generation user experiences, from wearables to holograms, and has worked with police forces to produce holographic, virtual, mobile command and control centres, and to capture crime scenes so officers can revisit them using HoloLens; REWIND has worked with Red Bull Air Race to create an experience that gives fans a better understanding of the complex rules and regulations of the sport and get closer to the action. Virtual, augmented and mixed reality is becoming increasingly important to companies across the globe. According to market intelligence firm IDC, “worldwide revenues for the augmented reality and virtual reality market will grow from US$5.2 billion in 2016 to more than US$162 billion in 2020.”
Clear potential for virtual reality headsets after a slow start, says CCS Insight report
Sales of smartphone virtual reality devices continue to deliver the lion’s share of unit volumes and CCS Insight expects that 14 million smartphone VR headsets will be sold in 2017, rising to 25 million in 2018. Future growth is underlined by an expected fivefold volume growth from 2017 to 70 million by 2021. The segment will be worth US$500 million in 2017 rising to approximately US$1.4 billion by 2021. Ben Wood, chief of Research at CCS Insight, commented: “Headsets designed for smartphones are the entry point for most consumers when it comes to virtual reality. Google‘s
WISeKey, a global cybersecurity, Blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) company, has announced that in cooperation with Business Investigation, a Swiss algorithm-based system solution start-up, it has implemented a proprietary AI system, called WISeAI, that uses sophisticated algorithms to monitor cybersecurity and digital Identities for people and objects. The machine learning tool is designed to examine how humans and objects use their computers, mobiles and digital identities when they connect to the internet, thus protecting users against ransomware, sophisticated malware and the like. The WISeAI algorithms will be able to detect abnormalities by interpreting the flow of information collected by the sensors secured by WISeKey’s Secure Element being strongly authenticated as provisioned by WISeKey Root of Trust (RoT). WISeKey’s clients will be able to anticipate and prevent cyberattacks based on the predictive analysis enabled by WISeAI through the integration of Business Investigation algorithms called Global Performance System (GPS). GPS is an artificial intelligence-based solution that uses machine learning algorithms to optimise performance and risk management. The WISeAI goes beyond current AI capabilities as it includes threat detection and machine learning technology push to monitor human behaviour and detect unusual activities by activating an alert.
Microsoft’s HoloLens mixed reality headset
CCS Insight‘s latest global forecast for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices reflects the relatively slow start to this nascent market. However, the firm continues to believe the segment holds great potential and can deliver healthy growth over the next five years and beyond.
WISeKey AI integrates Swiss start-up business investigation into its vertical platform
Cardboard devices and Samsung‘s Gear VR headsets have been the early market makers in this area. We expect the momentum to continue at Mobile World Congress, with Google’s Daydream headsets being a prominent part of many high-end smartphone launches”. Dedicated virtual reality headsets such as the HTC Vive, the Oculus Rift and Sony’s PlayStation VR deliver significantly higher-quality experiences compared with their smartphone VR cousins, but sales have been shy of expectations. CCS Insight has adjusted its forecast to reflect the slower start. Previously it expected two million units to be sold in 2016 – it now estimates 1.2 million were sold. By 2021 CCS Insight expects sales of dedicated VR headsets to grow to 22 million units — an 800% increase over 2017. This will result in the dedicated VR market being worth $7.7 billion by 2021.
IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
Through the integration of Business Investigation algorithms into WISeAI, machines learn to perform complex computational operations based on sophisticated algorithms, detect abnormalities by interpreting the flow of information collected by sensors, giving WISeKey’s clients the ability to anticipate potential risks by analysing the big data generated out of the message broker, prevent cyberattacks based on the predictive analysis enabled WISeAI. While IoT remains wildly unsecured, thanks to the integrated solution operated by the WISeKey Vertical Platform, IoT devices would be able to organise themselves into trusted networks based on mutual authentication, identity and integrity. This cybersecurity platform will only enable IoT devices which can provide a recognised identity and a valid integrity report to communicate with peer devices that are part of the trusted community. Carlos Moreira, WISeKey’s chief executive and founder, said: “We are very happy to team with GPS expanding the WISeKey Artificial Intelligence offering via our WISeAI platform. WISeKey is already using AI on microchips to secure a power IoT devices required on smart city sensors, self-driving cars, healthcare, finance, entertainment and retail, securing businesses and rendering them more intelligent.”
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INTERVIEW
IoT platforms can expose the data needed to augment realities and generate real value for industrial enterprises Mike Campbell is the general manager of the ThingWorx business at PTC. The company has recently launched ThingWorx 8, which is a purpose-built platform for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) that enables you to quickly build and deploy new apps and augmented reality (AR) experiences. The ThingWorx Platform contains specific functionality designed for industrial businesses – such as native industrial connectivity, anomaly detection and a model-based development environment. ThingWorx 8 has been designed to make developing and delivering apps and immersive industrial AR experiences at scale easier by using digital twin technology throughout the platform
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quickly and easily create augmented reality experiences IoT Now: What new functionality does ThingWorx 8 bring to the market? Mike Campbell: ThingWorx 8, which has been shipping since June, brings more than 100 enhancements to customers. I’d single out four
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Since joining PTC in 1995, Campbell has held various positions managing product development, product strategies and entire software businesses. Most recently, he served as the executive vice president of ThingWorx Studio responsible for the overall business strategy, and delivery of capabilities that democratise AR in the industrial enterprise, by allowing enterprise content creators and IoT solution builders to
IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
With ThingWorx 8, we’re also enhancing IoT cloud integration. We’ve introduced an Azure IoT Connector because we have found that Microsoft infrastructure customers are connecting devices through Azure IoT. This means they can easily connect sources of data to the platform. It’s just one more integration in a suite of links so tools like this can work. We already have similar offerings with Amazon Web Services, and work is underway on similar integrations with GE Predix and OSIsoft, purely to make it simpler for users. The second highlight is Industrial connectivity. The ability to seamlessly map what you’re doing using Kepware software to bridge the communication gap between diverse hardware and software applications means that, once the data is in Kepware, the user can go into ThingWorx and pull the data out of Kepware. This functionality can feed anomaly detection, which customers are increasingly interested in. They want to be warned if something starts to behave abnormally so the system learns what is normal and ThingWorx can be configured to take some form of action if a threshold is reached. That could involve checking temperature automatically, stopping a machine or presenting an alert to an operator. The next highlight is security, which is mandatory to improve at every opportunity. We’ve added
IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
improvements to single sign-on capabilities and the administration of apps to keep ThingWorx 8 offering high security levels. The final area of enhancement I want to highlight is the work we have put into our ThingWorx Studio offering, which is so important because we’re finding value in augmented reality (AR) all the way across the entire value chain – from early concept and design reviews to inspection through manufacturing, from virtual product companions or virtual product demonstrations and the selling phase. And not to forget, once the product exists, there is all kinds of value to be derived through training and service instruction that shows people how to operate the products. IoT Now: Significant emphasis is being placed on augmented reality by PTC, where do you think the market is in terms of the development of AR? MC: We are right on the cusp of moving into real scale AR deployments. We’re just now, in the last two quarters, starting to see production deployments. For example, in Japan last week, I closed a deal with a heavy equipment manufacturer for the deployment of ThingWorx Studio to use in diagnostic scenarios. The company will use it to present information about diagnostics issues in their machines. This is far from an isolated situation; several dozen customers have already made purchases for product deployments. We have now got our own AR offering with ThingWorx Studio and it is part of our platform. The big breakthrough in democratising AR ▼
major enhancements, the first of which is related to sourcing data. Here, we’ve invested in native integrations with IoT cloud providers to make it easier to connect to an industrial setting.
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INTERVIEW
content creation has been that you can re-use existing CAD data and easily incorporate data from existing sources. This can then seamlessly be exposed in the AR experience. The recent advances in digital eyewear technology are helping to accelerate uptake of augmented reality. There’s an AR kit coming from Apple in OS11 and we think this will further accelerate usage of AR products. Other vendors such as Epson, Lenovo and ODG all continue to make their AR glasses closer to the traditional Ray Ban form and that factor will drive usage further still. It is still early days for the market’s development but traction is beginning to be apparent. IoT Now: What barriers to the wider spread adoption of AR in IoT remain to be overcome? MC: Throughout our history, we’ve been helping customers create, manufacture and service products, largely by utilising digital content and that’s actually what AR is – digital content communicated in a new way. This means we have a lot of domain expertise to offer and that’s what’s needed to make AR work in Industrial IoT. With Vuforia, we’ve got industry-leading Computer Vision technology but that’s not enough because AR suffers from there being a lack of content. The big challenge is ‘with what shall I augment the world’? For PTC, though, we have a ton of content. We know about the product and we have rich 3D information from computer-aided design (CAD) with which to augment the world. There’s a broad range of use cases, many of which fit right into our industrial sweet spot.
AR in the consumer market is more popular but what we’re doing is providing an AR activating platform for industrial customers. Some of the applications are very exciting and address real business pain points for organisations. IoT Now: You mentioned the applications that PTC provides, what does the concept of appsbased manufacturing mean to PTC? MC: Apps-based manufacturing essentially means the deployment of role-based apps that provide value for manufacturing. The driver behind the apps that are built on the ThingWorx platform is that you can configure them and have them streaming data from your factory in less than an hour. That’s fast time-to-value and the apps provide the value on their own. For example, our Plant Manager app enables the overall efficiency of different [production] lines to be monitored or for maintenance engineers to be alerted when they might have issues. We offer a very simple app store and customers can be up and running and collecting information with these apps very rapidly. It’s important to keep in mind that there are some pretty low hanging fruits to be harvested on a factory floor from these sorts of applications. Remember, they’ve been purpose-built to allow people to get some form of advantage and there are a range of benefits for the constituents who utilise these tools to address specific use cases. We expect to be able to open minds and inspire them with these applications, which will enable them to augment their realities. Just look at two of the settings where these types of applications are being deployed – Hirotec, for example, is a
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Apps-based manufacturing essentially means the deployment of role-based apps that provide value for manufacturing
IN ASSOCIATION WITH PTC S8
IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
We believe ThingWorx is market leading because it’s purpose-built for industrial IoT (IIoT). We are obviously focused on places where you get your fingernails dirty such as factories, the oil and gas industry and the supply chain
tier-one automotive supplier using ThingWorx to access data and make better decisions, and General Electric is using it to achieve a significant reduction in unplanned downtime because they can now see when maintenance is needed. IoT Now: What sets ThingWorx apart from other IoT platforms? MC: We believe ThingWorx is market leading because it’s purpose-built for Industrial IoT. We are obviously focused on places where you get your fingernails dirty such as factories, the oil and gas industry and the supply chain. We’re committed to these industrial settings and continue to deliver fast and easy functionality. In addition, we’re flexible in terms of how customers can deploy ThingWorx, which can be on-premise, in the cloud or a hybrid. Our other strengths are in our ecosystem and marketplace. Our ecosystem of more than 1,000 ThingWorx customers and more than 250 partners is vibrant and growing and we recognise that this is critical to the development of this market. Data now doesn’t need to come from an agent on the device, it can come from augmented reality and virtual reality – there are many other sources. We also believe our marketplace, with more than 150 apps and reference apps that help accelerate the process of creating IoT solutions, is the best IIoT marketplace out there. We have more than 700 customers building apps on the ThingWorx platform. IoT Now: How do you see IIoT platforms working in general? MC: The journey begins with sourcing data. The data is everywhere – in clouds, factory machines
IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
and other enterprise systems. However, just getting data into a platform isn’t enough, you have to contextualise it in a way that makes sense. You have to organise it into a digital twin so you can be more productive downstream. Once the information is structured, we want to begin to get business value out of it. We then think about computational models, so we’ve got a flexible, open framework that allows users of our platform to gain insight and, once we’ve gained that, we want to drive action. We can do this by using a digital map to present information to people clearly and intuitively. The platform should address the need to source data, contextualise it, synthesise and orchestrate data from multiple sources and, finally, engage the user. IoT Now: What are PTC’s plans for continuing to develop ThingWorx and its other lines to better serve companies engaging in IIoT activities? MC: PTC’s mission revolves around unlocking the value within the data and systems of organisations. We’ve been talking about how IoT and augmented reality fit into this story because we have been driving content from the digital world into the physical word for a long time. IoT is a means to capture information in the physical world and bring it back into the digital world. This is very key to the broader PTC mission and we’ve invested in our Vuforia and ThingWorx brands to grow our capabilities further. Our IoT strategy is focused on Industrial IoT where we have market share in various verticals in partnership with companies such as General Electric, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. Our software development kit has a dominant market position with 81% of developers using it and, while we feel good about where we are in the market, we’re not slowing down.
www.ptc.com
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AUTOMATED INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence will be more automated than artificial Many of the early artificial intelligence (AI) gains will be made in number crunching and pattern analysis, more machine learning and analytics than true AI. We’ve already seen some good examples of this in the healthcare sector, particularly in cancer research and diagnosis but where we will see a wider, perhaps more dramatic impact is in the Internet of Things (IoT), particularly within industry, writes Marc Ambasna-Jones
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in the 2014 AI-inspired movie Ex Machina. When we talk about AI, unfortunately this tends to be the perception; a Hollywood-fuelled image of spooky humanoids that want to take over the world. While this may be a bit far-fetched – although the likes of Professor Stephen Hawking are convinced it could become a reality if we are not careful – there is one truth in the film that is relevant today. AI, even in its infancy has the ability to change the way we work and live.
“One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa,” said Nathan Bateman, a lead character
“As AI continues to evolve, the benefits for businesses will be transformational,” says a recent PwC report entitled ‘Leveraging the upcoming ▼
The idea of smart machines communicating with each other is not new of course. We’ve had machine-to-machine (M2M) communication since the 1970s, if not earlier, but the emergence of AI will rip up every rulebook that went before it. IoT, while revolutionary in its own sense is not totally complete without AI. It still demands considerable human involvement, particularly in data analytics and visualisation but also in the interpretation of the data.
IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
disruptions from AI and IoT’. “Given the power and scalability of AI solutions, tasks that used to take humans weeks or months to complete will be actionable in minutes or seconds.” AI, adds the report, will enable the full promise of IoT but we are a long way from making this a reality. In truth, AI is still operating along repetitive task lines, with traditional applications and not in live and fast changing situations. Of course, this will change but not every sector is equal. Some sectors will evolve more quickly driven as much by demand as capability. Looking at the IoT sector as it stands today, by far the most ubiquitous use of IoT is in monitoring of assets. According to some recent research from Inmarsat, which surveyed 500 senior respondents from organisations of over 1,000 employees, this is primarily in agriculture and transport, with the energy and mining sectors not far behind. How far AI impacts these sectors further will depend on how augmented intelligence will actually improve the results, whether there are sufficient skills and whether technology investors believe there is sufficient return on investment (ROI) to make development worthwhile. For example, as it stands machinery is benefiting most from the data analytics currently offered through assisted intelligence – the first level of AI in IoT. Understanding performance of machines, obtaining predictive analytics on parts and potential issues is already having a significant impact on the field services industry, for example. This level of intelligence is fuelling demand. According to the Inmarsat research, 97% of respondents claim they are experiencing, or expect to experience, significant benefits from the deployment of IoT technologies. The study also revealed that machine learning (38%), robotics (35%), and 3D printing (31%) were key requirements for effectively delivering digital transformation for business. Interestingly another report – Spiceworks’ ‘Future of IT: Hype v Reality’ – points to the type of organisations and sectors willing to get involved early. Professional services, non-profit organisations and healthcare industries, says the report, have the highest planned adoption of AI (30% each). But for what? It doesn’t sound like there’s a lot of IoT going on here. Clearly business analytics is driving interest for the moment but in IoT it is the addition of automated intelligence to any dumb ‘thing’ that
IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
will be the real game changer. So, what will AI in IoT look like and do we have the skills to really make it happen? If you think of it as automated intelligence, it is exactly what Elon Musk is trying to do with his Tesla cars. The autonomous vehicle ideal is an example of where AI is going. To create a machine that can learn quickly from varying situations and make a judgement, automatically, without human intervention. In IoT it is the ability to shift from prescriptive analytics where relevant questions are posed from analysing all the data – and answered by humans – to adaptive analytics, where questions are continuously posed and answered by the machine. Bhoopathi Rapolu, head of analytics, EMEA at engineering firm Cyient says this sort of scenario is ideal for the rail industry where complex maintenance schedules and support services need optimising. “The key promise of an AI engine is that it can capture and encode valuable domain/expert knowledge of engineering works, as well as safety requirements and guidelines, to automatically optimise how track possessions, engineering trains and personnel resources are assigned to various engineering works,” he says. Adding intelligence to the sea of data already being captured from sensors makes sense and Rapolu is right to attach so much importance to it, after all industry is attracted by the potential for cost savings and improved product and service efficiency. However, to have any chance of reaching this goal there are still some considerable challenges that need to be addressed.
Looking at the IoT sector as it stands today, by far the most ubiquitous use of IoT is in monitoring of assets
Skills shortages (certainly for those familiar with machine learning and data science) and privacy concerns will need to be addressed. Cyber security too, although the IoT industry is already seeing AI as a key tool in improving security. The IoT Security Foundation has been discussing the issue for some time, particularly in relation to consumer devices, the subject of recent breaches and concerns. The challenges however are not insurmountable especially when weighed against the potential benefits. As well as reduced costs and improved efficiencies, we should see higher revenues from improved products and services, increased reliability, smarter and safer machines and devices, reduced accidents and errors and improved customer experiences. In every sense, AI will be the ultimate disruptor. It’s just a matter of time.
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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
What is artificial intelligence and why does it matter, apart from the love and sex? Artificial intelligence (AI) is defined by one dictionary* as an area of computer science that deals with giving machines the ability to seem like they have human intelligence. AI has been portrayed in films, books and TV as a threat to human control of the planet. And it matters, says Jeremy Cowan, because AI has moved from science fiction to fact – the technology is being deployed now in areas like cyber and physical security, and soon in transport, energy, medicine and space travel … oh, and sex Sam Vincent, co-creator, writer and producer of the TV series HUMANS, said: “Automation has been in process for 20 years since people smashed looms because they were taking jobs.”
Georgie Barrat, presenter of British TV’s Gadget Show asked Dr. Sabine Hauert of the UK’s University of Bristol and a member of the Royal Society Machine Learning working group, how AI might benefit humans. Hauert’s reply was simple, “1.25 million people die on the world’s roads each year.” By enabling autonomous vehicles to drive instead, she believed fewer people will die and we can be greener.
Asked by Barrat if Hollywood and other media are to blame for the public’s preconceptions about AI and machine learning (ML), Chris Feltham, industry technical specialist at Intel, conceded: “Yes, if that’s your only experience. Being wary is fine, but being afraid is not.”
The University of Birmingham’s Jeremy Wyatt, professor of robotics and AI, acknowledged that people come to the subject with questions such as, ‘When is the robot going to take my job?’ So how should AI’s backers counteract these negative narratives? The answer, he said, is through real world experiences and by explaining what’s underneath AI’s covers. “Automation has always changed the way people work.”
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A million miles from AI chat Wyatt was asked if the science is ready for us to have normal conversations with robots. “We’re a million miles away from that,” he said. “But we’re now better at building task-specific robots, robots that are very good at that task but rubbish at anything else. The way to think about AI is that every robot will have a small task. It will be like the rainforest where every animal is able to do one thing very well. AI will lead to machines that are very good at specific things.” “Are there any good examples of AI in use now?” Barrat wondered. ▼
The author is Jeremy Cowan, editorial director of IoT Now magazine
Chip-maker Intel recently brought together a panel of experts in the vaults of London’s Tower Bridge to ask if AI and humans can live together happily ever after.
IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Missing children Intel’s Feltham said the public was aware that there’s an intelligence in Netflix or our Amazon recommendations. He and Hauert cited the example of a US charity, the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (www.missingkids.com ), an agency for finding and protecting lost kids. It has 25 analysts who examine no fewer than eight million leads and clues annually. It has been taking skilled analyst teams up to 30 days to see if there’s enough information to warrant further investigation of a missing child. Now, using artificial intelligence to replicate and accelerate human analysis, the analysis time has reportedly been cut from 30 days to one day, with obvious benefits for investigators trying to locate the children. Sabine Hauert told the audience that AI is making sense of a lot of data far better than we humans can. It was a point echoed by Sam Vincent when asked what the exciting trends are in AI. “It’s the implications for big data,” he said, “when the global economy can be looked at and AI can offer proposals on vast intractable problems with vast
data sets.” The hope is that AI can help reduce poverty and hunger.
It’s sex too, but not as we know it “Will people fall in love with AI?” asked Barrat. “Will there be love and sex robots?”
Sabine Hauert told the audience that AI is making sense of a lot of data far better than we humans can
Prof Wyatt had no doubt. “Yes, absolutely. That will happen. The human tendency to anthropomorphise is incredible. After all, a woman once married a piece of the Berlin Wall! Certain interactions are addictive, just think of Tamagotchi.” Asked for three things about AI for us to get excited about, Wyatt said it would be “fantastic to find other things for us all to do when AI has taken over” some of our jobs. “Second, I want a Babel fish in my ear. In 10-15 years, machine learning and translation mean it’ll be possible to do live translations in a moderately noisy environment. And in the future, robots will be proxies; we’ll send them to far solar systems and bring back useful information long after the people who sent them have died.”
Experts concerned at risk of cyber-attacks on energy infrastructure to call on AI “Reports that the energy sector are taking the threat from cyberattacks seriously is reassuring,” said Edgard Capdevielle, the chief executive of Nozomi Networks, “but it’s how they actually monitor and respond that is the key. While protecting sensitive information is obviously important, and shouldn’t be ignored, the threat to the energy/oil and gas sector is more complex.” “When you think of how the power grid has evolved, rather than remaining air gapped, connected devices have become an integral part of operational technology (OT). In order to reap the full benefits of connectivity, and the critical infrastructure they sit within, all networks and devices need to be secured. Each connection is a potential entry point and how industrial systems are protected will determine how strong, or weak, it is. It is crucial,” Capdevielle said, “for organisations to ensure that multiple levels of protection are in place – from securing the network itself to monitoring it in real-time for anomalies that could indicate a cyber threat is present.” He added, “Using advances in computer science, such as machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), it’s now possible to model and monitor large, complex industrial control networks and critical physical processes.” Having this real-time operational visibility provides immediate insights for faster troubleshooting and remediation of cybersecurity and process issues. It makes it easier for engineers and plant operators to identify affected devices and apply compensating controls before power systems are impacted. Reference: *https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/artificial%20intelligence IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
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EVENT PREVIEW
The countdown is on for Mobile World Congress Americas 2017
In less than two months, the tech world will gather in San Francisco, USA for the inaugural Mobile World Congress Americas event, being held on 12-14 September 2017 at the Moscone Center. Delivered by the GSMA and CTIA, Mobile World Congress Americas will bring together the leading players from across the mobile ecosystem as well as adjacent industry sectors, showcasing innovative products, services and technologies that are shaping the mobile landscape and its future. The three-day event is expected to attract 30,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors “Mobile World Congress Americas will reflect an experience truly representative of North, Central and South America, capturing many of its regionand culture-specific nuances,” said Michael O’Hara, the chief marketing officer at GSMA. “Mobile is an essential part of how we interact, communicate, work and play, and the event will highlight key areas intersecting with mobile, from media, content and entertainment to enterprises and brands. We are looking forward to showcasing an industry that impacts literally billions of people around the world.”
and innovative partner programmes wrapped around mobile technology and the future of the industry. The GSMA brings the large-scale event for the first time to the Americas region where mobile is transforming the ecosystem.
Exhibition floor showcases cuttingedge products and technologies
The three-day show will offer breakthrough keynote speakers, inspiring summits and focused tracks, interactive exhibitions on the show floor
The show floor will also include several country pavilions, where participating counties will demonstrate the endless possibilities within ▼
This year’s Mobile World Congress Americas theme is The Tech Element which will explore cutting edge topics such as the fourth industrial revolution, consumer Internet of Things (IoT), sustainable development, content and media, networks and policy, examining every bit of the vast mobile ecosystem.
More than 1,000 companies will participate at Mobile World Congress Americas 2017 through exhibition stands, pavilions and hospitality space. Some of the companies already confirmed include: Amdocs, AT&T, Avast, Ericsson, Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Gionee, Huawei, Mobilitie, Motorola Mobility, Nokia, PayPal, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics America, Samsung Electronics Networks, Sprint, TATA Communications Transformation Services, Telit, TELUS, TracFone Wireless, Twilio, Verizon, VMware and ZTE.
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EVENT PREVIEW
Making its Americas debut, the GSMA Innovation City is where visitors will explore a city-like environment and experience immersive demonstrations of the most cuttingedge mobile enabled products and services in the world today
Making its Americas debut, the GSMA Innovation City is where visitors will explore a city-like environment and experience immersive demonstrations of the most cutting-edge mobile enabled products and services in the world today. As one of the most popular features at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and Mobile World Congress Shanghai, the Innovation City brings together a wide range of industry topics such as the IoT, 5G, security and identity. Together, these installations will offer attendees the opportunity to experience the different technology in context and see how mobile-connected products and services
IoT Now Innovation Supplement - June/July 2017
can improve the daily lives of citizens and businesses across industrial applications as well as home, automotive, health, agriculture and others.
Going in-depth on industry trends The conference at Mobile World Congress Americas will run from Tuesday, 12 September through to Thursday, 14 September, with each day offering a mix of visionary keynote presentations, focused track sessions and sponsored summits. Industry leaders confirmed for the keynote programme include : • Carlos Slim Domit, CEO and chairman, América Móvil • Sunil Bharti Mittal, founder and chairman, Bharti Enterprises and chairman, GSMA • Meredith Atwell Baker, president and CEO, CTIA • Mats Granryd, director general, GSMA • George Kliavkoff, CEO and president, Jaunt • Rajeev Suri, president and CEO, Nokia • Dan Schulman, president and CEO, PayPal • Marcelo Claure, president and CEO, Sprint and Chairman, CTIA • Juan Perez, chief information and engineering officer, UPS • Ronan Dunne, executive vice president and group president, Verizon Wireless ▼
mobile. Canada, China, India and South Korea are confirmed to host pavilions at the inaugural event. Located in the West Hall of the Moscone Center, NEXTech is the ultimate destination for nextgeneration technology, with focused exhibition areas or zones showcasing forward-thinking companies and innovative technologies that are driving disruption across the entire mobile ecosystem. NEXTech will highlight cutting-edge technologies including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), robotics, connected and autonomous cars, and artificial intelligence. Companies in NEXTech include Samsung Electronics, which will have a significant presence alongside the VR/AR Association in the VR/AR Zone, as well as TomTom, which will be displaying its vision of the future of connected cars.
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Beyond the keynote programme, Mobile World Congress Americas includes focused track sessions that explore the trends and issues shaping the mobile industry. The Content and Media track will explore AR and VR in entertainment and entertainment in the 5G world. Sessions examining artificial intelligence (AI), digital enterprise infrastructure, autonomous vehicles, and Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, services and security will be offered under the Fourth Industrial Revolution track. The Consumer IoT track will delve into cybersecurity, AI and its impact on virtual assistants and chatbots, and the retail experience, while the Network track will address IoT connectivity and the 5G ecosystem. The Everything Policy track will feature panel discussions with leading policymakers and industry experts focused on key wireless issues, such as spectrum auctions, wireless infrastructure, 5G, IoT innovations, public safety, unmanned aerial services and more. The conference will also highlight the mobile industry’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a keynote and track sessions focusing on different aspects of the 17 SDGs, such as digital inclusion, education, and the fight against climate change, on Tuesday, September 12.
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Executives from organisations including Adobe, AT&T, CocaCola, Ericsson, Workplace by Facebook, IBM Watson, Qualcomm Inc., T-Mobile USA, TIM Brasil, U.S. Cellular, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Verizon will participate in sessions addressing the many factors of the mobile industry now and in the future.
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A conference program featuring C-level speakers and leading industry experts
Mobile is elemental. It is an essential part of how we interact, communicate, work, and play.
We are expecting 1,000 exhibitors showcasing cutting-edge mobile technologies, products and services
Experiences that were once limited by time and place are now instant and effortless. Innovative technology is transforming the connected world, driving change and creating endless possibilities.
A regulatory and public policy program; partner events; free seminars
The Tech Element. Contact us to learn more about participating in the event as an exhibitor, sponsor, partner or advertiser: sales@mwcamericas.com GLOBAL PARTNER
We are expecting 30,000 attendees; offering you the opportunity to meet and network with key mobile industry influencers and top-tier media
EVENT PREVIEW
Women4Tech at Mobile World Congress Americas
designed to evolve the startup ecosystem worldwide.
Launched earlier this year at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona to address the persistent gender gap in the mobile industry, the GSMA is extending the Women4Tech programme to Mobile World Congress Americas. The programme, which comprises a range of events and activities, prominently features the Women4Tech Summit on Wednesday, 13 September, which will examine how gender diversity is changing the mobile ecosystem. Additional Women4Tech activities include a speed coaching and networking session, tailored tours of Mobile World Congress Americas, and interactive workshops and panels.
Alongside the Mobile World Congress keynotes, summits and track sessions, attendees will have the opportunity to attend partner programmes which offer learning and sharing best practices on topics of interest. Mobile World Congress Americas will include partner events from companies such as 151 Advisors, a leading IoT advisory and execution firm, CBRS Alliance, Fierce Wireless and public charity MKF’s Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (WiSTEM) annual conference in conjuction with Mobile World Congress Americas’ first day.
4YFN: Focus on startups After four years of success at Mobile World Congress and Mobile World Congress Shanghai, the 4YFN (4 Years From Now) Startup Event will break into the Americas region this September, enabling startups, investors, corporations and public institutions to connect and launch new ventures together. This programme will feature a startup exhibition, open-stage panel discussions and pitch sessions, and networking events
“We are very excited to be launching Mobile World Congress Americas, our first large-scale event addressing North, Central and South America, with our partner CTIA,” said O’Hara. “Mobile World Congress Americas will highlight innovation in areas such as 5G and next-generation networks, IoT, and the intersection of mobile with entertainment, content and media. We’ll also look at how mobile technology is transforming entire industries, providing new levels of productivity and efficiency for enterprises in sectors from automotive to health to utilities and beyond.”
Follow developments and updates on Mobile World Congress Americas on Twitter @GSMAEvents using #MWCA17, on the LinkedIn Mobile World Congress Americas page https://www.linkedin.com/company/gsma-mobile-world-congress-americas or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/MWCAmericas/.
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