IoT: Reaching new levels of maturity
Tue 27 Feb 2018 | Del Alibocus
Affordable costs. Efficient business solutions. Considerable progress. John Bensalhia speaks to Del Alibocus, Head of IoT at O2 Telefónica, about Smart IoT’s coming of age in the 21st century
From the lush green fields of the farm to the modern comforts of the smart home, the potential for using smart IoT today is massive. Whether used by businesses or individuals, innovation and development of IoT has come on leaps and bounds in recent times.
Talking about the value on return of IoT projects at Smart IoT London 2018 is O2 Telefónica’s Head of IoT, Del Alibocus. “I will be talking about the importance of working with the right partners for understanding, building and deployment of solutions – alongside the necessity to find partners who will fully support throughout the customers IoT journey that we provide for our customers, as well as the support that we offer.”
Coming from an engineering background (including a spell in the Army doing engineering work), Alibocus knew that his future career would be involved in the sector. “I have always had an interest in engineering, and I have also followed IoT with interest, especially its evolution. Since the dawn of the 21st century, the way in which we collect data and the way in which customers can gain from IoT has progressed considerably.”
Having lived in Sweden for 13 years, Alibocus’ eyes had been opened to the potential for automated technology. “Where I lived in Sweden, people relied on automation due to the geographical disposition. If there were any problems, then automation was a key way of solving them, and it was also done in an easy way with a lot of innovative ideas, such as coming up with socially aware, sustainable solutions.”
There has been a notable upswing in the usage of IoT by businesses and individual customers
“A lot of what we do actually relates to that, such as O2 Smart Vehicle, which is an efficient and highly effective way for businesses to manage their fleet while also keeping the carbon footprint down.”
As the Head of IoT, his tasks include working with product management, marketing solutions, and providing dedicated customer support. That customer support is very much the cornerstone of O2 Telefonica’s mission. “We work with our customers to offer them the best service,” explains Del. “It’s very much about understanding what the customers want and then coming up with ways of meeting their needs.”
Tangible reality
IoT has come of age, reaching new levels of popularity and maturity. Alibocus points out that there has been a notable upswing in the usage of IoT by businesses and individual customers since the year 2000. “Today, IoT is a tangible reality for customers. We are seeing a lot more IoT devices on the market, and in fact, today, there are more IoT devices than there are phones, which gives you an insight into how quickly the market has grown. Compare today’s popularity with the year 2000 when this was a very niche, high-cost implementation.”
Alibocus explains that a whole new range of possibilities in the IoT world has opened up on a number of counts: The wider range of technology available. Better, longer-lasting battery life. Lower costs.
With such exciting developments and uses for today’s IoT, future growth is guaranteed
Developments in areas such as LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network) which allows long-range communications at a low bit rate, allowing businesses to link data sources across their estates. “We can deploy devices in the middle of nowhere if that’s what our customers require,” says Alibocus. “The data can then go through with good connectivity and easy operation.” With the added bonus of providing such solutions at a lower cost for customers, it’s little wonder that the last 12 to 18 months have seen a considerable increase in the demand for IoT solutions. “We offer a full, turnkey solution that gives customers the required data that can be customised and manipulated to drive business efficiency.”
Additionally, the problem of security is being managed by O2 Telefónica, as he explains: “We are working on a secure environment for the cloud to ensure integrity for all systems.”
Because of the increased productivity and capabilities of today’s IoT systems, businesses can benefit greatly.”We are seeing more intelligent IoT systems,” says Alibocus. “There’s a level of intelligence in aspects such as voice commands or alerts that companies can use to further improve efficiency. There has been an overall evolution in the variety of IoT systems available to customers.”
That variety has also extended to the kinds of customers to benefit from IoT. It isn’t just a key tool in the traditional office, it can be used, for example in the farming industry. “Tagged animals can be monitored for any potential problems such as high temperatures and irregular blood levels.
“If there’s anything wrong with the animals, then the vet can be called out earlier and the symptoms can be detected sooner.”
With such exciting developments and uses for today’s IoT, future growth is guaranteed. “We are providing fully secure, efficient, value for money solutions for our customers,” concludes Alibocus. “The future holds considerable promise. Overall, these are very exciting times for IoT.”
Del Alibocus will be speaking at the forthcoming Smart IoT London, which takes place on 21st and 22nd March 2018 at London’s ExCeL Centre. To hear from Del and other experts from around the world, register today for your FREE ticket.
