The CP List: 20 IoT Solution Providers You Should Know

Being a successful IoT solution provider means having a long-term solution with a solid platform and cutting-edge security.

WTG’s Julie Dzubay

The combined markets of IoT will grow to about $520 billion in 2021, more than double the $235 billion spent in 2017, according to Bain. And as IoT-based attacks mount, Gartner predicts global spending on IoT security will reach $1.5 billion in 2018, a 28 percent increase from 2017 spending of $1.2 billion.

Industry experts and members of the Channel Partners Editorial Advisory Board shared their views with us on what it now takes to succeed in IoT.

Julie Dzubay, WTG‘s vice president of sales operations and editorial advisory board member, said a successful, cutting-edge IoT solution provider offers a service that allows the customer to recognize the benefits of the solution easily.

“The challenge in the IoT space is having a solution that can easily tie into an overall technology design,” she said. “Creative companies are bringing solutions to market that solve a need. The challenge providers are facing is that the unique requirements for each customer require a professional installation situation due to network requirements, components, sensors, data analysis, artificial intelligence (AI), integration, compliance, security, visibility and reporting that are making it expensive and difficult to scale.”

Ingram Micro’s Jon Tonthat

While offering a single component of a complete IoT solution might be easier for a provider, this requires the customer to work with several vendors and manage the integration of the services, Dzubay said. Customers want to work with fewer vendors and focus on those that can provide a complete offering and view of their business, she said.

John Tonthat, Ingram Micro executive director and editorial advisory board member, said a successful IoT provider has expertise with both operational technology as well as IT, and has a strong analytics competency, from data ingestion, to outcome decision support.

“In an interest to simplify IoT go to market (GTM), many vendors are approaching the market with kits or prevalidated reference architecture solutions,” he said. “While this is very helpful, it doesn’t address the deep industry knowledge required to deploy an outcome-based solution.”

TBI’s Bryan Reynolds

Bryan Reynolds, TBI’s director of post sales, said when choosing an IoT provider, one primary question should be scalability. Requirements change, sometimes quickly, and a long-term solution is necessary for return on investment (ROI).

Also, providers should have the ability to incorporate existing applications/processes into the new platform, he said.

“An IoT provider should offer not only the platform [as a service], but also the whole IoT solution,” Reynolds said.

Based on feedback from industry experts, editorial advisory board members and recent news reports, we’ve compiled a list, in alphabetical order, of 20 IoT solution providers that are making the most of the current competitive landscape and charting success.

Altaworx

Altaworx is an IoT connectivity provider and works with more than 300 clients ranging from small businesses to municipalities and universities. Its newest offering is the IoT Billing Incubator, a cloud-based billing platform for recurring and non-recurring billing that allows businesses to monetize their IoT product and get it to market quickly.

Atomiton

Tonthat said Atomiton is an example of a successful and cutting-edge IoT solutions provider. Its industrial IoT operating stack is supplying offerings globally in oil and gas, smart cities, energy and utilities, construction, chemical processing and manufacturing.

An effective IoT offering is “one that can deliver the financial outcome of cost savings, efficiencies, etc., or one that ultimately improves customer experience and increases sales,” Tonthat said.

(continued on next page)