PTC and Foundries.io Find Their Internet of Things Niches

As the Internet of Thing (IoT) and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) space continues to grow, companies that make applications for the connected platform continue to expand offerings, announce new products, and find success within the IoT market.

This news comes as research firm Gartner finds that companies spent about $235 billion on the Internet of Things in 2016, with 6.4 billion devices in the field. By 2020 Gartner forecasts that there will be nearly 21 billion devices deployed in a wide array of industries from agriculture to utilities.

One of the newest companies to enter the IoT space, Foundries.io., of Cambridge, England, announced this week it has emerged from two years in stealth mode. The company offers a commercially available, continuously updated Linux and Zephyr micro-platform for the embedded, IoT, edge, and automotive markets. The platforms are designed to mitigate and reverse the fragmentation across the IoT, according George Grey, Foundries.io chief executive officer.

The platforms are minimal, secure, over-the-air updatable software platforms that include firmware, kernel, services and applications, delivered continuously from initial product design to end-of-life. Benefits include faster time-to-market for products across a wide range of IoT connected devices, built-in support for software and hardware security solutions, updates for security fixes and new features, and lower product development and lifetime support costs, Grey said.

The technology allows devices from light bulbs to connected cars to always be secure and updated to the latest available firmware, operating system and applications, he added.

Product lifetime maintenance for security updates, bug fixes, and new features–from firmware to the end application–are built into the products, meaning device makers no longer need to create and support a custom software build for every product. The Foundries.io business model is subscription-based and does not include per unit fees, meaning device makers are not “penalized” by the success of their products, Grey said.

“Today’s connected devices require modern software and secure update techniques,” Grey said. “Rather than legacy-software builds being maintained for product lifetimes that can reach 10 years or more, the micro-platforms are built from the ground up to enable product manufacturers to immediately deploy the latest security updates, bug fixes, and new features to their customers, ensuring the safety of the Internet of Things and the security of data throughout the network.”

Meanwhile, PTC of Needham, Mass., recently announced Forrester Research has named the software company a leader in the Industrial IoT software platforms market for its ThingWorx Industrial Innovation Platform.

In the Forrester evaluation, entitled “The Forrester Wave: Industrial IoT Software Platforms, Q3 2018,” PTC was the among the top five highest ranked in the current offering category and among the top four in the strategy category, said Iain Michel, general manager, ThingWorx business unit, PTC.

Forrester evaluated the current offering, strategy, and market presence of PTC and 14 other vendors. Each company was evaluated according to a comprehensive set of 24 criteria, grouped into three categories: current offering, strategy, and market presence. Participating vendors all had a significant focus on the industrial domain, Michel noted.

Regarding PTC’s standing in the evaluation, Forrester notes: “PTC fuses device connectivity strength with augmented reality vision … and the company offers rich capabilities spanning design, manufacture, service, and operations, combining these in accessible end-user applications.”

ThingWorx is comprised of a rapid application development platform, connectivity, machine learning capabilities, augmented reality, and integration with leading device clouds. These capabilities combine to deliver a comprehensive IoT technology stack that enables customers to connect assets, create applications and experiences, and find new ways to capture value, Michel said.

More than 1,000 companies now use the ThingWorx platform to support their IoT strategies, he added.

Look for many more players in the IoT and connected space as that space continues to grow and develop in accordance with Gartner’s projections.