Sensors, Clouds, and Booth Babes
Posted by Mike Fahrion on Wed, Jun 15, 2011 @ 02:21 PM
I visited the Sensor Expo last week in Chicago and thought I'd share a few observations.
Most importantly, man do I loathe the Stephens convention center. River Road, the parking, the broiler-temperature hike through the skywalk maze. Don't like it a bit. And I'm not just saying that because I took no less than 5 wrong turns…
Having suffered through that,
The "internet of things" bodes well for those in the sensor business, and best for those that are able to embed various sensing technologies into little bits of silicon where they make their way into an amazing number of devices.
Want to know where the future is? It doesn't take a big brain to put the patterns together at a show like that - just map the density of people and then compensate for booth-babes. This year's post-skirt-compensated model revealed three trends for the future; Wireless Sensing, Energy Harvesting and chip-level sensor technologies. Anyone working those booths made lots of new friends. Others looked a bit lonely.
Cloudy future?
"The Cloud" has been an IT buzzword for a few years now and it's now making inroads in many applications, including a number of appearances at the show. What's been interesting to watch isn't the technology (a database in the sky doesn't do it for me) but how companies are going to use and (presumably) profit from it. More interesting yet is who's succeeding and who's failing in that quest.
This is an important development for all of us interested in any kind of remote monitoring or asset management. These apps all have a common challenge of having lots of assets tucked away behind some flavor of firewall. Network infrastructures are built explicitly to deny the ability of anyone to reach in and grab data from the outside, but they can easily push data outward to a fixed location with minimal security risk. That's where "cloud" based databases and applications come in.
There's another ingredient that explains the fervor. MBA's wet themselves over the prospect of adding re-occurring revenue streams (with near 100% profit margin) and see the cloud as the yellow brick road to Emerald City. Maybe so for some, but for many that bright little path is fraught with lions, tigers and bears.
The secret ingredient is how to bring value to the customer, but in these early days I smell more solutions that look like a company trying to force fit a new revenue model. I don't see customers excited about that yet. Perhaps we haven't been well enough trained and the day will come where everyone is comfortably paying a few bucks a month to monitor our stuff. Maybe.
Apple's iCloud announcements last week drive home the state of things today, the business model and the customer value. Apple has decided that $25 per year is enough to cover the electric bill for the server farm and their reward will come in the form of increase sales of i-this and i-thats. Makes sense to me. In fact I think it's probably worth the $25 to me and I've given up resistance to the growth of more i-stuff in my own home. Apple will likely win another round in their quest to increase revenue within their existing business model and existing sandbox. Nice move.
I'll be in Ireland as you read this, participating in B&B Electronics first ever channel partner event. This is shaping up to be quite the rodeo with B&B solutions partners coming together from 20-some different countries to talk about new products and solutions that we're are able to put together in concert with our partners. It will be an exciting and energizing week with no shortage of interesting products, technologies and trends to discuss and debate.
On the product front, there are a few new developments that I can share this week - in fact the paint will barely be dry by the time you read this as these products in final production as I type.
First up is our latest-greatest line of compact, rugged Ethernet switches. This is an entire lineup of 5 and 8 port switches with great specs and wide temp options. Maybe it's wrong of me to pick a favorite, but I'm doing it anyway. Check out the little ESW105-ML. This is a tiny 5 port switch that includes a fiber port. Usually fiber options make a switch a bit, well, portly. But not this svelte little number. We used LC fiber to make what I believe is the smallest Ethernet switch with fiber on the market today. Cute as a bug, check it out
If you need to manage your Ethernet traffic, then you're ready for a move uptown into managed switches. We've got an entirely new line there as well. 5 - 16 ports, DIN and panel mount, wide temp range and other rugged options. Check them out here.
And finally, lest you think I've been neglecting our tried and true friend, the serial port, we have a nifty new line of 232 to 485 converters and isolators. Tiny form factor, rugged metal enclosure with panel mount capability and all the features and convenience you expect from the largest manufacturer of serial converters on the planet.
I expect to come home from Ireland loaded with zest and vigor (and yes, Guinness) all charged up for deep conversations and debates on the future of remote monitoring, asset management and this cloud business. Talk back to me (blog link) - I'd love to hear your thoughts on all of them!
Happy Connections,
Mike Fahrion