22 IoT Now - October 2017

Saverio Romeo: Bernd, tell us how you see thecurrent Internet of Things market status.

Bernd Gross: The market is moving decisivelytowards an informed understanding of thepotential of IoT solutions. Therefore, we start tosee solid and strategic investment in the Internetof Things. We are in front of very complexprojects because of their strategic nature, butalso because of their size and their sophistication.For example, we are working on projectsinvolving more than 100,000 machines. And, theproject does not only aim to monitor thesemachines, but to run sophisticated activities suchas predictive maintenance of those machines.Bear in mind, 100,000 machines is just thebeginning. The project is moving towards a globalroll-out, which will involve a larger number ofmachines. Our customer portfolio in the IndustrialInternet is becoming extensive with projects forcompanies such as Gardner Denver, Pfannenberg,Tünkers and Hubtex.

SR: Do you see this level of maturity acrosssectors?

BG: The industrial and manufacturing sectors arestrongly embracing the objectives and the visionof the Industrial Internet, or Internet 4.0 as usedin Germany. And, if we take into consideration thecomplexity of manufacturing processes, it isencouraging to see a deep level of involvement ofcompanies in IIoT projects. However, there areother sectors showing similar maturity. Telematicsis one of those. We are working with leadingtelematics players such as Octo Telematics. Octohas been a key protagonist in segments such asusage based insurance (UBI) and its journey hasbeen extraordinary, moving from in-houseplatform solutions to collaboration withCumulocity because of the growth it isexperiencing. There are interesting developmentsin the energy sector and in smart cities.Cumulocity is involved in smart city projects inEstonia and Australia. However, the speed ofdevelopment is not as fast as in the IndustrialInternet because of the types of stakeholdersinvolved and their business models. And, finally,retail is also increasing IoT adoption. But, we donot see the same sophistication in retail projectsthat we see in manufacturing. The retail projects

The summer break is behind us. With a rested mind, we want to reflect on the status of the Internet ofThings (IoT). There are many factors affecting the market place. On the technological side, continuous

developments excite supply and demand: the return of relevance of connectivity forms with LPWANand 5G, the evolution and sophistication of platform services, the questions on the relationships

between IoT and robotics and IoT and artificial intelligence (AI). On the business side, there is anincreasing attention from the demand side, the so-called IoT adopters, in understanding the objectivesand the implications of IoT solutions and the technological, social, and regulatory environments within

which IoT solutions are developed. To explore all that, Saverio Romeo, the principal analyst atBeecham Research, spoke to Bernd Gross, the chief executive of Cumulocity, which is now part ofSoftware AG. He is an influential protagonist in the IoT market and shares his view on how the IoT

vision is becoming reality as well as how Cumulocity fits into the IoT landscape

Continuous innovation is atthe core of development

for the IoT vision

INTERVIEW

IN ASSOCIATION WITH CUMULOCITY

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23IoT Now - October 2017

seem to be more point solution driven rather thanholistic looking at the entire operations andprocesses.

SR: A large portion of your examples arerelated to the enterprise world, what do youthink about the consumer IoT?

BG: The consumer IoT segment is also becomingmore promising than it was in the past. We haveseveral projects in the space. An interesting one Iwould like to share regards the connected bikesegment. We collaborate with Winora Group tocreate the next generation of e-bikes. The projectis not just about enabling the monitoring andcontrol of the location of bikes, but, it includesother important features such as an emergencycall system that is particularly useful in ruralareas. In the context of this project, it is importantto highlight that Winora Group is a very well-known bike brand, which has produced bikes fordifferent needs and tastes for the last 95 years.The group invests strongly in innovation throughtheir subsidiaries such as Haibike, Sinus and XLC.Another successful project has been with

Trackerando, a consumer product deliverycompany. They use a Cumulocity platform forenhancing consumers’ experience in online andmobile tracking.

SR: From your words, we are in front of agrowing wave of Internet of Things activity.Cumulocity is riding this wave in a new form,as part of Software AG. What does being withSoftware AG mean and what are the objectives?

BG: Since the market emphasis on the IoT visionstarted five years ago, Cumulocity has been thereoffering a reliable and scalable platform solution.Through those years, we have grownsubstantially in terms of customer base andgeographic footprint. However, it was clear thatto move to the next step, the next step being atruly global player, we needed a partner with aglobal remit. The internationalisation ofCumulocity was our strategic task. However, wewanted to execute that task without beingabsorbed into a large enterprise. We wanted anorganisation able to give us the right focus for aglobal growth, but, open and flexible enough to ▼

Bernd Gross:Industrial andmanufacturing sectorsare stronglyembracing theobjectives and thevision of the IndustrialInternet

Since the marketemphasis on theIoT vision startedfive years ago,Cumulocity hasbeen thereoffering areliable andscalable platformsolution

24 IoT Now - October 2017

enable us to proceed along our technological andstrategic path. Software AG was the perfect fit.Software AG has 46 years experience in software,operating in 70 countries and with the right openand flexible approach for us. With Software AG,we are becoming a truly global IoT platformvendor.

SR: Has being part of Software AG impactedyour customer base?

BG: We have been together since April 2017 soit’s probably a bit too early to run an assessment.But, we are seeing already a strong effect on us.That is not only about the number of customers,but, particularly, the size of our customer baselocated in different parts of the world. Mobilenetwork operators from all over the world areusing our platform from Deutsche Telekom andTelia in Europe to NTT in Japan, Telstra inAustralia, and Etisalat in UAE. We have largecustomers such as Lyreco, MicroTechnology, andPayPal. Being with Software AG has alsoexpanded our ecosystem of partnerships andinvolved us in new collaboration such as thenewly announced ADAMOS.

SR: Which changes do you see in terms ofproduct and service proposition?

BG: The potential of bringing togetherCumulocity platform services and Software AGcapabilities is enormous. The propositionexpands in critical areas for enterprises such as

enterprise integration tools, processmanagement, and artificial intelligence. In fact,Cumulocity IoT is our new IoT offering. It is notjust about platform services. It brings togetherseveral services from the cloud until the edge.

SR: Staying on the topic of IoT platforms, thereare several organisations offering platforms orclaiming to offer those, which are the keydifferentiating elements of the Cumulocityplatform?

BG: We have a strong commitment to innovatingour platform. We have a strict approach to newreleases. We actively invest in updating existingservices and offering new ones. Consequently, webelieve that Cumulocity offers a very reliable,scalable, and innovative platform. We offercapabilities that are not often seen in the marketplace. I wanted to highlight one: multi-tenantarchitecture. In some cases, multi-tenancy is usedto describe multi-user access to platforms whichpresent an intuitive UI to users and for multi-usermanagement. However, this is just part of a multi-tenant architecture. Cumulocity offers multi-clientarchitecture at database level. The data can bestored by customers completely separated at thedatabase level. This ensures a strong level of datasecurity. This aspect is becoming especiallyrelevant in the Industrial Internet, in which thedata volumes are growing continuously and indiverse ways. Following this, Cumulocity alsooffers a very flexible and expandable data sharingconcept. This is important in the Industrial ▼

INTERVIEW

We have a strongcommitment toinnovating our

platform. Wehave a strict

approach to newreleases

25IoT Now - October 2017

Internet because applications require interactionsbetween a variety of partners and stakeholdersas in the case of the supply chain.

SR: What other platform services are importantin the Industrial Internet?

BG: In Industrial Internet, development anddeployment speed is crucial. If a projectimplementation takes too long, that can bedisruptive for the company because the projectsobjectives can collide against new marketconditions and company’s strategic goals. Toavoid that, agility is essential. It is then importantto launch a pilot project to have a MinimumViable Product (MVP) as a proof of concept onwhich develop further. Agile methodologies areuseful for that process. Tools such as DesignThinking, Lean Startup and Scrum are all veryuseful for the Industrial IoT.

Another essential element for the Industrial IoT isproviding companies with edge computingservices to build distributed architecture. Thecloud is fundamental, but, not all applications canbe realized in the cloud due to specific contextneeds, which require stringent conditions onlatency. Applications that require real-timemonitoring and control require a certain degreeof edge computing and edge analytics. This canhappen through IoT gateways that gather datafrom the edge devices, execute initial analyticsand transfer data to the cloud reducing thetransferred volume. Cumulocity Edge provides all

these features offering a continuum with cloudservices. Our open approach also enablesCumulocity to integrate edge computing andedge analytics features from third parties.

SR: Cumulocity is involved in some veryimportant alliances such as EdgeX Foundry.Through Software AG, Cumulocity is now partof ADAMOS. What is ADOMOS and what are theobjectives?

BG: ADAMOS stands for ADAptive ManufacturingOpen Solutions. It is a strategic alliance bringingtogether DMG Mori, Dürr, Software AG and Zeissas well as ASM PT. The alliance wants to becomea point of reference for machine builders and theentire machinery business ecosystem. The overallobjective is to enable the middle-sized companies,either involved in niche machinery markets orworking around large machinery enterprises, tofully embrace the digital transformation processthrough the Industrial IoT vision. ADAMOS thenbecomes a tool for machinery companies to offertried and tested solutions for digitally networkedproduction to their customers. And, our role isfundamental. ADAMOS revolves around four keypillars: ADAMOS Partnership, ADAMOS AppFactory Alliance, Digital Marketplace, and theADAMOS IIoT Platform. The ADAMOS IIoTPlatform is based on the Cumulocity platform.Our services will enable the journey of severalmiddle-sized machinery companies in theIndustrial Internet.

In IndustrialInternet,development anddeploymentspeed is crucial.If a projectimplementationtakes too long,that can bedisruptive

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