AIoT is all about connected sensors and the data they generate. This brings a lot of convenience to the everyday life. Specifically, AIoT has certain benefits for end users in the business and home space.
AIoT is all about connected sensors and the data they generate. This brings a lot of convenience to the everyday life. Specifically, AIoT has certain benefits for end users in the business and home space.
Needless to say, the Internet of Things (IoT) has become a huge phenomenon. According to Gartner, the number of IoT endpoints is expected to rise to 5.8 billion this year, a rise of 21 percent from 4.8 billion for 2019. At the same time, IoT is greatly empowered by artificial intelligence (AI), which processes and analyzes data generated by IoT devices and turns them into actionable intelligence.
This, then, brings tremendous benefits to end users from different sectors. One of them is healthcare. This is especially the case for
healthcare facilities, which can use AIoT to detect patient falls and respond in a timely manner. Another sector is
physical retail, where video cameras combined with AI-based retail analytics can help retailers obtain such information as the customer’s gender, age and preferences.
How businesses and homes can benefit
More and more, AIoT is edging into a wider range of end user entities who need data and artificial intelligence to achieve further efficiency and optimization. Meanwhile, AIoT can also make the home even smarter, allowing residents to enjoy smarter living.
Today, a lot of businesses need a way to better “visualize” data – for example which part of the building has a water leak or which part of the building has a door that is not properly shut. In this sense, NADI System has a solution that ingests data from different sensors and display them in 3D to give users better visualization.
“What we do is we create a 3D platform that connects all the IoT sensors inside our customer’s facility. When you get an alarm, an event, or you just want to see the KPIs of those sensors, you can just see it dynamically inside this operating system,” said Louis Boka, Product Director at NADI System. “In traditional systems, the standard for the past 10 years was 2D. What we found was by adding one extra spatial dimension, we can solve a lot of operational problems that they cannot handle inside a 2D space.”
According to Boka, the solutions can benefit especially data centers, airports, ports, smart cities and factories. “We're really interested in those facilities that have a high concentration of IoT sensors. We select our partners because we believe that the sensors or devices that they manufacture add value to the proposition we can offer to the customer as a group,” Boka said.
Meanwhile, homes have also become smarter thanks to AIoT, which for example turns on the light or arm the house after the resident gives a command over their smart device.
This is what’s enabled by O+ SmartTech’s E-Box, a bridge device that connects different household appliances to Google Home or HomeKit. “Almost every kind of device inside the building, we can find a way to connect it and put them into the AIoT field such as HomeKit or Google home,” said Brian Lin, CEO of O+ SmartTech Corporation.
According to him, this is one way for O+’s ecosystem partners to value up. “These suppliers offer home appliances, but they don’t have the ability to put their products into the AIoT ecosystem. If they connect with us they can easily jump into the AIoT ecosystem, so you can see their products in the HomeKit menu or Google Home menu. This way, our partners, if they join our ecosystem, can value up their products. When people consider creating a smart living space, they will consider their products if they use our solution,” Lin said.
According to Lin, O+’s customers can also use the E-Box to increase the value proposition of their projects. “Our customers are home builders and interior designers, so they are the creator. Whatever they need to create, we will help them do the job,” Lin said.
It’s interesting to see both vendors mention their ecosystem of partners. Indeed, only with the support of the ecosystem partners can the vendor add value to their products and make better sales to customers. The two vendors’ examples, then, highlight the importance of an ecosystem of partners in the age of AIoT.