Transcript of a discussion on how new breeds of Internet of Things capabilities help telecommunications services providers manage complex edge and data scenarios.

1. How IoT Capabilities Open New
Doors for Miami Telecoms Platform
Provider Identidad
Transcript of a discussion on how new breeds of Internet of Things capabilities help
telecommunications services providers manage complex edge and data scenarios.
Listen to the podcast. Find it on iTunes. Get the mobile app. Download the
transcript. Sponsor: Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Dana Gardner: Welcome to the next edition of the BriefingsDirect Voice of the Customer
podcast series. I’m Dana Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions, your host
and moderator for this ongoing discussion on digital transformation success. Stay with
us now to learn how agile businesses are fending off disruption -- in favor of innovation.
Our next Internet of Things (IoT) strategies insights interview focuses on how a Miami
telecommunications products provider has developed new breeds of services to help
manage complex edge and data scenarios. We will now learn how IoT platforms and
services help to improve network services, operations, and business goals for carriers
and end users alike.
Here to help us learn what is needed to build out an efficient IoT support business is
Andres Sanchez, CEO of Identidad IoT in Miami. Welcome.
Andres Sanchez: Thank you, Dana. Thank you for inviting
me.
Gardner: How has your business changed in the telecoms
support industry and why is IoT such a big opportunity for
you?
Sanchez: With the new OTT (Over the Top content)
technology, and the way that it came into the picture and
took part of the whole communications chain of business,
the business is basically getting very tough in telecoms.
When we begin evaluating what IoT can do and seeing the
possibilities, this is a new wave. We understand that it's not
about connectivity, it's not about the 10 percent of the value
chain -- it's more about the solutions.
We saw a very good opportunity to start something new and to take the experience we
have with the technology that we have in telecoms, and get new people, get new
developers, and start building solutions, and that's what we are doing right now.
Gardner: So as the voice-telecoms business trails off, there is a new opportunity at the
edge for data and networks to extend for a variety of use cases. What are some the use
cases that you are seeing now in IoT that is a growth opportunity for your business?
Sanchez

2. Get the data, then use the data
Sanchez: IoT is everywhere. The beauty of IoT is that you can find solutions
everywhere you look. What we have found is that when people think about IoT, they
think about connected home, they think about connected car, or the smart parking where
it's just a green or red light when the parking is occupied or not. But IoT is more than
that.
There are two ways to generate revenue in IoT. One is by having new products. The
second is understanding what it is on the operational level that we can do better. And it’s
in this way that we are putting in sensors, measuring things, and analyzing things. You
can basically reduce your operational cost, or be more effective in the way that you are
doing business. It's not only getting the information, it's using that information to
automate processes that it will make your company better.
Gardner: As organizations recognize that there are new technologies coming in that are
enabling this smart edge, smart network, what is it that’s preventing them from being
able to take advantage of this?
Sanchez: Companies think that they just have to connect the sensors, that they only
have to digitize their information. They haven’t realized that they really have to go
through a digital transformation. It's not about connecting the sensors that are already
there; it's building a solution using that information. They have to reorganize and to
reinvent their organizations.
For example, it's not about taking a sensor, putting the sensor in the machine and just
start taking information and watching it on a screen. It’s taking the information and being
able to see and check special patterns, to predict when a machine is going to break,
when a machine at certain temperatures starts to work better or worse. It's being able to
be more productive without having to do more work. It’s just letting the machines do the
work by themselves.
Gardner: A big part of that is bringing more of an IT mentality to the edge, creating a
standard network and standard platforms that can take advantage of the underlying
technologies that are now off-the-shelf.
Sanchez: Definitely. The approach that Identidad IoT takes is we are not building
solutions based on what we think is good for the customer. What we are doing is building
proof of concepts (PoCs) and tailored solutions for companies that need digital
transformation.
I don’t think there are two companies doing the same thing that have the same
problems. One manufacturer may have one problem, and another manufacturer using
the same technology has another completely different problem. So the approach we are
taking is that we generate a PoC, check exactly what the problems are, and then
develop that application and solution.
Manage your solutions
with the HPE
Universal IoT Platform

3. But it's important to understand that IoT is not an IT
thing. When we go to a customer, we don’t just go to an
IT person, we go to the CEO, because this is a change
of mentality. This is not just a change of process. This is
not purely putting in new software. This is trying to
solve a problem when you may not even know the
problem is there. It's really digital transformation.
Gardner: Where is this being successful? Where are
you finding that people really understand it and are
willing to take the leap, change their culture, rethink
things to gain advantages?
One solution at a time
Sanchez: Unfortunately, people are afraid of what is coming, because people don't
understand what IoT is, and everybody thinks it's really complicated. It does need
expertise. It does need to have security -- that is a very big topic right now. But it's not
impossible.
When we approach a company and that CEO, CIO or CTO understands that the benefits
of IoT will be shown once you have that solution built -- and that probably the initial
solution is not going to be the final solution, but it's going to be based on iterations --
that’s when it starts working.
If people think it’s just an out-of-the-box solution, it's not going to work. That's the
challenge we are having right now. The opportunity is when the head of the company
understands that they need to go through a digital transformation.
Gardner: When you work with a partner like Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), they
have made big investments and developments in edge computing, such as Universal IoT
Platform and Edgeline Systems. How does that help you as a solutions provider make
that difficult transition for your customers easier, and encourage them to understand that
it's not impossible, that there are a lot of solutions already designed for their needs?
Sanchez: Our relationship with HPE has been a huge success for Identidad IoT. When
we started looking at platforms, when we started this company, we couldn't find the right
platform to fulfill our needs. We were looking for a platform that we could build solutions
on and then extrapolate that data with other data, and build other solutions over those
solutions.
When we approached HPE, we saw that they do have a unique platform that allows us
to generate whatever applications, for whatever verticals, for whatever organizations –
Manage your solutions
with the HPE
Universal IoT Platform
This is not just a
change of process.
This is not purely
putting in new
software. This is trying
to solve a problem
when you may not
even know the problem
is there. It’s really
digital transformation.

4. whether a city or company. Even if you wanted to create a product just for end-users,
they have the ability to do it.
Also, it's a platform that is so robust that you know it’s going to work, it’s reliable, and it’s
very secure. You can build security from the device right on up to the platform and the
applications. Other platforms, they don't have that.
Our business model correlates a lot with the HPE
business model. We think that IoT is about
relationships and partnerships -- it’s about an
ecosystem. The approach that HPE has to IoT and
to ecosystem is exactly the same approach that we
have. They are building this big ecosystem of
partners. They are helping each other to build
relationships and in that way, they build a better and more robust platform.
Gardner: For companies and network providers looking to take advantage of IoT, what
would you suggest that they do in preparation? Is there a typical on-ramp to an IoT
project?
A leap of faith
Sanchez: There's no time to be prepared right now. I think they have to take a leap of
faith and start building the IoT applications. The pace of the technology transformation is
incredible.
When you see the technology right now, today -- probably in four months it's going to be
obsolete. You are going to have even better technology, a better sensor. So if you wait --
most likely the competition is not going to wait and they will have a very big advantage.
Our approach at Identidad IoT is about platform-as-a-service (PaaS). We are helping
companies take that leap without having to create very big financial struggles. And the
companies will know that by our using the HPE platform, they are using the state-of-the-
art platform. They are not using just a mom-and pop-platform built in a garage. It's a
robust PaaS -- so why not to take that leap of faith and start building it? Now is the time.
Gardner: Once you pick up that success, perhaps via a PoC, that gives you ammunition
to show economic and productivity benefits that then would lead to even more
investment. It seems like there is a virtuous adaption cycle potential here.
Sanchez: Definitely! Once we start a new solution, usually the people who are seeing
that solution, they start seeing things that they are not used to seeing. They can pinpoint
problems that they have been having for years – but they didn't understand why.
For example, there's one manufacturer of T-shirts in Colombia. They were having issues
with one specific machine. That machine used to break after two or three weeks. There
was just this small piece that was broken. When we installed the sensor and we started
gathering their information, after two or three breaks, we understood that it was not the
amount of work -- it was the temperature at which the machine was working.
So what they did is once the temperature reached a certain point, we automatically
started some fans to normalize the temperature, and then they haven't had any broken
We think that IoT is about
relationships and
partnerships -- it’s about
an ecosystem.

5. pieces for months. It was a simple solution, but it took a lot of study and gathering of
information to be able to understand that break point -- and that's the beauty of IoT.
Gardner: It's data-driven, it's empirical, it’s understood, but you can't know what you
don't know until you start measuring things, right?
Listen to things
Sanchez: Exactly! I always say that the “things” are trying to say something, and we
are not listening. IoT enables the people, the companies, and the organization to start
listening to the things, and not only to start listening, but to make the things to work for
us. We need the applications to be able to trigger something to fix the problem without
any human intervention -- and that's also the beauty of IoT.
Gardner: And that IoT philosophy even extends to healthcare, manufacturing,
transportation, any place where you have complexity, it is pertinent.
Sanchez: Yes, the solution for IoT is everywhere. You can think about healthcare or
tracking people or tracking guns or building solutions for cities in which the city can
understand what is triggering certain pollution levels that they can fix. Or it can be in
manufacturing, or even a small thing like finding your cellphone.
It’s everything that you can measure. Everything that you can put a sensor on, you can
measure -- that's IoT. The idea is that IoT will help people live better lives without having
to take care of the “thing;” things will have to take care of themselves.
Gardner: You seem quite confident that this is a growth industry. You are betting a
significant amount of your future growth on it. How do you see it increasing over the next
couple of years? Is this a modest change or do you really see some potential for a much
larger market?
Sanchez: That's a really good question. I do see that
IoT is the next wave of technology.We think that IoT is
about relationships and partnerships -- it’s about an
ecosystem. There are several studies that say that by
2020 there are going to be 50 billion devices
connected. I am not that futuristic, but I do see that IoT
will start working now and probably within the next two
or three years we are going to start seeing an
incremental growth of the solutions. Once people understand the capability of IoT,
there's going to be an explosion of solutions. And I think the moment to start doing it is
now. I think that next year it’s going to be too late.
Gardner: I’m afraid we’ll have to leave it there. We have been exploring how a Miami
telecoms products provider has developed new breeds of IoT services to help manage
Manage your solutions
with the HPE
Universal IoT Platform
Once people
understand the
capability of IoT, there's
going to be an
explosion of solutions.

6. complex edge and data scenarios. And we have learned how IoT platforms and services
can help improve network efficiency across a variety of vertical industries and
businesses.
So please join me now in thanking Andres Sanchez, CEO of Identidad IoT in Miami.
Sanchez Thank you very much.
Gardner: And a big thank you to our audience as well for joining us for this
BriefingsDirect Voice of the Customer digital transformation success story. I’m Dana
Gardner, Principal Analyst at Interarbor Solutions, your host for this ongoing series of
Hewlett Packard Enterprise-sponsored interviews.
Thanks again for listening. Feel free to pass this on to your IT cohorts, and do come
back next time.
Listen to the podcast. Find it on iTunes. Get the mobile app. Download the
transcript. Sponsor: Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Transcript of a discussion on how new breeds of Internet of Things capabilities help
telecommunications services providers manage complex edge and data scenarios.
Copyright Interarbor Solutions, LLC, 2005-2017. All rights reserved.
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