New Service-provider and Business-model Disruption in the IIoT
Together with the IIoT applications they support, these two platform elements (CDPs and AEPs)
constitute the end-to-end IIoT application stack.
Several IIoT applications may share infrastructure components such as communications
networks, data centers and cloud computing services. This is the commercial model for many IIoT
service providers which support tens or hundreds of enterprise customers and their individual,
silo applications.
2.1
What Characterizes Future IIoT Systems?
Future IIoT applications and systems will extend the boundaries of these silo approaches. The
one-dimensional IIoT stack will evolve orthogonally to support interoperability. Not only does
this add value 9 to individual applications, it is also the basis for innovative, cross-silo
opportunities.
The following illustration shows a simple scenario of two separate testbed environments, each
supporting two IIoT applications comprising application logic (App #n) and associated connected
devices.
Figure 1: Vertical and horizontal dimensions of IIoT solutions
In the absence of custom designs or systems-integration shortcuts, there is no scope for silo
applications to cooperate. This means that sensors from one application are inaccessible to other
applications. In the accompanying illustration, App #1 may technically be able to communicate
with devices associated with App #2 and certainly not with App #3 or #4 or their respective
devices.
9 The Internet of Things: Mapping the Value Beyond the Hype, McKinsey Global Institute (June 2015)
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