-  The vice-president and general manager of the Intel Internet of Things Group, Jonathan Ballon, has been charged with giving the first conference at the prestigious IoT Solutions World Congress 2016, organised by Fira de Barcelona. 

-  The adoption of IoT platforms connected to robots and AI systems; the security, interoperability and manageability of systems; and the configuration of an ecosystem of partners that offers end-to-end business solutions are just some of the big challenges that were set at the 2015 edition and will be reviewed at this year’s event. 

On 25, 26 and 27 October 2016, the Catalan capital will be hosting the second edition of the world’s biggest congress on Internet of Things technologies and processes for industrial use: IoT Solutions World Congress (IoT SWC).

The rapid evolution of emerging trends in sensors, networks and data analysis systems, along with the dizzying figures relating to the thousands of millions of ‘things’ which, according to analysts, will be connected to the internet within just a few years, is leading to the emergence of disruptive technologies that can rapidly connect IoT solutions and applications in productive environments.

To get a greater insight into the impact of the latest advances in IoT on public transport, energy distribution, health, logistics in industrial processes, the business universe, the transformation of factories thanks to AI, the security of sensors and networks and the latest advances in Big Data and data analysis, amongst other topics, this year’s event will feature some 120 global leaders from the top ICT companies and the key players in setting trends to address the avant-garde technological solutions that are giving rise to the dawn of a new era of economic growth and business competitiveness.

In this context, the Intel Corporation has announced its participation for the second time in the annual IoT SWC 2016, organised by Fira de Barcelona in collaboration with the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), which in just two years has become the global point of reference for the IoT industry.

In his presentation entitled 'IoT: from Fiction to Fact', on 25 October 2016, at the Gran Vía Exhibition Centre in Hospitalet de Llobregat (Barcelona), at 14:30 (Room 6, Auditorium), the vice-president and general manager of the Intel Internet of Things Group, Jonathan Ballon, will discuss the current scenario of achievements that have made it possible for IoT to become an invaluable reality in many sectors of the economy, as well as the vision of the world’s microprocessor industry leader of the IoT ecosystem and some of the initiatives in which it is currently immersed.

The expert underlines the fact that companies and organisations of every type have been compiling and storing data for years, ‘but it was not until the advent of analytic technologies and Big Data that new horizons opened up for transforming huge volumes of data into efficient solutions for businesses, optimising processes and improving the user experience,’ notes Ballon.

In his keynote address this year at IoT SWC 2016, the vice-president and general manager of the Intel Internet of Things Group will highlight the tremendous progress that the IoT has achieved in various sectors of industry; a fact reflected in the deployment of scalable Internet of Things platforms applied to specific solutions which, generally speaking, companies tend to concentrate on one or two aspects. ‘Before starting to connect something that was previously unconnected, and accessing valuable information following its passage through analytic systems – often for the first time – companies need to look at adopting smart interconnected systems to their IoT network. This possibility is now achievable based on cloud software solutions that enable platforms to connect with autonomous robots,’ explains Jonathan Ballon.

Lessons learned from the IoT SWC 2015

Ballon highlighted four aspects that were discussed at the 2015 event whose rapid evolution – in the space of just 12 months – will have a strong impact in the field of industrial IoT: ‘The first lesson learned from last year’s event concerns the huge volumes of data that companies already possess and understanding the information to which they have access. The second relates to aspects of vital importance to the IoT such as the security, interoperability and manageability of these systems. Thirdly, I would highlight the human aspect and something that companies frequently tend to underestimate, which is cultural change and the computer skills that are necessary when it comes to adopting an IoT system.’ Running on from these three categories, the fourth lesson learned from the last edition of IoT SWC, according to Ballon, is the challenge involved in creating an IoT ecosystem, the associations necessary at a technological level to achieve new components geared towards business models, and new end-to-end solutions for companies.

Since its inception, Intel has followed a consistent path in transforming inefficient, fragmented, proprietary and unworkable vertical markets into well-structured, horizontal, scalable and open economic sectors, amply demonstrated in areas related to PCs, laptops, workstations, servers and storage systems. At present, Intel is devoting significant efforts and resources into transforming IoT-related technology into open, cohesive elements and processes. In terms of technology, Intel is not only concentrating on the interconnection of devices and sensors but also on securitizing connectivity in the whole infrastructure: from the device through to the data centre via the network.