Mirian Martínez Varas

More than 40,000 million devices connected in 2023. This is the data, according to a report by Business Insider, under which the IoT Solutions World Congress was held at the Fira de Barcelona, between October 16 and 18. The event has already become an essential appointment worldwide that connects large IoT providers with industry members. With more than 300 exhibitors, the fourth edition of IoTSWC has shown visitors the latest innovations in digital transformation that this industry offers. They have already been established as a great help to increase productivity and offer better services. Connected transport, healthcare, energy, construction and infrastructure, open industry, manufacturing and IoT facilitating technologies have been the protagonists of the event. IoT is a reality Telefónica has taken advantage of its presence in the IoTSWC to show its wide range of IoT products and solutions, as well as its innovation plans around this disruptive technology. A fundamental element of these solutions is Kite Platform, Telefónica's managed IoT connectivity platform. In addition to managing all IoT connectivity, including NBIoT and LTE-M, it provides transparency, security, analytics and self-management of all the IoT devices and products of the client. With it you can develop the IoT verticals, either B2B: (Mobility, Retail, Energy, Industry and Smart Cities) or B2C solutions. Together with Kite Platform, Telefónica offers the essential tools to develop all its capabilities: devices integrated with the solutions, the best IoT connectivity, integration with IoT cloud players and end-to-end security from the design phase. In line with the concept "Take things further", Telefónica has shown its commitment to continue innovating in a quick way, adapting to changes and offering customers solutions with the most advanced technology. In this sense, we always seek to keep the customer at the center of the design process, be it a business client or a residential customer. This spirit of solving the needs of our customers with the help of technology is in the very DNA of Telefónica's IoT proposal. As an example of this, it has displayed demonstrations related to Blockchain, antifire drones or the IoT Activationprogram, which offers a toolkit with key elements for validation by startups of different verticals of IoT technologies, including specialized devices for prototyping, LPWA IoT connectivity, exclusive access to the validation laboratory and all the support of the specialized equipment of Telefónica. At the Telefónica stand, visitors to the IoTSWC have also been able to witness solutions in areas such as mobility, energy efficiency, retail or IoT security. Likewise, a virtual reality experience has been offered (in collaboration with Altran) and devices such as a sound level meter, an intelligent coffee machine and a connected bicycle have been exhibited as examples of high performance applications for sports. IoT is now a reality and the success of the IoT Solutions World Congress proves it. Connectivity providers, software developers, hardware manufacturers, reference companies in different sectors or technological influencers know their potential to transform the economy. As described in the panel "Enabling IoT", presented by Carlos Carazo, Global Director of Technology IoT of Telefónica, together with executives of ENGIDI, SUBEX and FICOSA, IoT is experiencing a perfect storm, a concurrence of different factors (ecosystem of devices, connectivity, information analytics, security, etc.) that in the short term will produce an exponential effect in terms of adoption, massification and transformational impact in different industries. Innovation is the way forward to take advantage of the wide range of possibilities it offers us.

The technological revolution in which we live immersed has transformed, not only our daily lives, but the activities of all sectors of society. It is not necessary to go far to discover that the digitalization and the vertiginous advance of technology have created a globalized and hyperconnected world where the distances are increasingly smaller and the barriers almost nonexistent. One of the sectors that have evolved the most thanks to the application of technology and the Internet of Things is the Industry sector. The term Industry 4.0 has spread and there is even talk of a new industrial revolution thanks to these advances. The industrial landscape has changed radically with new needs and demands. These include the constant updating of professionals and companies to be able to create and offer solutions to address the new challenges. But how does this new industrial revolution come about? Mainly due to the union of better connectivity and the development of 5G networks, the use of digital platforms that make possible the development of Artificial Intelligence and other predictive capabilities such as Machine Learning. All this together goes in hand with the evolution of technology in other areas, such as: Big Data, Blockchain or Edge Computing. The sensorization and automation of industrial plants allows a better understanding of the productive process With the aim of being competitive in a global market, innovation and the application of connectivity advantages of the Internet of Things to the industrial process are decisive. This advance can be clearly seen in several levels: from the sensorization of industrial plants to increase the knowledge of the production process thanks to automation to the application of the evolution of 5G connectivity to optimize the consumption of batteries and the communication between workers. With this context and with the objective to give the main leaders in this revolution a way to present their ideas about the transformation of the industrial sector in the present and plan the future of it, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism organizes tomorrow, Wednesday September 26, 2018, the second edition of the Connected Industry Congress 4.0. The day, which will be held at the Municipal Conference Center of Madrid, has been proposed as a space for reflection and debate on the challenges facing the industry today. The conference is proposed as a space for reflection and debate on the challenges facing the industry today This congress will again have the participation of Telefónica as a driving brand of the industry that will address the issue ¿The end of production in chain? The role of IoT in the New Industrial Revolution. That is, how the Internet of Things is going to change our way of producing through new predictive, personalized, more efficient and ecological industrial processes. In addition, it will present on its stand some recent innovations to bring them closer to the consumer. Through an interactive game the will give a demonstration of the operation of anti-fire drones, unmanned aerial vehicles capable of preventing a fire before the it occurs and then act to extinguish it. There will also be a demonstration that shows the potential of the new connectivity together with Virtual Reality. In short, it is a great meeting that allows the Industry to continue looking to the future and offer Spanish companies a new transformative impulse.

On February 26, the MWC 2018 will be launched, a new tech gathering where the most important and innovative firms in the technology industry will meet. And naturally, Telefónica will be there presenting our latest developments and projects related to Internet of Things, the new revolution with infinite possibilities. People are at the core of this revolution because our goal is to connect people with the things that matter to them. They include numerous aspects related to the retail sector, connectivity, and especially Industry 4.0. The Telefonica Stand will be in the pavilion of the main device manufacturers in Hall 3, Stand 3K31, and there we will offer several demonstrations about what the future of technology holds. What will you find at our stand? Transforming business Digitization is one of the leading features in the connected world. And the IoT is an enabler of the digital transformation which is already starting to change everything, especially with regard to the fourth industrial revolution. This is transforming all sectors, and best of all, everything from institutions to companies, not to mention small businesses and other actors in the retail sector have the opportunity to adapt to this reality to remain competitive. Improving customer experiences, increasing productivity, and achieving more flexible business models are just some of the consequences of digitization. And Telefónica is leading the change by supporting companies in this transformation. Virtual, augmented, or extended reality, connectivity and social experience are put at the service of change, as you will be able to see in the stand at the congress. Industry 4.0 The fourth industrial revolution is here to stay, a change that is advancing by leaps and bounds. And Telefónica is one of the main players in this evolution, as you will discover at our stand at the MCW 2018. There you will see how the assembly line of this Industry 4.0 is being transformed by combining IoT, 5G connectivity, Big Data, along with industrial robotics and a connected workforce. Thanks to all this technology, workers will be more efficient and work will be safer, assembly lines will be increasingly productive, and industry will spend less energy, pollute, less and become more effective in transportation. Visitors will witness all of this at the forthcoming congress. A whole connected world None of the above, or in fact any other aspect related to IoT, would make sense without the technology that allows the entire world to be connected. Therefore, in our stand you will see how connectivity and the exponential growth in data will transform our lives beyond the imaginable. From any place and with any device, with the highest quality and enjoying the best experience: this is how people want to be connected. As one of the world's leading operators with the largest deployment of fiber in Europe, Telefónica continues to be one of the greatest exponents of technological innovation. Furthermore, we have already embarked upon the path of change towards 5G. But we never lose sight of the fact that after connectivity, people still there. And this is one of the keys to social inclusion. At Telefónica, we focus on an "Internet for Everyone" by working on the ways networks are designed, implemented, operated, maintained, and marketed in order to continue expanding mobile Internet coverage, as you will see interactively during the conference. The best IoT experts In addition to everything we have prepared for the stand, at the MCW 2018 we will also welcome the participation of a fascinating panel of experts including Andrés Padilla, Head of New IoT solutions; Andrés Escribano, m2m Global Horizontal Products Director; and Vicente Muñoz, Chief IoT Officer at Telefónica. Andrés Padilla will speak on Sunday the 25th at 2:40 p.m. on Scaling Global Deployment and the Invaluable Role of the Low Power Wide Area, or LPWA, in the mobile industry and the IoT. This technology is the hard core of connectivity, and Padilla will tell us about its current deployment and its future availability, as well as its future importance in communications. On Tuesday the 27th at 2:00 p.m. , Vicente Muñoz will talk about the secrets to the massive, industrial application of the IoT and the most innovative solutions in this sector. Finally, on Wednesday the 28th at 3:00 p.m., Andrés Escribano will talk about the challenges in the implementation, growth, and evolution of the IoT ecosystem. The week of February 26th to March 1st, all this and much more awaits visitors to the MCW, an indispensable event for everyone who wants to learn firsthand about what the future holds. A technological future, connected and more efficient. A future in which the IoT will play a fundamental role in its full expression.

The year 2017 has been prolifically successful and productive. With its memory still fresh in our minds, now seems a good time to survey the best articles published during the past year. This selection includes interviews with global benchmarks in the sector, analyses of IoT ecosystem, presentations of interesting initiatives and forecasts of the trends that will emerge in 2018. Programming languages in the era of the Internet of Things: What are the most common programming languages in the development of IoT? The choice of language determines the final product or service, as well as the technical possibilities and the user experience. In the era of the Internet of Things, choosing the programming language properly is vital to the success of the project. In this text, we explain the details on how to choose them properly. GeoGestion, the Mobile Workers' Internet: This solution provides fundamental assistance to all traditional companies that need help carrying out a digital transformation of processes that until now were solved by manual paperwork. GeoGestion allows the administrator to find out where their employees are, to lower their manual tasks intuitively, to help security teams improve their efficiency and to improve the work of sales teams. All this is thanks to the optimization of processes that until now were manual and costly for the company in terms of both time and resources. In this article, we explain how GeoGestion works. Ronald van Loon: "The information that belongs to the IoT exists within the concept of Big Data and the vast amount of data it represents": As an expert in Big Data, Data Management and IoT, Ronald van Loon helps hundreds of companies direct and generate value from the data they generate. His experience offering data analysis to consumers has catapulted him to become one of the biggest influencers in the world in Big Data. Therefore, we asked him about his view on the important role played by Big Data in the IoT, as well as the main challenges he faces and the future of companies in relation to the Internet of Things. José Ignacio Guerra: "We are the protagonists in the IoT scene in Latin America": The Telefónica R+D centre in Chile, also known as TRD Chile, is a benchmark for IoT technologies since it is the only research complex in Latin America that brings together all the disciplines that make up Internet of Things. José Ignacio Guerra is a Communications Architect at the centre and is leading several projects and initiatives aimed at improving the adoption, penetration and consolidation of technologies. In this interview, he tells us about his experiences. Chuck Martin: "The industry can anticipate consumers’ needs even before they have these needs. This is the future that awaits us with Internet of Things":Martin is a best-selling writer and former Vice President at IBM. His experience in the sector allowed him to predict the arrival of the network that supports IoT back in 1998. In this interview, Martin gives us his expert vision of the current situation and the future that we will see in the Internet of Things. Interview with Sandra Fernández Curias: "Beyond the technological ecosystem, the IoT is an enabler of the digital transformation of business": As one of the most prominent experts in IoT-based business at Telefónica, Sandra Fernández Curias, the company’s Strategy Manager, gives us a unique opportunity to understand the main trends in the development of the IoT and the secrets behind mass adoption by users and businesses. Interview with José Rodríguez: "Security is a reason for confidence when deploying IoT solutions": In this post, José Rodríguez, IoT security manager at Telefónica, shares his experience to help us to better understand what security challenges and solutions the experts deal with every day. This text answers the question of what we have learned so far when talking about cybersecurity in the IoT. Why physical stores should be connected and digitalized: The evolution in the retail sector irremediably connects online sales with in-store service. Today, businesses must connect to the world if they want to make the most of the opportunities offered by the Internet. If not, they are condemned to become obsolete and inefficient. In this post, we explain what role the IoT plays in this process and discuss the possibilities offered by technology. Things Matter - Connecting things with people and what really matters: 800 surveys and 60 user experiences are the basis of the last report, "Things Matter", which tries to give users a voice. In conjunction with the consultancies Accenture and Ipsos, Telefónica sheds light on the spread of IoT, the way it is used, use profiles and related topics. We summarize and analyze the conclusions in this article. IoT trends in 2018, connectivity in the limelight: In 2017, we witnessed the rise of technologies associated with Big Data, the spread of VR and the emergence of autonomous cars, among other new developments. Now, the big picture seems to be coalescing around certain applications and technological solutions such as eSIM, Blockchain-based IoT, Edge solutions and many more. In this article, we reveal the trends that will determine the direction of the development of connectivity in 2018.

The nature of Internet of Things is the connection between devices, between platforms, between actions and between people. Connectivity is crucial in a world of growing needs, which in turn creates new ways of using and enjoying it. The greatest technological promises of the year will be showcased at MWC 2017. It will be a perfect venue to grasp this connectivity between devices, software and people in a unique way. The things that really matter Connectivity is a concept that goes far beyond purely technical language. Connectivity links people with things that are important to them: with their loved ones and friends, with their belongings, and with the places where they live. Thanks to technology, Telefónica helps make this connection between people easier and more comfortable. Through technology, it allows devices and services to be integrated, providing a simple digital interaction that enriches and simplifies everyday life. These solutions drive digital transformation, creating a more natural interconnected world where IoT is a living, natural and evolving network. Life is a collection of settings with people at the core. Each of them presents new forms and challenges for technology. New use cases and improvements on current functionalities appear thanks to new connectivity models, such as NarrowBand-IoT and LTE-M standard. Thus, we can find applications designed for what matters to us the most. One example is a helmet connected by NB-IoT that allows us to follow Alzheimer patients and be warned in case they have any mishaps. Smart soles can do this, too, as well as help consistently monitor the sport we do, making the most of connectivity. Pets owners can also benefit from technology. Dogsens takes advantage of connectivity to control pets’ status and activity, getting information from recorded data filtered by experts. And, of course, the ability to always be connected in a coherent and economical way would not reach its full potential without Lock & Found, a device to ensure that our most valuable items are always locatable. If Telefónica works first to connect its customers, second to give them control over this connectivity and third to offer them service capabilities and distinguishing experiences. Now it goes beyond by offering advanced data capabilities. Now is the moment of Telefónica AURA. It comes at a time when it is essential to break down barriers, not physical barriers, but ideas and concepts. This would not be possible without an excellent connectivity and experiences. Communication is the basis of knowledge and of every human relationship. Thanks to technology, that communication can be extended and intertwined between people and devices, creating new dimensions. This technology is transforming our homes, our means of transport and our work environments. It is also changing the way we communicate and do things. Connectivity is the basis of this entire transformation. All these connections generate huge amounts of data to be managed. With Telefónica AURA, customers go from merely connecting for communication or even measure to have the control of data. Hence, the next step is to use this data to understand and predict. This is the basis of the concept of the fourth platform that Telefónica will highlight during the Mobile World Congress 2017. With Telefónica AURA clients not only can decide remotely control the various functionalities from the interaction created but also analyse and understand the data that they control. This way, they can manage and plan their actions more strategically and anticipate their needs. End users, cities or even industry can all benefit from the fourth platform thanks to the digital technologies that enable this evolution in connectivity. The fourth platform emphasises the true value of data, its privacy evaluation and its management. The evolution of connectivity The development of LPWA technologies and standards is a promise of expansion for cellular services. But not only that: Telefónica is also committed to the NB-IoT and LTE-M standards and is planning to implement soon. The company has already had its first experience with NB-IoT clients in LATAM. Likewise, the signing of a global agreement with Sigfox allows to complement its connectivity offer to individual cases and adjusted to client needs . Besides, Open Labs, with open research and innovation environments around new connectivities are also a proof of the LPWA focus. The Open Future initiative promotes the creation of an ecosystem through interoperability development and collaboration among partners. Evolution beyond connectivity is visible in the success achieved with clients. For example, Hertz’s service will be expanded, improving its customers’ experience thanks to IoT solutions from Telefónica, which offers telemetry and tracking tools. Gocco, on the other hand, will benefit from solutions such as digital labels, smart fitting rooms, social Wi-Fi, smart music and dynamic marketing in its stores, becoming one of the flagship Smart Retail projects thanks to Telefónica. In the evolution of connectivity that has led to the emergence of new uses, Telefónica has promoted the creation of initiatives that focus on a collaborative ecosystem of partners; open environments that allow the development of IoT to be promoted and accelerated in all possible scenarios involving people; security-based solutions, especially end-to-end security, as demonstrated by its partnership with Eleven Paths and active participation in the GSMA security working group on IoT; and the Onlife Telco spirit that allows technological development and the evolution of connectivity to be people-centred.