The 'Jurassic World' of the internet of things

Those who regularly read my articles know that I like movies and TV series. Just remember my article, “About IoT platforms, super powers methodology, superheroes and supervillains.”

This time my article is dedicated to the two trilogies: Jurassic Park and Jurassic World (the latter still pending the third movie).

Sure, millions of years have not since the appearance of the first telemetry species and its evolved cousins of machine-to-machine. But the tempo in technology is measured differently. The unit of time for tech has to do with the Gartner Hype Cycle. For Gartner, technologies pass quickly from “innovation trigger” to “productivity.” Companies that want to appear in a Gartner Magic Quadrant have to successfully adopt these technologies or are they are condemned to disappear.

Large companies that have been in the IT world for more than 15 years may seem like dinosaurs and they are afraid of disappearing because of a meteorite (IoT, metaphorically).

Here I present some technology companies that we could consider dinosaurs that are undergoing a cloning, or transformation, to adapt to the new world of IoT, AI or blockchain. As usual in this type of articles, the included companies and the classification is subjective. Therefore, not all dinosaurs are represented (47 species of cloned animals have been portrayed in the novels and films), nor can all companies be represented by the dinosaur that I have chosen for them.

Welcome to my “Jurassic World” of IoT.

The threats to these cloned dinosaurs are constant. Despite a dinosaur’s size and strength, many predators lurk to take down the giant — take Uptake’s digital safe package over GE Digital, for example.

Some species go in packs to survive — just look at Google and Ayla Networks or Microsoft and Electric Imp — while others seek alliances with cousin giants, like Rockwell Automation making a $1 billion stake in software maker PTC, as the best way to reign in their territory.

There are also dinosaurs in the west world of the telcos, as well as in the world of industrial companies that are adapting or cloning — but that is another story.

Your comments and suggestions can vary my “Jurassic World” table of IoT.

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