Wireless sensor networks come of age
Here's a story with interesting implications from The New York Times. IBM plans to build a business unit based on wireless sensor networks. This has to be a move that adds legitimacy to this technology. I've been following several small companies who are laboring to build a business with networks. I don't look at the IBM entry as threatening them as much as adding momentum to the market. At the beginning of a technology adoption cycle, it seems that the more the merrier. Attracting competitors means that there must be a "real" market there. More competitors also help the entire market segment to grow, the rising tide that floats all boats. It's only later when sales growth slows that consolidation sets in and only the fit (or the lucky) survive.
I wrote an article that will appear in the October issue of Automation World (http://www.automationworld.com) discussing wireless networks. There was only an implication of this theme in the NYT article, but Hesh Kegan of Invensys/Foxboro waxes enthusiasm about the tremendous business possibilities for manufacturers managing their businesses through the proliferation of inexpensive sensors. Jim Pinto just quoted Bill Hewlett in todays newsletter to the point of what you can't measure you can't improve. Well, these sensor networks will let manufacturers measure many more things, and therefore control many more facets of the manufacturing business.
I'll return to the theme in an article I'm writing for the December issue.
What's in the Box? Radio Tags Know That, and More. I.B.M. plans to invest $250 million over the next five years and employ 1,000 people in a new business unit to support products and services related to sensor networks. By By BARNABY J. FEDER. [The New York Times > Technology]
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