Defining an Internet-of-Things ecosystem

Abstract

By bringing the Internet connectivity to the things, the Internet-of-Things (IoT) promises a number of benefits to its customers, varying from faster and more accurate sensing of our environment, to more cost-efficient tracking of industrial processes. Likewise, from the business perspective, the wide adoption of IoT is expected to generate significant revenues to the providers of IoT application and services. The IoT adoption depends on whether the ecosystems of the companies focusing on IoT technologies would emerge and succeed in delivering to the market the solutions attractive to the customers. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to understand the essence and constituents of IoT ecosystems. This paper is aimed at defining an IoT ecosystem from the business perspective. Based on a literature survey, the technologies that could form a core of an IoT ecosystem are summarized, and the roles of the firms which may comprise such an ecosystem are identified. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.