Key takeaways from the Hannover Messe: Technology and Business Cooperation Days 2020

1oT took part in the Technology and Business Cooperation Days 2020, part of the Hannover Messe. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was turned into an online matchmaking event.

1oT had fruitful meetings with different companies from the Industry 4.0, Smart Factories, Automotive, Prototyping, R&D and Smart City sectors.

Although the event was for B2B matchmaking between different companies, we noticed 3 common threads from all the meetings.

NB-IoT and Cat-M1

Narrowband IoT and Cat-M1 are the hot topics among the Industry 4.0 and Smart Factory companies sectors. It's a great solution on paper because of the low power consumption, which lowers the costs of the whole deployment.

Unfortunately, the lack of roaming agreements for NB-IoT and Cat-M1 means that current deployments tend to use 2G, 3G, or 4G technology. At least in Europe, the 2G and 3G network sunsets have not yet impacted the plans for deployments in the Industry 4.0.

Looking for turnkey solutions

As companies are getting more experienced with IoT deployments, the key development has been a quest for turnkey solutions. Companies want to optimise their supply chain and manage devices in the field as efficiently as possible.

Companies are interested in buying a full IoT package. This means hardware (cellular module or device), global connectivity (one SIM), and software to both manage the devices and connectivity.

In parallel with market demands, 1oT is working to expand our list of hardware partners. For example, we have started to test Teltonika's devices for eSIM support.

1oT aims to be every company's connectivity department, that guides their global IoT deployment and provides exceptional service with our in-house developed connectivity management platform, 1oT Terminal.

Africa – an emerging but tricky market

It's not a surprise that IoT companies are confident about deployments in the USA, Europe and Asia. But from many meetings, we heard that companies are struggling to enter Africa. This is due to their current service provider not able to offer enough coverage options or not being able to negotiate deals with local Telecoms.

We were happy to introduce our client portfolio in Africa. From fleet management companies using 1oT eSIMs while going from country to country. Or more static environmental monitoring companies that need to connect in hard to access areas.

If you are among the companies interested in expanding to Africa, then get in touch with our sales team for guidance.

To conclude, it was exciting to participate in an online platform. Although it lacks the human connection, the conversations were fruitful and focused on quickly finding common ground to start discussing collaboration around IoT and M2M cellular connectivity.