The Transforma Insights Blog

Every quarter the Transforma Insights team tracks how many cellular IoT connections are reported by the mobile network operators (MNOs) around the world. At the end of March 2023 that amounted to 2.4 billion connections.

In this blog post we examine the 6 key reasons why hardware (in the form of modules and gateways) and cellular connectivity might be natural bedfellows, based on a recent White Paper sponsored by Telit Cinterion..

Transforma Insights’ recent report, ‘Public Alarms & Monitors: Implementing IoT to provide timely emergency aid to citizens’ reports that in 2019 there were 250,227 gun-related deaths across the world, of which, 65.9% were accounted for by six countries, namely Brazil, the United States, Venezuela, Mexico, India, and Colombia. To combat this issue, governments (especially in the US) are heavily investing in deploying gunshot detectors. Most of these acoustic sensors are installed on buildings or different types of street furniture to track the sound of gunshots and timely alert the authorities. In this blog, we focus on the reasons behind the deployment of gunshot detectors in the US, the major concerns they pose, and why it still makes sense for the US government to invest in these solutions.

In June 2023, Transforma Insights published a report, ‘Digital Transformation (DX) in the Agriculture Sector’, which primarily focused on how digital transformation technologies are changing the face of the agriculture sector. In this blog, we discuss one area, the notion of ‘Indoor Vertical Farms’ with a particular focus on the predominant technologies that are currently deployed, sustainability and business benefits.

The security threats associated with the Internet of Things are growing. Enterprises are paying more attention than ever to how to mitigate the growing risk. Transforma Insights recently published a report in collaboration with Wireless Logic and IoT Now called Why enterprises need ‘IoT Security-as-a-Service’. In this blog we explore the 10 key reasons why the threat from security breaches in IoT is growing.

Farmers across the world are plagued with challenges ranging from increasing demand for food, shortage of natural resources, rising cost of labour, and increasing regulations towards sustainable farming. To feed more than 10 billion people by 2050, the agriculture industry needs to increase its production capacity by 70% (compared to 2009). Moreover, agriculture accounts for 70% of freshwater usage globally and 50-60% is wasted due to inefficient application. Digital technologies hold tremendous potential to address these issues and transform the sector by improving the efficiency of farming methods, resulting in better utilisation of resources and energy.

As AI technologies are rapidly evolving around the world, regulators are prompted to keep up with a flurry of initiatives regarding AI regulations. Four of the most significant initiatives are in the European Union, USA, UK and China. In April 2023, Transforma Insights published a report, ‘Proposed AI regulations are very much a mixed bag’, which unpicked and analysed these initiatives. This blog summarises each of the four AI initiatives at a high level. We have also included some of our own observations and analyses and conclusions.

Early this year, Transforma Insights’ published a report, ‘Which technology vendors are leading the charge on providing sustainability services?’ which examined the capabilities of fourteen leading IT services and systems integration companies in delivering products and services to help enterprises on their sustainability journeys. This blog post explores some of the key ways in which IT services vendors are supporting sustainability.

The role of the IoT Connectivity Management Platform is evolving, to the point where perhaps even the term CMP is past its sell-by date. It can be as simple as a SIM management and billing platform, or it can be highly sophisticated including core network functions, eSIM management and even extending some way into the provision of connectivity. We identify seven main types of functionality within the remit (or potential remit) of a CMP.

In 2022, Transforma Insightsrevealed that across the globe, the total number of Smart Electricity Meter connections would reach 2.2 billion by 2030. While the growth trajectory of Smart Meters is impressive, the bigger question that looms large is if this deployment is equitable across the globe. In this blog, we will unravel the realities of the regional imbalance and dominant technologies associated with Smart Electricity Meters, apart from their advantages and risks.