IoT Application Enablement Platform (AEP) Peer Benchmarking 2020

Transforma Insights’ IoT Application Enablement Platform (AEP) Peer Benchmarking 2020 report analyses the strategies and capabilities of twelve leading vendors of AEP platform capabilities: Altair, AWS, Clearblade, Ericsson, Fujitsu, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, PTC, SAP, Siemens, and Software AG. The twelve vendors chosen offer a blend of generic (cross-vertical), end-user and application focussed, and horizontal technology focussed propositions.

The scope of the benchmarking study is Application Enablement Platforms, that assist and enable end-users (and others) to efficiently develop IoT applications. Not included in this scope are Connectivity or Connectivity Support Platforms (than enable efficient management of device connectivity), Device Management Platforms (that allow for efficient management of devices), and a range of other specialist platforms such as Business Rules Platforms and Data Exchange Platforms, except where such capabilities are offered alongside Application Enablement Platform capabilities. This scope is illustrated in the Figure below.

The 108-page report leads with a summary of the ‘sweet spots’ for each vendor, and includes an aggregated ranking based on various technical capabilities and also analysis of the market positioning, channel strategy, (end-user and vertical) market focus, and ecosystem focus of each vendor. This is followed by an analysis of key emerging technology areas (Artificial Intelligence, Distributed Ledger, Digital Twin, Edge Computing, and cellular Connectivity Management).

The majority of the report consists of 4-9 page profiles of each of the companies, featuring sections covering each of the following:

• Synopsis section provides a general overview of the vendor.
• Sweet spot section includes a summary of areas of the IoT market in which the vendor in question excels.
• SWOT summarises the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the vendor.
• Background section provides information on the history of the organisation, its structure, size of the team, and other salient information.
• Strategy provides a summary of the strategy of the vendor.
• Scale provides information related to and evidence of deployments at scale.
• Verticals includes information on key target verticals.
• Geographies summarises geographies addressed by the vendor.
• Ecosystems provides information about ecosystems associated with the vendor.

• Channels includes information about channels to market.

• Technical summarises relevant technical information.
• Pricing includes any available pricing information.