General Electric recently published a piece with three important reasons software developers should focus on the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). It cited the fact that IIoT apps can solve real-life problems in our cities, provide the opportunity for more than 18.5 million developers to advance digital infrastructure, and justify the big investments in IoT.
FreeWave on App Development
In our 2017 prediction series, we also highlighted the emerging opportunity for IIoT app development. We believe that IIoT app development will start to outpace consumer app development in 2017. IoT app development can play a significant role in driving Smart Data over Big Data for mission critical use cases. Organizations need to get the data they need when they need it, and new applications at the Edge can help send the right data to the right people. We also see a huge business opportunity for developers: the opportunity to leverage cybersecurity applications and the need for business apps that will coincide with IIoT apps to meet standards and interoperability challenges.
Although it is early in the year, we’ve already begun to align with our prediction through our R&D efforts here at FreeWave. Recently we partnered with an app development company to offer something new to our customers.
New Apps at the Edge
FreeWave’s new partnership with Systech offers an industrial Tank Level Control application that resides on and executes from FreeWave’s ZumLink Industrial IoT (IIoT) Programmable Radio for edge networks. The new application was developed by Systech for FreeWave and features an easy-to-use “ITTT (If This Then That)” process control programming interface that will control analog, digital and RS485 sensors linked to the ZumLink programmable radio. The FreeWave ITTT App is designed for a user-friendly experience and requires no previous programming knowledge or practice. It is ideal for M2M and IIoT use cases at the access layer and will perform automated Sensor-2-Server (S2S) functions to streamline operations.
We are watching IIoT app development closely and will certainly have more advancements and announcements in relation to our own journey with bringing apps to the ZumLink IIoT Programmable Radio. What kinds of IIoT apps would you like to see?