The idea of autonomous mobile robots (AMR) and collaborative robots (cobots) in the warehouse have gained traction as machine vision, sensor, and motion technology advances. AMRs and cobots are designed to augment employee work flows making work processes easier and more efficient. Employees have growing concerns that robots will displace their jobs in the manufacturing sector as automation continues to grow; however, the reality is that there are many labor shortages in these sectors where employers seek to deploy robotic labor. Read more
As more companies turn to Apple for their corporate devices of choice, bulk ordering and large scale configuration have tasked the mobile technology titan with creating a more fluid method for Mobile Device Management (MDM). In 2014, Apple introduced their Device Enrollment Program, a program that would allow them to auto configure devices upon purchase. The upside? Apples ability to automate the configuration process reprieves IT departments from having to configure devices in bulk, or firms from paying for additional third party management systems. Learn more
Intel is suffering a severe manufacturing shortage of its 14nm semiconductors, electronic components that Intel’s customers use in manufacturing such devices as smartphones and tablets and notebooks. Intel has released an open letter to its customers and partners pledging rapid changes and affirming the belief that Intel will meet the full-year revenue outlook the company announced in July. Learn more
What Happened? Two significant announcements from global automation suppliers hit the wires on Wednesday, October 3rd: Emerson announced its intention to purchase GE’s Intelligent Platforms division. Honeywell unveiled details regarding its new industrial cybersecurity solution, CyberVantage Security Consulting Services. Learn more
Supply chain traceability is often a time-consuming and costly challenge for food producers. When food bacteria outbreaks such as E coli and salmonella infest any portion of a grocer’s produce, they are forced to throw out an entire batch for a lack of a quick and accurate method to easily identify where it originated from and discard the infested produce. Consumer trust and brand protection are integral to this process where retailers would rather be safe than sorry. Read more
Microsoft and Amazon are locked in a battle to shape the future of computing with their cloud services platforms. Both companies are building out global networks of datacenters and enticing customers to purchase compute-as-a-service as a more flexible alternative to maintaining and scaling infrastructure in-house. Other large software and industrial players – GE, Google, IBM, Oracle, PTC, etc. – have joined the cloud services fray, but when it comes to horizontal IoT cloud services, Microsoft and Amazon are strategic leaders and industry trendsetters. Read more
Among software developers, Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux distribution is widely known and used, especially on servers for the web and cloud. (The Ubuntu operating system is free and open-source, with Canonical generating most of its $126M revenue in 2017 from Ubuntu-related software licensing, maintenance, support, and managed services.) Learn more
For just over a year, Google has been developing and internally deploying a laptop loaner program they call Grab and Go. The premise is simple enough ̶ a PowerGistics shelving tower sits in an open area within a workplace environment, housing a stack of fully charged and enterprise grade Chromebooks ready-to-go for temporary users Learn more
The collective transportation and logistics industry shows a strong embrace of technological developments. VDC’s 2018 Enterprise Buyer Behavior study of mobile technology end users finds a 51.1% year over year increase in transportation respondent’s extreme satisfaction with the pace of their organization’s mobile initiatives, and a 23.4% twelve-month improvement in extreme satisfaction with the adoption of mobile applications. Learn more
Among the most insightful questions asked within VDC’s annual surveys targeting engineers and other end users in industrial and other IoT-related communities delves into the importance of different selection criteria when evaluating and selecting various system components. Learn more
VDC estimates that E-commerce accounted for 10.6% of all global retail sales at the start of 2018 and will grow to 17.6% by 2021. To capitalize on the growing E-commerce opportunity, many retailers have recently re-worked their logistics programs to better service online customers. Ship-from-store capabilities are becoming increasingly popular in the industry – they allow online orders to be fulfilled from the inventory of nearby stores in the event that the product is out of stock in the warehouse(s) that handle(s) most online orders. Learn more
On July 11th, Broadcom Limited riled the tech industry with their surprising purchase of enterprise software company CA Inc., in a massive $19B all-cash deal. Taking many by surprise, the announcement rapidly led to negative sentiment towards Broadcom as many were quick to question the deal. Broadcom in the past has made headlines for notable acquisitions, such as their attempt at a takeover of rival Qualcomm or Brocade Communications. But no such deal has created an uproar compared to this one. Read more
Rumors of the upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon 1000 could signify major changes for mobile computing. As smartphone processors become more powerful, some have reached the point where they can run systems more like personal computers than smartphones or tablets. Over the past several years, some companies have embraced this approach and have begun to offer devices with Advanced RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) Machine (ARM) processors, which are typically found in mobile devices that run operating systems beyond the typical reach of smartphones and tablets. Learn more
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a collaborative telecommunications standard development organization, has its final milestone on the road to universal 5G availability in sight. This is a road the collective is in part tasked to pave; it is 3GPP’s job to set the standards and specifications for 5G networks and technologies. The organization’s last step regarding 5G is its Release 16, which will expand on large-scale, ubiquitous IoT use cases for the most robust wireless network standard to date. Release 16’s full anticipated timeline spans between now and 2020. Learn more
Sensors Expo & Conference 2018, an event focused exclusively on sensors and sensor-integrated systems, took place from June 26th through June 28th at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose, CA. The exhibition hall featured more than 300 exhibitors from around the world, and was co-located with the Medical Sensors Design Conference and the Autonomous Vehicle Sensors Conference. Learn more