TORONTO – Thanks to multi-billion-dollar investments in spectrum and network over the past few years, a dedicated B2B network and its Health initiative, Telus is now positioned to capitalize on the current market enthusiasm for IoT (the Internet of things), according to Sachin Mahajan, Telus’s director of IoT.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Canadian Wireless Trade Show in Toronto, Mahajan outlined some of the technological possibilities — some practical and some more whimsical — provided by IoT, or machine-to-machine (M2M) connectivity. Not surprisingly, Mahajan spoke about potential healthcare-related IoT solutions more than once during his presentation.
Currently, wearable fitness gadgets, such as those manufactured by Fitbit, allow users to track how many steps they’ve taken in a day or how many calories they’ve burned; when those gadgets are synced up with Fitbit’s WiFi-enabled weigh scale, users can monitor weigh gain or BMI, Mahajan said.
“But in the UK, they’re going a step further,” Mahajan said, explaining that IoT technologies can be used to map a user’s health stats to provide life-saving medical intervention if necessary. “So if my blood pressure goes past 160, or my heart rate goes beyond 200… in anticipation of my heart attack, 30 minutes before, there will be a paramedic at my door with preventative medication,” he said, citing one potential use for IoT technology in the healthcare space, currently being piloted in the UK.
Mahajan gave another healthcare example in which M2M technology could be used to remind a user to take daily medication. “What happens is at five minutes to eight o’clock (the time the medication is scheduled to be taken), the bottle changes colour and starts blinking. If I miss that, it sends me a text message. If I miss that, it sends a voice mail to myself and to my wife,” Mahajan said.
Much of Mahajan’s presentation focused on B2B uses for IoT, such as fleet management or asset tracking in the trucking industry, waste management and food safety applications. In the case of fleet management, Mahajan said IoT technology could be used to “ride shotgun” with truck drivers, to monitor such things as gas consumption or driving behaviour.
Mahajan emphasized that Telus has invested in a dedicated B2B network that is separate from its consumer wireless network, meaning business customers’ M2M traffic will never run across the public Internet.
On the consumer side, apart from healthcare applications, other potential uses for IoT technology include connected cars and connected homes, Mahajan said, adding that by 2017 or 2018, several car manufacturers, such as Hyundai, Kia and Lexus, will have connected cars on the market.
“Right now, I have a bulb in my house that changes its colour, whenever India plays a cricket match, to blue… It just makes me laugh every time.” – Sachin Mahajan, Telus
“But what about the 25 million cars today that are unconnected?” Mahajan asked. “I would love to have the ability to buy a dongle off the shelf from a Telus store, put it under the dash, and provide my family with [connected car] capabilities.”
Speaking about automated home services, Mahajan offered his most whimsical use for IoT: “Right now, I have a bulb in my house that changes its colour, whenever India plays a cricket match, to blue…It just makes me laugh every time.”
Mahajan pointed to the large investments made recently by players such as Google, Intel, AT&T and Samsung as evidence that IoT is seen as having serious market potential. “Google alone invested $4 billion over the last eight months in IoT (including its $3.2 billion purchase of Nest Labs, which was finalized in February),” Mahajan said.
Furthermore, according to Mahajan, Intel and AT&T have invested in IoT technologies to the tune of $2 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively. Samsung purchased IoT start-up SmartThings for an estimated $200 million in August.
In terms of Canadian businesses, only 7% of companies planned to invest in IoT in 2014, according to an IDC Canada study commissioned by Telus and reported by Cartt.ca in July. However, according to the same study, 30% of Canadian businesses are expected to invest in IoT in the next 24 months.
“IoT is here, IoT is now. You want to invest in it today,” Mahajan said.
