Social Media Portal

Chair of the IoT Community Advisory Board Bill Mortimer on the IoT Slam 2016 online event

Social Media Portal (SMP) What is your name and what do you do there for IoT Slam?

Bill Mortimer (BM): I am Bill Mortimer. I am Chair of the IoT Community Advisory Board that organises and sponsors the IoT SLAM. I am also the Chair of the IoT Slam Organising Committee.

SMP: Briefly tell us about the organisation behind IoT Slam and how it operates.

BM: The IoT SLAM is a virtual conference and exhibition, organised by IoT Community Ltd and the Linked-In IOT Community Advisory Board, consisting of 28-members, volunteers from leading companies and organizing interested in accelerating the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT)IoT.

SMP: Briefly, tell us about IoT Slam 2016, when/where is the event, what is it and what does the event try and do?

BM: The IoT SLAM is a virtual conference and exhibition on April 28, 2016 from 9.00 AM to 5:00 PM (US Eastern time zone).

It is a virtual event, so you can attend from anywhere using the Internet. It save time and money compared to traveling to a physical event.

The IoT SLAM gives practioneers information and experiences related to the business opportunities and technical and operational challenges of adopting IoT applications.

We plan to organise two IoT SLAM virtual conferences and exhibitions in 2016.

SMP: It?s the second chapter, so how did 2015 go and what do did you and attendees learn?

BM: The first IoT SLAM was held December 9, 2015. There was a full line-up of first class speakers and a series of on-demand (pre-recorded) sessions. Participation exceeded our targets. Feedback was positive. The breadth and depth of topics and quality was speakers were notable. Participant valued the easy access, saving time and money compared to physical conferences.

SMP: Why is the event hosted in the cloud and how successful was this last year?

BM: Hosted in the cloud to make it accessible for the best speakers and lower the barrier for participation. Registrants can chose among various live presentations and a set of on-demand presentations on the day (April 28, 2016) or any day for three months after the event.

SMP: Who are your target audience and why?

BM: Practioneers, those that have to plan, implement and operate IoT-enabled applications and those that provide the networks that connect the ?Things?.

SMP: What do you hope delegates will take away from IoT Slam 2016 this year?

BM: Some best practices on the business opportunities and operational issues. We have looked to focus on real applications on various vertical segments that IoT is impacting as well as some topics that apply to all or most vertical segments: security, connectivity, analytics.

SMP: What are the high moments of what you have been doing so far this year?

BM: The positive feedback on the format and content for the first IoT Slam, held in December 2015, was rewarding and encouraging. As we strive to accelerate the adoption of IoT in commercial applications by bring the best information, not the most, to the practioneers in the industry, this format and the quality of presentations is unbeatable.

SMP: What do you think is going to be the most interesting aspect regarding the Internet of Things (IoT) for the 12 to 18-months and why?

BM replies with:
We will see an expanding variety and increased innovativeness in IoT solutions. There are countless examples of new business models and potential for current incumbents and new entrants.

We will start to connect the silos of information. We will start to see benefits from collecting and analysing data from various diverse sources and applying analytics to discover important insights and make predictions ? applying predictive analytics techniques.

With the current technology and recent work in GSMA, companies can begin to exploit eSIM and remote SIM provisioning; allowing IoT implementation to easily and seamlessly connect to the available networks.

SMP:  What are your top predictions for IoT for the next 12 to 18-months and why?

• The deployment of IoT-enable applications will continue to accelerate as businesses understand and start to realise the economic benefits and practioneers gain experience and share best practices to implement IoT simply, safely and securely.
  
  
• Security will continue to be a hot topic and potential vulnerability.
  
  
• Network operators will become more competitive in their efforts to attract and retain vendors looking for network services to enable their IoT solutions. They will have to simplify and reduce the time and cost to qualify devices for connection to the network.
  
  
• The connected car and industrial applications will remain the highest value application vertical.

SMP: What are your top overall tips for organisations want to address IoT and why?



BM replies with:

• Build your device and applications with hardware and software modules that have already been developed, road-tested and are maintained for your. In general, your differentiation does not come from the network implementation; your differentiation comes from.
  
  
• Plan what information you want to know and problems you want to address first; then decide how to collect, analyse, use and share the right information to provide those insights. There are advanced analytic techniques that make enrich your applications beyond most company?s initial expectations.
  
  
• Design how your product or service, i.e. connected ?thing?, will be purchased and turned on; what is the easiest way for your ?Thing?  to connect to the network with little or no programming or configuration. That will make the best user experience. How will you manage upgrades ? especially when you have a large number of deployments (hopefully, you do).

SMP: Is there anything else we should know, or is there anything that you?d like to share?

BM: If you cannot attend the IoT Slam on April 28, if your register before the event, you can access the presentations and recordings of all live and on-demand presentations for three months after the event.

SMP: Best way to contact you and IoT Slam 2016?

BM replies with:

To find out more information or register to participate, go to www.iotslam.com.

To speak to an organiser, please send a mail to info@iotslam.com

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