2018 Internet Of Things 50: 15 Coolest IoT Hardware Companies
Hot IoT Hardware
While data is arguably the biggest part of IoT solutions, that data needs to come from a source -- and that's where IoT hardware manufacturers are cashing in on the burgeoning market. From sensors to gateways to entire connected consumer products themselves, vendors are staking their claim in the IoT market through best-of-breed devices. Traditional hardware vendors like ARM and Intel are offering components to power IoT devices, while vendors like Eurotech and Dell are offering vertical-specific, rugged gateways for various verticals. All the vendors on the IoT hardware list are prioritizing their channel , which is essential to integrating the hardware into the rest of the IoT solution. Following are 15 companies with the coolest IoT back-end hardware solutions.
ARM
Top Executive: Simon Segars, CEO
ARM was acquired by Japanese telecommunications firm Softbank in 2016, but that has done nothing to stop the company's efforts in the IoT space. The Cambridge, U.K.-based company's Cortex-R and Cortex-M design lineups are low power and can power smaller IoT devices.
Cisco Systems
Top Executive: Chuck Robbins, CEO
Cisco offers an array of network connectivity-related IoT hardware to help partners enhance their IoT solutions' security and IOx and fog applications. The San Jose, Calif.-based company offers gateways, industrial switches and embedded routers for IoT.
Dell Technologies
Top Executive: Michael Dell, Chairman, CEO
Round Rock, Texas-based Dell is investing in IoT at the edge with its products, including its cost-effective Edge Gateway series that supports edge analytics and its Embedded Box PC series, which are rugged form factors for industrial IoT.
Eurotech
Top Executive: Roberto Siagri, CEO
Eurotech specializes in IoT offerings and ReliaGate gateways geared toward the transportation and retail verticals. The Columbia, Md.-based company also offers IoT development kits, which provide a complete design environment for engineers to simplify their development process and time to market.
Top Executive: Sundar Pichai, CEO
Google's connected device lineup, Nest, helped IoT gain traction in the consumer market. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company's Nest product line includes connected thermostats, fire alarms and security cameras. On the cloud side, Google also offers its IoT platform, the Google Cloud platform.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Top Executive: Antonio Neri, CEO
Palo Alto, Calif.-based HPE is looking to stake its IoT claim at the edge with its Xeon-based converged IoT systems. These gateway systems, including the Edgeline EL1000 and Edgeline EL4000, are designed for the edge of the network.
Intel
Top Executive: Brian Krzanich, CEO
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Intel is trying to reposition itself as a leader in the increasingly connected world, offering IoT processors like the Quark, Atom and Xeon lineups. The chip company also offers developer kits, tools and SDKs for IoT.
Lantronix
Top Executive: Jeff Benck, President, CEO
Lantronix offers gateways, modules and infrastructure management IT to power the backbone of IoT and M2M connectivity solutions. The Irvine, Calif.-based company most recently launched advanced wireless embedded xPico 200 gateways for industrial IoT.
Monnit
Top Executive: Brad Walters, Founder, CEO
Monnit is aiming to be a leader in the IoT connectivity hardware market with over 50 off-the-shelf wireless sensors and gateways. The Salt Lake City-based company's products collect and monitor data, providing real-time alerts for customers. Monnit released its ALTA long range wireless sensor platform last year with integrated wireless security and longer battery life.
Nvidia
Top Executive: Jensen Huang, CEO
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Nvidia is getting into IoT through processors that power connected cars, including its Drive Xavier chip. Drive Xavier, which is for manufacturers trying to build self-driving cars, packs 9 billion transistors and an eight-core CPU, coupled with a 356-core Nvidia Volta GPU.
Qualcomm
Top Executive: Steven Mollenkopf, CEO
San Diego-based Qualcomm's low-power Snapdragon processors help connect consumer devices like refrigerators and wearables. Qualcomm also recently launched a new IoT software development kit designed to power its IoT global modems.
Samsara
Top Executive: Sanjit Biswas, Founder, CEO
IoT startup Samsara is looking to lead the industrial IoT market with its internet-connected sensor lineup. The San Francisco-based company's plug-and-play offering is built on ’readily available’ cellular networks and cloud-hosted infrastructure that help partners support scalability with IoT solutions.
Samsung
Top Executive: Tim Baxter, President, CEO, Samsung Electronics North America
Samsung's Artik chip platform is designed to provide the building blocks behind IoT -- including CPUs, GPUs and sensors -- that feature built-in connectivity and an open software environment
Sierra Wireless
Top Executive: Jason Cohenour, President, CEO
Sierra Wireless touts its lineup of embedded cellular routers and gateways to deliver a ’future-proof’ device-to-cloud architecture. The Richmond, Canada-based company's lineup is targeted at OEMs and systems integrators that are building connected products.
Vertiv
Top Executive: Rob Johnson, CEO
Vertiv is looking to invest heavily in IoT with its Vertiv RDU 300 gateway, released in December. The Columbus, Ohio-based company's gateway integrates with building management systems and secures data passing to the Vertiv cloud from the customer site.