Representative End User Clients
Representative Automation Clients
Representative Software Clients
By ARC Vice President, Chantal Polsonetti: Cisco’s announcement of their intent to acquire Internet of Things (IoT) service enablement supplier Jasper is the latest in an ongoing series of acquisitions within the IoT space. The $1.4 billion dollar price tag for one of the first IoT companies to reach a $1 billion valuation is news in itself, but how do the relative strategies of the two companies really match up within the IoT landscape?
When Jasper changed its business model roughly five years ago to focus on enabling remote IoT/M2M connectivity services, their strategy initially focused on SIM management for cellular devices. This included offering products such as Global SIM, which allows global enterprises to uniformly manage mobile cellular devices across the world’s disparate telecomm environments. The company has since further expanded their vision across the IoT service lifecycle into areas such as mobile service management, real-time engagement, support diagnostics, billing, and business automation.
Jasper’s strategy going into the acquisition is firmly routed in the belief that service enablement is the key driver behind the IoT, and that use of the technology is leading device manufacturers to evolve their core business from products to services. Their cloud-based, software-as-a-service, Control Center IoT Services Platform is designed to enable monetization of these services by delivering device-centric real-time visibility, intelligence, and control. These features are intended to deliver rapid time-to-market, easy scalability, and overall quicker time-to-monetize services. Jasper’s moniker for this strategy is “Launch-Manage-Monetize.”
The company has established numerous alliances and customer relationships where they provide this type of service management, and the vast majority of cellular device connectivity suppliers partner with them. For example, the company’s partnership list includes 27 mobile operator groups, such as AT&T, representing over 100 mobile networks worldwide. Connected cars are one of the leading applications to date, while other key segments include transportation and logistics, retail POS, security, and a variety of industrial applications. As these partners and applications indicate, the emphasis has been on cellular applications.
Cisco, on the other hand, is a leading developer and manufacturer of IP-based networking products and services for the global communications and IT industries. The close to $50 billion company’s primary network infrastructure products include Ethernet switches ($14.7 billion in FY2015) and routers ($7.5 billion) as well as wireless products ($2.5 billion).
Cisco is targeting the emerging Internet of Things as a growth area, using the term “Internet of Everything” to highlight its vision in this space. This vision includes manufacturers benefitting from an interconnected, networked factory environment where sensors, robots, machines, and other components can all be networked and supply chains more flexible and agile. Cisco’s Connected Factory, designed to help customers achieve operational efficiency and productivity, is one element of their Connected Enterprise vision within the manufacturing space, while their Cloud Computing for Manufacturing initiative is designed to promote adoption of cloud technology as a component of sustainable innovative efficiency.
So the combination of Cisco and Jasper as they stand now includes Cisco as a network infrastructure powerhouse focused on Ethernet and wireless environments and Jasper as a service enablement provider who mainly operates in cellular telecomm environments. Jasper itself does not provide device connectivity, as evidenced by its partnerships with numerous network operators. The types of services the company has historically provided, however, such as SIM management, billing, etc., are cellular oriented.
Jasper’s new cloud-based Control Center IoT Services Platform, on the other hand, could conceivably evolve to serve Cisco’s Ethernet and wireless connected device infrastructure with device-centric real-time visibility, intelligence, and control. In this scenario, the acquisition of Jasper adds important service enablement features to Cisco’s hardware-centric offering and customers looking to implement connected devices based on Ethernet and wireless. What if anything Cisco will do with the large legacy cellular component remains to be seen.
When Jasper changed its business model roughly five years ago to focus on enabling remote IoT/M2M connectivity services, their strategy initially focused on SIM management for cellular devices. This included offering products such as Global SIM, which allows global enterprises to uniformly manage mobile cellular devices across the world’s disparate telecomm environments. The company has since further expanded their vision across the IoT service lifecycle into areas such as mobile service management, real-time engagement, support diagnostics, billing, and business automation.
Jasper’s strategy going into the acquisition is firmly routed in the belief that service enablement is the key driver behind the IoT, and that use of the technology is leading device manufacturers to evolve their core business from products to services. Their cloud-based, software-as-a-service, Control Center IoT Services Platform is designed to enable monetization of these services by delivering device-centric real-time visibility, intelligence, and control. These features are intended to deliver rapid time-to-market, easy scalability, and overall quicker time-to-monetize services. Jasper’s moniker for this strategy is “Launch-Manage-Monetize.”
The company has established numerous alliances and customer relationships where they provide this type of service management, and the vast majority of cellular device connectivity suppliers partner with them. For example, the company’s partnership list includes 27 mobile operator groups, such as AT&T, representing over 100 mobile networks worldwide. Connected cars are one of the leading applications to date, while other key segments include transportation and logistics, retail POS, security, and a variety of industrial applications. As these partners and applications indicate, the emphasis has been on cellular applications.
Cisco, on the other hand, is a leading developer and manufacturer of IP-based networking products and services for the global communications and IT industries. The close to $50 billion company’s primary network infrastructure products include Ethernet switches ($14.7 billion in FY2015) and routers ($7.5 billion) as well as wireless products ($2.5 billion).
Cisco is targeting the emerging Internet of Things as a growth area, using the term “Internet of Everything” to highlight its vision in this space. This vision includes manufacturers benefitting from an interconnected, networked factory environment where sensors, robots, machines, and other components can all be networked and supply chains more flexible and agile. Cisco’s Connected Factory, designed to help customers achieve operational efficiency and productivity, is one element of their Connected Enterprise vision within the manufacturing space, while their Cloud Computing for Manufacturing initiative is designed to promote adoption of cloud technology as a component of sustainable innovative efficiency.
So the combination of Cisco and Jasper as they stand now includes Cisco as a network infrastructure powerhouse focused on Ethernet and wireless environments and Jasper as a service enablement provider who mainly operates in cellular telecomm environments. Jasper itself does not provide device connectivity, as evidenced by its partnerships with numerous network operators. The types of services the company has historically provided, however, such as SIM management, billing, etc., are cellular oriented.
Jasper’s new cloud-based Control Center IoT Services Platform, on the other hand, could conceivably evolve to serve Cisco’s Ethernet and wireless connected device infrastructure with device-centric real-time visibility, intelligence, and control. In this scenario, the acquisition of Jasper adds important service enablement features to Cisco’s hardware-centric offering and customers looking to implement connected devices based on Ethernet and wireless. What if anything Cisco will do with the large legacy cellular component remains to be seen.