Hype Cycle for Smart City Te 252791

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G00252791

Hype Cycle for Smart City Technologies andSolutions, 2013Published: 29 July 2013

Analyst(s): Alfonso Velosa, Bettina Tratz-Ryan

The smart city vision of citizen services and greater economic growth isattractive yet the path remains complex. While many technologies supportthe concept, business and use models, ranging from transportation andhealthcare to energy management and cloud computing, remain emergent.

Table of Contents

Analysis..................................................................................................................................................3

What You Need to Know..................................................................................................................3

The Hype Cycle................................................................................................................................ 5

The Priority Matrix.............................................................................................................................9

On the Rise.................................................................................................................................... 11

Intelligent System......................................................................................................................11

Decisions and Recommendations as a Service.........................................................................12

Real-Time Parking.................................................................................................................... 14

Sustainability Consulting Services............................................................................................. 15

Augmented Reality Applications................................................................................................17

Agile Workplace Solutions........................................................................................................ 19

Intelligent Lamppost................................................................................................................. 21

Sustainable Performance Management.................................................................................... 22

At the Peak.....................................................................................................................................24

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure.....................................................................................24

Consumer Smart Appliances.................................................................................................... 26

Information Semantic Services..................................................................................................28

LBSs in Automotive.................................................................................................................. 30

Networking IT and OT...............................................................................................................31

Internet of Things......................................................................................................................34

Smart City Framework, China................................................................................................... 36



Smart Governance Operating Framework.................................................................................39

Smart Transportation................................................................................................................40

Consumer Energy Storage........................................................................................................43

Home Energy Management/Consumer Energy Management....................................................44

Information Stewardship Applications....................................................................................... 46

Intelligent Lighting.....................................................................................................................48

Smart Fabrics........................................................................................................................... 49

Car-Sharing Services................................................................................................................51

Water Management.................................................................................................................. 52

Vehicle Information Hub............................................................................................................54

Big Data Information Management for Government.................................................................. 55

Wi-Fi Positioning Systems.........................................................................................................58

Sliding Into the Trough....................................................................................................................59

Continua 2012..........................................................................................................................59

Microgrids................................................................................................................................ 62

Distributed Generation..............................................................................................................63

Integrated and Open Building Automation and Control Systems...............................................65

Master Data Management........................................................................................................ 66

Machine-to-Machine Communication Services......................................................................... 69

Customer Gateways................................................................................................................. 72

Mobile Health Monitoring.......................................................................................................... 73

NFC..........................................................................................................................................75

Advanced Metering Infrastructure............................................................................................. 77

Cloud Computing..................................................................................................................... 80

Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communications................................................................................ 81

Video Visits...............................................................................................................................82

Electric Vehicles........................................................................................................................85

Home Health Monitoring...........................................................................................................86

Climbing the Slope......................................................................................................................... 89

Public Telematics and ITS.........................................................................................................89

Consumer Telematics...............................................................................................................90

Entering the Plateau....................................................................................................................... 92

Location-Aware Technology..................................................................................................... 92

Appendixes.................................................................................................................................... 94

Hype Cycle Phases, Benefit Ratings and Maturity Levels.......................................................... 96

Recommended Reading.......................................................................................................................97

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List of Tables

Table 1. Hype Cycle Phases.................................................................................................................96

Table 2. Benefit Ratings........................................................................................................................96

Table 3. Maturity Levels........................................................................................................................97

List of Figures

Figure 1. Hype Cycle for Smart City Technologies and Solutions, 2013.................................................. 8

Figure 2. Priority Matrix for Smart City Technologies and Solutions, 2013.............................................10

Figure 3. Hype Cycle for Smart City Technologies and Solutions, 2012................................................ 95

Analysis

What You Need to Know

This Hype Cycle explores a range of technologies that can be used by CIOs and other citydepartment leaders in the implementation of smart city projects. These include augmented realityapplications, smart transportation, Wi-Fi positioning systems or other location and related contextinformation. Smart city projects will leverage these technologies and models to meet objectivessuch as cutting operational infrastructure and public services costs, supporting growth, improvingservices and generating economic development in a sustainable way.

The Definition and Evolution to Smart City 2.0

A smart city is an urbanized area where multiple sectors cooperate to achieve sustainableoutcomes through the analysis of contextual real-time information shared among sector-specificinformation and operational technology systems. Gartner has developed a framework describing thesmart city framework and its elements for greenfield and brownfield city deployments (see"Innovation Insight: Smart City Aligns Technology Innovation and Citizen Inclusion" for moreinformation). During 2012, many cities started to deploy small projects funded by vendors or as partof innovation pilots and demonstration projects. Many cities have begun to develop extensivepriority plans around sustainability, demographic and economic triggers and their key performancemetrics for their smart city architecture. They also define projects they can invest in whileunderstanding the implications of large city operations platform, information exchange, and theimpact of consumer devices and the Internet of Things (IoT). This is different from past years wherecities such as Rio de Janeiro, Amsterdam or London took specific events for their city intoconsideration to invest into the larger road map of a smart city plan. Gartner expects as publicsector budgets remain tight and service models not very commercially viable at the moment, citieswill continue to engage increasingly in rollouts of smaller projects financed by third parties or fordirect return on investment, such as energy savings.

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Smart city is an amalgam of providing citizen value while aligning with the reality of the criticalpolitical milestones for the mayor's office and city department leadership (see "Market Trends:Smart Cities Need Tech-Smart Citizens to Succeed"). Since budgetary realities constrain cityleaders, we can expect continued creativity in funding smart city services.

Smart City Initiatives Have Been Hampered by Significant Underinvestment

Cities and city departments continue to have tight budgetary conditions. In 2013, smart cityinitiatives will be driven by several core factors including:

■ Cities' competition with other cities to improve economic performance, city resilience, citizenservices and sustainability.

■ Opportunistic projects funded by either national or international organizations.

■ Execution of trophy projects for the mayor or city department leaders.

■ In some cases, a lucky confluence of clear vision from leaders aligned with city sectorexecutives who are able to execute on developing solutions for the taxpayers.

■ On occasion, vendor funding of demonstration projects.

Furthermore, the smart city strategic vision and tactical set of execution elements has been furtherdriven by public-private-partnership organizations such as City Protocol. Yet the complexity of thedeveloping projects remains. Extensive procurement cycles across city sectors, conflictingstakeholder objectives, and varying levels of corruption have resulted in much discussion but littleadoption, as yet, of the smart city concept.

Vendors Continue To Adapt Their Marketing and Sales Efforts

Three years ago, several technology and service providers began to extensively scope out theconcept of the smart city as a go-to-market strategy. These vendors covered the areas oftechnology, construction and consulting services. They saw smart cities as an opportunity to bundleproducts, services and solutions together for a new business — selling integrated services acrossfunctions or departments of a municipality or city.

Vendors have changed direction due to the slower-than-hoped for adoption. They are leveragingthe significant investments they have made in smart cities via an educational marketing push as wellas developing offerings and consulting services to help cities. They are now thinking about specificprojects and core competencies to deliver for smart cities. They are also pushing the thoughtleadership and hype for smart cities with more focus on the value of the smart grid or smarttransportation or big data.

A broad range of vendors is doing this. IT vendors such as IBM, HP, Fujitsu, NEC, ZTE, Telefonica,Accenture and Cisco are working with operational technology (OT) players such as Siemens,Schneider Electronics, GE, Eurotech and Selex Elsag and are also working with a broad range ofstartups such as Bitcarrier, Flexeye, IAP Solutions, Libelium, MyKoots and Sensinode. In addition,more are competing in developing the market, building new business models and setting the hypefor smart city technology and solutions.




The Hype Cycle

This Hype Cycle (see Figure 1) is Gartner's analysis of the range of technologies for use in smartcities. A broad set of technologies and business models are relevant to a discussion of smart cities,given the complexity of market requirements and procurement cycles.

We profile the positions of the most significant technologies and business/service models that canbe used to implement a smart city. The list is not exhaustive; technologies have been selected onthe basis of relevance and analyst coverage. Their positions on the Hype Cycle are averages — inrecognition that each city around the world is different, creating variability in smart city technologyadoption and implementation scenarios.

Many technologies depicted in this Hype Cycle are critical to developing innovative andtransformational benefits to city inhabitants, government and technology providers. However, mostare clustered in the emerging and pre-peak sections of the Hype Cycle, having a time to adoption ofmore than five years.

Large numbers of relevant technologies are mature and are well beyond the Hype Cycle's Plateauof Productivity. These include the mobile infrastructure, wireless LAN, xDSL and fiber networks thatform the communications backbones for urban environments. These mature technologies can bedeployed on a large scale for a range of uses. This infrastructure can be leveraged to collectinformation from a full range of connected devices, otherwise known as the IoT. Other technologiesare still immature, such as advanced metering and plug-in hybrid vehicles for smart gridapplications and electric mobility. The management of information, big data and decisions and theirrelated governance models are central to the various subsystems and use cases in citydepartments.

Many use cases and business models for these functions and verticals in a smart city are complexand are still being proven in the market. A strong technology push from vendors exists today. Butthe benefits are currently unclear, not just to citizen groups, but to some city departments such ashealthcare and transportation organizations, as well as the central city government. The resolutionof these kinds of issues will take time.

Many technology providers are able to supply enabling technology for the supporting infrastructure.Smart cities also require integration and consulting services from enterprises that have the size andthe ability to invest significant sums into these long-term projects. Some vendors are aggressivelypursuing the initial deployment of smart city models, although limited to areas such as trafficcongestion, traffic management and public safety. This Hype Cycle covers both IT and OTinfrastructure components that can form the technology basis of a wide range of smart cityfunctions. These include enabling technologies, such as Near Field Communication, RFID andmobile endpoints for the collection and transmission of information to databases and master datamanagement systems. These will be associated with metatagging and direction of data, dependingon the privacy laws of the country.

One challenge in smart city applications and services will be the reach and details of citizeninformation to be utilized in the context of privacy and the regulatory framework. Over time, utilities,healthcare providers, transportation providers and government agencies will require massive




storage and IT processing capabilities that will partially rely on a secure and flexible cloud-basedinfrastructure and service delivery mechanism. Another challenge is the time needed forimplementation, since the extremely large scale of the existing physical infrastructure (such as thatfor automotive applications) will require careful, slow and linear implementation approaches fromgovernment and industry.

This Hype Cycle can also be read from an industry perspective focused on industry-specificimplementations. Again, due to the scale and the scope of the installed base, each vertical marketwill have unique upgrade cycles; the development pipelines are different in each case. This HypeCycle discusses general technologies and business models such as master data management,augmented reality applications, the smart governance operating framework or sustainabilityperformance management. It also looks in detail at technologies and issues in the energy,transportation and healthcare sectors. These vertical sector examples show the portfolio ofintegrated technologies and business models that a city needs to be truly considered a smart city.

Changes From Last Year

This Hype Cycle is in its third year, and we have incorporated more service approaches andtechnologies for services directly addressing citizens' needs, while removing some technologiesthat are either too narrowly focused in niche areas or obsolete. The position of LBSs in Automotivewas updated to reflect the overinflated expectations regarding the value of LBS initiatives.

New Hype Cycle entries:

■ Agile Workplace Solutions

■ Augmented Reality Applications

■ Car Sharing Services

■ Consumer Energy Storage

■ Decisions and Recommendations as a Service

■ Intelligent Systems

■ LBSs in Automotive

■ Smart City Framework, China

■ Smart Transportation

Name changes:

■ "Continua 2011" to "Continua 2012'

■ "Car-to-Infrastructure Communications" to "Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communications"

■ "Public Telematics" to "Public Telematics and ITS"




Obsolete entries:

■ Big Data Information Management for Government

Removed entries:

■ Augmented Reality

■ Combined Heat and Power

■ Hydrogen Economy

■ Mobile Health Monitoring

■ Photovoltaic Generation

■ Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles/Electric Vehicles

■ Remote Health Monitoring

■ Sustainability Business Operations Consulting Service

■ Thermal/Concentrating Solar Power




Figure 1. Hype Cycle for Smart City Technologies and Solutions, 2013

Innovation Trigger

Peak ofInflated

Expectations

Trough of Disillusionment Slope of Enlightenment

Plateau of Productivity

time

expectations

Plateau will be reached in:

less than 2 years 2 to 5 years 5 to 10 years more than 10 yearsobsoletebefore plateau

As of July 2013

Intelligent SystemDecisions and Recommendationsas a Service

Real-Time Parking

Sustainability Consulting Services

Augmented Reality Applications

Agile Workplace Solutions

Intelligent LamppostElectric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

Consumer Smart AppliancesInformation Semantic Services

LBSs in AutomotiveNetworking IT and OT

Internet of ThingsSmart City Framework, China

Smart Governance Operating FrameworkSmart Transportation

Consumer Energy Storage

Home Energy Management/Consumer Energy Management

Information Stewardship ApplicationsIntelligent Lighting

Smart Fabrics Car-Sharing Services

Water Management

Vehicle Information Hub

Big Data Information Management for GovernmentWi-Fi Positioning Systems

MicrogridsDistributed GenerationIntegrated and Open Building Automation and Control Systems

Master Data ManagementMachine-to-Machine Communication Services

Customer GatewaysMobile Health MonitoringNFCAdvanced Metering Infrastructure

Cloud ComputingVehicle-to-Infrastructure

CommunicationsVideo Visits

Home Health Monitoring

Public Telematics and ITS

Consumer Telematics

Location-Aware TechnologySustainable Performance Management

Continua 2012

Electric Vehicles

Source: Gartner (July 2013)




The Priority Matrix

Designing and implementing a sustainable ICT and IoT infrastructure for an urban environmenttakes a long-term view, which is reflected in the many years to mainstream adoption for a largenumber of the technologies and business disciplines of this Hype Cycle.

The emerging nature of OT's alignment with IT becomes clear in Figure 2, the Priority Matrix. OnlyLocation-Aware Technology is forecast to reach sufficient technical and commercial maturity toachieve early mainstream adoption in less than two years. We do have a broad portfolio of ninetransformational technology profiles for the smart city. For the near term, two to five years, four ofthese transformation technologies will reach mainstream adoption, with the smart governanceoperating framework siting at the core of the information management between the city systemsthat will transform and accelerate the opportunity for new services. Cloud computing is a criticalmodel for how to store and process the core information for smart cities. The vehicle informationhub will enable consumers to extend their digital lifestyles to the car and will help car value chainmembers extend their relationships to the driver. In addition, AMI provides not just utility-centeredbenefits, but also benefits to the energy market, customer and societal benefits and carbonemissions abatement initiatives.

The fact that Gartner forecasts that 25 technologies will reach adoption within five to 10 years andsix technologies, including IoT, vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, consumer energy storage,public telematics and transport systems and smart fabrics will not reach maturity for more than 10years is a reflection of the technical complexity and cultural and political difficulty of bringing thekey IT and OT building blocks for the smart city together.

Given the long time frames for many of these technologies to reach maturity, city department CIOs,IT, OT and operations leaders should be teaming with their cross city-department counterparts toestablish the organizational and interdepartmental mechanisms necessary for them to jointly plan,prioritize and evaluate investments in the transformational and high potential areas shown in thisPriority Matrix. This will demonstrate their vision and stewardship in their government role, supportgovernance, conserve scarce resources for the long haul and provide a focus for departments andthe city on how and when they may build out their smart city.

Figure 2 depicts the years to mainstream adoption for the technologies presented in this HypeCycle.




Figure 2. Priority Matrix for Smart City Technologies and Solutions, 2013

benefit years to mainstream adoption

less than 2 years 2 to 5 years 5 to 10 years more than 10 years

transformational Advanced Metering Infrastructure

Cloud Computing

Smart Governance Operating Framework


Distributed Generation

Machine-to-Machine Communication Services

Smart City Framework, China

Internet of Things

Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communications

high Location-Aware Technology

NFC

Smart Transportation

Water Management


Car-Sharing Services

Consumer Telematics

Customer Gateways

Decisions and Recommendations as a Service


Information Stewardship Applications

Integrated and Open Building Automation and Control Systems

Intelligent Lamppost

Intelligent Lighting

Intelligent System

Master Data Management

Microgrids

Real-Time Parking

Video Visits

Consumer Energy StorageElectric Vehicles

moderate LBSs in Automotive

Networking IT and OT

Wi-Fi Positioning Systems


Consumer Smart Appliances

Continua 2012


Information Semantic Services

Mobile Health Monitoring


Sustainable Performance Management

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure


Smart Fabrics

low

As of July 2013





On the Rise

Intelligent System

Analysis By: Alfonso Velosa

Definition: An intelligent system framework enables an enterprise to better use the informationpresent in its devices. An intelligent system starts by obtaining data from connected devices andconnecting it via a gateway to the enterprise's systems where that data can be analyzed andconverted into insights and action by enterprise employees and automated systems.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: There is a significant opportunity for businesses toachieve greater value from the data that is located in devices that are, or will be, spread throughoutthe enterprise. Unfortunately, this data has been locked into the devices — mostly due to a lack ofconnectivity — but also due to a lack of standards, systems and processes to obtain this datasystematically, and even ignorance of the value of the information on those devices.

The systems of operational technology (OT)/IT convergence and, more generally, the Internet ofThings, continue to deploy through enterprises. Thus, there is an increasing need, possibility andopportunity for intelligent systems to collect, process, analyze and disseminate the data fromdevices in an intelligent way. To gain the full value of the data in these systems, enterprises willneed a system that incorporates:

■ Devices: The device will need to collect data from either sensors or inputs from other systems.The device may also format or process some of the data internally.

■ Data: This data will need to be collected within appropriate enterprise contextual elements suchas location, environmental parameters, and inputs from other devices. It must be presented in aformat that can be accessed by the enterprise gateway or other enterprise connectivitysystems.

■ Connectivity: The data will need to be transmitted from the devices to enterprise systems. Thismay occur via a gateway or server.

■ Application logic: Includes the functions and applications that the device will need to executeits core functions/applications. This application logic may reside on the device and/or thegateway/server.

■ Security and authentication: A comprehensive security and authentication process is requiredto protect the integrity of the devices and the data. The process will need to be able to providescheduled and ad hoc updates on the security profile.

■ Analytics and presentation layer: The data will need to be analyzed and presented in a formatthat facilitates the decision-making and action capabilities of enterprise IT and OT employeesand automated systems.

User Advice: System developers will want to look at aspects of the business that may benefit fromOT/IT integration of the devices through to the analytics layer. Observe that while the technical




elements may be quite challenging, the developers and their management should also consider thecultural elements of the enterprise just as thoroughly. For example, how the data from an intelligentsystem will fit into the work processes for an enterprise as well as how to incentivize employees toleverage the data to its fullest potential.

Recognize that data format standards vary by industry, often by vendor and by legacy systems, soany intelligent system that pulls in enough data will need to be capable of addressing multipleformats and industry standards. Thus, ensure you understand the value and cost of the proper useof the data in the system, and how it will cover the costs of any necessary consulting work to auditand integrate all of your data sources and types.

Business Impact: The value of an intelligent system will depend on its ability to leverage industry-specific parameters. An intelligent system will have the potential to help enterprises that implementthem outperform their peers in terms of maximizing the use of information; and to extendoperational elements such as asset management, or create new value chains for the enterprise todrive new revenue streams and deliver value to customers.

Benefit Rating: High

Market Penetration: 1% to 5% of target audience

Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Eurotech; GE; Microsoft

Decisions and Recommendations as a Service

Analysis By: Alfonso Velosa; Hung LeHong

Definition: Decisions and recommendations as a service (DRaaS) is a business model whereenterprises receive recommendations from a trusted provider. This model takes the concept ofmonetizing data one step further to provide optimized and automated decision choices based onspecific information and business unit (BU) goals. DRaaS can be used on a continuous or as-required basis.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: The types of decisions and recommendationsdelivered by a DRaaS provider can be a set of action choices (for example, route to drive oropening/closing valves to maximize flow), settings to optimize asset use (for example, industrialmachine settings to maximize yield), policies to optimize processes (for example, service-levelpolicies to maximize availability and minimize cost), or recommended prices or offers (for example,price optimization or next best offer selection). The person or team at the enterprise can then chosewhichever DRaaS choice meets their criteria the best, as part of a process to accelerate the speedof high-quality decisions.

Most enterprises still operate on, and make decisions based on, the historical data about how theirbusiness models and historical data structure have evolved. However, several trends are emergingthat are driving enterprises to consider new decision models and sources for automated decisionmaking:




■ The emerging availability of big data sources as diverse as IT systems, customer interactions,partner systems and the Internet of Things (IoT).

■ The growing need to leverage real-time data or granular operational data.

■ The acceptance of outsourcing models in conjunction with the rise of cloud-based services.

■ Service-oriented architecture (SOA) and cloud-/API-based application development that allowsfor easier integration of decision services into business processes and systems.

■ The severe budget constraints that many organizations face, particularly governmententerprises.

Enterprises are increasingly exploring the outsourcing of not just data collection but also the dataanalysis and resulting prescriptive recommendations. The core benefit of DRaaS is that it reducesthe potential capital and operational expenditure the enterprises may have had to accrue to collectthe data. Moreover, it allows BUs to leverage other providers' core expertise by outsourcing thedata analysis to expert providers. Examples of this are:

■ The traffic analysis and recommendations that Bitcarrier provides.

■ The maintenance advice that GE provides based on its engine sensors and analysis, or thetechnology and service provider getting operational technology (OT) data from the client directlyand sending back maintenance interval and intervention advice

■ The oncology diagnosis that IBM-Wellpoint's Clinical Oncology Advisor (based on Watson) canprovide to doctors.

Internet-based industries use recommendation engines and offer/ad engines that are precursors tothe DRaaS model.

As the building block technologies and business models mature, we expect to see new models andopportunities as enterprises leverage DRaaS to increase their competitiveness. For furtherinformation on this see "Uncover Value From the Internet of Things With the Four FundamentalUsage Scenarios."

User Advice: Senior managers should conduct experiments in 2013 to 2014 to firmly understandthe business potential of the DRaaS model while limiting their risk. Particular development areas tofocus on will be centered on these two areas:

■ Business potential. Understand how this impacts standard business metrics such as time-to-market improvements, new performance benchmarks and cost mitigation, as well as look at thepotential for new business or service capabilities.

■ Risk mitigation. SLA terms and conditions as well as getting a deeper understanding of risksfrom privacy policies and the loss of key enterprise intellectual property.

The decisions are only as good as the input and causal data that is provided to the DRaaS vendorso make sure data sources are reliable and clean or have the DRaaS provider get you there. Alsomake sure that you take the steps to build trust in the recommendations and decisions supplied by




the DRaaS provider. This is done by slowly introducing automated decision choices and verifyingthat they are improving business metrics. This model will need to be tested and analyzed incontrolled, risk-mitigated settings for factors such as the soundness of the decision tree outputs orprivacy considerations, before being considered for use across an entire BU. Use risk mitigation, forexample, where an enterprise will want to assess the legal implications of picking a choice from anoutsourced set of automated decision tools instead of from a human expert.

Note also that implementers will want to ensure the system provides multiple recommendations andthat people are trained in its use and limitations. This is to minimize any intimidation issues forpeople not wanting to risk their jobs/careers by contradicting the "expert" system.

From a technology perspective, DRaaS is easier to implement in enterprises that have pursued anSOA or Web-based-architecture.

Business Impact: This trend is applicable to almost all industry contexts, sizes of organizations andgeographies. DRaaS can be applied to both core and secondary competencies so it can lead toincremental improvement as well as competitive improvements.

DRaaS can improve decision making that is already in place, such as asset optimization viaimproved maintenance cycles. It can also be used to support completely new operations andrevenue areas. These new capabilities could be smart-city operations, such as improving rush hourtraffic by monitoring traffic and recommending better traffic lane settings to city planners. Theycould also be new retail revenue-generation opportunities, where malls track the density of shoppertraffic to generate real-time sales or discounts in lower traffic sections.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Bitcarrier; GE; IBM

Recommended Reading: "Uncover Value From the Internet of Things With the Four FundamentalUsage Scenarios"

Real-Time Parking

Analysis By: Thilo Koslowski

Definition: Real-time parking, or smart parking, uses sensor data to identify available and occupiedparking spots, aggregates this information, and then offers it to end users via Web applications,including telematics and connected vehicle services (for example, integrated in navigationsolutions). Sensors can be installed in a parking surface and/or in parking meters as well as parkinggarages.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Real-time parking technology is fairly new, althoughvendors are quickly emerging and receiving funding from investment firms because of the potential




economical and ecological impact. Consumer interest in such applications and services is highbecause of the potential user benefits in enhancing the driving and ownership experience.Requirements for infrastructure and technology investments, the development of new businessmodels, and the need to offer reliable and ubiquitous real-time parking information will take time toevolve. An increasing number of new startup companies and established companies expandingtheir solutions in the area of smart, real-time parking are quickly advancing the technology along theHype Cycle.

User Advice: Automotive organizations, service providers, IT providers and government bodiesshould prioritize real-time-parking-related investments because of their high potential to reducecongestion, decrease fuel consumption and increase local merchant business. In addition to thetechnological challenges, companies also need to realize the importance of addressing business-related aspects, such as the need to develop business models among multiple organizations (forexample, parking garage owner, parking application provider, navigation service provider andautomaker).

Business Impact: Real-time parking can lead to new revenue sources and optimized resourcemanagement for cities, solution providers and end users (for example, drivers and fleet operators).



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: IBM; Libelium; MobydoM (PaNGo); Parking Panda; Parkopedia; QuickPay;Streetline

Recommended Reading: "U.S. Consumer Vehicle ICT Study: Web-Based Features Continue toRise"

"German Consumer Vehicle ICT Study: Demand for In-Vehicle Technologies Continues to Evolve"

"Cool Vendors in Automotive, 2011"


Analysis By: Jacqueline Heng; Bettina Tratz-Ryan

Definition: Sustainability consulting services help organizations assess, develop, design, simulateand execute a strategy for sustainability. These services can concentrate on an organization'sstrategic outlook and the operational benefits of a sustainability program, as well as direct andtargeted services for vertical-industry segments. They include expertise in resource efficiency,carbon management, raw materials and life cycles, as well as a full range of customized managedservices and outsourcing capabilities.




Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Sustainability consulting services' holisticecostructure integrates services that focus on sustainable enterprise performance, sustainableoperations and vertical sustainability. Energy prices are rising, supplies of resources — especiallyelectricity, water and raw materials — are increasingly unstable, and governments are tighteningenvironmental and climate regulation. So organizations have to assess the risk associated withoperational and strategic sustainability.

Consulting firms should focus on:

■ Enhancing sustainability reporting and measurement structures. This is becoming a nonfinancialcorporate benchmark, especially for investors. Companies will successfully attain a set ofsustainability goals only when they implement a top-to-bottom sustainability managementprocess with a set of responsibilities for process owners. The strategy also has to beunderstood and executed by the entire value chain of an organization, including its suppliersand channel partners.

■ Integrating sustainability into business operations. This targets the green and environmentalimpact of using resources, complying with the legal requirements of stakeholders andgovernments, and assessing the design of products and solutions over their full life cycle.

■ Localizing vertical market solutions with sustainability capabilities (in industries such as utilities,transportation, manufacturing and agriculture). All these sectors have different localrequirements that are affected heavily by sustainability governance. Specifically, the strategicevolution and thought leadership behind smart grids and smart cities are cornerstones for thoseconsulting capabilities.

Sustainability consulting services are slow to move along the Hype Cycle because they are currentlyrequired mostly by large enterprises with risks that relate to their brand and global liability.Industries that are under pressure from governments and stakeholders to reduce their impact onclimate change or contribute significant innovation to larger (that is, multiorganization) projects arealso signing contracts for sustainability consulting services. Overall, sustainability consultingservices are slowly increasing toward the Peak of Inflated Expectations.

User Advice: By using these services, organizations can assess the business issues aroundoperational and strategic sustainability. The increase in sustainability business issues is a result ofmore government pressure and tightening environmental and climate regulations.

We recommend the following:

■ A serious commitment from the senior leadership team (including members of the board) tocreate an internal sustainability education program and to agree on the principles and desiredoutcomes for the organization

■ A program leader inside the organization who not only has the political clout, relationships andability to complete a task that will likely be complex and contentious, but also can makesustainability a priority for technology spending

■ A service provider with a deep understanding of how to take a comprehensive and strategicapproach to sustainability




■ A service provider with an excellent understanding of the client organization and a relationshipwith it

■ A service provider that is itself experiencing sustainability development as a proof of conceptand which can share best practices, especially in defining the cost of environmental compliance

■ A service provider with a holistic and integrated sustainability framework that includes coreinternal business functions rather than just business process improvement

■ A cultural fit between client and service provider

Business Impact: Sustainability consulting services are driven by government mandates andregulatory compliance. The most recent mandates are those aimed directly at implementing carbontaxes, reducing emissions and similar initiatives. Examples include the enforcement of carbontaxation in Australia and the enhancement of sustainability programs by Indian enterprises to meetcarbon reporting requirements. Even governments comply with the requirements of globalenvironmental bodies to reduce carbon outtake or manage agriculture and reforestation.

Benefit Rating: Moderate

Market Penetration: Less than 1% of target audience

Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Accenture; Capgemini; Deloitte; Ernst & Young; HCL Technologies; HP; IBM;PwC; Tata Consultancy Services

Recommended Reading: "Competitive Landscape: Sustainability Consulting Services in Asia/Pacific, 2012"

"Emerging Service Analysis: Sustainability Consulting Services"


Analysis By: Miriam Burt

Definition: Augmented reality (AR) overlays real-time integration of text, graphics, audio and othervirtual enhancements onto screens displaying real-world objects. Elements of AR applications arebecoming social, and are increasingly centered on context-aware location-based services formobile devices.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: There is continued interest in and gradual maturity ofAR applications for the retail market. Hype around these applications has been driven by theexponential growth of the smartphone market, the proliferation of quick response codes (QR codes)and RFID tags, and the increased hype from technology vendors highlighting advancements inareas such as GPS, digital camera technology and real-time analytics. AR is also showing aconvergence with the trend of gamification — the use of game mechanics in nonentertainmentenvironments to change user behavior and drive engagement.




The main usage scenarios for AR applications include geolocation-based services such asdiscovering things in the vicinity of the user or showing a user where to go or what to do, as well asproviding additional information about an object of interest. In retail, this translates to customersfinding locations or products with maps and real-time directions, accessing detailed productinformation, contextualizing products and receiving personalized promotions.

The initial hype around mobile AR focused on GPS and related services. More recently, there havebeen developments in this direction, including more comprehensive geolocation applications as wellas richer and more graphic-intensive applications. However, in the past 12 months, functionality hasexpanded beyond location-based capabilities toward computer-vision-based (such as image andobjection recognition) to deliver the ability to visually identify still and moving objects in theenvironment's AR. There has also been a lot of hype in the past 12 months around "Google Glass,"a wearable computer leveraging augmented reality technology. However, this particular Googleoffering is already facing adoption challenges due to consumers' privacy concerns (for example,Google Glass wearers surreptitiously taking pictures or filming someone without their knowledge).

Tier 1 retailers continue to experiment with AR applications in-store, online and on mobile devices,and this technology continues to climb steadily up the Hype Cycle. Examples of implementationsinclude enabling customers to virtually try on clothing online or in a "virtual dressing room" in thestore, seeing how furniture items look in their home or room, seeing what unconstructed models ofobjects look like in 3D and allowing customers to interact with animated characters. On thebusiness side, some companies, such as Lego, have leveraged AR to promote global collaborationby allowing employees to see newly created pieces and buildings. The company claims to haveachieved higher efficiency with its AR-enabled product development software.

With the growth of AR applications for mobile devices, we expect to see more hype and activity inthe retail market in the next 12 months. It is therefore reasonable to expect a few Tier 1 trials andimplementations in the coming 12 months.

User Advice: Retailers should not be dazzled by the current hype surrounding AR applications formobile devices, because it will be a while before technology will deliver the refinements needed fora good customer experience. Moreover, consumers' privacy concerns regarding wearablecomputers such as Google Glass should not be overlooked.

AR is very process-intensive and demanding, even for high-end smartphones, and this could affectthe customer experience. Small screens, imprecise GPS locations and inconsistent data mean thatthe AR user experience does not always live up to the concept. First and foremost, AR applicationsshould be reviewed in the light of how they will support customer expectations and enhance theshopping experience in more-immersive channels — such as the store or when shopping at homeby accessing the retailer's website on a PC or laptop.

Due diligence should be performed on what integration is needed at the back end, includingfulfillment processes (for example, integration of the real-time offer engines to robust cross-channelcontent management systems). This will be the backbone for AR applications to deliver a goodcross-channel experience. For example, an AR application could allow online home shoppers withwebcams to place items of digital clothing over their own image, giving an experience close to anin-store fitting room. The shoppers can then check stock availability and either order online or come




into the store to purchase the item. Retailers must, therefore, ensure that the AR solution isintegrated with cross-channel stock management systems to ensure that items tried on are in stock,particularly in-store, as on-shelf stock availability is a key basic that customers expect whenshopping in store.

Retailers should also remember to tie up their promotions driven by AR experiences to the otherchannels, because customers also expect retailers to deliver a consistent cross-channel shoppingexperience. Retailers have a better chance of making a successful business case for ARapplications and services if they can show that it is part of the overall cross-channel shoppingprocess, instead of using AR as a means to itself. For example, retailers could consider using ARapplications and services in the context of the convergence of mobile and social in the cross-channel shopping experience.

Business Impact: In more-immersive environments, such as the store, interaction with ARapplications could drive conversion from interest to actual sales. For example, AR applications in-store could be used to give the customer detailed information when purchasing complex products,or customers can get information when trying on apparel in a virtual dressing room, which couldenhance the customer experience and drive sales. AR applications can also be used post-sale (forexample, easily downloadable AR manuals for do-it-yourself projects) to increase customersatisfaction, improve loyalty and encourage positive customer recommendations to otherconsumers who have yet to make their purchasing decisions.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: GoldRun; Iryss; Layar; Metaio; Total Immersion; Zugara

Recommended Reading: "Survey Analysis: Multichannel Retailing Drives Revenue to Stores FromE-Commerce, Mobile and Social Shopping"

"An Overview of the Strategic Technology Map for Tier 1 Multichannel Retailers"


Analysis By: Federica Troni; Meike Escherich

Definition: The term agile workplace solutions describes a collection of collaborative andconsumerized work environments and technologies that, combined with new working practices,enable employees to connect to their center of work from any location at any time with a variety ofendpoint devices. Agile workplace defines a more flexible work environment that considers adaptiveemployee work styles and practices.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Gartner believes that the opportunities for agileworkplaces grow fastest in urban areas. Due to the concentration of labor and workforces in urban




regions and cities, alongside with the innovation pool, strategies such as agile workplace enableorganizations to tap into the best talent pool without the restriction of physical presence in acentralized office environment. Agile workplace supports citizen-focused social inclusion criteria forthe workforce, including for people with disabilities, working parents and senior citizens, for users towork from the most suitable and appropriate location. Agile workers have secure access to all therelevant sets of applications, data and services using a variety of devices regardless of theirownership. This includes working from different office locations, at client sites, at home, whiletraveling, nationally or internationally. Agile workplace initiatives include telework and work fromhome programs, but are not limited to those, as they are aimed at enabling users to work andaccess their workspace from any location, including the traditional office. Users are enabled to takeadvantage of whichever connectivity and device options fit their needs best. Technology solutionsare one of the pillars for agile working but other key elements of it include the design of the workingspace to reflect new working styles, new working practices and culture, and a focus on the legaland HR ramifications.

Selective solutions and applications for agile working such as collaboration tools, teleconferencingor instant messaging have been available for at least 10 years. However, the integration ofconsumerized applications, social media and crowdsourcing accelerates the ability to distribute thework environment to include home offices, coffee shops and mobile hot desks. Today, agileworkplace tools include new mobile devices (smartphones, tablets and hybrids, which through theuse of touch and instant-on enable new usage styles), new technologies to wrap applications anddata (desktop virtualization, containerization), new application and services delivery mechanisms(SaaS, cloud-based collaboration, file sharing) and, most importantly, the availability of networkconnectivity at sufficient bandwidth and quality of service to support work requirements. Many ofthe technologies described have passed the Peak of Inflated Expectations, but a comprehensiveapproach to workspace enablement (i.e., encompassing in-office, out of the office and working fromhome as variations on a single theme — getting workers to be productive anywhere) is still very newand immature, hence the positioning as pre-peak on the curve.

User Advice: Agile workplace is a mid- to long-term objective that impacts a number of areas(technology, use of space, working style and more). Agile workplace solutions deliver the workplaceto users regardless of the users' location, the network and the devices they use. It is enabling moreeffective work styles, and also fulfilling environmental sustainability criteria for urban smart cities,especially on air quality in relation to commuting times, fuel consumptions and greenhouse gasemissions, as well as resource consumption. A new range of technologies and solutions hasbecome available to facilitate collaboration and grant secure access to the right data in the rightcontext. Agile workplace initiatives involve reviewing strategic plans and prioritizing investment for anumber of tools and technologies, including but not limited to the following examples:

■ Review application life cycle and prioritize investments in platform agnostic applications.

■ Evaluate technologies that isolate the corporate workplace and make it portable across a widevariety of platforms. Examples include containerization technologies, hosted virtual desktops,client-side virtualization and server-based computing.

■ Review your investment in management infrastructure and consider tools that enable themanagement of a diverse environment, possibly in a context-aware manner. Examples include




workspace aggregators, mobile applications and mobile device management tools, and clientmanagement tools. Give privilege to tools that will enable your organization to shift frommanaging hardware to simply manage the corporate workspace.

■ Make your network the primary control point by considering technologies such as networkaccess controls, scan and block, segmented networks and dynamic access controls accordingto the level of trust of both user and device.

■ Adopt cloud office systems, collaboration and file-sharing tools that support adequately thisstrategy.

Business Impact: Agile workplace initiatives have different drivers, some of which are strictlyrelated to classic enterprise objectives, while others can be viewed more as urban community orsocial and demographic objectives in conjunction with work-life balance and the different workperception of millenials. Organizations are looking at agile workplace initiatives when theyreorganize office space to design more agile and efficient work environments, where virtual teamscan get together and dissolve and recombine as required. This can be of particular interest fororganizations operating across multiple geographies and time zones. Organizations are also lookingat agile workplace initiatives to use real estate more efficiently and reduce the carbon footprint ofoffice environments. Others are purely looking at agile workplace to reduce the cost of traditionaloffices. Others still are seeing agile workplace initiatives in the wider context of policies aimed atincreasing social inclusion, and to help facilitate women's participation in the workforce. New waysof facilitating agile working are to support shared infrastructure for remote office and working, ridesharing, corporate pooling for using vehicles, devices and technology infrastructure. Fororganizations that capture the overall environmental sustainability footprint, the opportunity for anagile workspace in their work culture and the cost of doing business is not only to measureproductivity and efficiency of work in relation to outcome/revenue, but also the necessary carbon orresource intensity that was invested or saved by applying a different work environment.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Centrix Software; Cisco; Citrix; Framehawk; Google; Microsoft; VMware


Analysis By: Dean Freeman

Definition: An intelligent streetlamp system is a network of streetlamps that is tied together in aWAN that can be controlled and monitored from a central point, by the city or a third party. Theultimate intelligent system would be made of solid-state electronics and include citywide Wi-Fi,localized cellular towers, traffic monitors, air pollution sensing, local weather stations, gunshot andblast detection, and closed-circuit television, which are all monitored via a WAN with a centralcollection point or via the cloud.




Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Light-emitting diode (LED) streetlighting is beginningto emerge, using a mobile-communications WAN or Wi-Fi mesh network to communicate betweenthe centralized monitoring station and the lamppost. Wi-Fi is the likely communications source, aspulling communications cable would add expenses that would be difficult to recover over the life ofthe project. Expanding the business model to third parties, such as mobile operators and cityadministrations, will enable lampposts to be connected using mobile access, such as Wi-Fi, far-near communications and 4G picocells and macrocells to deliver broadband data to communitiesand subscribers. In the future, intelligent streetlamps can be remotely managed and monitored by acentralized management system with direct communication to the lamppost, reducing maintenanceand operations costs, which in many cases will pay for the intelligent streetlamp within three to fiveyears. Business models and applications will need to be developed before some of the intelligentlampposts will penetrate entire cities and communities. The scale of deployment is highlydependent on those models. The business model has to take vandalism and theft into considerationif the lamppost contains advanced technology.

User Advice: Municipalities should explore the many possibilities of intelligent streetlamps formonitoring the different functions and security in the city. Cities should also determine a rollout planto determine what functions are best-suited for the different locations. Vendors should explorebusiness models for the many applications to determine what the cost-benefit assessment will befor users. Consider public/private partnerships in order to leverage the costs for applications andbusiness engagements.

Business Impact: Initially there will be opportunity for streetlamp manufacturers and wirelessvendors. Future opportunities will emerge as cities see the potential power of the remote-monitoringcapability of the streetlamps. Lampposts can be used for security video applications, trafficmonitoring and environmental readings, such as pollution, carbon dioxide and air quality. Cities orthird parties could potentially sell data to interested parties as a method of recovering costs. In earlyadoption, the bulk of the cost will be the LED lighting; it will drop as LED and packaging costscontinue to decline.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Acuity; Echelon

Recommended Reading: "Emerging Technology Analysis: Intelligent Lampposts"

Sustainable Performance Management

Analysis By: Stephen Stokes; Simon Mingay

Definition: Sustainable performance management (SPM) contrasts with corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) reporting in that it is an internally facing mode of sustainable performancereporting, analysis, optimization and communication. It typically provides roll-up reporting, analysisand business intelligence designed to enhance performance and increase organizational efficiency




in areas such as energy, carbon, waste, water and recycling. It is used as a basis for internalmanagement of sustainability projects and strategies.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: SPM has only recently emerged as an independentaspect of sustainability beyond traditional CSR. Given that the marketplace has shifted perceptionsof sustainability away from compliance reporting and increasingly toward sustainability strategies asa basis for long-term operational improvement, we expect SPM strategies and associated businesstools to emerge relatively rapidly. An additional driver for rapid uptake of the technology relates tothe fact that SPM provides a robust platform for the collation and export of data for CSR reporting.Enterprise stakeholders, including customers and supply chain partners, increasingly expect CSRreporting, and many organizations recognize it as a significant resource burden. Pressure fromthese stakeholders is further fueling adoption speed.

User Advice: Gartner believes that SPM is a clear hallmark of a smart enterprise, in view of thecompetitive advantage that it derives. Our research reveals that real advantage is being obtained inthis way.

SPM typically provides roll-up reporting, analysis and business intelligence designed to enhanceperformance and increase organizational efficiency. The majority of SPM currently focuses on amultiparameter analysis of enterprise environmental sustainability (incorporating aspects of carbonemissions, energy and water consumption, liquid and solid waste, recycling rates, and otherfactors). More-evolved approaches incorporate social and economic factors relating to anorganization's sustainable performance.

Ideally, SPM can not only provide an assessment of operational and strategic sustainabilityinitiatives, but also provide insights into the financial analysis of such activities. Indeed, SPM can,therefore, act as a "green" or "sustainable" lens to spot business enhancement opportunities.

During the more than 30 years that corporations have been reporting aspects of their environmental,social and sustainable performance, by far, the majority of activity has focused on CSR reporting.CSR reporting has evolved as an important externally facing communication vehicle by whichcorporations can voluntarily disclose social and sustainable performance. In doing so, they enhancebrand and reputational values and, in some cases, demonstrate sector or market leadership. Morerecently, SPM has emerged as a partially related, internally facing mode of sustainable performancereporting and communication. It is designed to populate aspects of externally facing CSR reportsand to be used as a basis for internal management of sustainability projects and strategies, whichprovides organizationwide visibility of performance and actions.

Unlike most CSR reports, SPM focuses on the operational performance of an organization.Maximizing the business value associated with sustainability both internally and externally iscritically dependent on access to high-fidelity, high-cadence, sustainability-related data. Managingthat data is a significant organizational burden. If you have experimented with the manual collationof sustainability-related data, or with generic carbon-reporting tools, consider embracing SPM as anopportunity to develop a more holistic view of sustainability across your organization. Costsassociated with investment in SPM technologies are likely to be rapidly outweighed by efficienciesin sustainable information management. But a sound SPM platform, likewise, prepares your




organization for potential introductions of future voluntary or mandatory reporting requirements forregulators, investor groups or other stakeholders.

Unlike the typically annual cadence of CSR reporting, expect SPM to increasingly be executed atconsiderably higher frequencies. Performance optimization is very much a "living in the nowexperience," allowing hidden problems to be identified and resolved much more quickly.

Business Impact: SPM delivers direct benefits relating to increased efficiencies, improved resourceutilization, improved brand image, and indirect benefits relating to ease and quality of externalreporting functions. SPM can additionally foster innovation, and contribute to both risk managementand brand protection/enhancement strategies.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: CA Technologies; CloudApps; Enablon; SAP; SAS

Recommended Reading: "Sustainable Business Systems, Part 3: Differentiating SustainableSolutions by Functional Domain"

"Achieving Competitive Advantage Through the Pursuit of Sustainable Business"

"Building Sustainable Supply Chains"

At the Peak

Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure


Definition: The electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure is a component of the overall systemthat supplies electric energy for the recharging of EVs and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).Although several different means of providing vehicles with charged batteries exist (such as batteryswitch stations or the emerging wireless vehicle charging models), this Hype Cycle entry refers to awired charging infrastructure as opposed to the wireless EV charging infrastructure that is coveredin a separate entry.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Although most rechargeable EVs and equipment canbe recharged from a domestic wall socket, there is a growing need for widely distributed, publiclyaccessible power points, some of which support faster charging at higher voltages and currentsthan are available from domestic supplies. Many charging stations are on-street facilities providedby electric utility companies. Some of these special charging stations provide one, or a range of,heavy-duty or special connectors.




Charging stations for EVs may not need much new infrastructure buildup in developed countries,except for delivering a new alternative fuel over a new network. The stations can leverage theexisting ubiquitous electrical grid, and home recharging is an option. For example, polls have shownthat more than half of homeowners in the U.S. have access to a plug to charge their cars. Also,most driving is local over short distances, which reduces the need for charging midtrip. In the U.S.,for example, 78% of commutes are less than 40 miles (64 km) round trip. Nevertheless, longerdrives between cities and towns require a network of public charging stations, or another method toextend the range of EVs beyond the normal daily commute. One challenge in such an infrastructureis the level of demand: An isolated station along a busy highway may see hundreds of customersper hour if every passing EV has to stop there to complete the trip. In the first half of the 20thcentury, internal combustion vehicles faced a similar infrastructure problem.

A relatively inexpensive charging station providing 3.3 kilowatts (kW) of power (240 volts [V] at 14amps [A]) will take several hours to fully recharge an EV. For example, the Nissan Leaf, with its 24kilowatt-hour battery pack, takes approximately eight hours to recharge. However, most users willcharge every day, so they will rarely need to fully recharge their battery. So, 3.3 kW charging is morethan enough for parking at home or work, but not for "refueling" in the middle of a trip.

Subject to the power handling of the car's charging electronics and battery chemistry, higher-powercharging stations reduce charging time significantly. The SAE J1772-2009 connector can supply16.8 kW (240V, 70A); the VDE-AR-E 2623 connector in Europe provides up to 43.5 kW (400V, 63A,three-phase); the J1773 (Magne Charge) inductive paddle can provide 50 kW nickel metal hydride(NiMH) batteries to 80% in 12 minutes; and CHAdeMO DC Fast Charge (formerly referred to asLevel 3) charging stations can supply 62.5 kW (500V direct current, 125A). The latter reduces thetime to recharge the Nissan Leaf to 80% of capacity to about 30 minutes.

Fast charging requires an industrial-type electric service (that is, voltage greater than 120Valternating current, and maximum current capacity greater than 15A — the values found at a typicalU.S. residential wall outlet). A fast charge "service station" designed to simultaneously fast-chargemultiple vehicles in the way current gasoline or diesel stations simultaneously refuel multiplevehicles might require a peak-power service on the order of several megawatts.

During the last 12 months, public and private e-mobility efforts have accelerated the developmentof EV charging infrastructures. But overall, deployment is still slow, albeit in line with sluggishconsumer demand for EVs.

User Advice: Recharging a large battery pack presents a high load on the electrical grid, but thiscan be scheduled for periods of reduced load or reduced electricity costs. To schedule therecharging, either the charging station or the vehicle can communicate with the utility via the smartgrid communications backbone. Some plug-in vehicles allow the vehicle operator to controlrecharging through a Web interface or smartphone app. Furthermore, in a vehicle-to-grid scenario,the vehicle battery can supply energy to the grid at periods of peak demand. This requiresadditional communication between the grid, charging station and vehicle electronics. SAEInternational is developing a range of standards for energy transfer to and from the grid, includingSAE J2847/1 ("Communication Between Plug-in Vehicles and the Utility Grid").




Business Impact: Depending on the role that a utility company wants to have in electrification oftransportation, the business impact can be minimal (in the case that charging infrastructure isowned and operated by a third party, such as Better Place, or if a utility company wants to manageand operate its own EV charging infrastructure). If the utility company wants to play an active role,the major area of impact will be delivery (charging infrastructure life cycle management) and retail(customer service, metering and billing).



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Better Place; ChargePoint; ECOtality; Elektromotive; GE; Siemens

Recommended Reading: "Gartner Study: Strategic Market Considerations for Electric Vehicle andE-Mobility Adoption in Germany"

"Gartner Study: Strategic Market Considerations for Electric Vehicle Adoption in the U.S."

Consumer Smart Appliances

Analysis By: Angela McIntyre

Definition: Smart appliances have the ability to connect to a network, either through a homenetwork, such as Wi-Fi, through a cellular connection, or through a purpose-built energymanagement network. Smart appliances also respond to control signals received through thenetwork, either directly from the user in the form of remote commands, or based on programmeduser preferences in response to pricing (or demand response) signals from the utility. An examplewould be washing machines that are controlled remotely by the owner via a smartphone app.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Consumer adoption of smart appliances will occurinitially because of convenience features to control them remotely, and only a small percentage ofconsumers are likely to pay for this convenience. Appliance manufacturers are taking a cautiousapproach to making smart appliances available for purchase. GE, LG, Samsung and others have afew smart appliance models on the market. They recognize that until utilities offer variable rateelectricity pricing, consumers will not be able to recoup the premium paid for smart appliances.

Smart appliances will remain niche until appliance manufacturers deliver features consumers valuefor lifestyle and convenience or utilities implement variable rate pricing for electricity, which wouldenable consumers to save on their electric bill using smart appliances. Utilities are piloting smartgrid solutions in a handful of pilot programs globally. Leading appliance manufacturers areparticipating in these programs to document the benefits of smart appliances for the household.Smart appliances are being made available first to builders and to consumers through a smallnumber of retailers.

User Advice: Appliance manufacturers should engage in market research to learn about how smartappliances would be used in the home. Use Wi-Fi or cellular connectivity for data communication




and control, and the Android OS. Lead with messages about the convenience and lifestyle thatInternet-connected appliances can bring, especially for remote control of the device, remotediagnostics and maintenance.

Appliance manufacturers should encourage software developers to deliver applications that enableconsumers to remotely control appliances from their mobile devices (smartphones, tablets and PCs)and to monitor home energy use. Partner with software and service providers for home energymanagement solutions in which data about electricity used by the appliances can be stored on aPC, a dedicated storage device, or in the cloud. At first, consumers' adoption of smart applianceswill be driven by their ability to control appliances remotely on whatever mobile device is mostconvenient. Make sure additional lifestyle features create value for consumers without creating newtasks and fees, for example, a fridge needs its own data plan and content service, or consumershave to type lists of food.

Utilities should work with state and federal efficiency standards bodies to move toward smartappliance standards. Additional pilot projects and joint research will speed along this importanttechnology. Smart appliance pilots are frequently linked to automated metering infrastructuredeployment and dynamic pricing market tests. They extend the advanced metering infrastructure(AMI) communication link into customer premises to provide pricing information or control signalsthrough a home area network (HAN) using technology, such as Wi-Fi or ZigBee.

Business Impact: Appliance manufacturers and their suppliers can benefit from offering smartappliances in the following ways:

■ Closer connection to the consumer, including data about appliance duty cycles and remoterepair diagnostics.

■ Uplift in price per unit — Smart appliances provide convenience and energy management forwhich consumers may pay more before these features are commoditized.

■ Competitive differentiation with smart features.

■ Potential to partner with utilities for distribution smart appliances.

Because of the long lifetimes of home appliances, which often last 10 years or more, replacing theinstalled base of older appliances with new ones that can communicate with smart meters will taketime. In five years, 10% to 20% of home appliances will be able to communicate with smart meters.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: GE; Haier; LG Electronics; Samsung; Whirlpool

Recommended Reading: "Predicts 2013: Smart City Business and Service Models Need to KeepCitizen Value in Mind"




"Market Trends: Consumer Services in a Smart Home"

"Competitive Landscape: Smart Appliances, Worldwide"

"Forecast: White Goods Energy Consumption, Worldwide, 2010-2015"


Analysis By: Mark A. Beyer; Frank Buytendijk

Definition: Information semantic styles are the agreements for how to govern the interdependencebetween application flows and repositories. Information semantic services convert that agreementfrom embedded code to callable services, which include taxonomic and ontological recognition ofhow a business process uses the data.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Most applications begin with a dedicated style ofsemantic in which a single application joins with a single repository to manage and enforceinformation governance. Changing to more advanced styles will necessarily take time to complete.Over time, categories of information semantic services will be deployed to support six differentstyles: dedicated, registry, consolidation, external, auditing and orchestration (see "InformationManagement in the 21st Century Is About All Kinds of Semantics").

Importantly, while the other styles are more advanced, there will remain significant and appropriatedemand for dedicated semantics. Information semantics are part of the larger informationcapabilities framework (see "The Information Capabilities Framework: An Aligned Vision forInformation Infrastructure").

Early adoption of registry style semantics is found in analytics and data service buses. A moreadvanced style is orchestration, which will utilize the other five styles as "children" or componentsof a reconfigurable composite service. That said, master data management (MDM) is possibly oneof the early strategies that utilizes orchestration to blend the other five styles together. Gartnerclients have begun to report the use of such component services with very good initial results andthis has accelerated interest and brought information services to the Peak of Inflated Expectations.

However, some analytics solutions and MDM programs have begun to encounter resistance towider application precisely because they are the most demanding application of using all sixsemantic styles if they reach full maturity. Architects and developers simply cannot accomplish thefull services approach easily — avoidance is becoming a tolerated practice. This will createsignificantly brittle systems and limit flexibility in the information architecture.

Adoption of semantic services is driven by the increased acceptance of standards such asResource Description Framework (RDF) and Web Ontology Language (OWL) and the adoption ofsemantic technologies in areas such as social media, search, business process management,analytics, security, content management and information management. In addition, the introductionof semantic interpreters will encourage extensibility to include big data.

Significant barriers to these more complex and flexible styles include legacy applications, issueswith information abstraction (such as ontology and taxonomy resolution) and a reluctance by




organizations to adopt formal business process modeling (to demonstrate reusable applicationflows). Importantly, we emphasize more business benefits this year as a fresh perspective on thetechnology, which requires a "demystification" of this largely metadata function.

User Advice: Organizations should not try to implement sweeping replacements of legacy systemswith loosely coupled, independent services in their information management architectures. Rather,they should create a targeted approach to experiment with each of the six semantic styles andcombinations of them.

For now, continue to build the data service layer with an orientation toward the file management,structured and unstructured repositories and message queues. The proper abstraction ofinformation assets and the appropriate management of metadata will enable a more flexible futurearchitecture. This particular style of interfacing between information assets collected by a widevariety of systems will be particularly useful in cloud computing for analytics and data integration.

Pursue a more formal business process design and documentation standard in the organization topromote the identification of shared application processing flows. When business processes cross,their information and information processing flows also cross one another. The advice here refers toreviewing and modeling business process flows and not enterprise data objects.

Evaluate application development platforms, data management and integration businessapplications for their ability to share metadata, call external services, the commonality of thedeveloper's interface and their capabilities for specifying business logic through explicit modelsinstead of code. Interoperability of development tools should be a highly-rated selection criteria.

Business Impact: The ability to model processes by the business and have tool-based changedetection processes in place to inform IT will decrease the time to delivery for new informationprocessing demands. Similarly, by placing process modeling at the center, the true owner ofinformation assets (the process, not people, applications or databases) begins to pushrequirements simultaneously to the information design and the application design. The result is thatthe influence of individual managers in the business will be more easily identified as solid businessprocess or personal agendas, which may at times be contrary to the business.

Shared application flows also means shared ontology is equally important, including identifyingwhen assumed ontological sharing is incorrect. This will force the business to identify when itsprocesses are attempting to share data, which actually hinders the various processes fromcollecting new data points when needed.

This architectural approach and its incumbent design demands help businesses identify gaps intheir knowledge regarding business processes and inappropriate linking, so that the design ofinformation assets becomes a business process clarification exercise.

While the overall benefits of utilizing these types of service is very high and probablytransformational, as a practice, there is a significantly high probability that this will becomeembedded in other technologies.






Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Ontology Works; Software AG

Recommended Reading: "Information Management in the 21st Century Is About All Kinds ofSemantics"

"The Nexus of Forces Is Driving the Adoption of Semantic Technologies, but What Does ThatMean?"

"Stop the Madness of Ad Hoc Information Infrastructure"

"Toolkit: Improve Architectural Decisions with Business-Driven Information Infrastructure"

LBSs in Automotive


Definition: Location-based services (LBSs) use information about the location of vehicles andusers' mobile devices by using GPS technology and/or cellular/Wi-Fi triangulation. Examples arevehicle tracking, dynamic traffic services and local searches. LBSs are offered by telematics serviceproviders (TSPs), automakers, portable navigation device (PND) manufacturers, consumerelectronics companies, mobile network carriers and application developers. LBSs use the locationand potentially other contextual information to create relevant value propositions.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Although non-routing-centric LBS solutions are amature technology and application area in the mobile handset space, they continue to represent arelatively new area within the automotive and navigation industries, where companies are continuingto learn about the potential of services that go beyond traditional navigation and emergencyfunctionality (such as location-centric search and mobile commerce). The prospect of realizing newrevenue opportunities and engaging consumers on a daily basis is generating significant interestamong automakers, suppliers, service providers and application developers. Companies' recentefforts to offer application stores in automobiles and location-aware and relevant services will leadto new offerings.

However, the recent hype regarding check-in services or mobile coupon applications, consumerprivacy concerns and unproven business models are reminders that the most successful LBSapplication focus for the automotive industry remains on mapping, routing and innovative navigationsolutions. Social location and place-relevant information represent promising innovation areas forthe automotive industry regarding LBSs (for example, having a navigation system with built-infunctionality to find charging stations and reserve them to recharge an electric vehicle). During thenext two years, the automotive industry will likely be impacted by the hype surrounding LBSapplications, which potentially will lead to overinflated expectations regarding the value of LBSinitiatives.




User Advice: Establish partnerships with device manufacturers, service providers, developers andcontent providers to create unique LBS offerings that are specifically designed for drivers andpassengers. Try to avoid duplicating functionality that users can already access on their portabledevices, and instead, focus on unique applications and value propositions that are focused onusers' driving, ownership or mobility needs. Partner with experienced companies in the LBS field,such as developers, content providers and/or network carriers. Balance the hype with real value foryour end users. Don't let the often unjustified market hype for mobile-phone-based LBSapplications confuse your priorities. Avoid privacy issues by closely following legislative decisionsand user sentiment. Carefully balance potential data insights regarding customer behavior (forexample, usage data) with potential privacy challenges.

Business Impact: The automotive and navigation industries can leverage LBSs to create newcustomer value to complement the driving experience, justify ongoing subscription costs forbroader connected-vehicle services via periodically updated content and/or benefit from potentialadvertising revenue. Additionally, LBSs can help to address transportation and traffic challenges inthe future by collecting driving- or vehicle-related information, aggregating it and sharing it with abroader user audience (for example, BMW's customers can collect traffic information that is sharedwith other BMW customers).

The evolution from the connected car to the connected driver and, ultimately, to the connectedcustomer can create new value propositions that cover the entire product and customer life cycle.New personal mobility solutions, in particular, can benefit from LBS-enabled offerings by simplifyingcustomers' transportation decisions (for example, by offering public transportation options oncecustomers arrive with their vehicles at a specific place).



Maturity: Early mainstream

Sample Vendors: Google; Microsoft; Navteq; Nokia; TeleNav; Vodafone

Recommended Reading: "Predicts 2013: Mobile, Cloud and Information Fuel the Automotive Eraof Smart Mobility"

"U.S. Consumer Vehicle ICT Study: Web-Based Features Continue to Rise"


Networking IT and OT

Analysis By: Geoff Johnson

Definition: Networking IT and operational technologies (OT) refers to the practice of facilitating wideuse of TCP/IP (Internet Protocol) networking in both IT and OT domains to bring OT into ITenvironments and allow OT to benefit from developments in IT networking. OT is being integrated




into IT environments to improve the agility of businesses by using familiar IT networkingtechnologies (particularly TCP/IP or IP networking). It includes the OT use of related networkingdomains, such as the Internet of Things and machine-to machine networking.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: For good reasons, OT has existed alone, using itsown technologies and infrastructure: It had to meet mission-critical demands and be highlyavailable, resilient and reliable. Enterprises in many industries, including utilities, energy, media,transport and government, have concluded there is increasing value in internetworking OT into IT. ITand OT network managers face issues about various approaches to IT and OT interworking, wherethe OT is stand-alone, converged or integrated. The business logic driving the fractured, uneven,but general trend toward IT/OT integration relying on networking is based on innovating to improveagility and competitive ability, especially as OT suppliers move toward increasing use of IPnetworking and common use of microprocessors and Web browsers to monitor and control devicesand assets. OT occurs in some form in all asset-intensive industries, and it is dominant in industrieslike electricity and energy utilities, process control or manufacturing, transport and municipaloperations, where OT is more likely to be based on distributed control systems (DCSs), andsupervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA).

Integration of SCADA or DCS real-time data into enterprise business processes and reporting is acommon driver for considering IT/OT integration. There are clear generations of SCADAdevelopment. Originally, monolithic SCADA was not networked and stood alone. A secondgeneration carried distributed SCADA in real time on LANs, and a third generation networkedSCADA using open standards and protocols across a WAN. An emerging fourth generation isoccurring as converged SCADA, DCS, or output from data historians or process controllers isexpected to work with IT to create corporate performance dashboards, feed business analytics, andsupport real-time optimization and business reporting (operations intelligence). In the future, expecta fifth-generation SCADA environment to be delivered as hosted software as a service via Webportals, virtual private networks, firewalls and Secure Sockets Layer, just as networked ITapplications are today. An example is the IEC 61850 standard that uses Web browsers to displaceelectromechanical and programmable logic controller equipment in the operation of electricitysubstations.

This transition will not occur easily because industries using substantial OT have heavy charter,regulatory, compliance and business responsibilities for delivering their services on a very largescale, and they will not accept any diminution of their extremely high-reliability responsibilities orintroduction of cybersecurity risks that they have avoided by stringent engineering (OT) control fordecades.

User Advice: A mature future state of either converged or tightly integrated IT and OT networking isyears away in many OT-intensive industries (such as manufacturing and utilities).

IT and OT leaders must ensure that OT networking always meets its fundamental role requirementsof being able to join up, control and share OT's "data streams" to survive disruptions; alarm, restoreand support OT via connectivity; add coherence to operations; and feed OT process supervisorysystems.




IT and OT communications will effectively converge if the technical characteristics of IT and OTnetworking in a particular industry, such as the availability of standards and network infrastructure,aid their coalescence, and as enterprise performance increasingly demands accurate, coherent andtimely information through supervisory systems, dashboards or management summary reports. TheIT organization's performance must be exemplary and trusted before CIOs will be allowed to takeon any business-critical IT and OT management or networking. OT managers need to team withtheir IT networking counterparts under a scheme of IT and OT governance, driven by policies andwith a joint work plan.

Securing communications in each IT and OT domain is a major issue in any organization. Securingtheir joint operation multiplies the complexity and risk. Appraise the OT infrastructure and securitypractices in place, and then jointly evaluate IT/OT options, with security as the driving focus. Baseany OT integration with IT on holistic security applied across both domains as well as the wholeenterprise. In some industries, IT and OT networking may remain isolated entirely for securityreasons.

Networking tools for IT and OT are dissimilar, with some commonalities. Test whether existingoperations management and network management systems can be shared, loosely coupled,layered or consolidated. Evaluate the prospects for your enterprise's specialized OT to usecommoditized IT. Leverage IP for consistent IT/OT networking.

Future IT/OT networks will be based on the following network attributes: high-bandwidth fiberinfrastructure (often carrying video); low latency; browser applications; complete geographiccoverage; context awareness; leveraging OT protocols carried in TCP/IP; signaling with SessionInitiation Protocol; using presence to indicate the status of people and resources in unifiedcommunications and collaboration, and communications-enabled business processes; and feedingreal-time agile corporate IT systems.

Business Impact: Each enterprise needs to prepare its own comprehensive understanding of allthe related applications, systems, and industrial and business processes to be carried by a potentialconverged IT and OT network. Effective IT and OT interworking is a necessary precursor toobtaining any transformational effects in combining IT and OT systems and operations. The trend isfor OT to increasingly use IT-derived technologies and become integrated with IT environments,although OT investment cycles are an order of magnitude longer than those for IT.

Expect organizational friction as the previously separate IT and OT domains are tasked withcooperating with each other. Begin by respecting the inevitable IT-versus-OT politics at work. ITand OT need to agree on a single architecture. Use Gartner's Infrastructure Maturity Model toevaluate whether stand-alone, integrated or converged networking is appropriate for your IT and OTarchitecture and deployment plans.

Any IT/OT integration needs to be driven by your industry's best practices. Know the competitivestatus of IT/OT integration in your business relative to your industry peers. Target the bestinfrastructure, benchmarks and practices for your purposes and your business's competitive plans.Get IT/OT integration onto your business managers' agenda, and obtain policy decisions anddirection for its use and restrictions in supporting business transformation. Expect to use emerging




networking services, such as application acceleration/WAN optimization, which iteratively managesbandwidth; content delivery networks; WAN optimization controllers; application deliverycontrollers; protocol manipulation; and end-to-end network performance.



Maturity: Adolescent

Sample Vendors: ABB; Alstom Grid; Cisco; Emerson Process Management; General Electric;Honeywell; Huawei; Invensys; Omron; Rockwell Automation; Schneider Electric; Siemens;Yokogawa Electric; ZTE

Recommended Reading: "Predicts 2013: IT and OT Alignment Has Risks and Opportunities"

"Cool Vendors in IT/OT Alignment and Integration, 2013"

"Top 10 Technology Trends Impacting the Energy and Utility Industry in 2013"

"Organizing IT and OT Networking for Future Integration"

"A Network Manager's Primer on Addressing Operational Technologies"

Internet of Things

Analysis By: Hung LeHong

Definition: The Internet of Things is the network of physical objects that contain embeddedtechnology to communicate and sense or interact with their internal states or the externalenvironment.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: While the Internet of Things is getting more attentionoverall, interest in the Internet of Things has grown faster than implementations. A good way tounderstand adoption and maturity in the Internet of Things is to observe the various types ofenterprises and industry applications:

■ On the more advanced side, there are enterprises that are often in asset-intensive industriesthat have long had "connected" assets (e.g., utilities, industrial). These enterprises are dealingwith the convergence of operational technology (OT) with information technology (IT) as theymodernize from proprietary and silo-based systems to more integrated and standards-basedsystems.

■ Another advanced asset-intensive market is building and facilities management, where energysavings and environmental benefits create a good business case for the Internet of Things.

■ In both the private and public sector, we also see an increase in selectively augmenting existingassets with sensors and wireless connections to make these assets remotely manageable.Examples include city infrastructure (e.g., street lights) and healthcare assets. As major existing




assets come to the end of their life cycles, we expect to see the increased purchase of newassets that come with Internet of Things capabilities "out of the box."

■ On the consumer side, there is a whole collection of startups that are responding to the makermovement. See crowdfunding sites, like Kickstarter, to get a good sense of what is beingpursued. Much of the focus is on the connected home, where convenience and energy savingsare the pursued benefits. Unlike the enterprise side, consumer applications are favoringconvenience and gadget-appeal over cost savings as the main reasons for adopting the Internetof Things.

■ Most enterprises are currently at the "education" stage. They are looking to see how they mightleverage the Internet of Things in their enterprise and with their customers.

On the technology side, there continues to be slow progress toward standardization. Internet ofThings wireless protocols continue to vie for dominance, but no clear leader stands out universally.There are some exceptions. Bluetooth LE is getting strong adoption as the wireless protocol toconnect things to smartphones, tablets and computers. We expect continued standardization, butalso expect a heterogeneous and fragmented environment. As such, platforms and hubs used toconnect and manage things using different standards and protocols have gained much popularityon the enterprise and consumer side. These platforms will become very important in complexecosystems such as cities and building campuses.

User Advice: Enterprises should pursue these activities to increase their capabilities with theInternet of Things:

CIOs and enterprise architects:

■ Work on aligning IT with OT resources, processes and people. Success in enterprise Internet ofThings is founded in having these two areas work collaboratively.

■ Ensure that EA teams are ready to incorporate Internet of Things opportunities and entities at alllevels.

■ Look for standards in areas such as wireless protocols and data integration to make betterinvestments in hardware, software and middleware for the Internet of Things.

Product managers:

■ Consider having your major products Internet-enabled. Experiment and work out the benefits toyou and customers in having your products connected.

■ Start talking with your partners and seek out new partners to help your enterprise pursueInternet of Things opportunities.

Strategic planners and innovation leads:

■ For, enterprises with innovation programs, experiment and look to other industries as sourcesfor innovative uses of the Internet of Things.

Information management:




■ Increase your knowledge and capabilities with big data. The Internet of Things will produce twochallenges with information: volume and velocity. Knowing how to handle large volumes and/orreal-time data cost-effectively is a requirement for the Internet of Things.

Information security managers:

■ Assign one or more individuals on your security team to fully understand the magnitude of howthe Internet of Things will need to be managed and controlled. Have them work with their OTcounterparts on security.

Business Impact: The Internet of Things has very broad applications. However, most applicationsare rooted in four usage scenarios. The Internet of Things will improve enterprise processes, assetutilization, and products and services in one of, or a combination of, the following ways:

■ Manage — Connected things can be monitored and optimized. For example, sensors on anasset can be optimized for maximum performance or increased yield and up time.

■ Charge — Connected things can be monetized on a pay-per-use. For example, automobilescan be charged for insurance based on mileage.

■ Operate — Connected things can be remotely operated, avoiding the need to go on site. Forexample, field assets such as valves and actuators can be controlled remotely.

■ Extend — Connected things can be extended with digital services such as content, upgradesand new functionality. For example, connected healthcare equipment can receive softwareupgrades that improve functionality.

These four usage models will provide benefits in the enterprise and consumer markets.

Benefit Rating: Transformational


Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Atos; Axeda; Bosch; Cisco; Eurotech; GE; Honeywell; IBM; Kickstarter; LogMeIn;Microsoft; QNX; Schneider Electric; Siemens

Recommended Reading: "Uncover Value From the Internet of Things With the Four FundamentalUsage Scenarios"

"The Internet of Things Is Moving to the Mainstream"

"The Information of Things: Why Big Data Will Drive the Value in the Internet of Things"

"Agenda Overview for Operational Technology Alignment With IT, 2013"

Smart City Framework, China

Analysis By: Tina T. Tang; Bettina Tratz-Ryan




Definition: A smart city is an urban area where multiple sectors cooperate to achieve sustainableoutcomes by analyzing contextual information exchanged among sector-specific systems. Theinteraction between sector-specific (for example, utility, public sector and education) and intrasectorinformation flows results in transfer of more resource-efficient and sustainable lifestyles andknowledge. Urban areas consist of a subset of clusters, such as buildings, business parks,residential areas, entire cities or groups of cities.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: The smart city development in China is driven by the12th Five-Year Plan for 2011 through 2015, which emphasizes the significance of sustainable urbandevelopment to reduce carbon emissions while increasing urbanization to 51.5%. The NationalDevelopment and Reform Commission designated five provinces and eight cities as the first pilotareas, including a pilot carbon emission trading framework that is intended to generate economicgrowth while reducing carbon emissions.

The Chinese government stipulated a 40% to 45% reduction in the carbon intensity required togenerate GDP by 2020, relative to 2005, and 17% by the end of 2015. Because cities and urbansprawl generate the most carbon emissions in China, the 12th Five-Year Plan uses specificmeasures to target cities and urban regions to reduce carbon and energy consumption. Forexample in March 2013, The Ministry of Environmental Protection of PRC defined special emissionlimits of atmospheric pollutants for six key industries: thermal electricity, iron and steel,petrochemical, cement, nonferrous metal and chemical, plus coal boiler projects. The specialemission limits on atmospheric pollutants apply to 47 cities of 19 provinces, districts and citiesaround Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province; Yangtze River Delta; and Pearl River Delta.

In addition to energy and electricity use, carbon emission reductions also affect urbantransportation policy. With traffic congestion in major cities resulting in high pollution andinefficiency, reducing carbon emissions based on changing traffic patterns and publictransportation is a key focus. In addition, waste management and water quality, as well as adequatewater supply to grow cities, are also keys to the smart city concept. China's water scarcity and riskof water impact, such as flooding due to meteorological events, make Chinese coastal lines andriver cities prone to floods and disasters.

While the government is planning an overall carbon-centric approach, city governments areapplying a more practical view by building IT infrastructure capable of attracting foreign and nationalinvestment, while being leveraged to import information from different sources of the Internet ofThings, such as mobile phones, sensor networks, Wi-Fi endpoints and GIS. In mapping urbandesigns to sustainability, including carbon and resource metrics, municipal and city leadership, aswell as the national commissions, have to agree on defining soft and hard standardized metricsbeyond carbon intensity. Those standards have to translate into benchmarks for energy efficiency,pollution levels, transportation emissions, length of commuter trips, air quality and other metrics,which are important as standardized means to ensure that sustainable business and residentialbenefits in cities are being achieved.

The government has initiated a reference Implementation of Nationalized Middleware & Platforms,as well as a product R&D and Industrialization of Integrated Middleware Suite, which presents a




digital geographic framework nationwide by 2015 and includes a technical discussion on servers,DC, IT integration, and cloud with respect to smart city technology and integration.

User Advice: Enterprise customers need to be aware of all administrative tools that will bedeployed to measure sustainable business behavior and outcomes, such as reduction of energyconsumption and carbon dioxide emission, or softer sustainable benefits, such as bettertransportation and transit means, and better education and healthcare. In many ways, enterpriseshave to adapt in the short term to consumption-based efficiency measures for electricity, water andheating supply in the workplace and home. Municipal leaders are striving to open market models togive users more choice for greener and more-sustainable resources, with clear labels classifyingorigin and ingredients. However, most likely, standardization of metrics and measures will result inhigher prices that can be curbed only by a bigger variety of sustainable offerings and services in acity. Those service offerings are just emerging to be clarified by Chinese leaders, as well as cityadministrators and private investors. In addition, market conditions, such as deregulation of theenergy-generation monopoly, distribution of grid and user information in different sectors, as well asthe interlock between different sectors and private partnerships, must be established to ensure theregulatory and economic base is transparent to create smart city business and functionality models.

Business Impact: Although all attention is focused on the state government's smart city and low-carbon city guidelines in the 12th Five-Year Plan, technology and service providers should focus oncities' individual needs. Indicators such as social/demographic, environmental or economicbenchmarks trigger different starting points for developing the smart city concept, driven, in someinstances, by consulting and advisory providers, and in other instances, by engineering-driventechnology providers. In many cases, system integration of intelligent management solutions andoperational technology is key to generating the knowledgebase of the information and data flowsfrom devices, meters or sensors in utility or road grids and automating the decision rules based onanalysis of those flows.

In China, ecosystems of technology, solutions and service providers need to be in place toimplement and manage the specific solutions required. Local expertise, integration capabilities andcustoms, as well as know-how about people and business functionality, are connected with globalsolution providers to bring scale and expertise into the Chinese market. In many ways, operationaltechnology, which includes road and transportation systems, and building automation or advancedmetering systems, is the first step before intelligent networks even occur. Operational technologyalso serves as the foundation to supplying a growing urban population with the neededinfrastructure in a sustainable and most-carbon- and resource-efficient way.

Local government must respond to translate metrics into those sector deployments and require anintelligent and integrated framework to gain the synergy effects and stability of resource supply.

Urbanization will bring challenges for local government; the population will increase quickly and beclosely linked with improvements to living conditions, including healthcare, social insurance andtransportation. To ease the challenges, local government will be forced to consider a smart cityplan; issuing unified smart cards could be an effective way to manage the increasing population.This also provides opportunities for IT providers to develop smart card solutions based on localgovernment guidance.






Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Accenture; Cisco; Digital China Holdings; Founder; HP; Huawei Technologies;IBM; Insigma; Schneider Electric; Siemens

Recommended Reading: "Predicts 2012: Embryonic Smart City Processes Point to Opportunities"

"Hype Cycle for Smart City Technologies and Solutions, 2011"

"IT Strategy Implications From China's 12th Five-Year Plan"

"Market Insight: What IT Services Providers Need to Know About China's 12th Five-Year Plan"

"How Smart Government Principles Apply to Smart Cities"


Analysis By: Andrea Di Maio

Definition: A smart governance operating framework supports event capture and processing,information exchange and analysis (internal and external information coming from multiple sources,including sensor and social data), user interface, and interoperability between different verticalapplications and subsystems. The framework can support interoperability across government tiers,within a tier across different domains, or both.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Gartner defines smart government as anadministration that applies and integrates information, communication and operational technologiesto planning, management and operations across multiple domains, process areas and jurisdictionsto generate sustainable public value. Therefore, smart government applies both within a single tier(city, state or federal) or across tiers (such as smart transportation across state and localgovernments). E-government frameworks have been around for quite some time, usually as part ofproduct and consulting vendor offerings, but have rarely made inroads as a key architecturalcomponent. The difference with smart government is that the approaches are more evolutionary:Therefore, the interest in an operating framework comes from the ability to evolve from and leveragea point solution in a particular vertical toward a cross-domain solution. While this was already anissue with joined-up government endeavors, it becomes even more important when looking atsmart city initiatives, where there are multiple dimensions for integration (including betweeninformation and operational technologies).

Vendor offerings are still at an early stage. Although they are already deployed on specific projects,they remain unproven in terms of how they can really support the evolutionary approach and therobustness of the ecosystem. Furthermore, the effective use of a smart government operatingframework may need a network upgrade to handle the complexity of IP-addressable devices. On




the upside, there is an increasing interest in smart cities and smart government approaches that hasbeen triggered by a combination of government financial constraints as well as the need to reigniteeconomic growth through technology deployments. Also, more mainstream vendors are introducingsuch frameworks.

User Advice: Government CIOs — especially at the local level — should examine whether a smartgovernance operating framework is a viable approach, as opposed to the development of pointsolutions to address specific cross-domain priorities and evaluate emerging market offerings, suchas the IBM Intelligent Operations Center, the Microsoft Connected Government Framework (as wellas the Urban Operating System from Microsoft's partner Living PlanIT) and Oracle's Solution forSmart Cities. Also, CIOs in other government tiers should look at the evolution of vendor offerings tosupport interoperable and integrated solution to better deal with cross-boundary problems.

Business Impact: Smart governance operating frameworks have the potential to change the wayentire jurisdictions and government domains use information by facilitating the interoperability ofdifferent vertical applications, supporting new ways to mash up and analyze information across tiersand domains, and supporting the integration of operational technologies where these are relevant(such as at city levels or in specific domains such as energy or transportation). The result will besustainable services and operations, including services that were previously not available, andfaster responses to citizen concerns.

At the city level in particular, smart governance operating frameworks also impact the businessprocesses and decision flows between different sectors or stakeholders in a city, helping to betterconnect information and operational technologies. However, the current lack of maturity of vendorofferings and the one-sided marketing pitches about "smart cities" are not helping governmentexecutives understand how to leverage the potential of smart governance operating frameworks.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Cisco; IBM; Microsoft; Oracle; SAP

Recommended Reading: "Architecting for Participation: How Information-Sharing EnvironmentsOvercome Information Silos"

"The Five Dimensions of Smart Government"

"Smart Governance Operating Framework: At the Heart of Smart Government"

Smart Transportation

Analysis By: Bettina Tratz-Ryan; James F. Hines; Nagayoshi Nakano

Definition: Smart transportation is a comprehensive framework that describes an information- andprocess-enriched mobility concept. Smart transportation uses driver/user-specific vehicle, traffic




and infrastructure management intended to help sustainability and urban economic performance. Itis applied while building service models based on driving analytics, traffic and parking. Currentservice models include vehicle and driver control systems, congestion charging and road tollcollection, intelligent transportation systems and parking guidance systems.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Smart transportation is a key demand-based urbanmobility concept that optimizes modes of transportation in the most efficient, sustainable wayspossible for its users. Especially in smart cities, the contextual information about the residents andbusinesses and their mobility needs enable a comprehensive mapping of data such as time, numberof vehicles and travelers, pricing of road traffic per time of day and user, and environmentalimpacts, such as pollution, noise, productivity losses and people's perception of environmentalquality.

Especially with the introduction of electric mobility in urban corridors, cities have an opportunity tobuild a smart transportation strategy based on service levels. The strategy would be based onenvironmental- and efficiency-based metrics, such as the number of high occupancy vehicles andzero-carbon-emission vehicles, energy-efficient traffic management and the use of more pedestrianfriendly walkways.

The complexity of the smart transportation ecosystem extends beyond vehicles. For example, thesmart transportation concept reaches into details such as energy utility services for rechargingelectric vehicles, public lighting systems for street parking, and safety surveillance for tunnels,roadways and bridges. The key value to urban development and smart cities is the analysis of theinformation derived from all the various transportation ecosystem partners and the translation ofthat data into contextualized and measurable benefits for citizen and infrastructure operations.

Many cities have started to deploy transportation and traffic initiatives, which include congestioncharging (Stockholm, Singapore), dynamic pricing for parking (Los Angeles and Santa Monica,California) and traffic analytics (Barcelona, Spain, and New York). However, many cities have not yetcreated an integration plan to leverage municipal services with infrastructure management.

Businesses are also innovating with the smart transportation concept. For example, insurancecompany Generali, which uses transportation statistics to shape its driving insurance policies, isalso assessing the environmental impact of frequent stop-and-go driving.

Therefore, smart transportation is located before the Peak of Inflated Expectations and is probablyaccelerating as electric vehicles, pushed especially in Europe, are speeding up the development ofsmart transportation frameworks.

User Advice: Smart transportation will support applications for knowledge workers dependent onthe mobile-enabled work environment. IT leaders will be able to tap the information base fromcorporate fleets and business-driven processes, such as delivery tracking and facility workflow,human and asset management.

However, IT leaders will be challenged in their roles if they do not adapt to the new IT-enabledenvironment that sits outside of their defined boundaries of IT-supported processes. For example,vehicles are not typically under IT purview. But in a smart transportation ecosystem, a company's




vehicle fleet can generate useful data as well as present challenges if the vehicles have businessapplications embedded in their onboard systems. Smart city CIOs and digital offices can utilize theinformation base from the Internet of Things for transportation and traffic processes to betteridentify bottlenecks in transportation and traffic flows and integrate a more service-orientedpayment approach rather than a simple payment program, such as a time-based fee system, tofund infrastructure.

City IT leaders need to build a consensus with stakeholders to leverage different datasets anddevelop critical process methods, technology solutions and security policies to protect the data andinformation of their citizens.

Business Impact: Smart transportation challenges the conventional thinking that congestioncharging will change traffic patterns. In fact, congestion charging is just a short-term method thatallows cities to capitalize on traffic but only marginally improve traffic flow.

Smart transportation requires a comprehensive approach that starts with an impact assessment ofproductivity losses based on traffic congestion, pollution and noise levels, the inconvenience levelsof commuters and residents, and safety and security issues. Only after this assessment can urbanplanners, city CIOs and business leaders develop scenarios that can actually reduce congestionand the effects of traffic.

Analyzing driving patterns of vehicles and drivers can generate business services for vehicleinsurance companies and fleet management announcements for scheduled arrivals based on real-time information from the drivers' environments. Traffic pattern analysis can be used to develop atraffic congestion charging system that has dynamic pricing based on the number of riders and ifvehicles are environmentally friendly. On-street and off-street parking guidance systems wouldallow drivers to share real-time information about space availability. This would decreasecongestion while allowing delivery businesses to schedule timely stops at unloading zones whileavoiding heavy traffic.

Smart transportation would also provide an extra measure of safety in addition to offering efficiency,convenience and a high quality of life for citizens and businesses. In smart city projects in Japan,electric vehicles double as large, transportable batteries to supply energy to disaster relief facilities.That way, a smart city can ensure that "lighting and information are never ceased" even during acrisis, such as Ishinomaki, Japan, during the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. City leaders,including city CIOs, should consider smart transportation as a way to enrich administrative servicesand raise a city's attractiveness to citizens and enterprises.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Bitcarrier; CVIC SE; Fujitsu; Hitachi; IBM; Insigma; ParkHelp; Reply; SchneiderElectric; Siemens VDO Automotive; Streetline; tecsidel




Recommended Reading: "Innovation Insight: Smart City Aligns Technology Innovation and CitizenInclusion"

Consumer Energy Storage

Analysis By: Zarko Sumic

Definition: Consumer energy storage (as opposed to provider energy storage) is consumer-deployed energy storage technology, originally aimed at providing "ride-through" for momentaryoutages, as well as extended protection during longer outages. Currently, on-site storage is used incombination with on-site renewable resources to mitigate inherent intermittency and to increase thevalue of photovoltaic and wind-generated electricity, enabling the supply to coincide with periods ofpeak consumer demand.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: More-participatory consumer engagement modelsand energy technology consumerization in the energy utility sector have presented newopportunities to apply a variety of storage devices for consumer energy management, particularly inthe fields of renewable energy and distributed generation. The need to integrate consumer-ownedrenewable generation into delivery networks, and the need to increase customer ride-throughresilience during major power disturbances, will promote energy storage technologies that increasereliability and empower consumers.

Additionally, the consumerization of energy technologies will drive the adoption of consumer-sizestorage to facilitate the integration of consumer-owned renewable sources via new rate structures,such as real-time pricing or feed-in tariffs. Moreover, the consumerization of energy technologieswill impact reliability, as it can also be perceived as the next generation of consumer uninterruptiblepower supply (UPS) device technology, which is widely used for power outages. Thus, we expect tosee PC UPS vendors, such as Tripp Lite, getting more deeply involved in this space.

Advanced electricity storage technologies include vanadium redox flow batteries, zinc-bromine flowbatteries, sodium-sulfur batteries, lithium-ion batteries, polysulfide bromide flow batteries,compressed-air energy storage, supercapacitors, flywheels, lead-acid batteries and metal-airbatteries. Some technologies, such as sodium-sulfur batteries, flow batteries and compressed-airenergy storage, may be applicable only at large, industrial consumer sites. The price for on-sitebattery storage remains high, and it is a critical gating factor for technology adoption, combinedwith stabile long-term regulatory models, that will allow investment recovery for consumers throughfixed rates and credits.

Adoption of the electric vehicle can offer additional means of consumer energy storage. However,the slow pace of vehicle-to-grid development and costly battery deterioration through frequentcharging and discharging make it an unattractive option for owners at this point.

User Advice: Utility companies should evaluate the effect of wider deployment of residential energystorage technology as part of the energy technology consumerization trend. Consumer deploymentof on-site energy storage and the introduction of that storage into utility networks are analogous toIT consumerization in the past decade — that is, the introduction of consumer-owned technology




into corporate IT networks and applications. Lessons learned from IT consumerization could helpease the disruptive effects of energy technology consumerization, as well as foster the inclusion ofconsumer-owned energy technology into energy markets. By doing so, the power sector will enabledemand-side contributions to carbon dioxide emissions reduction.

Consumer implementation of on-site energy storage enables consumers to participate more activelyin energy markets — particularly when combined with on-site renewable sources to optimize energyefficiency. Used jointly with on-site generation, consumer energy storage is a key component ofdistributed energy resources, which transform the utility delivery infrastructure from a centrallycontrolled radial network to a locally controlled geodesic network.

Business Impact: As a critical technology that enables active consumer participation in energymarkets, residential energy storage will affect the retail and distribution domains of the energy valuechain. It will also affect operational technologies in the distribution domain, as well as legacy ITapplications in the revenue management and commodity management areas.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: NEC; NGK Insulators; Sandia National Laboratories; Tripp Lite

Recommended Reading: "Energy Technology Consumerization: The Quest for Lean and Green"

"Innovation Insight: Smart Grid Drives Innovation in the Utility Sector"

"Top 10 Business Trends Impacting the Utility Industry in 2013"


Analysis By: Chet Geschickter; Zarko Sumic

Definition: Home energy management (HEM) is a technology that optimizes residential energyconsumption/production. Solutions include software tools that analyze energy usage, and home-area network (HAN) energy management devices that respond to variable power prices or otheruser-defined parameters. HEM is usually connected to utility systems via consumer gateways thatmay be stand-alone devices or embedded in smart metering solutions.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: The evolution of HEM is progressing unevenly.Consumer technology markets and utility markets have different dynamics, and utility companieshave little experience in delivering technology products to consumers. After some initialexperimentation with consumer energy management (CEM) technology, utilities are stepping backand focusing on providing enabling technology for CEM systems, such as advanced meteringinfrastructure (AMI) and enabling technologies for demand response, such as programmablecommunicating thermostats. The benefit-cost ratio for comprehensive device-centric HEM remainsunfavorable, and vendors attempting to win utility subsidies to improve their value propositions




have primarily landed in long-term, low-unit-volume trials funded by government grants to test theefficacy of HEM devices in conjunction with economic demand-response programs. Those limiteduse cases still do not fully leverage price-responsive automation capabilities, which require real-timepricing to deliver maximum benefits. The high deployment cost, relatively long break-even time onthe consumer side, and conflicting impact on the main revenue stream for utilities are the maindetriments to wider utility adoption of HEM systems. In competitive retail markets, retailers areconsidering the use of limited configurations, such as in-home displays that provide feedback onpower consumption, to offer differentiating services. Regulated energy companies, in some cases,can justify investment in HEM solutions as a component of the overall resource adequacy programin which HEM is a component of a demand-response solution technology stack.

In some markets (such as Germany) in order to stimulate activities in the residential energyefficiency sector, regulators have encouraged market entry by new players in HEM. Consequently,communications service providers (CSPs) of residential services such as home broadband Internetconnectivity and security services are attempting to incorporate HEM into high-end offerings. Manyare working with local utilities to distribute the technology. However, uptake continues to begradual, with very low penetration. For the utility industry, HEM is nearing the Peak of InflatedExpectations as mass consumer marketing through a variety of channels, including competitiveenergy retailers, communication service providers and home improvement retailers increases.

User Advice: Rather than investing broadly in consumer technology beyond the meter, utilitiesshould focus on investments in energy-efficiency-enabling technologies, such as AMI and demandresponse, and on providing multichannel presentment of energy consumption data, including toWeb portals and popular consumer devices such as smartphones and tablets.

In addition to being driven to HEM by regulatory mandates in markets such as California and theU.K., utilities should consider promoting and even subsidizing enabling technology for residentialdemand response. Energy retailers in contestable energy markets, such as EMEA or Australia/NewZealand, should consider HEM as a means to differentiate their offerings in a competitive energymarket.

Business Impact: HEM solutions impact the utility retail domain, in particular AMI, demand-response and energy efficiency solutions. Various demand-response pilot projects have identifiedfavorable incremental peak reduction contributions from programmable communicating thermostatsconnected to utility systems. Results from in-home display trials for demand response and energyefficiency are mixed. Utility business benefits from comprehensive device-centric HEM connectedby HANs are largely unproven. Industry adoption is concentrated in territories with energy efficiencymandates, aggressive residential demand-response programs, AMI rollouts and contestable retailmarkets.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: AlertMe; Comverge; General Electric; Honeywell; Nest Labs; Tendril




Recommended Reading: "The Utility of the Future: The Information Utility"

"Market Trends: Energy Management in the Smart Home"

"Technology Overview for Home Energy Management"

"Energy Technology Consumerization: The Quest for Lean and Green"

"Utility Retail Domain Strategic Technology Map, An Overview"

"Market Trends: Consumer Services in a Smart Home"


Analysis By: Andrew White; Bill O'Kane

Definition: Governance of data is a people- and process-oriented discipline that forms a key part ofany enterprise information management (EIM) program. The decision rights and authority model thatforms governance has to be enforced and operationalized (through stewardship), meaning that thistechnology is needed. It represents the formation of this specific solution that is closely targeted atthe stewardship of information.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: This packaged technology increased in hype quicklya couple of years ago, but is only slowly approaching the Peak of Inflated Expectations and is stillnot there yet. Initial vendors, including Kalido and SAP, launched products in the last three yearsand many more are formulating plans for an offering, or working on multiple offerings. There iscontinued high growth and interest in EIM programs (such as master data management, orenterprise content management [ECM]) as well as those related to business process improvement(such as business process management). This interest is driving much of the interest in thistechnology. Some organizations are interested in stewarding content, records and analytics, as wellas structured data like master data and application data. Individual tools — like data quality toolsthat output the data-level analytics monitored and enforced by these applications — have existedfor years. They have their own maturity and can help support a manual stewardship project. Thesenew applications promise to be more complete, allowing them to support a much broader and moreautomated stewardship process.

Today, the greatest level of hype is being driven by information management (IM) programs focusedon the governance element, and "making information governance stick" — that is, operationalizingthe work of information governance once an IM program has been implemented. However, usersare now showing interest in using such tools for other data. The technology converging in theseapplications could also apply to reference data (often part of an master data management [MDM]program) as well as any other structured data. As content becomes more structured through thegovernance of the metadata describing it, it becomes a candidate for stewardship that uses thesesolutions. It is possible, therefore, that this technology may split and form other segments.

The emergence of consolidated tools for information stewardship will soon challenge establishedimplementation efforts because new IM programs often lacks this level of capability. In the longterm, perhaps five to 10 years, mature IT organizations will formally integrate BPM tools with MDM,




ECM or other IM tools to express information governance routines along with business activitymonitoring and corporate performance management. Many self-named MDM solutions offer partsof this technology scope although often not as an integrated environment for use by the masterdata steward, or to be deployed across all other master data stores. Additionally, these and otherapplications will evolve to steward other data in support of other initiatives, though this remainsspotted and less aggregated as it is with MDM today.

User Advice: Recognize the general lack of maturity (and wide range of different capabilities) intechnology offerings related to governing data across multiple hubs and application data stores.Today, most solutions are best-suited for IT-focused users (they need to be consumable bybusiness users) and for specific scenarios (for example, data quality projects related to anapplication migration).

Some solutions focus on stewardship of content (for example, RDS) and others on structured data(for example, Collibra). For those organizations focused on mastering master data, those MDMsolutions offer rudimentary capabilities but have led to the greatest interest and hype in this newtechnology. For the next two to three years most information governance implementations will focuson tools to manually define and manage governance with limited help from technology vendorsacross IM systems or the enterprise. Work with your technology providers to help them understandwhat must be made operational in the tools. If you have need to steward other data outside aninformation governance program, tread more carefully since the lack of a unifying driver like MDM orECM could possibly lead to fewer vendor options.

Business Impact: The governance of information is a core component of any EIM discipline. MDM(a critical EIM program) cannot be sustained without an operational master data stewardship roleand function. At worst, the lack of effective governance will lead to the failure of EIM initiatives. Atbest, it will result in lower-than-desired benefits. The business case for MDM, for example, won't berealized. A successful stewardship routine will lead to sustainable and persistent benefits fromprograms like MDM, such as increased revenue, lower IT and business costs, reduced cycle times(in new product introductions, for example) and increased business agility.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: BackOffice Associates; Collibra; Informatica; InfoTrellis; Kalido; RDS; SAP

Recommended Reading: "The Emergence of Information Stewardship Applications for MasterData"

"Governance of Master Data Starts With the Master Data Life Cycle"

"Cool Vendors in Information Governance and Master Data Management, 2012"




Intelligent Lighting

Analysis By: Simon Mingay; Stephen Stokes

Definition: Intelligent lighting is lighting in any application that combines the ability to make use ofhighly efficient illumination technologies, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs), motion, light, timeand other sensors, with information and communication technology (ICT) to provide a solution thatis automated, dynamic, adaptable and efficient, and adjusted to the nature and level of activitybeing undertaken.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: While many of the technologies combined intointelligent lighting solutions are somewhat mature, the combination and the software providing theintelligence are relatively new. Relatively high capital costs, vendor lock-in and a lack of familiarityremain the main hurdles to adoption, and are slowing the pace of this hybrid technology through theHype Cycle.

User Advice: Lighting is a significant consumer of electricity, usually the second-highest behindheating and cooling in most commercial buildings:

■ According to the International Energy Agency, lighting accounts for approximately 19% ofglobal electricity consumption.

■ The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that lighting accounts for, on average, 30% ofelectricity consumption in commercial buildings, while the Energy Information Administrationputs the figure at 38%.

This is one of the areas in which the combination of operational technology (OT) and IT can makeorder-of-magnitude — not just marginal — improvements in efficiency, along with significantoperational cost savings. As such, lighting, and the application of ICT to lighting, is worthy ofattention from both the facilities management and IT teams.

There are instances of intelligent lighting emerging in residential, public service, commercial andindustrial (particularly warehouse) applications. Such applications deliver highly efficient lightingsolutions and are capable of achieving substantially lower running costs. These solutions integratemature technologies — such as movement and heat sensors, daylight compensation, wired andwireless networking, ZigBee, occupancy, and task-oriented knowledge — to adjust the location,intensity and direction of lighting to appropriate levels for the work or activity being conducted inthe area at any particular time. The mature technologies are used in harness with the latestdisruptive lighting technologies, such as high-efficiency white LEDs, and building and lightingcontrol software. They also provide usage data time series for later analysis and reporting.

With the expected ongoing significant rises in the costs of electricity for many regions, it isimportant that, despite higher capital costs, the potential application of intelligent lighting beconsidered.

There have been two critical disruptions in lighting efficiency in the past decade. The first was a shiftto compact fluorescent lights. The second has been the emergence of high-power and short-wavelength LEDs. LEDs produce photons as a band-gap interaction, so the opportunities for furthertechnology disruption are limited. We expect an ongoing trend of improving efficiency and reducing




unit cost. Most enterprises have the potential to reduce lighting costs. Intelligent lighting solutionswill offer many enterprises, particularly those with light-intensive applications, significant additionalsavings. As such, facilities managers and, increasingly, those IT organizations with responsibilitiesto look at OT solutions should consider intelligent lighting technologies for new builds andrefurbishments.

Business Impact: Within the context of lighting, electricity consumption and greenhouse gasemissions, the impact is high, particularly when LEDs can be used as the light source. Overall,within the context of enterprise operations, the impact is expected generally to be moderate tosignificant, depending on the spectrum of electricity-intensive activities in a given industry, and thelight source that can be used. For warehousing and other light-intensive applications, the impactwill be substantial, with quoted efficiency gains at the level of 95% per unit area.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Acuity Brands; Adura Technologies; Daintree Networks; Digital Lumens;Encelium; Enlighted; GE Energy; Lumenergi; Lutron Electronics; Osram; Philips Dynalite; PhilipsLightolier; Redwood Systems; Schneider Electric

Recommended Reading: "Cool Vendors in Sustainability, 2010"

"Market Trends: High-Brightness White LEDs will Boom From LCD TV and Industrial LightingDemand"

"Hype Cycle for Wireless Networking Infrastructure, 2011"


Smart Fabrics

Analysis By: Anshul Gupta

Definition: Smart fabrics transform material used in clothing, upholstery and other textile goods intodevices that can be deployed as electronic sensors, switches, connectors, batteries or displays.The components and electronics may be embedded in, or on the fabric, or, in some cases, on thefibers themselves. Smart fabrics are used in applications, such as controllers for electronics, humanphysical data monitoring, alarm systems, heating wraps, energy harvesting, electromagneticshielding and illumination.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Smart fabric, embedded with electronics, are beingused for a wide range of applications, such as human health and physical data monitoring,controllers for electronics, heating wraps, alarm systems, energy harvesting, electromagneticshielding and illumination. However, adoption of smart fabric will be slow until 2017 due to




technology immaturity and initial adoption in niche areas as fitness wear, art lobbyists, heatedwinter wear, garments for charging and controlling MP3 players, solar tents and medical wraps.

Cloth with embedded sensors can measure and store data on temperature, heart rate, bloodoxygenation, blood glucose, position, motion, moisture, chemicals, respiration, light, pressure andmore. Data can be transmitted wirelessly by powering antennas and sensors through a thin-filmbattery.

Smart fabrics with embedded solar cells or piezoelectric panels are being used to collect, conductand store energy that can be used to power electronic devices, such as mobile phones, and provideoff-grid power solutions.

Smart cloths can be made to emit light. For example, luminescent fibers can be woven into clothused for curtains, clothing and wallpaper, giving a glow in a range of colors that can be seen in adarkened room.

In the automotive industry, smart fabrics can transform the material used in car seat covers, carbody linings, panel coverings and other fabric goods into devices that can be deployed aselectronic sensors or switches.

The conductive properties of some materials sewn into fabrics can be tailored to become usefulapplications. Smart fabrics with resistive properties can be used as heating wraps. Boots sewn withpiezoelectric material can generate electricity that can be used to power heating elements to keepfeet warm in the cold.

In architecture, smart fabrics enable buildings to generate their own electricity. Smart fabrics can beused in awnings to cover patios and parking lots. The exterior of the building itself can be coveredin fabric or membranes that incorporate solar cells. Inside, furniture may be covered in smart fabricto generate electricity from the sun shining in through windows. For example, users may be able torecharge a mobile device by plugging it into the chair they are sitting in.

Use of sensors that are fully integrated into the fabric, such as materials that measure stress andpressure, are still evolving.

In the longer term, smart fabrics will be used routinely for health monitoring (such as measuringbody temperature or respiration rate), and to react to the environment (for example, color or heatadjustment in clothing and automatic pressure adjustment in seats).

Some of the factors limiting adoption of technology are technology's immaturity as still a decade ofdevelopment is needed before these products become robust. Applications of smart fabric in themany areas discussed above are in early stages of development, and significant improvement isneeded before mass commercial adoption. Some of the key areas of improvement aremanufacturing economically, delivering high-quality, cleaning fabric without affecting their electroniccomponents, efficiency, privacy concerns and user awareness.

Smart fabric will provide immense opportunities to enterprises by innovations in the technology.Service providers in the automotive, healthcare, military, emergency services, fitness garments,




mining, engineering and manufacturing will be most impacted by innovation in smart fabrictechnology.

User Advice: The focus should be on designing easy-to-use, simple products with concentration onmaximizing benefits over costs.

Providers of smart fabric products should bear in mind issues of end-of-life disposal, contributing tothe larger issue of e-waste as smart fabrics become mass marketed in the future. Consider buildingwaste-preventive measures at an early phase of the smart-fabric development process to minimizecost and reduce the risk of slow adoption.

Business Impact: Fabric interfaces and displays are driven by sporting, fashion, aesthetic, poweror mobility needs. They will also play a key role in the development of smart cities, most likelyemerging first in the areas of emergency services and healthcare due to the increased value ofhighly mobile, responsive technology. Solar panels woven into draperies, patio awnings andupholstery will generate enough electricity to power automatic blinds and handheld consumerelectronics.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Eeonyx; Fibretronic; FTL Solar; Gorix; Peratech; Peratech (Eleksen); PhilipsResearch; Textronics

Recommended Reading: "Innovation Insight: Smart Fabric Innovations Weave Efficiency Into theWorkforce"

Car-Sharing Services


Definition: Car-sharing services are a version of car rental services where people rent cars for shortperiods of time (for example, hourly). The organization renting the vehicles is typically a commercialbusiness, but could also consist of a cooperative, public agency or a peer-to-peer car-sharingservice that allows traditional vehicle owners to offer their cars to others using smartphoneapplications, background validation and other online services.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Car-sharing concepts aren't new, but in the past 12months, more automotive companies and startups have entered the space in response to consumerinterest in alternatives to traditional vehicle ownership. Consumers are taking a more careful look attransportation costs and alternative transportation models, especially from lessons learned duringthe economic recession. Automakers, in particular, view car-sharing services as a way to hedgetheir bets in an increasingly metropolitan world and with changing consumer interests. Theexpanding growth of mobile and wireless technologies, as well as smartphone and in-vehicle




technologies, is enabling a technology infrastructure that simplifies the renting and billing processesfor car-sharing offerings.

Renting vehicles for a short time is attractive to customers who make only occasional use of avehicle or have needs for specific vehicle types. Car-sharing services are typically offered in largercities and metropolitan areas. Technology is used to enable users to access a vehicle (for example,unlocking the door via a phone), billing and location-based services, including finding an availablevehicle online, reserving it via a phone and tracking it during the drive to define the next drop-offpoint for the next user. In the last 12 months there has been an increased focus on this technologyand service offering and, as a consequence, market offerings are beginning to leapfrog actualconsumer demand, which is still at the early stages. As a consequence, some market consolidationis expected. The recent acquisition of Wheelz by competitor car sharing service, RelayRides,underlines this fact.

User Advice: Consider car-sharing services as one element in offering new mobility solutions toconsumers and businesses that go beyond traditional car ownership. Explore partnershipopportunities with existing rental car companies, insurance providers and technology companies todefine, manage and market car-sharing programs. Evaluate potential advertising-supported pricingschemes in return for lower usage fees.

Business Impact: Car-sharing services can offer new revenue sources to automotive companies,especially in metropolitan areas and for consumer segments that don't want to spend a largeamount of their assets on automobiles.




Sample Vendors: Avis; Getaround; RelayRides; Wheelz; Zipcar

Recommended Reading: "Cool Vendors in Automotive, 2013"

"Predicts 2013: Mobile, Cloud and Information Fuel the Automotive Era of Smart Mobility"

"BMW i Launch Exemplifies Gartner's Prediction of a New Mobility Era"

Water Management

Analysis By: Bettina Tratz-Ryan

Definition: Water management describes a solutions approach of information and operationaltechnologies and applications to holistically monitor, analyze and manage water quantity and qualitythroughout the hydrologic cycle. Water management solutions include water sourcing and rainfallforecasting, groundwater monitoring, water availability analysis for water supply, water treatmentplants, wastewater treatment facilities, desalination and filtration, as well as water refarming throughrecycling of rainwater.




Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Water is one of the critical resources that should bemanaged closely in a sustainable and integrated urban environment. Water management, however,requires a differentiated set of technology and service skills to cater effectively to the differentusage patterns in distribution, but also to water pollution and recycling, as well as natural disasters,such as flooding or drought. Those skill sets include reporting and management tools forinfrastructure and sensors, as well as database and information aggregation and assessment tools.System integration to connect physical infrastructure, including water meters, and remote watersensors in dams and levees, is key to acquiring comprehensive datasets in real time for analysisand forecast. In addition, many deployments require consulting to develop process andmanagement blueprints.

Stand-alone solutions for water consumption control or quality management mainly identify watercontamination, runoff and groundwater issues. However, the broader context of watermanagement, in the larger utility or municipal context, includes the opportunity to develop anadaptive and flexible water management strategy based on intelligent information received andanalyzed from environmental sensor and satellite networks, smart water meters, and deepcomputing and analytics engines. Water management can be fed information and data from thesupervisory control and data acquisition systems for the automated control of water delivery andbilling management. In many water management tools, key performance metrics around waterconsumption, reuse and effective conservation are produced for commercial and private use.Leakage prevention in water mains and distribution, the ability to predict water-pressure reductionand the possible identification of contamination of water sources are key benefits that municipalwater suppliers look for to reduce their water infrastructure operational expenditures.

Advanced sensors installed in pumps, substations and meters read water flow and quality in realtime. Water management brings together a multitude of fragmented information sources and datapoints between wastewater, drinking water and industrial water sources. This enables predictiveanalytics to combine that data with other crucial environmental information about weather, pumpingpressures and water reserves, as well as demand-based water consumption, for a holistic view ofwater supply. While the overall topic of water management is still in the emerging phase of griddiscussion and priorities being shifted by regional or national basis, the topic has gotten theattention of industry players due to government initiatives, as well as the pricing development ofwater once meters are installed that monitor true consumption. Especially in emerging economies,such as China and India, where availability of drinking water is a key issue, analytics and advisoryservices describing the impact of implementing water management tools and solutions are gaininggreat momentum and government attention toward optimizing the infrastructure. For manycountries, the different challenges of water management have moved the hype beyond the peak, sothat now, various national and local water issues can find more standardized and commerciallyavailable solutions in the market.

User Advice: Users (industries) and suppliers (municipalities) need to evaluate the implementationof data management and analytics for their water infrastructure and water quality, especially whenthey must report for, or comply with, increasing wastewater regulations, while improving efficiencyand reducing waste disposal costs. Especially in the emerging scenarios of intelligent city planning,the build-out of smart grid and meter data management, together with water management dataanalytics, can provide a real-time view of natural or managed hydrological resource consumption.




Intelligent water meters on the consumers' premises enable water suppliers and municipalities tomonitor consumption and create incentives for more-efficient water use, as well as identify potentialcustomer service problems due to poor water pressure or quality. Remember to implement securitystandards into the water management process, the physical infrastructure and the privacy policy onconsumer data.

Business Impact: Consolidating previously fragmented data points and tools to manage andcontrol water issues, from supply to reuse and recycling, is providing water suppliers andmunicipalities with the ability to reduce costs and improve the interface between asset tools forpumping stations, meters and monitors, as well as improve customer service with fewer watersupply failures and better water quality.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: ABB; Atos; General Electric; IBM; Kisters; Schneider Electric; Seams; Siemens

Recommended Reading: "Market Trends: Will Water Management Be the Next Smart GridChallenge?"

"Key Issues for Green IT and Sustainability"

"Competitive Landscape: The Who's Who in Water Management"



Definition: The vehicle information hub is a hardware- and software-based technology solution thatenables users to access and interact with digital content from any portable device or cloud-basedapplication in a safe and automobile-specific manner. The information hub doesn't store mostcontent, but provides an interface to access direct or mesh-up content as well as contextualinformation by using portable devices or embedded (built-in) network access (that is, data SIM).

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: As the use of portable devices and applicationsgrows, consumers increasingly question the value of high-priced, embedded infotainment andtelematics options that are restricted to the vehicle. In addition, the limited ability to upgradeembedded components, the fast turnover of portable devices and the availability of aftermarketintegration solutions are forcing the automotive industry to change its approach. Seamlessintegration and usability of external content and applications in automobiles do not yet existbroadly, but vehicle manufacturers and suppliers are increasingly developing such solutions.Vehicle information hubs are also beginning to evolve in greater numbers in the consumerelectronics and aftermarket segments. This represents a growth opportunity and expanded valueproposition for personal navigation devices (PNDs). Recent product launches and announcements




of vehicle-hub-centric solutions by Ford, Hyundai, Kia, Daimler and General Motors have increasedthe automotive industry's interest in this cost-effective technology.

User Advice: To support consumer demand for portable devices and wireless services in thevehicle, the automotive industry can create competitive differentiation through vehicle informationhubs that ensure a safe and satisfying user experience in the automobile. In particular, OEMs andsuppliers must focus on developing innovative connectivity (personal-area networks [PANs] andWANs, for example), user interfaces (touch-based, haptic, steering-wheel-based input systems, forexample) and output technologies (audio and head-up displays, for example). Additionally, theymust collaborate with companies outside the automotive industry, such as consumer electronicsleaders, software/hardware providers and application developers. Vehicle-information-hub-centricofferings don't address all vehicle information and communication technology (ICT)-related needs,and they have some reliability challenges due to a simplified technology design that minimizesembedded technologies (for example, for safety-related applications, such as automated air bagdeployment notification). Automotive companies should consider complementing a vehicle hubsolution with a traditional telematics service and should use the hub as a distribution channel and/orapplication store for in-vehicle applications.

Business Impact: Vehicle manufacturers will be able to increase revenue from vehicle informationhub offerings (for example, via applications, services and/or devices) and create a flexible method toenable users to access their portable devices and digital content in the vehicle. This will help theautomotive industry overcome some of the main challenges regarding product life cycle limitationsfor embedded electronics (such as the fact that consumer electronics evolve much faster thanvehicles, often leading to outdated technologies in automobiles). Overall, this technology approachwill enable consumers to extend their digital lifestyles to the automobile and will help automotiveorganizations extend their customer relationships to the driver.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Agero; Covisint; Delphi; EB; Harman; Microsoft; RealVNC; TomTom; Visteon

Recommended Reading: "Innovation Insight: The Connected Vehicle Will Dominate Automotiveand Mobility Innovations"


"Car Connectivity Consortium Aims at Device Integration"

"Vehicle ICT Evolution: From the Connected Car to the Connected Driver"

Big Data Information Management for Government

Analysis By: Rick Howard




Definition: "Big data" refers to high-volume, high-velocity and high-variety information assets thatdemand cost-effective, innovative forms of information processing for enhanced insight anddecision making. Big data broadly encompasses data acquired from multiple sources and channelsthat are linked and combined in novel ways to reveal phenomena that would not otherwise bedetected.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Big data has moved past the Peak of InflatedExpectations. It will become an embedded and state-of-the-art practice by 2018 — which is notproperly "obsolete before plateau" — but this is the best way to describe the trend. Practices arediverging at this point, with confusion starting to emerge regarding exactly what constitutes big dataand big data technologies, and how government agencies should manage both. Beginning early in2014 and lasting through the end of 2015, big data will descend into the Trough of Disillusionmentas conflicting concepts of what it is and how organizations can benefit from its management andanalysis multiply.

Big data continues to present government with information management and processing issues thatexceed the capability of traditional IT to support the use of information assets. Existing practicesthat selectively evaluate which data should be integrated are being challenged by the realizationthat all data can be integrated with technologies that are specifically developed to do so.

MapReduce remains the favored choice for big data processing. Even with new additions or wideruse of the Hadoop project (including new services such as HCatalog), it remains a batch solutionand therefore has to be combined with other information management and processingtechnologies. Hadoop implementations require expert-level staff or system implementers.

The adoption of big data concepts and initiatives in the public sector varies widely amongjurisdictions and, to date, is limited to specific use cases such as fraud, waste and abuse detection;enhanced security capabilities; public health surveillance; healthcare management; or combiningdata from IT and operational technology (OT) applications to enhance security monitoring orincrease situational awareness. Governments are searching for ways to use big data to gainbusiness process efficiencies and reduce costs, but are having limited success. The uneven uptakeis largely due to the challenges big data poses in the way of data security, privacy, data storageconstraints, disputed "ownership" and uses of data, and low levels of organizational competencyand workforce capacity to apply advanced analytics.

Some big data technologies represent a great leap forward in processing management — especiallyrelevant to narrow but deep (many records) datasets such as those generated by OT, such assensor data, medical devices and mobile devices. Big data approaches to analyzing data fromthese technologies represent a potential for big data solutions to overtake existing technologysolutions when the demand emerges to access, read, present or analyze any data. Notably,organizations have begun to indicate that existing analytics will be modified and enhanced by bigdata — not replaced. (Only 11% of data warehouse leaders indicated they would consider replacingthe warehouse with a NoSQL or big data solution in November 2012. This figure is down from justmore than 20% considering it in 2011.)

User Advice:




■ Establish the value of big data in the context of improving the performance of government.Charter enterprise governance bodies to increase information exchange among multipleagencies and across jurisdictions as a means to integrate service delivery for constituents.

■ Identify existing business processes that are hampered in their use of information because thevolume is too large, the variety is too widespread or the velocity creates processing issues.Then, identify business processes that are currently attempting to solve these issues with one-off or manual solutions.

■ Review existing information assets that were previously beyond existing analytic or processingcapabilities (dark data), determine if they have untapped value for the business, and make thema first or pilot target of your big data strategy. In particular, look for information use cases thatcombine diverse information assets into analysis and data mining solutions.

■ Plan to utilize scalable information management resources, such as those acquired from cloud-based services, through the reallocation of resources (infrastructure or workforce) or some otherstrategy. Do not forget that gaining value is not just a storage or access problem. Complex,multilevel, highly correlated information processing will demand elasticity in computingresources similar to the elasticity required by storage/persistence needs.

■ Extend the metadata management strategies already in place, and recognize that more isneeded to enable the documentation of these information assets, their pervasiveness of use,and the fidelity or assurance of the assets, tracking how information assets relate to each other.

Business Impact: There are three key considerations when dealing with big data, and success willbe limited unless all three are addressed. First, because volume, variety and velocity are typicallyinterdependent, the quantitative aspects of big data generally do not emerge one by one. Thesecond consideration is that innovation must be cost-effective, not only in the cost to deploy andmaintain, but also in terms of time to delivery — solutions that arrive too late are useless, regardlessof cost. Finally, the focus must be on increased insight by the business into process optimizationfrom immediate automation through the development of completely new business models.

Big data permits greater analysis of all available data, detecting change at even the most granularlevels of the information corpus — a precursor to effective insight and discovery. The primary usecases emerging include leveraging social media data, combining operational technology (machinedata) with back-office and business management data, and further validating existing assets(increasing their "fidelity"). Big data challenges IT governance to shift from top-down, centralizeddecision rights to more end-user choice and information management competencies distributedthroughout the enterprise.

Perhaps the most important business benefits of big data management and analysis techniques areanalytics and decision processing capabilities that can include multiple scenarios such as highlydisparate definitions and temporality of events in the data. This means that analytics can presentmany different scenarios in their analysis, with different starting and ending points, differingrelationships within the data, and circumstantial analysis that would support the monitoring of thepropensity of unlikely but possible event scenarios.







Sample Vendors: Cloudera; EMC (Greenplum); Hortonworks; HP; IBM; Informatica; MapRTechnologies; Oracle; SAP; SAS; Teradata Aster

Recommended Reading: "Use Big Data Analytics to Solve Fraud and Security Problems"

"Big Data Forces Big Change in the Age of Smart Government"

"Big Data Opportunities, New Answers and New Questions"

"How the Nexus of Forces Will Impact Government"

"'Big Data' Is Only the Beginning of Extreme Information Management"

Wi-Fi Positioning Systems

Analysis By: Joy Yang

Definition: Wi-Fi positioning systems measure the signal strength from available Wi-Fi hotspots tocalculate the position of Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Wi-Fi positioning can be measured from either thenetwork side or the terminal side. Wi-Fi positioning systems can be used to locate the position of aperson or a connected thing, especially when it is indoors where GPS is not available.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Location-based information is widely used in mobilelocation-based services (LBSs). With the development of machine to machine (M2M), locationinformation is used to track the position of connected goods. Wi-Fi positioning systems arebecoming an important positioning methodology as a complement to GPS or Global NavigationSatellite System (GNSS), especially indoors. Since Wi-Fi networks are now widely available, andmore terminals — including laptops, tablets and smartphones — have Wi-Fi embedded, Wi-Fipositioning systems are considered to be an enabler for new business opportunities, such as mobilemarketing.

Wi-Fi positioning systems can be widely used in — but are not limited to — the following scenarios:

■ Indoor LBSs

■ Tracking children and pets

■ Security monitoring

■ Logistic tracking

■ Healthcare monitoring

Current Wi-Fi positioning systems are mostly based on a database with preloaded Wi-Fi accesspoint (AP) positioning data and measurement of the signal strength from the APs. The complexity ofdifferent approaches varies, and provides different levels of accuracy. With the proximity sensing




method, the terminal's position is considered the same as the connected access point, which cangive you an accuracy to within a few tens of meters. With the database of AP positions, togetherwith the receiving signal strength and angles from multiple stations, the system can calculate theposition of the terminals. However, this accuracy is determined by the resolution of the antennaarray; with high resolution beam-forming antenna the accuracy can be pinpointed to within onemeter.

Wi-Fi positioning system services have been provided by Google, Skyhook, YFind, and Navizon.Wi-Fi vendors such as Cisco and Alvarion (formerly Wavion), have also expended some effort onthis technology to improve the capability of the network and the accuracy of the positioning.However, there are privacy concerns about inappropriate usage of the location information, linkingwith user identification information and user behavior.

User Advice: When choosing a Wi-Fi positioning system, users should evaluate the accuracy of thetechnology, and the service provider's capability to maintain an up-to-date Wi-Fi AP database.Users should also evaluate the privacy protection reputation of the service providers before makingtheir decision.

Business Impact: Wi-Fi positioning systems can be a great complement to GPS, when the terminalis indoors. Widely deployed Wi-Fi hot spots and Wi-Fi-embedded terminals enable the Wi-Fipositioning capability. Accurate position information can be very useful in location-basedapplications in mobile services, and in M2M applications.




Sample Vendors: AeroScout; Alvarion (Wavion); Cisco; Ekahau; Google; Skyhook; Ubisense

Sliding Into the Trough

Continua 2012

Analysis By: Wes Rishel

Definition: Continua Health Alliance (Continua) is a global industry alliance that creates openinteroperability guidelines for personal connected health monitoring products and services. Itprovides a logo for products that pass its certification tests and promotes adoption. Continua's2012 Design Guidelines (CDG2012) are the most recent set of specifications in production use.CDG2012 supersedes the Continua Design Guidelines CDG2011, which we detailed in "Hype Cyclefor Telemedicine, 2012."

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Continua specifications describe four kinds ofinterfaces:




■ Personal device to aggregation manager (over Bluetooth, low-power Bluetooth, ZigBeehealthcare protocol, near field communications or USB)

■ Aggregation manager to telehealth service center (over WAN)

■ Telehealth service center to electronic health record (EHR) or personal health record (PHR) overWAN

■ Direct from the aggregation manager to the EHR or PHR

The aggregation manager is co-located with the personal devices. It provides patient identityservices and manages the flow of information from multiple in-home devices. The telehealth servicecenter is an optional component, a call center to support end users of remote devices.

Continua has more than 200 members, most of which are technology providers. Other membersinclude three very large healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs), 13 international standardsorganizations, and government agencies from six countries. All but one of the 13 nonemployedmembers of its board of directors work for technology providers. Similar alliances have worked wellfor propagating interoperability technologies such as Bluetooth and USB. The approach, however,has yet to be proven in healthcare.

There has been progress. In June 2013, Continua identified 90 devices that had been certified forContinua compliance since 2007. These include weighing scales, blood pressure monitors, glucosemeters, pulse oximeters, cardiovascular monitors, thermometers, strength monitors, prescriptionadherence monitors and peak flow monitors. Its website also included nine independent livingactivity hubs, which provide a unified access to networks. In the first five months of 2013, Continuacertified 55 devices, compared with 48 in all of 2012. The number of devices available in anyspecific market may be much lower than the total certified because some of the certifications werefor demonstration devices and submodules. Nonetheless, the data indicates a step up inmanufacturers' interest.

After six years, Continua has achieved little traction when measured by actual use connecting homeor portable devices to EHR systems. More traction has been achieved through manufacturersputting devices in consumer supply chains that upload data using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth-enabledsmartphones to cloud-based, vendor-specific repositories. These devices do not use the Continuaspecifications.

Recently, however, Continua has begun to see progress in several countries. Denmark publishedthe first public tender requiring Continua compliance in August 2012, with additional follow-ons; theSingapore Ministry of Health Holdings announced it is requiring Continua certification for allpersonal health devices and services offered within its National Health Platform; in England, theWorcestershire County Council issued the first tender under the country's ambitious 3millionlivestelehealth re-engineering initiative. The English tender includes two key Continua standards,although it does not require certified devices. Other national initiatives include Japan, withcommercial deployments that require the use of Continua standards; and Abu Dhabi, which isdeveloping a Continua standards-based mobile platform. To date there are no U.S. procurements orregulations that require Continua standards or certification.




Each of these tenders offers Continua the opportunity to prove its value proposition. Somequestions needing answers include: (1) will plug and play interoperability be achieved in practice, atthe technical as well as clinical data levels; (2) will manufacturers and labelers step up to thesupport requirements in multivendor configurations; (3) will the operators of large-scale telehealthinitiatives be willing to restrict competition in the supply chain by restricting purchases under theirprograms to certified devices; and (4) will the hub-based architecture conceived by Continua in2007 be acceptable and add value in the high-mobility, cloud-based market that has developed forconsumer devices?

Continua advocates argue with justification that the value proposition is strongest at a very largescale, with many manufacturers in a supply chain to consumers and consolidated, cross-modalitydata flowing to HDOs, and that it removes complexity from the overall healthcare system byenabling the use of standardized hardware and software modules. In the Internet era, there is acounterargument that standardization is slowed by trying to do everything at once. Gall's Lawseems to describe the slow adoption of Continua. It says "A complex system that works isinvariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked" (see "Maverick* Research:Lessons Learned From Case Studies for Ultralean Development").

As Continua works to prove its value proposition, the growing number of certified instruments andtenders portends progress. Gartner's methodology, however, does not indicate that we shouldadvance Continua on the Hype Cycle until we see actual adoption.

User Advice: Until Continua can prove its value proposition in the pioneering efforts in Malaysia andEurope, HDOs in other countries (including the U.S.) are unable to rely on remotely monitoringContinua-based devices until they are available in the supply chains of their countries and coveredby payers in their markets.

Governmental agencies that seek to pursue the higher level of patient engagement might benefitfrom specifying Continua compliance, but they are usually reliant on other agencies to approve thedevices, and on the manufacturers to offer the devices in their markets. In addition, they have onlyspeculation or sketchy evidence that care programs based on such devices can producemeasurable improvements in population health status or costs. Such agencies may find itadvantageous to wait until the current pioneering efforts have borne fruit, particularly since it isdifficult to attract manufacturers into a market where their sales might be limited to pilot efforts.

An interim approach for immediate programs would be to rely on non-Continua devices in thesupply chain, and work out arrangements to download data from vendor-specific cloud repositoriesdirectly or via personal health records. Even this approach involves significant investment andwould not be suitable to any but early-adopting HDOs.

Business Impact: Home and mobile monitoring has the potential to substantially improve thequality of care and reduce costs by enhancing patient engagement; enabling more-frequentinteractions with caregivers and healthcare providers, rather than periodic office visits; and enablingpatients to remain in the community or at home. As these approaches become medically acceptedand find an economic niche, Continua can greatly accelerate its adoption and decrease the totalcost of using monitors by reducing the "technical therapy" required to get the monitors operating.






Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Cisco; GE Healthcare; IBM; Intel; Medtronic; Orange; Panasonic; PhilipsHealthcare; Roche; Samsung; Sharp Electronics; Tunstall Healthcare Group

Recommended Reading: "Continua Will Be Critical to Moving Care to Home and Mobile Settings"

"Cool Vendors in Healthcare Providers, 2012"

Microgrids


Definition: Microgrids are small-scale, low-voltage power systems with energy sources, storagedevices and controllable loads. They have two operation modes — either connected to the mainpower network, or "islanded" in a controlled, coordinated way. The operation of microgrids offersadvantages to customers and utilities by improving energy efficiency, reducing transmission anddistribution losses, improving reliability, reducing environmental impact, and providing more cost-efficient electricity infrastructure replacement.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Microgrids are small-scale versions of the centralizedpower system that generate, distribute, store and regulate the flow of electricity to consumers, andin which sources are co-located with loads. This includes remote rural electrification and residentialor community power networks to commercial, industrial, municipal, hospital, campus and militarybase power grids. Microgrids offer a compelling alternative to traditional energy generation anddistribution, using smart grid technologies to enable integrated control of distributed powergeneration assets, either in parallel to, or islanded from the utility power grid.

Microgrids also provide local choice regarding the electricity generation source and supply, such aslocally distributed renewable energy sources. They operate in coordination with the utility toimprove customer service, but the infrastructure is controlled either in part (as with a community) orin whole (as with a university) by the local entity. Universities (such as Princeton and Harvard)frequently own and operate their own microgrids, as do communities, airport operators and militarybases (such as Fort Bragg, North Carolina).

With the increased focus on renewable energy, efficiency and the need to make the business casefor the smart grid, a growing number of stakeholders are focusing on microgrids as a viableapproach to grid modernization at the local level. Microgrids incorporate local distributed energysupplies and storage technologies that meet the needs of the constituents being served, whilenetworking with the larger grid. Smart microgrids, which are more commonplace in Europe andJapan, face some policy and regulatory barriers in the U.S. that are being challenged as thereliability, quality and environmental benefits they offer become clearer.




Microgrids can also be seen as an "aggregated" demonstration of energy technologyconsumerization, which challenges the traditional utility business model (provider of energy as acloud service). By facilitating consumer (or a group of consumers) integration into the energymarket, microgrids are also contributing to the "geodesic" transformation of the energy deliveryinfrastructure.

User Advice: Many of the microgrid's technical requirements are the same as for traditional powergeneration and delivery systems. However, the common use of alternative energy sources(intermittent in nature) will require broad use of power electronic interfaces. To supply reliable,quality power, the microgrid must have mechanisms to regulate voltage and frequency in responseto changes in customer loads and system disturbances. All power in microgrids comes from thedistributed generation within the microgrid, which will require significant investment in operationaltechnology to perform distributed control.

Despite the significant promise and industry excitement over the concept, few fully commercialized,state-of-the-art microgrids with significant generation capacity are actually up and running in NorthAmerica. Promoters of the microgrid concept are struggling to find the appropriate business modelsand regulatory structures to decentralize the power distribution infrastructure, while adding greaterreliability, security and self-healing capabilities to electricity distribution. The answers to these openquestions will have a profound influence on the evolution of the electric power industry.

Business Impact: Microgrids will impact generation and distribution domains, and will haveimplications on energy retailing.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: GE Energy; Power Analytics; Siemens; Spirae; Viridity Energy

Recommended Reading: "Top 10 Business Trends Impacting the Utility Industry in 2013"

"MarketScope for Advanced Distribution Management Systems"


Analysis By: Zarko Sumic; Randy Rhodes

Definition: Distributed generation (DG) is an energy supply method that situates generationresources at or near retail load. The generation resource may include diesel, biofuel, wind, solar orfuel cell technologies; may be consumer-owned; and may be combined with on-site energy storage.DG could potentially transform centrally managed, radial delivery networks into geodesic, self-supporting networks. This could eventually improve power system resilience and enable morethorough consumer-driven integration.




Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Consumer desire to mitigate high supply costs andvolatility, in addition to increasing reliability and service quality expectations, will lead to greater DGadoption, primarily by larger and more-sophisticated commercial consumers or, in some cases,groups of adjacent residential consumers (neighborhoods). DG interconnection standards arematuring; however, regulatory oversight is still a patchwork of interconnection rules. Issues withsiting and permitting costs still limit penetration. Locales where renewable portfolio standards apply,and where feed-in tariffs and net metering arrangements are available, are more conducive to DGdeployment. For example, California expects that one-fourth of new generation resources installedbetween 2012 and 2020 will come on the customer's side of the meter (mostly rooftop solar). Mostutilities have little incentive from their regulators to pursue DG, even when, on occasion, it canprovide business value. Few utilities have an organizational structure ready to coordinate andfacilitate a vast array of third parties, with interests in DG expansion. Benefits and logisticalchallenges span utility organizational business units — generation, transmission, distribution andcustomer service.

DG technology champions find it difficult to convince business unit leaders to reallocate capitalwhen DG benefits fall outside their departmental budgets. DG resources are seen as less reliable bytransmission and distribution (T&D) leaders. Redirecting T&D capital budgets for DG resources todefer T&D capacity projects incurs more risk. For example, what if the DG stops operating becauseof higher fuel costs? In that case, the traditional grid-provided energy will be required as backup,regardless of the cost. Consequently, the most ardent DG advocates are outside utilities — typicallymicrogrid developers, often with financial interests in urban development or environmental/politicalpurposes.

User Advice: Marginal business cases can be helped by considering combined heat and power(CHP), co-generation, solar power purchase agreements (PPAs), and high-availability applicationswith energy storage or uninterruptible power supply equipment as part of the DG implementation.Outsourcing day-to-day remote performance monitoring, operations and maintenance can beconsidered as well. Utilities should look for T&D asset deferral benefits, but have backup plans if theDG technology has an unplanned outage (just as with line design). As with demand response (DR),utilities must propose incentives to regulators that would help them support cost-effectivealternatives to traditional utility wires infrastructure, but still within their service mandate.

Utilities must also consider the information management and communication effects of DG growth,such as the need to expand communication networks and historian systems. Because a significantpercentage of DG will be deployed by customers in the form of renewable generation, it will alsoenable consumer participation in carbon dioxide abatement.

Business Impact: Retail energy, distribution operations and the supply domain will experience thegreatest effect from DG.







Sample Vendors: Arotech; Ballard Power Systems; Bloom Energy; Capstone Turbine; Caterpillar;ITM Power; Plug Power; ReliOn

Recommended Reading: "Energy Technology Consumerization: The Quest for Lean and Green"

"The Utility of the Future: The Information Utility"

"Top 10 Technology Trends Impacting the Energy and Utility Industry in 2013"


Analysis By: Simon Mingay; Stephen Stokes

Definition: These systems integrate and optimize the management and control of heterogeneousbuilding infrastructure equipment, using IP and open standards such as BACnet, data descriptionsand protocols. These systems will integrate the management of power distribution; uninterruptiblepower supplies; heating, ventilation and air conditioning; lighting; energy monitoring; accesscontrols; surveillance and security; and on-site energy generation. They support remote access andmanagement, as well as distributed control over secure IP networks.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: These systems help support energy efficiency andbuilding automation, and can automate a response to pricing signals and demand responserequests from the utility. They may take other external data feeds, such as weather forecasts, and— based on a set of user-definable policies and rules — take appropriate measures. The data fromthese systems is made available to enterprise facilities management systems, and other enterpriseapplications, through appropriate integration or data exchange mechanisms that make use of openand industry standards, such as SOAP and XML. That may include published APIs and Webservices, and comply with any data standards that ensure data consistency.

Most of the individual parts of these solutions, such as industry standard communication protocols,are available and are mature technologies. Many building systems are simply connected, ratherthan integrated, although increasingly there are single-vendor solutions available that integratemuch of this. However, most enterprises don't have the luxury of a single-vendor environment, andare faced with a heterogeneous portfolio of building assets and a capital budget that won't extendto cover the associated costs. The challenge is to integrate through open standards — ideallyacross a range of equipment from multiple vendors — and be able to securely integrate the systemsand data at low cost into existing enterprise networks, systems and building informationmanagement software. The technology will continue to accelerate due to a combination ofcontinued convergence of the networking layers, increased awareness and demand for efficientbuilding performance, as well as wider deployment of sensors and networks capable of sensingenvironmental and resource consumption data on increasingly real-time scales. The solutions willincreasingly integrate with cloud-based options.

Building management and automation systems are widely used to achieve new levels of visibilityand insight into campus, building and building subsystem performance. Building management andbuilding energy efficiency, in particular, are among the hottest spaces within the sustainablebusiness marketplace. Basic automation technologies have been around for a considerable time.




What is new is the integration of these data feeds for the purposes of management and automation,and into rich dashboards and cockpits, allowing for real-time analysis, process optimization and, inmany cases, significant shifts from reactive to preventive maintenance. It will also be easier tointegrate the management of both compute and building systems within the data center — an areadata center infrastructure management is tackling.

User Advice: IT organizations will increasingly be drawn into discussions about building automationand control, on the basis of architecting and operating converged building and enterprise networks,or around security and remote access issues, or for data analytics. They should seek to influencesolution architectures and technology choices toward open systems and protocols that facilitateintegration and access to data. Early involvement in new builds and major refurbishments will beimportant if influence is to be effective.

Business Impact: The business impact of building automation and control systems is considerable,which increases in proportion to the extent to which building operational expenses represent asubstantial portion of total expenses. Application of existing, mature physical technologies andrelated automation and control systems are capable of reducing energy consumption andassociated emissions from commercial building environments by more than 40%. Payback periodson such projects and programs are shrinking quickly, and are commonly cited on time scales of lessthan three years.




Sample Vendors: BuildingIQ; Honeywell; IBM; Johnson Controls; Powerit Solutions; SchneiderElectric; Siemens

Recommended Reading: "An Integrated Building Management System Puts the 'Smart' in SmartBuilding"

"IBM and the Green Sigma Coalition Smarten Up the Built Environment by Turning Buildings IntoBusiness Priorities"

"An Energy-Efficiency and Sustainable Buildings Case Study: Johnson Controls DemonstratesLeadership in Design and Execution"

"Cool Vendors in Green IT and Sustainability, 2013"

Master Data Management

Analysis By: Bill O'Kane; Saul Judah; Andrew White

Definition: Master data management (MDM) is a technology-enabled discipline in which businessand IT work together to ensure the uniformity, accuracy, stewardship, semantic consistency andaccountability of the enterprise's official shared master data assets. Master data is the consistent




and uniform set of identifiers and extended attributes that describes the core entities of theenterprise, including customers, prospects, citizens, suppliers, sites, hierarchies and chart ofaccounts.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: A single version of truth for master data domains,such as customer, product and asset, remains a central ambition for many organizations in thepursuit of their strategic business goals. MDM is therefore more a strategic program than a singleproject, and can thus take many years to achieve, even though each phase of the program may addto the scope (from customer national to customer global, for example). Given that MDM is atechnology-enabled discipline, we have to look at both the hype and maturity of the discipline aswell as the supporting technology. The discipline side is where the greater barriers to successreside; this helps to explain what slows MDM momentum in relation to technologies requiring lessbusiness engagement, governance and change management, and why there is only a slightmovement forward on the Hype Cycle curve for this year. Technology, on the other hand, is more ofa challenge than a barrier. Business case creation and program change management, as well as anability to effectively deploy information governance, keeps MDM limited to a minority oforganizations capable of mastering those skills. The technology itself is also maturing along adifferent timeline since there is little really new to do with MDM from a technical side that has notbeen done before in isolation, perhaps for some other purpose. What is new is that the variouscapabilities needed to support MDM must be tightly integrated and managed to govern specificmaster data.

Throughout 2013, the market for technologies supporting MDM will continue to evolve alongdifferent dimensions. The first generation of single domain MDM technologies is characterized bythose programs focused on a single version of customer or (separately) on a single version ofproduct. Increasingly larger organizations will implement different hubs for each domain. We callthis "multiple domain" MDM. The second generation of MDM technologies — referred to asmultidomain MDM — are still relatively immature since the requirements for the most complexobjects across domains, industries and organizational structures are very complex indeed. Thereare a small number of these implementations but they are, for the most part, not overly complex inmany dimensions. The next generation of MDM technologies, yet to fully emerge, are calledmultivector MDM. These are multidomain-capable MDM offerings that can support all of theimplementation styles and any number of variations between them, all with one technology solution.Some vendors are spending several years to "converge" several offerings; others continue to pilenew developments on single solutions. The reality is that this generation will not even fully emergeuntil the second generation has become much more mature.

Business drivers differ by industry and span a number of areas: growth (revenue, service),optimization (efficiency), agility (service-oriented architecture), improved decision making (businessintelligence [BI]), risk management, compliance and supporting merger and acquisition activity. Newtrends in 2013 continue to span the visionary (for example, cloud-based capabilities and integrationwith social/big data) as well as the more practical (better support for data stewardship and overallgovernance workflow). Additionally, in response to pressure from clients and prospects, severalMDM vendors known for leading with prepackaged master data models and integration servicelayers in their software have begun to enable more flexibility in the area of data modeling. Similarly,vendors known for relying on client-driven master data models are responding to demand for




domain-specific data model and service layer collateral by providing templates to accelerate thetechnology development cycle. Despite the hype that comes and goes within any one year, theoverall level of interest in MDM continues to increase. The ongoing hype continues to grow aroundmultidomain MDM, and less so for single domain MDM, such as MDM of customer and productdata solutions, and the scope, breadth and complexity of MDM explain why this technology-enabled discipline will take many years to reach full maturity. Penetration of the addressable marketis close to 5% in terms of all aspects of MDM, though single domain MDM is a little over 5% andmultidomain MDM is less than 5%.

User Advice: Organizations with complex or heterogeneous application and information landscapeswill likely suffer from inconsistent master data. Sometimes the costs to use this data to improvebusiness outcomes becomes too high, at which point an MDM program may be more practical. Thismay span any number of business applications including customer-facing, supplier-facing,enterprisewide or value chain. More strategically, if your business strategy is dependent on theconsistency of the data within your organization, MDM may be adopted for strategic reasons. ManyType As and innovators have adopted MDM in some fashion. Type Bs and fast followers arebeginning this journey too. Companies investigating the use of MDM should:

■ Ensure a clear line of sight to business benefits and business sponsorship. Understand whichbusiness initiatives will require better master data to succeed and sell the need for MDM as partof the project.

■ Identify specific solutions for the most important master data in your organizations, such ascustomer, product and (potentially) financial data, paying particular attention to vertical industryexperience provided by the tools. Plan on using them for the next two to three years as thesecond generation of MDM products matures.

■ Identify the architectural role that each implemented MDM solution will play in your enterpriseinformation management approach, relative to the information architecture. Use MDM as anopportunity to practice sound information architecture fundamentals such as canonicaltransaction formats for master data domains.

■ Leverage previous experiences in dimensional data development for BI initiatives to identify themost fragmented but reused data domains in the organization. Begin your MDM efforts withthose domains.

Business Impact: Leading organizations that create an MDM strategy (to implement MDM and itssupporting technology) that is well thought out, holistic and business-driven will be able to deliversignificant business value in terms of enabling competitive differentiation and business growth,improved customer services, reduced time to market and delivering on operational efficiency as wellas meeting governance, risk management and compliance requirements. MDM strategies that arelinked to strategic IT enterprise transformation efforts (such as ERP or CRM implementations)provide significant additional value to those programs; conversely, MDM-centric business cases areoften used to surface opportunities for significant business process optimization.







Sample Vendors: IBM; Informatica; Kalido; Oracle; Orchestra Networks; Riversand Technologies;SAP; Software AG; Teradata; Tibco Software

Recommended Reading: "The Seven Building Blocks of MDM: A Framework for Success"

"Mastering Master Data Management"

"Toolkit: Program Manager's Guide to MDM"

"Research Library for the Seven Building Blocks of MDM"

"The Five Vectors of Complexity That Define Your MDM Strategy"

Machine-to-Machine Communication Services

Analysis By: Tina Tian; Sylvain Fabre

Definition: Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication services are used for automated datatransmission and measurement between mechanical or electronic devices. The key components ofan M2M system are:

■ Field-deployed wireless devices with embedded sensors or RFID technology

■ Wireless and wireline communication networks, including cellular communication, Wi-Fi,ZigBee, WiMAX, generic DSL (xDSL) and fiber to the x (FTTx) networks

■ A back-end network that interprets data and makes decisions

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: M2M technology continues to fuel new businessofferings and support a wide range of initiatives, such as smart metering, road tolls, smart cities,smart buildings and geofencing assets, to name a few. Revenue growth is now 30% to 40% peryear. Communications service providers (CSPs), business development managers and architects inmany industries should take a closer look at how M2M communication services can help grow theirbusiness.

There is currently no one service provider than can deliver M2M services end-to-end. The valuechain remains fragmented. Service providers are trying to partner with others to create a workableecosystem.

M2M services are currently provided by three types of provider:

■ M2M service providers. Mobile virtual network operators and companies associated with anoperator that can piggyback on that operator's roaming agreements (for example, Wyless, KoreTelematics and Jasper Wireless).

■ CSPs. Some CSPs, such as Orange in Europe and AT&T in North America, have supplied M2Mservices for several years, but have not publicized them widely. However, CSPs are now




marketing M2M services more vigorously, and those that have not had a strong M2M presenceso far are treating it more seriously by increasing their marketing or creating dedicated M2Mservice divisions (for example, T-Mobile, Telenor and Vodafone).

■ Other organizations with different M2M strengths. These are combining to enter the market.Jasper Wireless, for example, has also signed an agreement with AT&T to provide dedicatedsupport for M2M devices created jointly.

All three types will be viable options for clients to consider, and can be customized to meet M2Mrequirements awaiting verification.

Besides the service providers mentioned above, there are companies with certain skills in strategyand rollout that can manage the daunting value chain needed to implement M2M solutions.Examples are:

■ Ventyx, an ABB company

■ Walsh Vision, which has rolled out an M2M-based pay-as-you-drive insurance solution

■ Capgemini, a leader in smart-grid and advanced metering infrastructure solutions

■ Integron, a logistics and integration partner for M2M solutions.

Wireless access is one of the many important links in an M2M deployment chain. CSPs have to bewell positioned for their role in the M2M market, based on an evaluation of their own strengths — interms of multinational network coverage, application development skills and IT management ability— and their choice of a suitable business model and partner. CSPs also have to be in a position tosell a series of new data plans (that accommodate an M2M solution's business requirements) aswell as provide some form of second- or third-tier support. These demands are being placed onCSPs whose core expertise lies in the provision of mass-market voice and data services toconsumers.

One of the key technology factors that may affect M2M service deployment is mobile-network-supporting capability. Early M2M services were smart meters, telematics and e-health monitors,which are expected to be widely used in the future. In its Release 10, the Third GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) has been working on M2M technology to enhance network systems inorder to offer better support for machine-type communications (MTC) applications. The 3GPP's TS22.368 specification describes common and specific service requirements for MTC. The mainfunctions specified in Release 10 are overload and congestion control. The recently announcedRelease 11 investigates additional MTC requirements, use cases and functional improvements toexisting specifications. End-to-end real-time security will also become an important factor whenmore important vertical applications are brought into cellular networks.

Another key factor on the technology side that may impact mass deployment of M2Mcommunication services is the level of standardization. Some key M2M technology components —such as RFID, location awareness, short-range communication and mobile communicationtechnologies — have been on the market for quite a long time. But there remains a lack of thestandardization necessary to put the pieces of the puzzle together to make M2M services cost-effective and easy to deploy, and therefore to enable this market to take off. M2M standardization




may involve many technologies (like the Efficient XML Interchange [EXI] standard, ConstrainedApplication Protocol [CoAP] and Internet Protocol Version 6 over Low-Power Wireless PersonalArea Networks [IPv6/6LoWPAN]) and stakeholders (including CSPs, RFID makers, telecom networkequipment vendors and terminal providers). The European Telecommunications Standards Institutehas a group working on the definition, smart-metering use cases, functional architecture and servicerequirements for M2M technology.

User Advice: As M2M communications grow in importance, regulators should pay more attentionto standards, prices, terms and conditions. For example, the difficulty of changing operators duringthe life of equipment with embedded M2M technology might be seen by regulators as a potentialmonopoly. Regulators in France and Spain already require operators to report on M2M connections,and we expect to see increased regulatory interest elsewhere.

For the end user, the M2M market is very fragmented because no single end-to-end M2M providerexists. A number of suppliers offer monitoring services, hardware development, wireless accessservices and hardware interface design and other functions to enterprise users. As a result, an M2Msolution adopter has to do a lot of work to integrate the many vendors' offerings, on top of which,business processes may need redefining. M2M will speed up IT/operational technology alignmentand convergence, as IT and communications solutions will come closer to users' operations andcontrol through M2M technology.

An enterprise's M2M technology strategy needs to consider the following issues:

■ Scope of deployment

■ System integration method

■ Hardware budget

■ Application development and implementation

■ Wireless service options

■ Wireless access costs

Business Impact: M2M communication services have many benefits for users, governments andCSPs. They can dramatically improve the efficiency of device management. As value-addedservices, they also have considerable potential as revenue generators for CSPs — the success ofthese services will be important for CSPs' business growth plans.

M2M communication services are expected to be the critical enablers for many initiatives that fallunder the "smart city" umbrella and contribute to the Internet of Things. Examples are smart-gridinitiatives with connected smart-grid sensors to monitor distribution networks in real time, andsmart-transportation initiatives with embedded telematics devices in cars to track and controltraffic. M2M communication services will also connect billions of devices, causing furthertransformation of communication networks.

M2M communication services should be seen as an important set of facilitating technologies for usein operational technologies. At an architectural level, particular care should be taken when choosing




M2M solutions to ensure they facilitate the alignment, convergence or integration of operationaltechnology with IT.




Sample Vendors: AT&T; France Telecom; KDDI; Qualcomm; Sprint Nextel; Telefonica; Telenor;Verizon; Vodafone

Recommended Reading: "How CSPs Can Successfully Optimize M2M Opportunities for Growth"

"The Time is Right for CSPs to Move Into M2M Management"

"Sourcing Strategies Must Assess External Providers When Integrating M2M Communications IntoIT/OT Initiatives"

"Competitive Landscape: M2M Platform and Software Providers for CSPs, 2012"

"Market Trends: Overcoming Machine-to-Machine Challenges to Realize the Market Potential"

"Technology Overview: Mobile M2M Network in Japan"

"IT and Operational Technology: Convergence, Alignment and Integration"

Customer Gateways

Analysis By: Zarko Sumic; Chet Geschickter

Definition: Customer gateways are logical interfaces that connect utility systems with consumersystems and devices, such as home energy management and smart appliances, to enableconsumer participation in the smart grid by delivering pricing signals and supporting secure two-way communications to coordinate energy management.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Customer gateways are an enabling technology forenergy technology consumerization and an interface between utility and home energy management(HEM) and a home-area network (HAN) system. They are critical components for customer inclusionin energy markets through on-site renewable generation and storage, as well as energy efficiencyprograms. In addition to becoming stand-alone devices, customer gateways can be provided byutilities and integrated in an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI — a smart metering solution), orthey can be integral parts of HEM/consumer energy management solution.

Customer gateways, coupled with an AMI, enable the consumer to effectively make choices aboutenergy consumption, primarily in the face of price signals through the programs, such as economicdemand response. This is done through systems that are programmable by the consumer toalleviate the impact of high prices by reducing consumption or shifting consumption to lower-pricedhours. Limitations of first-generation AMI consumer gateway technology (specifically shortcomings




in ZigBee Smart Energy Profile 1), the gradual pace of demand-response adoption and electricitypricing reform, and the slow uptake of HEM systems have slowed the pace of customer gatewaydeployment. The release of Smart Energy Profile 2 and forward progress in the HEM marketadoption will drive growth and maturation of customer gateways.

User Advice: Energy IT organizations should prepare for the impact of information and energytechnology consumerization by providing communication links and control schemas to incorporatecustomer-installed gateways, HEM systems and smart devices. Gateways are also a point ofcontact between utility-deployed technology and HEM solutions provided by communicationservice providers or other consumer technology vendors. Options for a customer gateway platforminclude smart meters, home gateways or cloud-based services that customers can access via aWeb browser or an Internet-connected device (such as a smartphone or a tablet). Technologyarchitects should educate the business on the pros and cons of each option within the context ofoverall smart grid strategy before making a platform commitment.

Business Impact: Customer gateways will affect energy retail and will be a key enabler of energytechnology consumerization. They will act as a portal between utility and consumer energytechnology, such as on-site generation and storage and smart appliances supporting consumerHEM, and enable energy provisioning transformation. Customer gateways support demand-response and energy efficiency initiatives, and can serve as an enabling component for prepaymentand dynamic pricing programs. Benefits are likely to be higher for utilities deploying AMI.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Comverge; Digi; Echelon; Ember; Tendril

Recommended Reading: "Top 10 Business Trends Impacting the Utility Industry in 2013"

"Innovation Insight: Smart Grid Drives Innovation in the Utility Sector"


"Energy Technology Consumerization: The Quest for Lean and Green"


"Technology Overview for Home Energy Management Technology Overview"


Analysis By: Barry Runyon; Jessica Ekholm

Definition: Mobile health monitoring is the use of IT and mobile communications to monitor thehealth of patients, and to help ensure that appropriate action is taken. Patients are provided




wearable and portable monitoring devices that capture physiological metrics, such as bloodpressure, glucose level, pulse, blood oxygen level and weight, and then transmit or stage the patientdata for analysis and review using mobile device and carrier services.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Advances in smartphone platforms, sensortechnologies, cellular networks, cloud computing and portable medical devices have removed manyof the technical barriers to mobile health monitoring. Industry cooperatives such as the ContinuaHealth Alliance, the ZigBee Alliance and the Bluetooth Special Interest Group have furthered thecause of device interoperability. Over this past year, we have seen an increased interest in mobilehealth monitoring — due to a number of factors:

■ The increased burden of chronic disease in emerging markets, many of which have poorlandline coverage and better mobile coverage, is generating interest from governmenthealthcare agencies in deploying mobile versions of home health monitoring devices.

■ A growing interest among healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) in developed and emergingmarkets in using mobility to overcome the "location dependence" limitation of home healthmonitoring technologies. The use of portable or wearable devices opens the possibility not onlyof monitoring patients who are active and mobile, but also continually and in real-time.

■ The emergence of personal health record (PHR) applications is enabling healthcare consumersto create Web-based healthcare data repositories that are able to accept data from health andfitness monitoring devices.

■ An increasing fascination with the so-called "quantified self." Sports product manufacturers,such as Adidas and Nike, are offering motion trackers that help create a better joggingexperience. Professional sports teams use a variety of dedicated sensors and devices tomeasure the performance of team players. The widespread adoption of smartphones with low-cost applications that enable mobile health monitoring is leading to growing interest fromhealthcare consumers in self-monitoring.

In February of 2012, Telcare (see "Cool Vendors in Healthcare Providers, 2012") began shippingU.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared glucometers that automatically connect to acellular data network and integrate with Telcare's own website, payer call centers and the electronichealth records (EHRs) of healthcare providers. There is no requirement for the user to sign up or toconnect to a Wi-Fi network initially or after each reading. The connected glucometer is no moredifficult to use than an unconnected glucometer, and far easier than those that use Bluetooth orcords to connect the device to an intermediate PC or gateway.

Despite growing interest, most deployments of mobile health monitoring are pilot projects. HDOs,for the most part, are not yet convinced that the business case for mobile health monitoring is viableand have not yet shown the organizational commitment to develop sustainable services on a largescale. The ease of deployment of products such as Telcare will help move some pilots to larger-scale, operational programs. During the next few years, as mobile health monitoring evolves and itsclinical uses become more clearly defined, it will most likely fragment into certain submarketsfocused on particular clinical areas, such as obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD), diabetes and cardiac care.




User Advice: Whether mobile health monitoring pilots evolve into operational deployments dependson the ability of HDOs to overcome multiple obstacles, including legal and licensing restrictions,inconsistent reimbursement by healthcare payers, and the reality that mobile health monitoring willrequire new staffing and workforce considerations and new business processes for dealing withremotely generated patient data, as well as new ways of integrating this information into theirbusiness and clinical systems.

HDOs should focus on the process and business issues raised by mobile health monitoring. It isessential to develop the ability to manage large numbers of mobile devices and remote patients, tochange business and clinical processes to handle a remotely generated patient data, and thestaffing model to be able to orchestrate time-critical interventions for patients.

HDOs should not rush to replace home health monitoring in favor of mobile health monitoring.Mobile monitoring will be used to supplement home monitoring, but will not replace it in the nearterm.

Business Impact: If deployed appropriately, mobile health monitoring will enable closer monitoringand faster intervention in the care of certain groups of patients. Mobile health monitoring canimprove patient engagement, enhance the patient experience and increase adherence to careplans.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Abbott Diabetes Care; Aerotel Medical Systems; Ideal Life; Johnson & Johnson;Medic4all; Medtronic; OBS Medical; Preventice; Ringful Health; Roche; Tunstall Healthcare Group

Recommended Reading: "As the Mobility Movement Gains Momentum, Healthcare DeliveryOrganizations Must Prepare to Adapt"


"Analytics Gets Personal with the Quantified Self"

NFC

Analysis By: Mark Hung

Definition: Near Field Communication (NFC) is a wireless technology that enables a variety ofcontactless applications, such as tap-to-act, information exchange, device pairing, mobilemarketing and payments. It has an operating range of 10 cm or less using the 13.56MHz frequencyband. Three user modes are defined for NFC operation:

■ Card emulation




■ Tag reading

■ Peer-to-peer (P2P)

These modes are based on several ISO/IEC standards, including ISO14443 A/B, ISO15693 andISO18092. The NFC Forum is the industry group that specifies the use of these standards.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: For the past decade, NFC has been a technologylooking for a solution. Originally intended as the foundation for next-generation payment systemsusing smart cards, it never caught on due to the lack of a compelling value proposition. As mobilephones became more prevalent globally in the first decade of the 21st century, Nokia tried to pushthe technology in this new platform. However, the ROI was still unclear for financial institutions,payment processors, credit card issuers and most importantly, merchants. Nokia introduced it ononly one feature phone, the 6131.

In November 2010, Google breathed new life into NFC by embedding it in its latest smartphone, theGoogle Nexus S. This became the first widely available smartphone with built-in NFC. During thenext several months, Google enhanced the Android OS to eventually support all three modesspecified by the NFC Forum — another first. Currently, all the major smartphone OS vendors, withthe notable exception of Apple, provide native support for NFC:

■ Android: Acer, Asus, HTC, Huawei, Lenovo, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, ZTE

■ BlackBerry OS: BlackBerry

■ Symbian: Nokia

■ Windows Phone: HTC, Nokia, Samsung

By embedding NFC in the smartphone platform, the hardware and software companies hope tomove beyond payments and provide the developer community with another tool to foster innovativeapplications. Several smartphone and consumer electronics companies have been particularlyaggressive in exploring new NFC uses:

■ Samsung: Has highlighted several NFC use cases, such as video exchange, in its commercials.Several of these have been used to distinguish its Galaxy line of smartphones from the iPhone.

■ Sony: Has introduced a complete line of consumer electronics devices, such as TVs, remotecontrols, boomboxes, speakers and headsets, with NFC capabilities built in.

■ LG: Has expanded NFC capabilities into home appliances, such as refrigerators and vacuumcleaners.

■ Nintendo: With the inclusion of NFC in Wii U's GamePad, it not only enables NFC functionalityfor future game play, but the company is also planning on using it for digital payments.

NFC payment, however, with multiple parties that have differing interests and agendas, remains themost complex and time-consuming application to implement. For the next few years, growth ofNFC will be primarily in smartphones and the surrounding digital ecosystem devices, such astablets, PCs, printers and TVs. For NFC to take off in payments, a compelling case must be madefor the merchants and the financial ecosystem to invest in the necessary infrastructure.




In other markets, NFC has started to get more traction. In transportation, proprietary contactlesstechnologies (such as NXP's Mifare) have dominated the market. New industry organizations, suchas the Open Standard for Public Transport (OSPT) Alliance, are now looking to promote standards-based NFC for this application. In the enterprise, vendors such as HID Global are now promotingNFC-based solutions for both physical access (e.g., building entry) as well as IT access (e.g., serverlogin).

User Advice:

■ Electronic equipment manufacturers should carefully examine NFC's possible use cases anddetermine which of their mobile, computing, communications and consumer electronics devicescan benefit from its inclusion.

■ Software developers should explore the combination of NFC with a smartphone's othercapabilities to bring about innovative applications to bridge the online and physical worlds.

■ Wireless connectivity semiconductor vendors should re-examine their product road map anddecide how to offer this capability to their customers, whether through a partnership,acquisition or organic development. This will become a checkbox item for connectivity onsmartphones within two to three years.

Business Impact: NFC can bring about unrealized applications by embedding identity in amultifunction computing and communications platform, such as the smartphone. Although this willhave the most impact at the consumer level at first, it may eventually have a strong influence oncontext-aware computing and security control in many different industries and enterprises.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: BlackBerry; Broadcom; Google; Inside Secure; Nokia; NXP Semiconductors;Samsung

Recommended Reading: "Innovation Insight: NFC Bridges Mobile Devices, People and Things"

Advanced Metering Infrastructure


Definition: Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is a composite technology comprising severalelements: consumption meters, a two-way communications channel and a data repository (meterdata management). Jointly, these elements support all phases of the meter data life cycle — fromdata acquisition to final provisioning of energy consumption information to end customers (forexample, for load profile presentment) or to an IT application (such as billing, revenue protection,demand response or outage management).




Position and Adoption Speed Justification: The different drivers for AMI deployment — combinedwith the different market structures around the world (integrated or unbundled) and their differentmeter ownership models — result in diverse solutions implemented in various energy markets. Insome markets, such as the U.S.; Ontario, Canada; Victoria and Western Australia; Ireland; andBenelux (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg), AMI deployment is driven by the need toaddress future supply shortages by enabling demand response and energy efficiency. In othermarkets, such as the Nordic countries, the main driver is the need to facilitate retail marketswitching by providing more-frequent meter reads. In an early deployment in Italy, the primary driverwas reducing customer service provisioning costs.

In the U.K., government plays a more significant role in AMI technology selection (that is,communications and meter data repository) through government organizations such as theDepartment of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and Office of Gas and Electricity Markets(Ofgem). In the U.S., technology is selected by utilities that manage asset and customerrelationships. The U.S. approach creates more of a heterogeneous AMI environment with risinginteroperability concerns.

While a number of U.S. utilities have deployed AMI — following the U.S. government's Smart GridInvestment Grant (SGIG) program — concerns with investment recovery for the matching part of theprogram's grants have slowed some implementations. In addition, customer backlash in theCalifornia and Texas markets has impacted some projects, raising concerns over metering, billingaccuracy, data privacy and electromagnetic fields. The primary element in the backlash, however,has been the lack of a good utility customer communications strategy. As a result, utilities nowrealize the need to invest more strongly in consumer education to ease the end-user technologyadoption challenge.

Most EU member countries are considering plans to replace 80% of their meters by 2020. The U.K.is on a more aggressive path, following the DECC's proposal to replace 100% of the meters withAMI (smart meters) by 2020. Similar programs exist elsewhere — notably in Australia and NewZealand — as well in China, which has set a nationwide smart metering replacement program by2020.

User Advice: AMI deployment can be used as a proxy for a more strategic smart grid project toidentify potential governance issues. AMI technology spans the IT domain (meter data management)and the operational technology (OT) domain (such as the communications backbone and smartmeters). IT and OT each operate within different organizational and process maturity levels, andboth have different frameworks to assess technology asset supportability and maintainability.However, the infusion of computational power on the OT side influences technology life expectancyand raises supportability issues. Maintaining smart meters will be increasingly similar to maintainingan IT asset, such as desktops and laptops, because they both share the same distributed nature,increasingly Internet Protocol-enabled communications and shorter technology update cycles.

The technical requirements for an AMI are similar to revenue metering for large commercial andindustrial customer segments (such as interval meter data with at least daily meter interrogation).The one significant difference is the scale of deployment, because it usually includes all customersegments. An additional difference is that, as an enterprisewide environment, AMI must support avariety of applications and end-user needs for energy consumption data. Therefore, AMI must meet




a wide spectrum of requirements for data latency, persistency and scalability. As an enabling utilitytechnology, AMI has the potential to significantly transform key aspects of the utility business.Because of its composite technology, AMI requires interdisciplinary governance and can be treatedas a proxy for wider smart grid deployment.

The flood of stimulus funds in the U.S., and from policymaker initiatives globally, may force utilitiesto make premature decisions and embark on AMI initiatives without a clear understanding of theproject ownership, expected deliverables, governance, security, intellectual property considerations,technology maturity and the vendor's expertise. Utilities should be careful about technologyselection, available standards, component interoperability, security implications, performance,scalability and future-proofing technology selections to meet upcoming needs.

Business Impact: Affected areas include customer service, billing or revenue management,revenue protection, real-time and time-of-use pricing, demand response, prepayment, distributionnetwork analysis and outage reporting. In addition to providing utility-centered benefits (such asmeter reading cost reduction, out-of-schedule meter reads, revenue theft prevention and outagenotification), AMI can also provide benefits related to the energy market, such as enabling customerswitching by remote turn-off or turn-on functions; customer and societal benefits by supportingenergy efficiency programs (for example, bill reduction); and carbon emissions abatement initiatives.

In addition to its primary function of supporting all phases of the meter data life cycle, AMIfrequently includes the ability to remotely manipulate customers' connections (connect ordisconnect) and, in some instances, to provide on-premises displays to notify customers of variableenergy prices and other consumption-related information. In some installations, AMI enables theutility to control consumer load (demand dispatch) by accessing smart thermostats, or by accessingconsumer appliances via home-area networks, such as in-home broadband over power line orZigBee.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Aclara; eMeter; Echelon; Elster; Itron; Landis+Gyr

Recommended Reading: "Innovation Insight: Metering Innovation Powers Energy GridTransformation via Information Infusion"

"Magic Quadrant for Meter Data Management Products"

"Top 10 Business Trends Impacting the Utility Industry in 2013"

"Management Update: Top 10 Technology Trends Impacting the Energy and Utility Industry in2012"





Cloud Computing

Analysis By: David Mitchell Smith

Definition: Cloud computing is a style of computing in which scalable and elastic IT-enabledcapabilities are delivered as a service using Internet technologies.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Cloud computing is still a visible and hyped term, but,at this point, it has clearly passed the Peak of Inflated Expectations. There are many signs offatigue, rampant cloudwashing and disillusionment (for example, highly visible failures). Althoughcloud computing is approaching the Trough of Disillusionment, it remains a major force in IT. Usersare changing their buying behaviors, and, although they are unlikely to completely abandon on-premises models or buy complex, mission-critical processes as services through the cloud in thenear future, there is a movement toward consuming services in a more cost-effective way andtoward enabling capabilities not easily done elsewhere.

Although the hype has peaked, there is still a great deal of hype surrounding cloud computing andits many relatives. Every IT vendor has a cloud strategy, although many aren't cloud-centric.Variations, such as private cloud computing and hybrid approaches, compound the hype anddemonstrate that one dot on a Hype Cycle cannot adequately represent all that is cloud computing.

The hype around cloud computing is shifting as the market matures. It has moved from cost savingsto being about the business benefits organizations would realize due to a shift to cloud computing.Organizations have realized some disappointment about the cost savings and are likely toexperience some of the same related to business benefits.

User Advice: User organizations must demand road maps for the cloud from their vendors. Usersshould look at specific usage scenarios and workloads, map their view of the cloud to that ofpotential providers and focus more on specifics than on general cloud ideas.

Vendor organizations must begin to focus their cloud strategies on more specific scenarios andunify them into high-level messages that encompass the breadth of their offerings.

Cloud computing involves many components, and some aspects are immature. Care must be takento assess maturity and assess the risks of deployment. Tools such as cloud services brokeragescan help.

As user organizations contemplate the use of cloud computing, they should establish a clearunderstanding of the expected benefits of a move to the cloud. Likewise, organizations shouldclearly understand the tradeoffs associated with cloud models to reduce the likelihood of failure.Benefits and tradeoffs should be well-understood before embarking on a cloud computing strategy.

Business Impact: The cloud computing model is changing the way the IT industry looks at userand vendor relationships. As service provisioning (a critical aspect of cloud computing) grows,vendors must become providers, or partners with service providers, to deliver technologiesindirectly to users. User organizations will watch portfolios of owned technologies decline as serviceportfolios grow. The key activity will be to determine which cloud services will be viable, and when.




Potential benefits of cloud include cost savings and capabilities (including concepts that go bynames like agility, time to market and innovation). Organizations should formulate cloud strategiesthat align business needs with those potential benefits.



Maturity: Early mainstream

Sample Vendors: Amazon; Google; Microsoft; salesforce.com; VMware

Recommended Reading: "Agenda for Cloud Computing, 2013"

"The What, Why and When of Cloud Computing"

Vehicle-to-Infrastructure Communications


Definition: Vehicle-to-infrastructure communication technologies create autonomous datanetworks using dedicated frequencies, such as DSRC or LTE, between vehicles and the roadinfrastructure for safety, traffic management, environmental or e-mobility applications, such aselectric vehicle (EV) charging station finders and availability. For example, if an accident occurs, anaffected road section could be shut down automatically, and information will be sent to traffic signsor navigation solutions, which will redirect traffic to new, unobstructed areas.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Vehicle-to-infrastructure communications requirecostly investments in road infrastructure and automobiles. Government-sponsored initiatives toimprove traffic management and overall traffic safety, such as the U.S. government's VehicleInfrastructure Integration (VII) and IntelliDrive initiative, are critical for the long-term success of car-to-infrastructure communication efforts, but more committed funding is needed to accelerateprogress. Recent government focus on smart cities, automated/autonomous driving, and transport-related emissions from automobiles and e-mobility, in particular, has led to renewed interest invehicle-to-infrastructure initiatives.

User Advice: Automotive companies, municipalities and technology companies: Lobby for moresupport by governments for vehicle-to-infrastructure initiatives, and generate public awareness forthis new technology. Leverage the increased sensitivity and awareness for environmentalresponsibility in these efforts. Major cities, which are more likely to suffer from traffic congestionand accident rates, should be prioritized. New road infrastructure initiatives should consider vehicle-to-infrastructure-related technology requirements. Identify innovative vendors in this space that canhelp accelerate deployment of such efforts. Potentially consider investing in some of these vendorsto help expedite their market reach. Consider the use of portable consumer devices to help collectrelevant driving data before a ubiquitous infrastructure exists. Stay on top of privacy-related dataissues to minimize user rejection and to define use cases.




Business Impact:


Vehicle-to-infrastructure communication technologies enable the automotive industry andgovernments to address growing traffic management, environmental and safety issues, but can alsooffer new revenue opportunities in the form of safety and driver assistance offerings.

Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Bosch; Cisco; Continental; Delphi; IBM; Infosys; Nokia; Verizon



Video Visits

Analysis By: Barry Runyon

Definition: A video visit is the use of videoconferencing technology for remote consultationsbetween clinicians and patients. Video visits can be used in conjunction with devices such as digitalstethoscopes, otolaryngoscopes and digital cameras that enable the remotely located physicianaccess and control. Most video visits are scheduled in advance by coordinators, but there is agrowing move toward allowing patients to schedule visits themselves.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Video visits are best suited for medical disciplines inwhich the caregiver normally does not need to touch the patient — for example, rehabilitation andmental health — and for triage purposes including pre- and postsurgical evaluations, to determinewhether a face-to-face visit is needed. Today, most video visits occur in specially designated areasthat are equipped with the appropriate devices. Although video visits often use dedicated videocarts, the use of desktop and tablet video is growing, and as a result, video visits have the potentialto move into the home and workplace for encounters that don't require specialized equipment.Video visits are particularly useful when patient transportation, frailty of the patient or security (forexample, prison inmates) is an issue. Various business models and examples include:

■ An academic medical center provides leadership in facilitating video visits with rural hospitals tocut travel time and avoid inappropriate referrals (University of Arkansas for Medical SciencesMedical Center).

■ An academic medical center provides stroke patients follow-up care in their homes(Massachusetts General Hospital).

■ A single geographically dispersed organization creates a central coordination function for videovisits (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, University of Texas Medical Branch, QueenslandHealth).




■ An organization collects membership fees from independent hospitals in exchange for providingvideo visit services (Ontario Telemedicine Network).

■ Aside from such pioneering organizations, many of which are providers as well as payers ofhealthcare and, therefore, do not have the challenge of getting reimbursed by healthcarepayers, the barriers to adoption remain high, such as:

■ Designing a service that meets the needs of all constituents — clinicians, patients andhealthcare delivery organizations (HDOs).

■ Setting up an infrastructure for scheduling and coordinating visits and providing technicalsupport.

■ Establishing a mechanism for reimbursement, and obtaining reimbursements that aresubstantial enough to justify the use of video visits.

■ Determining how to deal with the imbalance between the fact that the benefits (convenience,travel savings) typical accrue to the patient, but the costs typically are borne by the HDO orhealthcare payer.

■ Changing cultures and working practices to ensure that clinicians and patients are comfortableusing video.

■ The lack of integration with normal clinical workflows and EHR systems.

■ The significant costs of the IT infrastructure to delivery video visits services (network, endpointdevices, support).

Only in some large organizations or networks have HDOs been able to cooperate to get enoughscale to justify these investments — hence, our positioning of video visits toward the Trough ofDisillusionment.

Despite these barriers, some countries are making progress in making video visits a regular part ofhealthcare delivery. The growing acceptance of video visits in Canada was estimated to have savedCanadians living in rural and remote communities an estimated 47 million kilometers of travel andsome $70 million in personal travel costs, and a cost avoidance for the health system ofapproximately $55 million in 2010.

Video visits are also being facilitated by technical advancements. Government agencies in manycountries continue to spend money to improve broadband coverage (broadband infrastructure andaffordable Internet access), including in the U.S., U.K., Canada, India and Australia. In addition,desktop video has continued to mature, thanks to advances such as scalable video coding and theincorporation of desktop video into unified communications. The ability to conduct video-basedconsultations using a clinician's or patient's desktop or tablet, rather than dedicated room-based orkiosk units, will accelerate the adoption of video visits.

We have scaled back our adoption rate estimate from 5% to 20%, to 1% to 5% of the targetaudience to better reflect the existing installed base; the cultural, medico-legal and technical




challenges to adoption; and the level of inquiry interest from Gartner healthcare provider clientsworldwide.

User Advice:

■ HDOs should explore how to collaborate with partners, such as insurers or other healthcareproviders, to create sufficient scale to justify the development of an infrastructure for videovisits, including personnel for scheduling and technical support. The most attractiveopportunities in using video for clinical care are in mental health, rehabilitation, triage,preoperative assessment and postoperative assessment.

■ HDOs should explore additional uses of video, including medical education, clinician-to-clinician meetings, interpretation services, rounding robots and administrative meetings.

■ Government healthcare agencies that serve large numbers of citizens in isolated areas or largeprison populations should consider establishing regional or national video visit programs.

■ HDOs should assemble evidence of value and lobby healthcare payer organizations to establishappropriate levels of reimbursement for video visits.

■ HDOs should plan for an eventual future where patients and clinicians will interact via videothrough the desktop or mobile device — one that includes home and mobile health monitoring,e-visits and personal health records.

■ HDOs should closely track the evolving market for room and desktop videoconferencingsystems to take advantage of reductions in price and improvements in quality, interoperabilityand security.

■ Investigate video over the Internet versus expensive carrier circuits and specialized endpointdevices.

■ HDOs should consider video visits as part of an overall plan to reduce energy costs and carbonemissions.

Business Impact: Video visits can reduce travel time and costs for patients and clinicians, and canhelp HDOs make better use of clinicians' time. Moreover, they can help HDOs reduce costs andenable a more rapid and effective delivery of care to patients in isolated locations.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: American TeleCare; Attend Anywhere; Cisco; Eceptionist; GlobalMedia; IBM;InTouch Health; LifeSize; Polycom; Tely Labs; VCON; Vidyo

Recommended Reading: "Key Lessons From a Video Visit Deployment in Ontario"





Electric Vehicles


Definition: Electric vehicles (EVs) or fully electric vehicles use only battery-stored electricity topower an engine and are recharged by connecting the vehicle to a public or home power outlet, aswell as through regenerative braking.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Although the technology is not new, EVs are viewedas an important powertrain technology to address governments' emission mandates, which requirelower impending carbon dioxide emission levels in the coming years. Continued R&D efforts intobattery, energy production and infrastructure advancements are crucial to making EVs a viable andlarge-scale alternative powertrain technology for passenger and commercial vehicles.

Current usage limitations and high EV prices — due to costly batteries — are dampening consumerenthusiasm for EVs. Cost and drive range limitation issues will need to be addressed byautomakers, infrastructure providers and governments to increase consumer interest. Ifgovernments want to promote large-scale EV adoption in the short term, then they will need to offerhigher subsidies and other incentives (for example, no mileage-based taxation or lowered electricitycharging rates). Furthermore, vehicle information and communication technology solutions need tobe developed to address usage challenges, including range anxiety and other behavioral changerequirements (for example, charging schedules). EVs will become an important powertraintechnology option for the automotive industry, but short-term and midterm sales may not be as highas proponents had initially hoped.

User Advice: Automakers and fleet operators should balance investments in electric powertraintechnology to address consumer demand for efficient transportation solutions and fulfill corporatefuel-efficiency standards that are mandated by governments, but balance them with otherpowertrain options, such as hybrid technologies. Minimizing vehicle pollution will address societaldemands and provide green credibility in the market. Offer broader initiatives aimed at helpingconsumers maximize fuel efficiency and environmental benefits by expanding remote diagnosticcapabilities to measure ongoing fuel-consumption and usage/ownership benefits (for example,range estimation integrated in navigation systems and automated billing applications for rechargingin public). Develop partnerships with IT and service providers to build a reliable infrastructure forcharging EVs on a broad scale (such as partnering with utilities).

Due to high battery costs, EVs should initially be offered as premium vehicles with sport andtechnology sophistication or as small city cars. A breakthrough in battery technology, subsequentcost reductions and capacity increases will be needed to achieve broad market adoption.

View EVs and supporting connecting vehicle applications as elements in new mobility programs thatyou should define, especially for mature and urban markets. Recent business challenges andbankruptcies of EV-related companies are highlighting the challenges the industry is facing but willalso clear the way for a more robust of renaissance of future EV offerings.

Business Impact: EVs offer a response to the increasing consumer demand for fuel-efficient, zero-tailpipe-pollution vehicles; offer product differentiation; and will allow companies to meet




governments' fuel-efficiency and emission requirements. EVs are also an important aspect of newmobility solutions that focus on car sharing and battery leasing. However, EVs also requiresignificant financial and human resources and — at least in the short term — may not produce thedesired ROI.



Sample Vendors: AeroVironment; Airbiquity; Better Place; Bosch; ChargePoint; ContinentalAutomotive Group; Hitachi; Panasonic; Tesla Motors

Recommended Reading: "Gartner Study: Strategic Market Considerations for Electric Vehicle andE-Mobility Adoption in Germany"

"Gartner Study: Strategic Market Considerations for Electric Vehicle Adoption in the U.S."


Analysis By: Barry Runyon; Angela McIntyre

Definition: Home health monitoring is the use of IT and telecommunications to monitor the health ofpatients at home to help ensure that appropriate action is taken. Patients are provided monitoringdevices that capture physiological states, such as blood pressure, glucose level, pulse, bloodoxygen level and weight, and then transmit or stage the data for clinical review. Other devices areused for communications and messaging — gathering information from patients on their symptoms,cognitive state and behavior, and sending them information and advice.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Home health monitoring involves sending datathrough wired or wireless connections to a hub or gateway device in the home, which, in turn,transmits the data to an external server or cloud where it is analyzed and sends alerts to cliniciansas needed. Home health monitoring is appropriate for certain groups of chronically ill, homeboundpatients and others who need frequent monitoring. If implemented correctly, it can improve health,assist in keeping patients at home, reduce the need to travel, reduce emergency room visits anddelay inpatient admission. It has the potential to allow patients to live at home longer before beingadmitted to a long-term care facility and to support remote monitoring by the adult children ofhomebound patients. Home health monitoring appeals to patients, and a successfully implementedhome health monitoring program could enhance the reputation of a healthcare delivery organization(HDO).

To date, many home health monitoring deployments have been pilot projects. However, there are afew examples of ongoing services:

■ The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has deployed home health monitoring to morethan 50,000 patients with high-cost conditions such as chronic heart failure, chronic obstructivepulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. The VAhas reported significant reductions in hospital readmissions, favorable patient satisfactionsscores and lower care costs.




■ Home health agencies in the United States, which receive a fixed fee per patient from Medicarefor up to two months after a hospital visit, have a financial interest in using technology to reducethe cost of delivering care. There is strong interest among hospital-owned home healthagencies.

■ In Canada, the Canada Health Infoway program and the Ontario Telemedicine Network (OTN)are making significant investments in home health monitoring. The Canadian Home Care Assn.pilot in British Columbia has found that more patients are released to home care when homehealth monitoring services are available.

■ In Europe, home health monitoring received a boost from the 2008 European Commission (EC)Communication on Telemedicine, in which the commission addressed the problems ofconfidence, evidence, regulation, reimbursement and interoperability.

■ The EC also launched Renewing Health in 2010, which will evaluate nine regional home healthmonitoring deployments across Europe, and will help them scale up to become nationaldeployments.

■ In England, a number of primary care trusts have added home health monitoring to existingprograms of telecare (technologies for safety at home). Most of the English deployments arepilots, but a few have moved to mainstream status. One notable English initiative, 3MillionLives(http://3millionlives.co.uk/), is based on the assumption that at least 3 million people with long-term, chronic conditions and/or social care needs could benefit from telehealth services, whichwould include home health monitoring.

■ Italy, Germany and Spain are already providing mainstream home health monitoring services totheir populations.

■ In the Asia/Pacific region, home health monitoring is mostly pilot projects.

■ The Australian state of New South Wales has an initiative in place, Connecting Care, which aimsto make home health monitoring available to 43,000 patients by 2015.

Barriers to adoption include legal and licensing restrictions, inconsistent reimbursement byhealthcare payers, electronic health record (EHR) integration, and the need for new staffing andinformation-sharing approaches. For family caregivers, barriers include the perceived high cost anda belief that the care recipient will resist using the technology. Clinical and financial results fromexisting pilot programs need to be better understood by healthcare providers, along with regulatoryimplications. Existing operational home health monitoring programs need to lead to best practicesso HDOs can determine how and when to introduce home health monitoring.

U.S. attention to home health monitoring has been boosted by initiatives created and expandedunder healthcare reform laws. Key initiatives in this regard include patient-centered medical homesand accountable care organizations. Despite the media enthusiasm of late, and the undeniablepotential of home health monitoring, home health monitoring remains in the Trough ofDisillusionment, with no real movement from last year's position. However, recent studies indicatethat the number of patients monitored in the home worldwide will increase significantly over the


http://3millionlives.co.uk/



next three to five years — particularly in support of conditions such as congestive heart failure,COPD and diabetes.

User Advice: HDOs should identify ways to make home health monitoring economically viable forthem to deliver, and attractive for healthcare payers to fund. The ability to care for patients at home,and keep them out of skilled nursing facilities, has great appeal to patients and their families. Incompetitive healthcare markets, this visibility will be an important factor in building up an HDO'sbrand value and attractiveness. Therefore, it makes sense for HDOs to promote their home healthmonitoring programs through their enterprise/consumer or patient portals.

Home health monitoring is particularly well-suited for closed health systems, with tight linksbetween the providers and payers of healthcare, and in situations where the healthcare providerassumes the financial risk for the costs of patient care. Clinicians should be encouraged toincorporate home health monitoring in cases where the adoption will improve care and reduceinconvenience to the patients.

HDOs should deploy home health monitoring as part of a program of chronic disease managementand as a tool to help patients better manage their medical conditions. HDOs, research centers andtrade associations must continue to demonstrate to healthcare payers the positive outcomes ofhome monitoring to encourage them to reimburse it more widely. While patient satisfaction andclinical outcomes have proven relatively easy to measure, financial outcomes — the ROI fromdeploying a home health monitoring program — are much harder to measure.

HDOs should recognize that home health monitoring devices will eventually become commodities.What will differentiate a home health monitoring deployment will be the software, associateddecision support, and the support network available to intervene in the case of alerts, and who aretrained in standard procedures for referral, assessment and patient education. HDOs should lookfor home health monitoring devices that are compatible with open standards for interoperability(e.g., the Continua Alliance), connectivity and data and those that have alliances with notablevendors of data tracking and analysis applications, consumer electronic devices and home healthmonitoring services.

Business Impact: The potential impact of home health monitoring remains high. It can enableimprovements in the quality and timeliness of care, improve the accessibility of care, reducepatients' and clinicians' travel time (as well as cost and environmental impact), and permit elderlypatients to remain at home longer before entering a skilled nursing facility. It can also reduce thenumber of hospital admissions, readmissions and bed days.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Aerotel Medical Systems; Alcatel-Lucent; American TeleCare; AMD GlobalTelemedicine; A&D Medical; Bosch Healthcare; Broomwell Healthwatch; Cardiocom; Docobo; EntraHealth Systems; Honeywell HomMed; Ideal Life; Intel; Intel-GE Care Innovations; McKesson;Medgate; Medic4All; Nonin Medical; Numera; Omron; Philips Healthcare; Samsung; SHL




Telemedicine; TaiDoc; Telbios; TeleMedCare; Tunstall Healthcare Group; Viterion Telehealthcare;Wipro

Recommended Reading: "A Quick Look at Cloud Computing in Healthcare Payers and Providers,2012"

"Healthcare Reform Driving Cloud Services Providers Toward Maturity"


Climbing the Slope



Definition: Public telematics represent automotive information and communication technologies/services with the aim of improving traffic flow and congestion, improving taxation, addressingenvironmental issues, and providing intelligent transport system (ITS) solutions. These initiatives areoften government-initiated, but they also leverage private-sector-based services and offerings (forexample, parking management solution providers).

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: Most public telematics initiatives continue to bedeployed by governments in Europe, Asia/Pacific and the U.S. The main focus is on minimizingtraffic congestion, enforcing toll road collection, reducing emissions, addressing driver distraction,and providing alternative pay-per-use taxation and insurance solutions. Legislative requirementsregarding automobiles are another market driver and include the European Union's eCall(emergency call) initiative. Such mandates can increase the number of telematics-enabled vehiclesthat can receive consumer-focused telematics services. To drive the broad market adoption ofpublic telematics, companies must address consumer privacy concerns and demonstrate valuepropositions to consumers. The U.S. and EU governments' growing attention to publictransportation and emission reductions from automobile traffic is likely to increase investments inpublic telematics focused on traffic and energy management (for example, the U.S. government'sIntelliDrive initiative). The increased interest by governments in "smart city" initiatives furtheremphasizes the importance of public telematics efforts including smart parking infrastructures androad network utilization. Although automobiles will increasingly be connected going forward, theinfrastructure requirements needed to enable public telematics initiatives will require significantresources. Given the increasing or remaining global economic challenges, many governments andmunicipalities are likely to make required infrastructure investments for ITS more slowly thanoriginally planned.

User Advice: Proactively seek opportunities to participate in government-related public telematicsinitiatives that address growing traffic management challenges. It's in the automotive industry'sinterest to ensure social compliance and to minimize vehicle-related problems. Observe new vendorand solution developments focused on smart-city initiatives to identify potential collaboration orpartnership opportunities. Explore data-collecting and sharing opportunities to accelerate public




telematics initiatives (for example, sharing of speed data to identify areas of congestion) viaaggregation to avoid potential privacy implications for your customers.

Business Impact: This technology provides revenue opportunities via congestion charging, tollroad, real-time parking, emission management, traffic management and pay-per-use services (forexample, taxation). It supports consumer- or fleet-oriented telematics offerings that can takeadvantage of the hardware installed in vehicles for public telematics. The technology will alsoaccelerate the emergence of intermodal transportation solutions that can leverage widely availabletransportation information to optimize transportation choices based on traffic, cost/price and userneeds.



Maturity: Emerging

Sample Vendors: Atos; Deutsche Bahn; IBM; Kapsch; SAIC; Streetline; Toll Collect


"Business Drivers for Technology Investments in the Automotive Industry"

"BMW i Launch Exemplifies Gartner's Prediction of a New Mobility Era"

"Public Telematics Offers Chance to Remedy Traffic Congestion"

Consumer Telematics


Definition: Consumer telematics represents end-user-targeted, vehicle-centric information andcommunication technologies (vehicle ICTs) and services that use embedded technology or mobileand aftermarket devices. Network-enabled cars for consumers provide in-vehicle services, such asemergency assistance, navigation and routing, traffic information, local search (for example, forcharging stations or restaurants), financial services (for example, usage-based insurance), andconcierge services.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: As a result of growing consumer demand fortelematics and vehicle ICT, automakers are increasingly exploring opportunities to offer cost-effective, cloud-based solutions that ensure sustainable business models without substantialupfront investments. Rather than having to develop the required technology (that is,communications hardware) and resource infrastructure (that is, call centers) in-house, automotivecompanies are looking to engage third-party providers with comprehensive offerings that will takeover the development, management and billing of vehicle-centric services. In addition, companiesare looking for automated, Web-based services that leverage online or server-based informationand make it accessible in a vehicle.




In the near-term, the supply chain for telematics and connected vehicle offerings will change andwill focus on extending mobile applications and services (from the mobile and Internet serviceindustries) to vehicles, in addition to creating specific automotive functions (for example, expandingapplication ecosystems, such as those based on Android applications, to the vehicle). Telematicsservice providers (TSPs) will face competition from market entrants coming from the IT industry thatwill aggregate other third-party wireless content and develop core technological value propositionsfrom a mobile device perspective. These companies will also include smaller software, hardwareand content providers that target specific aspects of a holistic consumer telematics application andwork closely with automakers or system integrators to ensure compatibility and reliability.Consumer telematics is also increasingly developed for the automotive aftermarket by TSPs,network providers and insurance providers. In mature automotive markets, such as the U.S. andWestern Europe, most manufacturers will offer consumer telematics in virtually all their models by2020 because of long product development cycle times. In emerging automotive markets, thismilestone may occur slightly later.

User Advice: As telematics and connected vehicle services, applications, technology and contentproviders emerge, vehicle and device manufacturers (for example, consumer electronicscompanies) will have to choose the providers that best fit their business and technologyrequirements. Companies wanting to offer connected vehicle services to consumers should takeadvantage of the emerging offerings in the mobile- and location-based service space. The market isbecoming more mature, and vendors have made significant investments in building the expertise,resources and partnerships that can help companies accelerate their vehicle ICT launches.Furthermore, vehicle manufacturers and device manufacturers must differentiate between core,vehicle-centric telematics offerings that are embedded in a vehicle (most safety and securityapplications) and personal telematics offerings (primarily information and entertainment services),which consumers access by integrating portable devices with the vehicle.

To enable device-to-vehicle and service-to-vehicle integration concepts, vehicle manufacturersmust collaborate with consumer electronics companies, service and content providers (regardinginterfaces), and connectivity solutions. The introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) will give consumertelematics a boost, because seamless EV ownership experiences will greatly benefit fromconnected data services (for example, finding the next charging station and informing drivers of theavailable range left).

Consider your choices in growing the connected vehicle ecosystem by identifying best-of-breedtechnology providers instead of a single-solution approach. Both options have their benefits anddisadvantages; however, with increasing in-house expertise for the connected vehicle, automotivecompanies can be more selective in their partner choices to better balance innovation and costobjectivity factors (for example, innovation within connected vehicle offerings should reside with theautomakers).

Business Impact: Consumer telematics provides an opportunity to differentiate product and brandvalues (for example, infotainment access and human-machine interface experience), to excel in newor complemented customer experiences, to create new revenue sources (for example, preferredlistings for infotainment content), to collect vehicle-related quality and warranty information viaremote diagnostics, and to capture consumer insights.







Sample Vendors: Agero; Airbiquity; AT&T; Google; Intel; Microsoft; Nokia; Nvidia; OnStar; Sprint;Verizon; WirelessCar

Recommended Reading: "GM's Global LTE Strategy Aims for New Connected-VehicleExperiences"

"U.S. Consumer Vehicle ICT Study: Web-Based Features Continue to Rise"


Entering the Plateau

Location-Aware Technology

Analysis By: Monica Basso

Definition: Location-aware technology includes sensors, RFID and Near Field Communication(NFC) tags, GPS/global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), and various methods for detecting orcalculating the geographical position of a person, a mobile device or other moving objects, such asunmanned aircraft systems.

Position and Adoption Speed Justification: More than 13 types of location-aware technologiesexist, and Gartner expects more to emerge during the next few years. For example, one active areaof research is peer-to-peer location systems, and other emerging areas include wireless LAN(WLAN) signal strength mapping and beacons.

GPS/GNSS receivers are key enablers for accessing navigation and other location-based servicesas external receivers or embedded capabilities in mobile devices. At this point, the U.S. GPSdominates. GPS has become a standard technology for many mobile devices: By the end of 2013,nearly 100% of devices with open OSs will have GPS in mature markets, and 80% will have GNSSin relative markets. Meanwhile, the European system (Galileo) should go live in 2013, and the firstGlonass phone (based on a chipset from Qualcomm) was launched in Russia in May 2011. Theintention is to provide global coverage by 2020. The emerging Chinese system (Beidou) has somesatellites launched and provides coverage in China already (see "2012 Strategic Road Map forSatellite Navigation").

For high-accuracy location, assisted GPS (A-GPS), from Qualcomm's SnapTrack, is a variant ofGPS, combined with information from the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, andsuccessfully deployed by CDMA network operators in the North American and Asia/Pacific regions.CSR's Cambridge Positioning System's Enhanced GPS (E-GPS) for Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) and wideband CDMA networks put together Enhanced Observed TimeDifference (E-OTD) and GPS capabilities to achieve high accuracy in indoor and outdoor




environments. CSR and Motorola created an open-industry forum to evaluate and foster E-GPStechnologies, joined later by Agilent and Spirent Communications. Hybrid solutions will be used tooptimize applications.

High-accuracy location technologies for private Wi-Fi networks enable location services withinbuildings and hot spots. A different technology is Skyhook, which uses the access point ID inprivate and public Wi-Fi networks to detect a wireless device location and displays it in mapsthrough Internet services. Technologies based on ultrasound (Ultrasound Positioning System andIndoor Positioning System) have been adopted by Sonitor Technologies to locate and trackmovable equipment and people in hospitals.

Through 2014, there is a risk of degraded GPS performance. Some GPS satellites started failing in2010, because replacements weren't launched and they were at the end of their planned life. TheEU's alternative, Galileo, has longer-term deployment plans.

In terms of obstacles, we believe indoor positioning is still emerging and fragmented, while privacyconcerns may still affect adoption.

User Advice: Users will need multiple technologies, because no technology works everywhere or issuitable for every situation. Users should:

■ Evaluate the potential benefits of location-enabled products to their business processes, suchas personal navigation devices (for example, TomTom and Garmin), as well as WLAN locationequipment that automates complex processes, such as logistics and maintenance.

■ Monitor the availability of high-accuracy services and products (such as digitally augmentedsatellites offered by mobile operators and service providers in their regions), because thesecould represent viable tools to support the mobile workforce, as well as end-user customers ina business-to-consumer model.

■ Evaluate software that synthesizes sources from multiple location-based services, such asYahoo Fire Eagle or other brokers, in order to improve precision or other functions.

Organizations in businesses that require GPS/GNSS should monitor performance to identifydegradation and should explore alternative systems (if they're lower precision) as a fallback.

Business Impact: Although the market will see consolidation around a reduced number of high-accuracy technologies and their hybrids, the geolocation service ecosystem will benefit from anumber of standardized application interfaces that deploy location services and applications for awide range of wireless devices and apps.

As an increasing number of devices include location sensing, organizations should look for ways toimprove their business process by using location-aware technology.






Maturity: Mature mainstream

Sample Vendors: Cisco; CSR; Ekahau; Polaris Wireless; Qualcomm; Skyhook; SonitorTechnologies; TruePosition

Recommended Reading: "Location Technologies: Sensors, Tags, Beacons and More"

"Tracking People, Products and Assets in Real Time"

"Forecast: GPS-Enabled Devices, Worldwide, 2004-2011"

Appendixes




Figure 3. Hype Cycle for Smart City Technologies and Solutions, 2012

Technology Trigger

Peak ofInflated

Expectations

Trough of Disillusionment Slope of Enlightenment

Plateau of Productivity

time

expectations

Plateau will be reached in:

less than 2 years 2 to 5 years 5 to 10 years more than 10 yearsobsoletebefore plateau


Networking IT and OTConsumer Smart Appliances


Internet of Things

Water Management


Smart FabricsBig Data Information Management for Government

Sustainability BusinessOperations Consulting Services

LBSs in AutomotiveVehicle Information Hub

Microgrids

Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles/Electric Vehicles

Augmented Reality


Remote Health MonitoringThermal/Concentrating Solar Power


Combined Heat and PowerContinua 2011

NFC

Cloud ComputingCustomer GatewaysMachine-to-Machine Communication ServicesMaster Data Management


AdvancedMetering

InfrastructureCar-to-

InfrastructureCommunications

Electric VehiclesHome Health Monitoring

Public Telematics

Photovoltaic Generation

Consumer Telematics

Location-Aware Technology


Video Visits

As of July 2012

Real-Time Parking

Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging


Electric Vehicle Charging InfrastructureHydrogen Economy


Wi-Fi Positioning SystemsSustainable Performance Management





Hype Cycle Phases, Benefit Ratings and Maturity Levels

Table 1. Hype Cycle Phases

Phase Definition

Innovation Trigger A breakthrough, public demonstration, product launch or other event generatessignificant press and industry interest.

Peak of InflatedExpectations

During this phase of overenthusiasm and unrealistic projections, a flurry of well-publicized activity by technology leaders results in some successes, but morefailures, as the technology is pushed to its limits. The only enterprises makingmoney are conference organizers and magazine publishers.

Trough ofDisillusionment

Because the technology does not live up to its overinflated expectations, it rapidlybecomes unfashionable. Media interest wanes, except for a few cautionary tales.

Slope ofEnlightenment

Focused experimentation and solid hard work by an increasingly diverse range oforganizations lead to a true understanding of the technology's applicability, risksand benefits. Commercial off-the-shelf methodologies and tools ease thedevelopment process.

Plateau ofProductivity

The real-world benefits of the technology are demonstrated and accepted. Toolsand methodologies are increasingly stable as they enter their second and thirdgenerations. Growing numbers of organizations feel comfortable with the reducedlevel of risk; the rapid growth phase of adoption begins. Approximately 20% ofthe technology's target audience has adopted or is adopting the technology as itenters this phase.

Years to MainstreamAdoption

The time required for the technology to reach the Plateau of Productivity.


Table 2. Benefit Ratings

Benefit Rating Definition

Transformational Enables new ways of doing business across industries that will result in major shifts inindustry dynamics

High Enables new ways of performing horizontal or vertical processes that will result insignificantly increased revenue or cost savings for an enterprise

Moderate Provides incremental improvements to established processes that will result inincreased revenue or cost savings for an enterprise

Low Slightly improves processes (for example, improved user experience) that will bedifficult to translate into increased revenue or cost savings





Table 3. Maturity Levels

Maturity Level Status Products/Vendors

Embryonic ■ In labs ■ None

Emerging ■ Commercialization by vendorsPilots and deployments by industry leaders

■ First generationHigh priceMuch customization

Adolescent ■ Maturing technology capabilities and processunderstandingUptake beyond early adopters

■ Second generationLess customization

Early mainstream ■ Proven technologyVendors, technology and adoption rapidlyevolving

■ Third generationMore out of boxMethodologies

Maturemainstream

■ Robust technologyNot much evolution in vendors or technology

■ Several dominant vendors

Legacy ■ Not appropriate for new developmentsCost of migration constrains replacement

■ Maintenance revenue focus

Obsolete ■ Rarely used ■ Used/resale market only


Recommended ReadingSome documents may not be available as part of your current Gartner subscription.

"Understanding Gartner Hype Cycles"

"The Internet of Things Will Shape Smart Cities"

"Innovation Insight: Smart City Aligns Technology Innovation and Citizen Inclusion"

"Agenda for IT/OT Alignment, 2012"

"Predicts 2013: Smart City Business and Service Models Need to Keep Citizen Value in Mind"

"Cool Vendors in Smart City Applications and Solutions, 2013"

More on This Topic

This is part of two in-depth collections of research. See the collections:




■ Gartner's Hype Cycle Special Report for 2013

■ The Nexus of Forces Works Its Way Into the Enterprise




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