Pundits are in agreement: It’ll only be a few short years from the day when companies, small and large and spread across every vertical, need the right Internet of Things capabilities to remain competitive. For Libelium, it’s betting that more of those companies will be willing to buy its IoT credibility instead of building it themselves.
That was Libelium’s announcement from the Mobile World Congress. As of Tuesday (Feb. 23), companies in need of immediate integrated IoT assistance can search for and buy what they need from The IoT Marketplace, an online store for any software or hardware that a burgeoning IT department might need. Libelium is also offering pre-chosen kits that are ready for out-of-the-box implementation and integration — a convenience that Libelium CEO Alicia Asin believes will set the marketplace apart.
“The IoT Marketplace offers fully integrated solutions trying to prevent customers from getting lost while designing their IoT projects,” Asin said in a statement. “The IoT Marketplace allows companies to try solutions and visualize how to scale them in a cost-effective way.”
While Libelium will be responsible for providing most of the IoT hardware available for purchase on The IoT Marketplace, it’s partnered with a slew of industry giants experienced with cloud-based software. Those partnering organizations include Element Blue, ESRI, IBM, Indra, Microsoft and ThingPlus, among others, and will be providing components to IoT-jumpstarted kits for everything from smart agriculture and smart water management to application development.
By offering out-of-the-box IoT solutions, Libelium and its partners will be able to enjoy a less-crowded market than other areas of the soon-to-come IoT revolution. However, there are a few competitors that it is most certainly keeping its eye on — namely, Seebo, the Israel-based startup that allows customers to submit their own designs for IoT products via a drag-and-drop style interface.
Libelium better hope it can provide more convenient and reliable service, because The IoT Marketplace may not be able to compete with that kind of flexibility.
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