IoT news for the week ending Nov. 5, 2021

It’s time for IoT platform vendors to shine! Enterprise IoT is moving out of its custom-built phase, and now customers are fine with off-the-shelf solutions with connectivity built in, according to a survey released last week from Oracle. Oracle surveyed 800 executives who have already deployed some IoT project about their thoughts, finding that how to connect isn’t as much of a concern as what to do with the data once it’s connected. While this finding is convenient for a database company, it’s also matching what we’re seeing in the real world as IoT providers wrap their hardware and software into a service that’s usually paid for by the month and maybe by the message. The survey is full of good data, so check out the report if enterprise IoT is your jam.  (Oracle)

Density scores $125M for smarter buildings: Density, one of the startups I’ve watched grow from a small idea to a big company, has raised $125 million and acquired a LIDAR company that scans buildings to make 3D digital twins. Density makes a sensor that tracks the number of people in a building. I’ve liked its technology so far because it doesn’t use cameras and is very privacy-centric. And it’s been a hit with businesses, especially once we entered the pandemic and tracking the number of people became especially important. With the acquisition of HELIX RE, Density will be able to map people to 3D spaces; it will also allow landlords to see where people congregate and map that information to things like HVAC usage or lighting. This is a big area of investment even as we emerge from the worst of the pandemic because commercial buildings contribute to climate change by heavily using electricity even when people aren’t present. Expect to see a lot more investment in this area going forward. (Density)

VergeSense raises $60M for its people-tracking service: Remember everything I said about energy consumption in buildings in the story above? Well, VergeSense is another company that makes sensors to track people in buildings, and it has raised $60 million. VergeSense uses computer vision and passive infrared, so it’s not as privacy-conscious as Density’s sensors, although the company does say it uses only low-resolution images and only metadata gets sent to the cloud. I’d prefer the image never gets taken in the first place, but the overall idea is similar to what Density offers. The focus is on helping companies track the use of their real estate in order to use the space most efficiently, especially as they shift to hybrid work plans. There are plenty of companies buying these solutions, so I expect to see more fundings and more acquisitions as time goes by. (VentureBeat)

Sigfox is offering prepaid plans to get companies to test its network: Low-Power, Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) provider Sigfox has created two different prepaid plans for customers that will let them test out its network before committing with a production-scale device. Sigfox has teamed up with Stripe to let customers buy connectivity for up to 10,000 devices in a one-year deal and more than 10,000 devices in a multiyear deal. That way, customers can select their plan and pay with a credit card as opposed to dealing with a sales team. (Enterprise IoT Insights)

The robots aren’t coming. They’re already here: Amid labor shortages (and fears of germs) factories, restaurants, and logistics companies are trying out robots in more jobs. This article stokes fears about the labor shortage driving this rush to robots, but I think that’s pretty short-sighted. Thanks to my friend Chris Albrecht’s newsletter about robots in the food industry, I know robots are actually helping bring higher- quality food to more places and that they also need repairs that require a person to come in and fix them. So what we may be seeing is an elimination of the harder jobs — such as moving items around a warehouse or cooking fries — in favor of those associated with robot maintenance orchestration and repair. (Bloomberg)

Fitbit beefs up its subscription with a readiness score: Man, if you were worried about me-too products in hardware, the trend toward delivering value via software is even scarier. Fitbit has copied a popular feature from the Whoop band and the Garmin fitness trackers by announcing a daily readiness score that uses a metric called heart rate variability to tell users if today is a good day to work out super hard or to take it a bit easy. I’ve tried this feature in the Whoop band and found it pretty accurate and helpful, although I ultimately decided against paying a monthly subscription for the Whoop band because that and other features felt like overkill. What’s notable here is that Fitbit has easily added the feature (although who knows how effective its algorithm will be) and will charge a mere $10 a month, or $80 a year, for its premium service compared to between $18 and $30 for the monthly Whoop subscription, depending on how long you commit to the band. (Digital Trends)

Level Homes makes a smart pivot to subscriptions and apartments: This week, Level Homes, maker of the Level smart lock, said it has raised $100 million and acquired Dwelo, a provider of software services for apartments. Read my thoughts on the deal and why it makes a ton of sense. (Stacey on IoT)

More bad news on the chip shortage: The two things to note in this story are that Infineon’s CEO is unsure whether the chip shortage will resolve in 2023 and that Infineon is passing on the higher prices it has to pay to its foundries to its customers, which means we’ll see higher prices in some areas. This is also a really nice explainer of the dance that companies such as Infineon, Bosch, NXP, and others that use foundries as well as have their own chip fabs must do to keep their production goals while also trying not to overinvest. Seeing this, I hope that an increasing number of chip customers are doing more to help their suppliers anticipate demand. But I worry that’s not the case, especially since most buyers are trying to buy out months or even years in advance to ensure their supplies. (Fortune)

Siemens medical devices have a critical vulnerability: Researchers have discovered a vulnerability in Siemens’ Nucleus Real-Time Operating System (RTOS) that could let a hacker take over devices running the RTOS. The software is used in medical equipment that could interfere with patient diagnostics and monitoring, which would be a huge challenge for hospitals running affected equipment. Siemens has patched the vulnerability, but hospitals and doctors’ offices are notorious for lacking the resources to monitor vulnerabilities and patch their software. It’s a huge opportunity for security firms, except many hospitals don’t have the budget. The FDA is getting more involved in securing hospitals, but we’re not there yet. Maybe this will be the vulnerability that helps provide funding or resources to aid hospitals in securing their software and devices. (CNN)