IoT news of the week for Dec. 14, 2018

GE is launching a new industrial IoT company: The restructuring of GE continues with the industrial conglomerate (less of one, but still really big) saying that it will create a $1.2 billion business focused on industrial IoT. In a surprise move, Bill Ruh, the former chief of digital at GE, has left the company, so it will need to find a new CEO for the new business. The proposed organization will combine GE Digital’s IIoT solutions including the Predix platform, Asset Performance Management, Historian, Automation (HMI/SCADA), Manufacturing Execution Systems, Operations Performance Management, and the GE Power Digital and Grid Software Solutions businesses. (CNBC)

The hottest security trend for 2019 will be wireless: A quartet of companies have introduced a new security product that will use Wi-Fi signals in the home to detect motion. Stanley Black & Decker will make the device called Omni; it’s working with Plume, Qualcomm, and Cognitive Systems to launched the device in mid-2019. Omni is a Wi-Fi router that also offers network security as a service. Additionally, it will track disturbances in a home’s Wi-Fi to determine motion inside the home. Its algorithms can detect if the motion is a pet or a person. For now, such motion detection will focus on home security, but eventually it could provide context about a home, such as room occupancy. Cognitive Systems had created its own alarm system using the Wi-Fi tech that it showed at CES in 2017, but this year it switched gears to provide the technology to other manufacturers of security systems. (Business Wire)

MachineMetrics raises $11.3 million: Boston-based MachineMetrics has raised $11.3 million to continue developing and selling its predictive analytics software. It has a few established manufacturing companies using the software to analyze data coming in from their machines to predict failures. (Robotics and Automation News)

Are you ready for Port 4.0? Cities and municipal authorities are slowly connecting their ports to the internet, enabling them to function in a more automated fashion. The Port of Hamburg is a stellar example of this trend. However, the process is slow, expensive, and lags behind other industrial automation efforts, according to this McKinsey report. It covers the current state of the industry (roughly 40 partly or fully automated ports are open for business globally), and predicts that port owners will spend between $10 billion and $15 billion over the next five years. The big opportunities are in data ingestion, management, and then automation. (McKinsey & Company)

Sensometrics raises money for data decision making: Sensomatics has raised more funding, although the amount was not disclosed. The San Diego-based company was founded in 2014 and has raised $10 million total in venture funds since then including this recent round. It makes a gateway and software that detects what sensors are plugged into the network and then cleans up the data coming in from those sensors for analysis. (Xconomy)

Infineon made a rugged SIM for industrial IoT: Chipmaker Infineon is claiming that it has made a SIM card that can handle NB-IoT and Cat-M connectivity in industrial environments. The chip firm says the new SIM can handle temperature ranges of -40°C to 105°C. This is a good step toward bringing cellular into the industrial environment likely for gateway devices. I don’t see a lot of sensors getting their own SIM simply because it’s going to be expensive and overkill for most parts. (Electronics Weekly)

Emerson is buying a company to build its consulting business: Helping companies transform their operations is not a simple task. That’s why we’re seeing so many industrial IoT platforms fold or focus as they realize customers don’t want to build things on their own. And it’s why Emerson has purchased a company called iSolutions, which offers IoT consulting to companies. Emerson didn’t disclose the price, but it will use the business to help customers install Emerson’s Plantweb  industrial IoT software. (TEDMag)

Smart speakers should apparently cost $200 or so: Looks like retailers are selling Apple’s HomePod speaker for less than its $349 list price. This isn’t surprising, as the speaker sounded great but didn’t do much, especially when compared with the competition. And the competition in the last few months has only gotten stronger, with new displays from Google and Google partners and new Echo devices from Amazon. Pricing is one sign Apple is struggling a bit in the smart speaker arena; another is its decision to let users play Apple Music over their Echo devices. It’s better to keep subscribers happy than try to lock them into an ecosystem that’s so far behind the competition. (Fast Company)

Ayla adds cellular capability to its platform: Even if NB-IoT or other cellular technologies don’t gain huge adoption, all of the platform companies are prepping for them. Ayla is no exception. It has launched modules that will support NB-IoT and CAT-M capabilities. It has also tweaked its network infrastructure to speed up processing and requests from connected devices using the platform. (Ayla)