Jasper and SoftBank Enable Enterprises Throughout Japan to Deploy, Manage and Monetize IoT Businesses

Jasper, a global Internet of Things (IoT) platform leader, and SoftBank, the Japan-based, global telecommunications and internet giant, today announced that they have partnered to enable enterprises throughout Japan to deploy, manage and monetize IoT businesses. SoftBank customers across Japan will be able to use Control Center, a cloud-based IoT platform from Jasper, to introduce new IoT services and transform their businesses.

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Surprise: Agriculture is doing more with IoT Innovation than most other industries

Despite great investor interest in agriculture technology, it’s a little known fact that farming has been, and continues to be, among the most fertile laboratories for Internet of Things (IoT) innovation and large-scale adoption.

Industries

Dozens of industries rely on Jasper to control the connected experience and manage the operation of their IoT deployments worldwide.

There’s a misconception that the Internet of Things (IoT) is about objects talking to each other over the Internet without directly involving people.

The Internet of Things represents the intersection of the physical world with the digital world. And what’s most significant about the Internet of Things is not the things themselves. It’s the services made possible by embedding connectivity into the things. The Internet of Things has brought about changes in the way businesses relate to their consumers. Now businesses can now take advantage of the Internet of Things to deliver new services and create extraordinary experiences—beyond merely selling products.

Now the Internet of Things enables the “things” to become part of a service delivery chain—locating stolen cars, alerting emergency services about an accident, providing over the air diagnostics, monitoring temperature conditions inside food shipping trucks, or monitoring chips inside an industrial robot to check for problems on a manufacturing floor.

The advancement of wireless technologies is fueling the growth of the Internet of Things solutions in virtually every industry. From insurance companies to farms, from airports to law enforcement agencies, organizations of all types and sizes are taking advantage of the “smart” capabilities of connected devices enabled by the Internet of Things and IoT services.

The Rise of the Internet of Things

Internet of Things applications are still in their infancy, but as the world becomes more connected, the Internet of Things (and related applications) is expected to grow and penetrate even further into our daily lives. It is estimated that by 2016, up to seven million homes will become “smart” homes, with connected appliances, heating and cooling systems, and home security, conserving energy, maximizing comfort, saving costs, and protecting our most valuable possessions.

By some analyst estimates, the total number of Internet of Things connections is expected to reach 26 billion by 2020, surpassing the number of smartphones, tablets, and personal computers in use. As more and more everyday objects become “smart” Internet of Things connected devices, it will open up new opportunities for data analytics and personalized real-time service, but will also present new challenges ranging from developing standards for Internet of Things applications and services, to data storage and security, to integrating the ever-increasing amounts of information into business processes and daily lives.

From M2M to the Internet of Things

Before the “Internet of Things” became the latest buzzword, the world talked about “machine-to-machine” (M2M) solutions.

Before the “Internet of Things” became the latest buzzword, the world talked about “machine-to-machine” (M2M) solutions. M2M applications were largely point solutions that communicated using embedded hardware and were designed for a specific purpose —such as industrial process monitoring. The Internet of Things essentially grew out of this M2M technology—enabled by the rise of cloud computing and IP-based networks, integrating connected devices into enterprise applications and business processes and expanding into a variety of new industries and uses.