BT taps AWS for IoT amid wider market movement

BT’s Digital unit is expanding its relationship with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to a collaboration on new Internet of Things (IoT) industry solutions, building on an existing five-year partnership that BT formed with the cloud services giant in 2022.

The UK operator, which has become a channel partner for AWS Marketplace, hopes the new IoT and edge arrangements will increase revenue by $500 million over the next five years. BT’s IoT platform is already built on AWS and has been deployed at Belfast Harbor and the Association of British Ports (ABP) in Ipswich. BT, together with Ericsson, previously installed a private 5G network at the port in Belfast, and has trialed IoT and sensor technology at the Port of Ipswich in collaboration with ABP.

As well as ports, other target industries include healthcare, smart places, manufacturing, and transport and logistics. Few details have been released so far about the IoT solutions the companies plan to jointly offer, with BT simply stating its aim is to “advance” its existing IoT services and create new ones that combine AWS services with BT’s network “to solve problems for customers across a variety of vertical industries”.

Shifting landscape

The latest evolution of BT’s IoT offering comes amid wider changes within the IoT industry, as players consolidate, and vendors and operators tweak their strategies in what has become a highly fragmented market.

For example, IoT specialist KORE recently announced it is to acquire Twilio’s IoT business to support its development as a “pure-play IoT” provider. The aim is to combine eSIM technology from both companies and build a “one-stop shop for building, deploying, managing, and scaling IoT operations throughout the entire lifecycle”.

Counterpoint Research is one firm that has been tracking the recent wave of consolidation within the IoT sector. It predicts that further changes lie ahead in 2023.

According to Counterpoint analyst Neil Shah, “we continue to believe that the market has tremendous room to grow, but to remain profitable, the companies will either need a greater scale or a more integrated approach to cross-sell other services to capture maximum value. So, the IoT market is still ripe for exits, consolidations and new bigger entrants.”

For example, last year saw Ericsson exit the space by offloading the IoT Accelerator platform and managed connectivity relationships to Aeris Communications. Furthermore, Telit acquired the cellular IoT business from Thales, Google decommissioned its IoT Core business, Johnson Controls acquired FogHorn, IBM retired its Watson IoT platform, and SAP gave up its Leonardo IoT & Connectivity 360 initiatives.

Light Reading has also been closely documenting changes in the IoT sector and noted that although it has been difficult for operators to gain traction here, some like AT&T are giving it another go.

In January, the US-based operator said it is reviving its Connected Solutions unit to navigate the intersection between 5G and IoT. Cameron Coursey is leading the new division, “with the mission of accelerating growth and innovation in Internet of Things and mobility connectivity services.”

In February, AT&T Connected Solutions was selected as connectivity provider for Lucid’s full line of electric vehicles in the United States, Canada and Mexico.