Cellular connectivity has become a very popular option for POS terminals and was incorporated in 52 percent of the devices shipped in 2023. The wireless technology has an important role in facilitating the global adoption of electronic payments, as it enables the rollout of POS terminals to many new market segments and parts of the world where the fixed line telecommunications infrastructure is less developed.

The installed base of cellular POS terminals reached 137.8 million in 2023.

Berg Insight forecasts a CAGR of 8.2 percent between 2023 and 2027, resulting in a total of 188.9 million cellular POS terminals at the end of the forecast period.

Berg Insight projects at the same time that the global installed base of NFC-ready POS terminals will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8 percent from 235.1 million units in 2023 to 317.9 million units in 2027. As a result, more than 95 percent of the world’s POS terminals will be NFC-ready in 2027, up from 85 percent in 2023.

Johan Fagerberg, Principal Analyst at Berg Insight, said:

“The Android POS terminal category has become very popular lately. About a third of the POS terminals sold in 2023 were Android POS terminals.”

The mPOS terminal market is growing at about the same rate as the traditional POS terminal segment. mPOS is the use of consumer-oriented mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones that function as a point-of-sale terminal to facilitate payment card transactions through a connection to a card-accepting reader. The global installed base of mPOS terminals totalled an estimated 109.9 million units in 2023. The installed base of NFC-ready mPOS terminals grew to 79.1 million units during the same year as NFC penetration reached 72 percent worldwide. Berg Insight projects that the installed base of NFC-ready mPOS terminals will grow at a CAGR of 12.3 percent between 2023 and 2027 to reach 125.9 million units worldwide. This corresponds to a penetration rate of 88 percent in 2027.

“Today, the mPOS device segment has also started to face competition from SoftPOS solutions. SoftPOS technology allows businesses to accept payments via a standard iOS or Android device”, concluded Mr. Fagerberg.

The post The installed base of cellular POS terminals to reach 189 million in 2027 appeared first on IoT Business News.

According to a new market research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of active bicycle telematics systems in Europe and North America will reach 3.9 million in 2028, up from 1.7 million active units in 2023.

The adoption of bicycle telematics systems has picked up speed in recent years. There are both aftermarket and OEM telematics solutions available on the market.

Martin Cederqvist, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight, said:

“The main use case for bicycle telematics systems is stolen vehicle tracking and theft prevention. Bicycle theft is a growing concern and millions of bicycles are stolen every year in Europe and North America. Telematics solutions have proved to be an effective measure for protecting bicycles”

Bicycle OEMs have also introduced services such as predictive maintenance and vehicle diagnostics, crash detection services, over-the-air software updates and connected navigation. Bicycle OEMs can use such services to differentiate their offering as well as improve the user experience. The main application for aftermarket bicycle telematics systems is stolen vehicle tracking and some solutions then also include stolen vehicle recovery services.

The market is also driven by the increasing uptake of electric bicycles, which are more costly compared to conventional bicycles. OEM telematics systems are usually integrated with the e-bike battery that can power the telematics device.

“Some insurance companies offer customers discounts on insurance premiums if the bicycles are equipped with an active telematics device with tracking capabilities. Telematics devices usually enable live tracking of the bicycle which increases the probability of finding the bicycle again if stolen, which is the reason why insurance companies are ready to offer lower premiums”, said Mr Cederqvist.

There are numerous of bicycle OEMs offering connected services today. Examples of such companies include Ampler Bikes from Estonia; Canyon Bicycles, Riese & Müller and Urtopia from Germany; Cowboy and Stella from Belgium; Gaya from France; Gazelle, Sparta, Urban Arrow and Van Moof from the Netherlands; as well as QuietKat from the US. The leading telematics service providers are based in Europe. Those include Comodule, Conneqtech, IoT Venture, Velco and PowUnity. Other providers serving the market include Bosch, Haveltec, BikeFinder, Trackap, Tracefy, Boomerang Bike, Leopard Tech, ConnectLab and Boréal Bikes.

“Many telematics service providers offer a combination of OEM and aftermarket solutions while some focus on one of the segments. Telematics service providers moreover provide different forms of telematics solutions ranging from relatively simple tracking services to full telematics systems enabling a wide range of features”, concluded Mr Cederqvist.

The post The installed base of bicycle telematics systems in Europe and North America reached 1.7 million in 2023 appeared first on IoT Business News.

Berg Insight, the leading IoT market research provider, today released new findings about the market for Electronic Monitoring (EM) of offenders.

The number of simultaneous participants in EM programmes in Europe, North America and Latin America amounted to about 64,000, 518,000 and 130,000 respectively at the end of 2023. The total number of EM programme participants during the full year 2023 reached 200,000 in Europe, 880,000 in North America and 296,000 in Latin America.

Berg Insight estimates that the number of simultaneous participants will grow to 94,000 in Europe, 680,000 in North America and 239,000 in Latin America by the end of 2028. The market value in 2023 reached US$ 226 million in Europe, US$ 1.3 billion in North America and US$ 76 million in Latin America. The total market value in the three regions combined is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 7.2 percent from US$ 1.6 billion in 2023 to US$ 2.3 billion in 2028.

Electronic monitoring (EM) programmes were first introduced in the US in the early 1980s. Today, EM is an established alternative to detention across Europe and North America and in some Latin American countries. The aim of EM programmes is to increase offender accountability, reduce recidivism rates and enhance public safety by providing an additional tool to traditional methods of community supervision. Policy makers, corrections authorities and private sector service providers advocate for extended EM programmes to reduce total correctional system costs and to combat prison overcrowding.

There are two dominant technologies used for electronic monitoring – Radio Frequency (RF) and GPS. RF-based systems are today the most common type of solution in most European countries, although the share of GPS devices is growing in many countries. In the US, Brazil and other countries in Latin America, GPS-based solutions are used in the vast majority of cases. A number of private companies are involved in the provisioning of EM, including developing, supplying and installing equipment, providing monitoring services as well as delivering other supporting services. Leading providers of EM equipment and services include US-based BI Inc. (GEO Group), Allied Universal Electronic Monitoring, Sentinel Offender Services, SCRAM Systems, Securus Technologies, Shadowtrack and Track Group; UK-based Buddi; Israel-based SuperCom; Poland-based Enigma (COMP); Switzerland-based Geosatis; and Brazil-based Spacecom and Synergye.

“The adoption and use of electronic monitoring solutions in the criminal justice sector is increasing as new products and solutions are being introduced that enable additional use cases”, says Martin Backman, Principal Analyst at Berg Insight.

Newly launched wrist-worn GPS devices reduce the stigma associated with ankle bracelets and can be used for low-risk offenders. Devices that combine GPS tracking and alcohol monitoring are also being introduced and are increasingly used as part of EM programmes. The developments in tracking technology and software in the past few years have made it possible to create dynamic inclusion and exclusion zones that protects the victims of domestic violence from the perpetrator. Victim protection solutions are now also part of the EM programmes in many countries and jurisdictions.

Mr. Backman concludes:

“EM programmes are expected to increase in size in the next few years as prison overcrowding and rising incarceration costs continue to impose major challenges for many jurisdictions in Europe and the Americas.”

The post The number of participants in electronic offender monitoring programmes reached 1.4 million in Europe and the Americas in 2023 appeared first on IoT Business News.

Berg Insight, the leading IoT market research provider, today released a new market study covering the video telematics market.

The integration of cameras to enable various video-based solutions in commercial vehicle environments is a massive trend in the fleet telematics sector. Berg Insight’s definition of video telematics includes a broad range of camera-based solutions deployed in commercial vehicle fleets either as standalone applications or as an added feature set to conventional fleet telematics. The frontrunning North American video telematics market is more than three times the size of the European, which is so far largely dominated by activities in the UK.

Berg Insight estimates that the installed base of active video telematics systems in North America reached almost 4.9 million units in 2023. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.0 percent, the active installed base is forecasted to reach 11.7 million units in North America by 2028. In Europe, the installed base of active video telematics systems is estimated to almost 1.4 million units in 2023. The active installed base in the region is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 18.0 percent to reach 3.1 million video telematics systems in Europe by 2028.

The video telematics market is served by a number of different types of players, ranging from specialists focused specifically on video telematics solutions, to general fleet telematics players which have introduced video offerings, and hardware-focused suppliers offering mobile digital video recorders (DVRs) and vehicle cameras used for video telematics. Berg Insight ranks Streamax, Lytx and Samsara as the leading video telematics players in their respective categories.

“Streamax is the leading hardware provider, having over 2.9 million mobile DVRs installed in vehicles globally to date, and the company also offers software dashboards which are widely used together with its devices”, said Rickard Andersson, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight. He adds that Lytx has the largest number of video telematics subscribers, having surpassed one million vehicles under subscription.

“Samsara stands out among the general fleet telematics players with a significant number of camera units deployed across its subscriber base”, continued Mr. Andersson. Additional sizeable players include the fleet management player Motive, the channel-focused brand Sensata INSIGHTS (including the acquired video telematics company SmartWitness) and the hardware-focused video telematics company Howen, all having estimated installed bases of several hundred thousand units.

“The remaining top-10 players are Netradyne, Nauto and VisionTrack, which all have a primary focus on camera-based solutions specifically, as well as the fleet management provider Solera Fleet Solutions”, said Mr. Andersson.

Solera acquired the commercial vehicle telematics pioneer Omnitracs including the video safety specialist SmartDrive. Other noteworthy players competing in the video telematics space include video-focused solution providers such as LightMetrics, SafetyDirect (Rand McNally), Idrive, SureCam, Waylens, Seeing Machines and CameraMatics; fleet telematics players including Trimble, Radius Telematics, MiX by Powerfleet, Matrix iQ, Forward Thinking Systems, Azuga, ISAAC Instruments, Microlise, Trakm8, AddSecure Smart Transport and EROAD; as well as the hardware-focused supplier Pittasoft (BlackVue).

“These players have all reached estimated installed bases in the tens of thousands”, concluded Mr. Andersson.

The post The installed base of video telematics systems in North America and Europe to reach 15 million units by 2028 appeared first on IoT Business News.

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of waste collection points fitted with smart waste sensor technology reached 1.25 million worldwide in 2023 (excluding China).

Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.8 percent, the number will increase to 3.50 million by 2028. These wirelessly connected fill-level sensors can be either pre-integrated into waste bins and containers, for example as a smart bin offering, or retrofitted on existing collection points. Europe accounts for around 45 percent of the installed base with markets such as the Benelux, France, the UK, Spain and the Nordics in the lead. The installed base in the North American market meanwhile reached 470,000 units in 2023. The Rest of World market excluding China will at the same time have the highest growth rate of 26.8 percent and surpass 700,000 installed sensors in 2028.

After acquiring Compology in late 2022, the US-based provider of managed waste and recycling services RoadRunner now holds the world’s largest installed base smart waste sensors and a market share of 16 percent of the total installed base (excluding China). Waste Harmonics (Keter) ranked second and is one example of that waste brokers and managed service providers in North America to a growing extent utilise proprietary smart waste sensors as part of their offerings. The US-based smart bin provider Bigbelly ranked as the third largest player. Meanwhile, the Norwegian smart waste sensor and software specialist REEN was the leading vendor in Europe and the world’s fourth largest in terms of installed base. The top 10 smart waste sensor technology vendors also included Sensoneo from Slovakia; SmartEnds from Belgium; Waste Vision from the Netherlands; BH Technologies from France; Enevo from the US; and Nordsense from Denmark. Together, the top ten vendors accounted for more than 53 percent of the global installed base of waste collection points featuring smart waste sensor technology. The companies in the market oftentimes focus on specific customer segments and geographies, and therefore face varying degrees of competition from each other.

While municipal smart waste management have been growing robustly in the last few years, private companies are also becoming an increasingly important customer segment for vendors offering smart waste management solutions and the segment is poised for significant growth. “We are still in the early stages of waste generators increasing their focus on sustainability and going forward it will be instrumental for organisations to measure, manage and track generated waste and emissions”, said William Ankreus, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight. Cellular communications remain the most popular connectivity technology choice, accounting for over 80 percent of the connected waste collection points in 2023.

Mr. Ankreus concluded:

“Cellular LPWA technologies (NB-IoT and LTE-M) have improved the overall business case for smart waste sensors and represented a large share of shipments in the last couple of years.”

Due to the sunsetting of 2G and 3G networks in several regions, replacements of existing sensors are also expected to affect the shipment volumes to an increasing extent in the coming years.

The post The smart waste sensor technology market will grow at a CAGR of 22.8 percent until 2028 appeared first on IoT Business News.

Berg Insight today released new findings about the smart parking market. Excluding China, the global installed base of wirelessly connected in-ground and surface-mounted parking sensors reached an estimated 1.3 million devices worldwide at the end of 2023.

Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.8 percent, the number of installed sensors is expected to reach 3.2 million in 2028. Europe and North America together accounted for more than half of the installed base, while the rest of the world markets (excluding China) accounted for about 31 percent. Prominent smart parking sensor markets outside of Europe and North America include Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East. While cities and municipalities are increasingly adopting smart parking technology, the private segment today accounts for the majority of the installed devices.

Following the recent exits of several leading vendors such as Streetline, SmartGrains, Nedap and Onesitu from the market, New Zealand-based Frogparking has emerged as the world’s leading smart parking sensor provider. The company had a global market share (excluding China) of 12.2 percent in Q4-2023. The top three also included US-based CivicSmart and Spanish Urbiotica, which both have a significant international presence. Other major vendors include Australia-based Smart Parking, the European companies Fleximodo (GOSPACE LABS), Smart City System, IoT Solutions Malta and ParkHelp Technologies, as well as the North American vendors PNI and Nwave Technologies. The top ten vendors together accounted for around 46 percent of the global installed base of smart parking sensors outside of China at the end of 2023. Only a handful of companies have yet managed to establish an international presence spanning two or more regions of the world.

The Covid-19 pandemic caused disruption to the industry but as city and local government budgets are gradually stabilising, the interest in smart city solutions such as smart parking sensors has returned. The pandemic moreover brought a change in the parking landscape as remote work has become more commonplace.

“For the private and company parking segments in particular, this has paved the way for new opportunities in the utilisation of parking sensors as they allow parking owners to efficiently manage demand and supply to provide just enough parking when and where needed”, said Felix Linderum, IoT analyst, Berg Insight.

In North America, the smart parking sensor market has historically struggled to overcome scepticism caused by a number of technology failures in the early days of the industry. So far, growth in the region has mainly been driven by the private segment but cities are now becoming increasingly interested in the technology.

“Cities require more consistent and accurate data to improve their parking management operations and most sensors today offer high performance”, continued Mr. Linderum.

As more and more cities embark on larger-scale rollouts after having completed lengthy pilot projects, the share of on-street deployments will also increase as cities are the primary owners of such parking assets. While off-street parking deployments, which are characterized by high parking space densities, have been favourable to the use of RF networks, on-street deployments place higher demands on network coverage and long-range communications capabilities. While RF networks will continue to see growth in the off-street parking segment, LPWA technologies are expected to dominate on-street deployments.

Mr. Linderum, concluded:

“The share of parking sensors communicating through LPWA technologies such as LoRaWAN and NB-IoT has grown significantly in recent years and it is expected that their market share in the off-street segment will eventually increase as well.”

The post The installed base of smart parking sensors to reach 3.2 million units in 2028 appeared first on IoT Business News.

Berg Insight today released the latest edition of its comprehensive smart city technology report comprising in-depth studies of five key technology areas – smart street lighting, smart parking, smart waste collection, urban air quality monitoring and smart city surveillance.

In 2023, the global installed base of individually controlled smart street lights amounted to 23.4 million units (excluding China). The corresponding figures for the smart parking and smart waste sensor technology markets were at the same time 1.30 million and 1.25 million units respectively.

Smart parking sensors refers to in-ground or surface-mounted parking occupancy detection sensors while smart waste sensor technology consists of fill-level sensor devices that may either be pre-integrated into bins and containers, for example as a smart bin offering, or retrofitted on existing collection points. The smart street lighting market has now gained significant traction and its installed base will grow at a robust CAGR of 21.9 percent to reach 63.0 million units in 2028. The number of installed smart parking sensors is expected to see a slightly slower growth of 19.8 percent (CAGR) while the smart waste sensor technology market will be the fastest growing of the three with a CAGR of 22.8 percent.

A more nascent smart city technology area is the field of non-regulatory urban air quality monitoring, which comprises increasingly small and low-cost air quality monitoring devices that can serve as valuable complements to traditional regulatory monitoring stations. In 2023, the number of such non-regulatory air quality monitoring devices installed in outdoor urban environments amounted to 154,000 units globally and will reach 498,000 units in 2028. The largest of the five covered smart city application areas was meanwhile the smart city surveillance market, which reached a global market value of € 12.5 billion in 2023. The market, which includes both fixed and mobile video and audio surveillance solutions, is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.8 percent throughout the forecast period.

Outside China, Europe has emerged as the leading smart city technology adopter while North America constitutes the second largest market. The Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions meanwhile constitute the fastest growing markets for smart city technology, fuelled by ambitious top-down initiatives and rapid urbanisation.

“These regions offer fertile ground for innovation and investment, presenting significant opportunities for stakeholders to capitalize on the demand for sustainable urban solutions and digital transformation”, said Felix Linderum, IoT analyst, Berg Insight.

There are great opportunities for growth within all the separate smart city application areas, however, from a horizontal perspective, one of the biggest challenges is interoperability between the different layers and technologies.

“Truly smart cities are starting to emerge but their continued development will largely depend on the ability of local governments to navigate the complexities involved”, continued William Ankréus, IoT analyst, Berg Insight. Overall, the demand for remotely managed infrastructure grows day-by-day.

Mr. Ankréus and Mr. Linderum concluded:

“The massive influx of people into cities around the world and the increased interest in social, environmental and economic sustainability will continue to act as driving forces for smart cities and their enabling technologies.”

The post Smart city technologies continue to shape the cities of tomorrow appeared first on IoT Business News.

Berg Insight, the leading IoT market research provider, today released a new market study covering the GNSS-based road pricing market.

GNSS-based road pricing refers to the charging of road users using global navigation satellite system (GNSS) sensors inside vehicles. The road pricing umbrella term typically covers various types of schemes such as electronic toll collection (ETC) and road user charging (RUC) as well as vignettes and congestion charging. More than a dozen countries around the world have GNSS-based RUC/ETC systems that are in operation or about to be launched in the relative near-term. The vast majority of these can so far be found in Europe but there are also programs in operation in North America and Asia-Pacific. Berg Insight estimates that the installed base of GNSS-based on-board units deployed for road user charging reached more than 7.4 million units worldwide in 2023. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.3 percent, the installed base is forecasted to reach almost 10.6 million units in 2028.

Berg Insight ranks Russia, Germany and Poland as the largest markets in terms of the number of GNSS-equipped vehicles for road user charging purposes.

“The Russian implementation is the largest in the world with more than 1 million on-board units in use for the Platon ETC system”, said Rickard Andersson, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight.

He adds that Germany and Poland are the runners-up with the Lkw-Maut and e-TOLL systems respectively.

“Other countries with more than half a million on-board units in use include Belgium with the Kilometer Charge, Hungary’s HU-GO and the Czech Republic’s CzechToll satellite toll system”, continued Mr. Andersson.

Bulgaria and Slovakia also have several hundred thousand on-board units deployed. The remaining top-10 markets are New Zealand and Switzerland with the eRUC and LSVA implementations respectively.

“The fragmented US market has a few operational RUC programs on state level and the country is just outside of the global top-10 so far”, concluded Mr. Andersson.

The post The installed base of GNSS-based on-board units deployed for road user charging exceeds 7 million units worldwide appeared first on IoT Business News.

According to a new research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the installed base of wireless devices featuring cellular, satellite or LPWA connectivity in the oil and gas industry is forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.3 percent from 7.8 million units at the end of 2023 to 18.8 million connected devices by 2028.

Remote monitoring of assets such as industrial equipment, tanks and pipeline infrastructure in the midstream and downstream sectors comprise the most common applications for wireless industrial IoT (IIoT) solutions in the oil and gas industry. The expected growth in cellular device shipments is attributed to a higher adoption rate of sensor applications based on LTE-M and NB-IoT technologies and continued preference for cellular communications in the remote tank monitoring segment. Since many remote monitoring applications have limited requirements on bandwidth, Berg Insight is of the opinion that non-3GPP LPWA technologies such as LoRa can achieve a significant position on this market as well.

Partnerships among industrial automation vendors and technology companies continue to be a theme in the oil and gas industry while expanding in scope with oil and gas operators and software companies. Global automation vendors including ABB, Emerson, Hitachi, Honeywell, Rockwell Automation, Schneider Electric, Siemens and Yokogawa can deliver complete solutions thanks to their extensive partner ecosystems.

In addition, the choice of preferred network topology and communications standards depends on the application area as each activity in the oil and gas value chain has its own specific need for connectivity. Many providers recognise the industry’s diverse needs by integrating different types of wireless capabilities into single box solutions. Connectivity providers such as Advantech, Cisco, HMS Networks, Moxa, MultiTech and Robustel offer modular routers and gateways where different wireless interfaces can be added to the device.

Wireless sensor solutions for remote asset monitoring are today offered with various options for communications such as LTE-M, LoRa and satellite. This suggests further convergence of wireless technologies and flexible offerings featuring hybrid solutions to serve the full range of connectivity needs in the oil and gas industry.

“Oil and gas companies are increasingly relying on data from IIoT devices to make better informed decisions”, said Veronika Barta, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight.

Today, IIoT devices can collect vast amounts of sensor data such as pressure, level, flow and temperature. As operators move towards more remote and autonomous operations, the need to collect greater volumes of data increases. The large data volumes call for edge processing capabilities to acquire data significance. In upstream applications, edge computing is used to collect and analyse real-time data from devices at drilling rigs and production wells. This enables operators to analyse data locally, reduce latency and make faster decisions to improve asset performance and reduce downtime.

Ms. Barta, concluded:

“Deployments of wireless IIoT devices with edge computing will be key to optimise assets and improve oil and gas operations.”

The post The installed base of wireless IIoT devices in the oil and gas industry to reach 18.8 million by 2028 appeared first on IoT Business News.

Berg Insight has found in its latest research that around 9.0 million people in Europe and 5.2 million people in North America were using telecare or medical alert solutions at the end of 2023.

The figures include users of both in-home and mobile systems. Until 2028, Berg Insight forecasts that the number of telecare users will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.8 percent to reach 20.6 million in the two regions.

The market value of telecare solutions in Europe reached at the same time € 3.5 billion in 2023. The market value is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.4 percent in the next five years to reach € 5.2 billion at the end of the forecast period. The market value for medical alert solutions in North America is expected to grow from € 2.7 billion (US$ 2.9 billion) in 2023 to € 4.1 million (US$ 4.5 billion) in 2028.

Berg Insight’s definition of telecare solutions, also known as medical alert systems or PERS (personal emergency response systems), is a service aimed for elderly, disabled and vulnerable people to seek help from home in case of an emergency. These solutions can trigger an alarm when the user presses a button or when a passive sensor detects an event out of the ordinary. These systems provide continuous in-home or completely mobile monitoring services and can consist of a range of electronic devices such as personal alarm buttons, motion detection sensors, GPS monitors or fitness devices. The market evolves to include AI solutions that automatically trigger an alarm for instance when a user leaves home at an unexpected time or forgets to take his or her medicine.

The telecare market in Europe and North America is served by range of companies providing hardware devices, software platforms and monitoring services. In the European market, Tunstall, Legrand, TeleAlarm, Careium, Chiptech and Chubb are among the leading end-to-end solution providers. Tunstall, Legrand and TeleAlarm have strong presence across the European region. Chiptech has its operations in the UK market, meanwhile Careium is a leading market player in the Nordic region and has also presence in the UK. Companies such as Telecom Design, Essence Group, 9Solutions, Oysta Technology (Access Group), Everon and Ascom are key telecare equipment vendors in Europe. Essence SmartCare is well-established in both Europe and North America. Enovation, Skyresponse and Azur Soft are the leading providers of telecare monitoring software solutions. Additional significant vendors active in Europe are Tellu, Yorbl, Urmet, Navigil, SmartLife Care, Libify, SmartWatcher, Just Checking and Vivago. In North America, end-to-end telecare solutions are provided by Freeus (Becklar Group), Connect America, Mytrex, Numera (Nice North America), MobileHelp and Lively. Another group of companies offering monitoring services and reselling medical alert equipment are Medical Guardian, Life Alert Emergency Response, ADT, Bay Alarm Medical, Aloe Care and ModivCare. Major telecare equipment vendors are Essence Group, Climax Technology, LogicMark and Anelto.

“The market for personal emergency response systems for the elderly and the vulnerable population will continue to grow as the demand for digital care solutions has increased over the last couple of years”, says Vatsala Raina, IoT analyst at Berg Insight.

The European and North American market for personal emergency response systems is supported by several trends and developments that will have an impact on the competitive landscape during the forecast years. The silver generation is quickly becoming technologically savvy and open to adopt technology to help in everyday living needs. AI has an increasing role in the development of preventive and predictive care models. Solution providers have integrated AI and ML algorithms to analyse the monitoring data to learn about the patients’ daily routines, identify irregularities and expedite the needed assistance. Predictive analytics models assess the users’ risk of falling based on their historical data and health conditions.

Mrs. Raina concluded:

“The industry is moving towards incorporating new care models and technologies such as sensor-based systems, smart lamps to detect fall detection, and consumer-oriented technology companies incorporating PERS features in wearables, smart speakers and smartphones.”

The industry is becoming more patient-centric which calls for integrated systems and improved interoperability of connected care solutions.

The post The number of telecare solution users in Europe and North America reached 14.2 million at the end of 2023 appeared first on IoT Business News.

Berg Insight, the world’s leading IoT market research provider, today released new findings about the market for Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS).

The estimated market value for ITS deployed in public transport operations in Europe was € 2.15 billion in 2022. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3 percent, this number is expected to reach € 2.92 billion by 2027. The North American market for public transport ITS is similarly forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 8.8 percent from € 0.88 billion in 2022 to reach € 1.34 billion in 2027.

Berg Insight is of the opinion that the market for ITS in public transport is in a growth phase which will continue throughout the forecast period. Considerable investment is going toward electrification of the public transport fleet, which will require more sophisticated ITS solutions to operate smoothly. In addition, the increasing demands from travellers for convenience and accessible real-time information contribute to a positive market situation. Governments in both Europe and North America view public transport as a prioritised area for investment. The Canadian government has for example announced a CAD 2.75 billion (€ 2.0 billion) investment toward electric buses, school buses and related charging infrastructure between 2021–2026.

A group of international aftermarket solution providers has emerged as leaders on the market for public transport ITS. Major providers across Europe and North America include Canada-based Trapeze Group and Germany-based INIT, which have significant installed bases in both regions. Clever Devices and Conduent hold leading positions on the North American public transport ITS market. The former has expanded into Europe with an acquisition and the latter is an international provider of fare collection systems. Additional companies with notable market shares in North America include Cubic Transportation Systems and Avail Technologies. Siemens Mobility is a prominent vendor of software in both Europe and North America.

Examples of major vendors on national markets in Europe include EQUANS and RATP Smart Systems, which hold leading positions in France. IVU is an important player primarily in the German-speaking part of Europe. Vix Technology, Flowbird and Ticketer are moreover major providers on the UK market. Other significant players include the Spanish groups GMV, Indra and Grupo ETRA; French Thales; Atron in Germany; Scandinavian FARA, Pilotfish and Consat Telematics; and Austria-based Swarco and Kontron Transportation. Volvo Group and Daimler are moreover notable players from the vehicle OEM segment, while companies such as Scania, Iveco, Gillig and New Flyer also offer some conventional OEM telematics features for their buses.

“We are increasingly seeing that solutions are developed with standardisation and interoperability in mind. ITS solution providers are now for example commonly requesting labels of compliance from standard organisations,” said Caspar Jansson, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight. Interoperability opens up many new possibilities for various stakeholders in the ITS ecosystem.

Mr. Jansson concluded:

“The standardisation efforts enable public transport agencies to combine competitive solutions from multiple vendors in their networks. The first tenders explicitly requiring equipment to be compliant with the ITxPT standard have now been issued.”

The post The public transport ITS market in Europe and North America to reach € 4.3 billion by 2027 appeared first on IoT Business News.

According to a new report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the installed base of smart gas meters in Europe amounted to 55.9 million in 2023, equivalent to a penetration rate of 45 percent.

The installed base is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 6.8 percent between 2023 and 2028, reaching 77.6 million units at the end of the period. Annual shipment volumes amounted to 4.8 million units in 2023 and are expected to be around 5.0–5.8 million throughout the forecast period.

The UK, Italy and Belgium were the most active markets, together accounting for 86 percent of all smart gas meter shipments during the year. While the rollouts in Italy, France and the Netherlands are largely completed, the UK market is finally after several delays ramping up yearly installations to reach a peak of 3.2–3.4 million units per year during 2024–2025. Belgium and Ireland are two other markets that are expected to contribute with significant shipment volumes in the coming years. The Spanish market is expected to reach yearly shipment volumes of 1.0 million units by the end of the forecast period.

The smart gas meters deployed in Europe have over the past years not been networked in quite the same way as their counterparts in the electricity sector. A common model, observed in the UK, the Netherlands and Belgium, is to utilize a local wireless or wired interface to transmit gas data via the customer’s smart electricity meter. A mix of 169 MHz RF and 2G/3G cellular communications has meanwhile been the primary model for the largest projects in which smart gas meters have been deployed independently of smart electricity meters, such as in Italy and France. A change of the status quo is likely on the horizon as new types of LPWA technologies have become more readily available in the past couple of years.

Mattias Carlsson, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight, said:
“The Italian gas sector was the first in Europe to initiate large-scale adoption of NB-IoT as a primary smart meter connectivity choice and in 2023 the installed base of gas meters with NB-IoT connectivity in the country reached more than 2.5 million at the end of the year. We anticipate that by the end of the forecast period NB-IoT will become the go-to connectivity option for smart gas meters, not only in Italy but also in several other European markets.”

The composition of communications technologies in the installed base of smart gas meters has already begun to shift in favor of new LPWA technologies. 169 MHz still however remains the most popular communications technology with a market share of around 37 percent at the end of 2023, while Zigbee boasted a market share of 26 percent. By 2026, Zigbee is expected to surpass 169 MHz as the most prevalent connectivity option with an installed base of 23.4 million – a number that is further forecasted to increase to 25.5 million in 2028.

NB-IoT/LTE-M is expected to be the fastest growing connectivity option at a CAGR of 35 percent during 2023–2028 to reach an installed base of around 13.2 million units in 2028 and accounting for as much as 60 percent of yearly shipment volumes at the end of the forecast period.

Another emerging technology trend is the anticipated increase in the use of hydrogen in European gas supply operations.

Mr. Carlsson concluded:

“Projects are currently underway in for example the UK and Italy that pilots metering devices capable of measuring either pure hydrogen or a blend of hydrogen and natural gas. The interest in hydrogen meters is anticipated to increase as the technology matures.”

The post The penetration rate of smart gas meters in Europe reached 45 percent in 2023 appeared first on IoT Business News.

More than 60 percent of the electricity customers in EU27+3 had a smart meter at the end of 2023.

The market is set for stable growth with a total of more than 88 million smart electricity meters forecasted to be deployed across the region from 2024–2028. This was among other things concluded in the latest comprehensive study of the European smart metering market from the leading IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, which has closely tracked the development on this market since the company’s founding in 2004.

At the end of 2023, the EU27+3 region was home to more than 186 million smart electricity meters. Growing at a steady CAGR north of 6.1 percent, the installed base of smart electricity meters is expected to reach a penetration rate of 78 percent by 2028, driven by second-generation rollouts in countries such as the UK, Italy, Spain and Sweden alongside first-generation projects in Germany, Poland and Greece. The smart gas metering market is also set for robust growth in the EU27+3 region where the installed base of devices is forecasted to increase from 56 million units in 2023 to around 78 million units by 2028.

The composition of smart electricity shipment volumes is anticipated to change in two important ways, indicating a focus shift away from Western European markets which have historically been at the forefront in terms of smart metering deployments.

“Firstly, first-generation electricity meter shipment volumes will account for 67 percent of total shipment volumes throughout the forecast period, as second-generation rollouts in Western Europe are by now either in their final stages or fully completed. Secondly, the share of first-generation shipment volumes to countries located in the CEE and SEE regions will increase from 50 percent in 2022 to 80 percent in 2028,” said Mattias Carlsson, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight.

In the last years, the smart metering market has also undergone a shift related to the type of communications technologies being used for data exchange with the utility’s back office. Standalone wireless connectivity options have grown considerably in popularity in the past years and will account for between 55–65 percent of annual shipment volumes throughout the forecast period.

Mr. Carlsson concluded:

“Most of the growth is attributable to 3GPP-based LPWA connectivity options, which are now available in most European markets. Annual shipments of NB-IoT and LTE-M electricity meters are forecasted to be at a level of 3.5–4.0 million per year during the forecast period.”

The post Smart electricity meter penetration rate in Europe reached 60 percent at the end of 2023 appeared first on IoT Business News.

According to a new research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of active consumer asset tracking devices in Europe and North America reached 12.5 million at the end of 2022.

Growing at a CAGR of 18.4 percent the number of units in active use is estimated to reach 29.2 million units by the end of 2027. The market value is during the same period forecasted to grow from € 1.6 billion in 2022 to € 3.8 billion in 2027.

Consumer asset tracking solutions utilizing wireless wide area networks such as cellular, satellite, LoRa or Sigfox can be divided into four main categories based on asset type – family and child tracking, pet tracking, vehicle tracking and general asset tracking. The vehicle category can be further divided into cars; motorcycles and mopeds; bicycles; caravans and motor caravans; leisure boats; and other consumer vehicles including ATVs and snowmobiles. The general asset tracking segment includes any type of asset, such as bags and luggage, keys, wallets, clothes, electronics, tools and sports equipment.

Leading providers of family and child tracking products and services include Smartcom Mobility Solutions, Smith Micro Software, Life360, Xplora Technologies and Verizon. The pet tracking market is dominated by Tractive, Fi, Whistle and Halo. The market for aftermarket car telematics solutions sold to consumers is led by Verizon, Mojio, Tail Light and Agnik in North America and Haysquare, Net4Things and the Plan B Company in Europe. Leading providers of GPS tracking and vehicle recovery solutions for motorcycles and mopeds in Europe include Datatool (Scorpion Automotive), Mapit IoT, Monimoto and GeoRide. A few companies provide tracking solutions developed specifically for leisure boats, including Sensar Marine, Sentinel Marine Solutions, Sailsense Analytics, Vetel and Siren Marine. The market for GPS trackers for electric bicycles is growing rapidly. The market is today led by European companies such as IoT Venture, PowUnity, Haveltec, BikeFinder and Tracefy. Trackimo, Invoxia, LandAirSea are leading providers of general-purpose tracking devices.

“The demand for consumer asset tracking solutions is growing across all segments”, says Martin Backman, Principal Analyst at Berg Insight. The market is still in an early phase and many solution providers are still searching for the right business model and pricing model. Very few companies have emerged as clear market leaders in specific asset tracking market segments in Europe or North America. Most companies are still mainly serving the domestic market or nearby countries.

“Technological advancements in battery capacity, processor power and network technology will continuously enable better solutions at lower price points”, continues Mr. Backman. This will make the solutions even more attractive to consumers and create a higher demand.

The post The number of active consumer asset tracking devices in Europe and North America reached 12.5 million at the end of 2022 appeared first on IoT Business News.

Berg Insight presents a unique database covering the 500 largest cellular IoT deployments identified as part of the company’s world-class IoT market research activities since 2004.

The extensive list includes various types of projects and product categories deployed across all types of vertical markets including OEM automotive, aftermarket automotive, transport & logistics, utilities, infrastructure, buildings & security, retail, industrial, consumer electronics, healthcare and other. The database includes project size and geographical distribution by the end of 2022 as well as a 5-year forecast for each individual project.

“The projects included in the top-500 list together account for approximately 548 million active cellular IoT subscriptions”, said Rickard Andersson, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight.

He adds that this corresponds to as much as 20.6 percent of the total number of cellular IoT connections worldwide at the end of 2022. The 500 projects on the list are in the coming years forecasted to grow to 1,024 million units by 2027, corresponding to an overall compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.3 percent.

Mr. Andersson continued:

“More than 100 deployments on the list have reached 1 million subscriptions or more, and the top-10 projects alone account for over 183 million units.”

Transport & logistics is the largest vertical in terms of the number of projects that made the top list, followed by aftermarket automotive, retail, utilities, OEM automotive, buildings & security and healthcare.

“When comparing the number of active subscriptions represented by each vertical for the entries in the top-500 list, OEM automotive is instead the largest vertical, accounting for 191 million units, ahead of utilities at 118 million units and transport & logistics representing 97 million units”, concluded Mr. Andersson.

The post The 500 largest cellular IoT deployments together account for 548 million units appeared first on IoT Business News.

Berg Insight estimates that the global installed base of active off-highway vehicle telematics systems reached 7.9 million units in 2022.

This includes connected units deployed on various off-highway vehicles across the construction, mining, agriculture and forestry sectors. The construction sector accounts for the largest share, driven by OEM telematics systems offered by heavy equipment manufacturers. Agriculture and mining moreover each account for a similar number of connected units deployed on machines and vehicles used in agricultural and mining operations respectively. The remainder is represented by the forestry sector including telematics systems fitted to various forestry equipment. Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.1 percent, the active installed base of off-highway vehicle telematics systems across all sectors is forecasted to reach 14.6 million units worldwide in 2027.

“The top-10 equipment manufacturers offering telematics together account for around 70 percent of the total number of off-highway vehicle telematics systems in use across the construction, mining, agriculture and forestry sectors globally”, said Rickard Andersson, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight. Berg Insight ranks Caterpillar as the leading off-highway vehicle telematics provider.

“Far from surprising, the leading equipment manufacturer by market share is also by far the top player when it comes to the number of off-highway vehicle telematics subscribers”, said Mr. Andersson.

He adds that this is a natural development in an industry where telematics has increasingly been included as standard with the machine purchase, gradually covering more models and equipment categories.

“Caterpillar was the first to surpass the milestone of 1 million connected assets across all segments and the company now has more than 1.4 million units”, said Mr. Andersson.

The runners-up are SANY and Komatsu. Other major manufacturers with estimated installed bases of more than 100,000 units include Volvo Construction Equipment, Deere & Company, XCMG, Hitachi Construction Machinery, JCB, HD Hyundai and Doosan Bobcat.

“Additional players having estimated installed bases of off-highway vehicle telematics units in the tens of thousands include CNH Industrial, Liebherr, Terex, JLG Industries, AGCO, CLAAS Group and Tadano”, concluded Mr. Andersson.

The post The installed base of off-highway vehicle telematics systems to reach 14.6 million units worldwide by 2027 appeared first on IoT Business News.

According to a new research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the global market for precision agriculture solutions is forecasted to grow from € 3.1 billion in 2022 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.4 percent to reach about € 5.2 billion in 2027.

A set of technologies are applied in precision farming practices, which are aimed at managing variations in the field to maximise yield, raise productivity and reduce consumption of agricultural inputs. While solutions such as auto-guidance and machine monitoring and control via on-board displays today are mainstream technologies in the agricultural industry, telematics and Variable Rate Technology (VRT) are still in the early stages of adoption. Interoperability between solutions remains a challenge, although initiatives to provide common protocols and language structure for data sharing are making progress.

Most major agricultural equipment manufacturers have today operations related to precision agriculture with varying strategies. Leading vendors of precision agriculture solutions include the world’s largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment Deere & Company, followed by the precision technology vendors Trimble, Topcon Positioning Systems, Raven Industries and Hexagon. Major input manufacturers like BASF, Bayer, Corteva Agriscience and Syngenta have entered the space primarily through acquisitions and focus on providing mapping tools and decision support for the purpose of input optimisation and yield maximisation. A group of companies have surfaced as leaders on the nascent market for in-field sensor systems. These include Semios, Pessl Instruments with its METOS brand, Davis Instruments and Sencrop.

The move from automation to autonomy is the next step in the evolution of the agricultural industry. “Although autonomy on a component level has been exploited by multiple manufacturers, autonomous agricultural operations on an equipment level are now on the rise”, said Veronika Barta, IoT analyst at Berg Insight.

Today, original equipment manufacturers are developing autonomous machines such as driverless tractors and seed-planting robots. Agricultural drones are the most advanced segment, performing autonomous operations by utilising multispectral cameras, LiDAR sensors and route algorithms. Aerial imagery for crop monitoring is the most common application area, followed by spraying operations of crop protection chemicals. Satellite navigation, sensors, artificial intelligence and machine learning will be the main facilitators of autonomous equipment in the future of farming.

The post The precision agriculture market to reach € 5.2 billion worldwide in 2027 appeared first on IoT Business News.

According to a new research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the global installed base of connected vending machines reached an estimated 5.8 million units in 2022.

North America represents the largest share of these machines, closely followed by the Rest of the World markets. Both are estimated to have installed bases of around 2.1 million each.

In Europe, the installed base of connected vending machines is estimated to have reached around 1.5 million units. Berg Insight forecasts that the number of connected vending machines worldwide will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.4 percent to reach 12.3 million units by 2027. As a result, the global penetration rate will reach 75.7 percent at the end of the forecast period.

The global connected vending solution market is served by a variety of players. Many of the leading providers are specialised technology companies offering connected vending telemetry and cashless payment solutions. US-based Cantaloupe is established as the clear leader in terms of installed base with more than 900,000 connected vending machines, mainly in North America.

Other leading technology suppliers include Crane Payment Innovations, Nayax, Ingenico and Televend (INTIS). The latter has continued to show significant growth and is clearly established as a top player on the European market. MatiPay, Vianet Group and Vendon are additional examples of technology players with relatively significant installed bases in Europe. In China, InHand networks holds a prominent position and is estimated to have installed its solutions in close to 300,000 vending machines by the end of 2022.

“The number of connected vending machines continues to grow and has now reached very high levels, particularly in North America”, said Felix Linderum, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight.

In Europe and the Rest of the World markets penetration levels are still modest but growing. Overall, cashless payments continue to be the main driver for adding connectivity in vending machines.

“This development was further reinforced by the Covid-19 pandemic”, continued Mr. Linderum.

He adds that because of the pandemic, there has been an accelerated adoption of cashless and contactless payments as users seek versatility, convenience and safety to a larger extent than before. Outside of North America and Europe, the main driver for growth is the growing installed base of connected vending machines in China. While stringent lockdowns enforced during the Covid-19 pandemic led to a slowdown in the country, there has been a noteworthy surge in the number of vending machines in China over the past few years. Berg Insight anticipates that the country is poised to emerge as a key player in the connected vending space.

Mr. Linderum concluded:

“Mobile payments and remote management of multimedia content are basically standard on the vending machines in China. Facial recognition technology is also a growing trend and enables pay-with-your-face functionality.”

The post The installed base of connected vending machines worldwide to reach 12.3 million by 2027 appeared first on IoT Business News.

According to a new research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, there were a total of 2,900 private LTE/5G networks deployed across the world at the end of 2023, including trial and pilot deployments.

Private 5G network deployments are moving from trials to commercial operations and amounted to an estimated 700 networks whereof trials accounted for close to half. Until 2028, the number of private LTE/5G network deployments are forecasted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 33 percent to reach 11,900 networks at the end of the period. Increasingly, the networks will be deployed into commercial operations faster as there is less need for use case testing. A meaningful number of private LTE network deployments will also be upgraded to 5G, starting in the next 2–3 years.

Berg Insight defines a private cellular network as a 3GPP-based private LTE/5G network built for the sole use of a private entity such as an enterprise or government organisation. Referred to as non-public networks by the 3GPP, private LTE/5G networks use spectrum defined by the 3GPP and LTE or 5G NR base stations, small cells and other radio access network (RAN) infrastructure to transmit voice and data to edge devices.

“The major RAN vendors (Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei) all play significant roles as integrated solution providers and are challenged by a number smaller RAN equipment providers”, said Fredrik Stalbrand, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight.

Nokia counts the largest number of private network deployments with more than 635 private cellular network customers at the end of Q2-2023.

Mr. Stalbrand continued:

“The vendors increasingly pursue channel-led sales strategies, and have developed ecosystems of mobile operators, system integrators, VARs and consulting partners to bring solutions to market.”

A number of small cell and other RAN equipment providers including Airspan Networks, Baicells, CommScope, JMA Wireless, Mavenir, Samsung Networks, Sercomm and ZTE provide competitive LTE/5G radio products and in some cases complete private network offerings.

Important specialised core network software vendors include Druid Software, Athonet (acquired by HPE in June 2023), as well as Affirmed Networks and Metaswitch (both part of Microsoft since mid-2020). In total, EPC/5GC offerings are available from close to 30 vendors. A third category is IT-centric players like Cisco and HPE. These companies focus on delivering fully integrated Wi-Fi and private LTE/5G solutions, enabling network managers to administer Wi-Fi and private LTE/5G networks through a single pane of glass. Celona is a new entrant in the space, backed by NTT Data and Qualcomm, offering its integrated private cellular solution in a single SaaS subscription.

The post Private LTE/5G network deployments reached 2,900 at the end of 2023 appeared first on IoT Business News.

According to a new market research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of micromobility vehicles available worldwide will reach 38.2 million by 2027, up from 25.3 million vehicles in 2022.

Micromobility services are defined as shared mobility services that offer short-term rentals of light vehicles such as bikes, scooters or other similar vehicles. The micromobility market has been characterized by rapid growth, a high pace of merger and acquisitions and many shutdowns of services during the past few years.

“The market is now reaching a more mature stage and operators are generally more focused on reaching profitability, which was not the case in previous years”, said Martin Cederqvist, IoT Analyst at Berg Insight.

Bikesharing is a decentralised bicycle rental service, usually focusing on short term rentals. Traditionally, most bikesharing operators have used station-based operational models. This operational model requires members to pick up and return the vehicle at any designated station within a city. In Europe and North America, station-based bikesharing is the most popular operational model. Another model that is rapidly gaining in popularity is free floating services, which enables members to pick up and drop off vehicles anywhere within a designated area. The total number of shared bikes worldwide reached an estimated 23.7 million vehicles at the end of 2022, of which a large majority are free floating bikes in China. Prominent bikesharing operators include Hellobike, Meituan Bike, Didi (Qingju), JCDecaux, Nextbike (owned by Tier), Hello Cycling, Docomo Cycle, Anywheel, Yulu, RideMovi, Bolt, Lime and Donkey Republic.

The stand-up scootersharing market has gained a lot of attention from media and investors and have grown rapidly since its inception in 2017. At the end of 2022, the number of shared stand-up scooters reached an estimated 1.5 million vehicles.

“Leading stand-up scooter operators include Bolt, Tier and Voi in Europe, Bird and Lime in North America as well as Neuron Mobility, Swing Mobility and Beam Mobility in Asia-Pacific”, said Mr Cederqvist.

The regulatory environment surrounding stand-up electric scooters is complex and varies between region, country, state and city level. Today, some cities limit the number of stand-up scooters allowed on the streets through mandatory operator licences. The cities can both restrict the number of operators allowed in the cities, but also the number of vehicles each operator is allowed to deploy. The sit-down scootersharing market has not been regulated to the same degree. At the end of 2022, the number of shared sit-down scooters in shared mobility schemes reached an estimated 120,000 vehicles. Leading sit-down scootersharing operators include Vogo and Yulu in India; Marti Technologies in Turkey; Cooltra, CityScoot, Felyx, Emmy and Check in Europe; Revel in North America as well as GoShare and WeMo in Taiwan.

Telematics has been a key element since the inception of shared micromobility services. Bikesharing infrastructure vendors provide complete solutions including telematics hardware solutions, user identification and bike locks, information kiosks as well as fleet management platforms and mobile apps.

Companies specialising in bikesharing solutions include PBSC (owned by Lyft), Lyft, Nextbike (Tier), Fifteen, Vaimoo, Youon Bike Technologies and Conneqtech. Scootersharing operators now mainly utilise factory-installed telematics systems embedded in the scooters. Shared mobility software platforms moreover comprise complete systems that can support all the operational activities of a micromobility operation ranging from management of in-vehicle equipment, fleet management, booking management, billing as well as operations supervision via dashboards and data analytics. Leading micromobility telematics solution providers include Comodule, Drover AI, Luna Systems, Invers, Teltonika, Queclink, Atom Mobility, Joyride Technologies, Wunder Mobility, Zoba, Urban Sharing and Omni Intelligent Technology.

Mr Cederqvist concluded:

“In recent years, micromobility operators have added increasingly complex telematics applications such as sidewalk riding detection as well as features ensuring parking compliance. The usage of AI and machine learning models are increasingly common in such applications.”

The post The shared micromobility fleet to reach 38.2 million vehicles by 2027 appeared first on IoT Business News.

The number of active fleet management systems deployed in commercial vehicle fleets in Australia and New Zealand was around 1.4 million units in Q4-2022 according to a new research report from the leading IoT analyst firm Berg Insight.

Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5 percent, this number is expected to reach more than 2.4 million units by 2027. A large number of vendors are active on the fleet management market in Australia and New Zealand. The top-15 players in the region together account for over 60 percent of the active units on the market, and more than a third is represented by the top-5 alone.

A wide variety of players serve the fleet telematics market in Australia and New Zealand, ranging from small local vendors to leading international solution providers.

“Berg Insight ranks Teletrac Navman, EROAD and MTData as the largest providers of fleet management solutions in Australia and New Zealand”, said Rickard Andersson, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight.

US-based Teletrac Navman (part of Vontier) was the first to reach 100,000 units in the region and this milestone has now also been achieved by New Zealand-based EROAD (including Coretex acquired in 2021) and Australia-based MTData (owned by Telstra).

“The remaining top-5 solution providers in the region are US-based Verizon Connect and Netstar Australia”, continued Mr. Andersson.

He adds that US-based Rand McNally which acquired Fleetsu in Australia in 2022 is now also a significant player. Other notable vendors with comparably sizeable subscriber bases in the region include local solution providers such as Australia-based IntelliTrac and Linxio and New Zealand-based Smartrak (Constellation Software), as well as international players including Canada-based Geotab and South Africa-based MiX Telematics. Fleet Complete, also based in Canada, entered the region through the acquisition of Geotab’s reseller Securatrak.

“Additional top-15 players in the region are Digital Matter and Procon Telematics as well as Bridgestone Mobility Solutions’ Webfleet and Fleetdynamics by Fleetcare”, said Mr. Andersson.

Solution vendors just outside of Berg Insight’s top list moreover include Directed Technologies (Directed Electronics Australia), Sensium, Inseego, TrackIt and Microlise. Directed notably works with a large number of commercial vehicle OEMs on the local market.

“OEMs which have launched fleet telematics solutions in the region independently or through partnerships include UD Trucks, Toyota, Hino, Mitsubishi, PACCAR, Volvo Group, Daimler Truck, Fuso, Scania, MAN and Iveco”, concluded Mr. Andersson.

The post The installed base of fleet management systems in Australia and New Zealand will exceed 2.4 million units by 2027 appeared first on IoT Business News.

The global installed base of active remote tank monitoring (RTM) solutions reached 7.7 million units at the end of 2022, according to a new research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight.

Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.0 percent, the active installed base is estimated to reach 23.5 million units worldwide in 2027. Berg Insight estimates that the European market accounted for more than 1.8 million active RTM systems at the end of 2022. The North American market is estimated to be larger than the European at around 3.2 million active units. The Asia-Pacific market is moreover estimated to represent an installed base of about 1.7 million RTM systems at the end of 2022. South America and Middle East & Africa are smaller markets having installed bases of 385,000 units and 539,000 units respectively.

There are more than 100 RTM solution vendors active on the market worldwide and this report covers 63 companies. Berg Insight ranks Otodata once again as the leading RTM solution provider in terms of the active installed base worldwide with an installed base of about 2.0 million RTM units. Otodata is based in Canada and primarily focuses on the fuel reseller segment in North America. Otodata has so far acquired 3 companies to boost its growth plans: Wise Telemetry in April 2021, Wireless Applications Corporation (WACnGO) in December 2021 and AIUT’s LPG branch in June 2022. Anova and SkyBitz (Ametek) were in second and third place having achieved installed bases of about 1.0 million units and 210,000 units respectively. Anova has done a string of acquisitions including Independent Technologies, Wikon, ISA – Intelligent Sensing Anywhere, iTank (Sierra Wireless) and Silicon Controls to become the second largest RTM solution vendor with more than 2,000 customers in 80 countries. SkyBitz is based in the US and most of its tanks under management can be found in North America and a few in Mexico and other countries. Tank Utility based in the US and German FoxInsights followed in fourth and fifth place and had installed bases of 130,000 and 125,000 tank monitoring systems respectively. Sensile Technologies, Dunraven Systems, Angus Energy, Kingspan and PowTechnology are also ranked among the largest providers with 70,000–100,000 units each.

Other RTM solution providers with installed bases of 22,000–50,000 RTM systems in active use at the end of 2022 include ATEK Access Technologies, Varec, Banner Engineering, FreeWave, GreenCityZen, Gasbot, Insite Platform Partners, SilentSoft, Tecson and Schmitt Industries.

Merger and acquisition activity on this market is just about to commence at the same time as new innovative companies enter the market. Anova and Otodata have been the most ambitious consolidators on the market so far with 5 and 3 acquisitions respectively.

Johan Fagerberg, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight, said:

“Additional companies have recently started to look at in-organic grow opportunities more actively including for instance Rochester Sensors that acquired Tekelek in Q2-2023 and Four Data that picked up the European business unit (excluding Switzerland) of Silentsoft in the same quarter”

Mr. Fagerberg anticipates that the market consolidation of the remote tank monitoring industry will accelerate in the next five years.

The post The installed base of connected tanks to reach 23.5 million in 2027 appeared first on IoT Business News.

The number of active fleet management systems deployed in commercial vehicle fleets in Europe was 14.8 million at the end of 2022, according to a new research report from the IoT analyst firm Berg Insight.

Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.4 percent, this number is expected to reach 26.5 million by 2027. The top-38 vendors have today more than 100,000 active units in Europe.

Berg Insight ranks Targa Telematics as the largest player in terms of active installed base with around 710,000 units at year-end 2022. Weebfleet’s subscriber base has grown both organically and by acquisitions during the past years and the company holds the position as the second largest provider of fleet management solutions on the European market and reached an installed base of about 680,000 units. Verizon Connect is in third place and had achieved an installed base of an estimated 490,000 units at the year-end. Calamp and Radius Telematics follow and have reached 400,000 units and 382,000 units respectively. Scania, ABAX, Gurtam, Bornemann and AddSecure Smart Transport are also ranked among the ten largest providers with 250,000–380,000 units each. Some notable players just outside of the top ten list are MICHELIN Connected Fleet, Geotab, Transics, Quartix, Eurowag Telematics, Viasat, Linqo, Microlise, Daimler Truck, Océan (Orange), Volvo, Macnil, GSGroup, RAM Tracking, MAN, Cartrack, Fleet Complete, Trimble, Optimum Automotive, Shiftmove, AROBS Transilvania Software, Inseego, Infobric Fleet and Mapon. The HCV manufacturers are now growing their subscriber bases considerably thanks to standard line fitment of fleet management solutions. Dynafleet by Volvo, FleetBoard by Daimler Truck and Scania Fleet Management are the most successful with active subscriber bases of 162,000 units, 170,000 units and 379,000 units in Europe respectively at the end of 2022.

The consolidation trend on this market continued in 2023.

Johan Fagerberg, Principal Analyst, said:

“Seven mergers and acquisitions have taken place so far this year among the vendors of fleet management systems in Europe”

In January, Coyote became majority owner of Ubiwan (51 percent). After the change in ownership, the fleet management business of Coyote has now become part of the Ubiwan business. In the same month, Vimcar and Avrios were acquired by Battery Ventures and consequently merged, resulting in a new company called Shiftmove. In February, private equity firm Idico acquired a majority stake in Simpliciti. In May, Targa Telematics acquired Viasat Group. The new larger group will have offices in eight key European countries: Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, the UK, Belgium, Poland and Romania. Mapon acquired CarCops based in Estonia in the same month which will expand the business in the country considerably. Addsecure Smart Transport acquired in October the Clifford Group which includes Traxgo, a Belgium-based company offering systems for tracking of vehicles, machines and equipment. Finally, Powerfleet and MiX Telematics announced in October an agreement to form a combined business which will be branded as Powerfleet. The transaction is expected to close in Q1-2024. Mr. Fagerberg anticipates that the market consolidation of the still overcrowded industry will continue in 2024.

The post The installed base of fleet management systems in Europe will reach 26.5 million by 2027 appeared first on IoT Business News.

Berg Insight, the leading IoT market research provider, has in a new market research project found that the global installed base of active construction equipment (CE) OEM telematics systems reached 6.2 million units in 2022.

Growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.0 percent, the active installed base is forecasted to reach 11.0 million units worldwide in 2027. This includes all CE telematics systems marketed by construction equipment OEMs, either developed in-house or provided by the CE manufacturers in partnership with third-party telematics players.

The European market accounted for around 0.9 million active construction equipment OEM telematics systems at the end of 2022. The North American market is estimated to be somewhat larger than the European. The Rest of World moreover represents more than half of the global installed base of CE telematics systems provided by construction equipment OEMs.

“Most major construction equipment OEMs have introduced telematics offerings for their customers either independently or in collaboration with telematics partners”, said Rickard Andersson, Principal Analyst, Berg Insight.

OEM telematics systems are today commonly factory-installed as standard at least for heavier machines and increasingly also for compact equipment.

“Berg Insight ranks Caterpillar as the clear leader in terms of the number of construction equipment OEM telematics systems deployed worldwide”, continued Mr. Andersson.

He adds that Caterpillar – which is also by far the leading construction equipment manufacturer by market share – has well over 1 million connected assets in the construction equipment segment specifically. Based in the US, Caterpillar’s largest markets for its telematics offerings are North America and Europe.

The runners-up are SANY and Komatsu based in China and Japan respectively, both major players on the respective domestic markets. Komatsu also has relatively large shares of its telematics units in China, North America and Europe.

“Other major players with several hundred thousand active CE telematics units include Sweden-based Volvo Construction Equipment, XCMG in China, JCB headquartered in the UK and Japan-based Hitachi Construction Machinery”, said Mr. Andersson. Deere & Company, HD Hyundai and Doosan Bobcat are also estimated to have reached the milestone of 100,000 units.

“Additional players having installed bases of construction equipment telematics units in the tens of thousands include Liebherr, Terex, JLG Industries, CNH Industrial and Tadano”, concluded Mr. Andersson.

The post The installed base of construction equipment OEM telematics systems will reach 11 million units worldwide by 2027 appeared first on IoT Business News.

According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, the market value for lone worker protection solutions and services in Europe and North America reached € 120 million and € 75 million respectively in 2022.

In Europe and North America, the market value is anticipated to grow to € 150 million and € 105 million respectively by 2027.

Berg Insight estimates that the user base of lone worker safety solutions in Europe and North America was 1.5 million at the end of 2022. In Europe, the number of users is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 7.4 percent from 985,000 at the end of 2022 to reach over 1.4 million at the end of 2027. The North American market is anticipated to grow by a CAGR of 13.1 percent, from 505,000 users at the end of 2022 to 935,000 users at the end of 2027.

The lone worker safety solutions market in Europe and North America is served by various companies offering hardware devices, software solutions and alarm monitoring and response services. The majority of the solution providers on the market today focus on software services and only a few companies also develop dedicated lone worker devices and operate their own Alarm Receiving Centre.

The UK market is the largest and most mature lone worker market in Europe and North America, followed by the Canadian market. Legislation specifically addressing the safety of lone workers has fostered growth in these two countries. Many of the largest vendors of lone worker protection devices and services also originate from these regions. Leading players in the UK include PeopleSafe, Totalmobile, StaySafe, PanicGuard, Orbis Protect, SoloProtect, Reliance High-Tech, Vismo, Vatix and Oysta Technology.

Leading vendors in Canada are Tsunami Solutions, Blackline Safety and Aware360. Additional vendors in Europe and North America include Beepiz, Uepaa, AddSecure, Adresys, Becklar, Secure2Go, Crystal Alarm, Cuebly, First2HelpYou, LONEALERT, Pick Protection, AlertGPS, Becklar, Track24, Neovigie, OnGuard, Intellinium, Safepoint, Vecima Networks, Traxxs, Terracom and My Angel.

A number of companies focus on developing lone worker protection devices that can be used by solution providers, including ACR Electronics, Amigo Alarm, Garmin, Globalstar, MAGNETA, SAVV, Scandinavian Radio Technology, Teltonika, Twig Com and ZOLEO.

“The lone worker safety solution market in Europe and North America continues to grow as more companies and organisations understand the value these solutions bring”, says Martin Backman, Principal Analyst at Berg Insight.

The main drivers for adoption are new lone worker safety regulations, higher employee insurance costs, greater awareness of the risks that lone workers face, as well as a better understanding of efficiency benefits associated with lone worker protection services.

Mr. Backman continues:

“The transition to app-based solutions continues in both Europe and North America as the cost of implementation is significantly lower compared to dedicated lone worker devices”

In the past few years, a number of new satellite communicator devices that can be paired with smartphones have been launched. These make it possible for workers to use the lone worker app also outside of cellular network coverage.

The post The number of lone workers using connected safety solutions in Europe and North America reached 1.5 million in 2022 appeared first on IoT Business News.