Connectivity Management Platforms (CMPs) are a long-standing feature of the Internet of Things (IoT). They allow connectivity to be intelligently packaged for sale to IoT customers. But although CMPs are table stakes abilities for any company wishing to become an IoT service provider, CMP development has not abated, and the market is only becoming more competitive, according to ABI Research. The report, identifies 62 companies offering CMPs, operated either proprietarily or commercially available to license. These companies span from connectivity resellers and aggregators to enterprise software developers, IoT service providers, and carrier grade infrastructure manufacturers.
?The largest CMP vendors such as Cisco and Ericsson, and their products have always acted as gateways for third party partnerships to jointly sell through to the same IoT enterprise customers,? explains Jamie Moss, Research Director for M2M, IoT, and IoE explains. IoT platforms are famously modular, with enterprises and service providers piecing together what they need from a variety of suppliers. Today, the CMP is also a nodal product for turnkey IoT system providers, acting as a gateway product to promote the sale of value-added components of their portfolio, and ideally the full stack. From an enterprise customer perspective, CMPs are not typically charged for, but device management, and security management, and data orchestration platforms are, with CMPs acting as a ?single pane of glass? interface over them all.
At the end of 2021, the global market for the sale of data transport, and the management of that connectivity, to Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), enterprises, and municipalities was USD12.14 billion. This annual total will more than double to USD31.77 billion in 2026. ?The demand-side revenue that the enterprise purchasers of these services will realize in their return on investment (ROI), be it for downstream connected services and products sold, or internal operational processes optimized will be far greater still,? Moss says.
Companies across the IoT ecosystem are seeking to overcome the inevitable commoditization of their niche area of specialization. Ascending the value chain inevitably involves becoming a connectivity supplier. Connectivity is literally the glue that brings together all supply-side elements of the IoT. Connectivity is the physical medium through which all IoT value is delivered, and all enterprise results are achieved. The way to expand within the IoT is to partner or acquire, and many companies have spent the last few years purchasing complementary specialists. And for their customers, the CMP is the face of the service propositions that they build.
The most famous carrier-grade CMP vendors plateaued in terms of unique contract awards years ago. 80% of Cisco?s licenses came before the end of 2015, and more than 80% of Ericsson?s came before the end of 2018.