Application Enablement Providers in the Internet of Things

摘要

The Internet of Things (IoT) and especially the application in industrial and business applications like Machine-2-Machine communication (M2M) generates new information supply chains and respective value chains. Within these chains, new roles and new players emerge. This article discusses the role of the application enablement providers (AEP) and their relation to the End-to-End solution providers (E2E). Application enablement providers offer platform services for the connection of M2M devices, the administration and maintenance and the rule-based processing of informations. These platforms (middleware systems) serve as a connector to the different applications using the M2M data. The fact, that middleware systems are separated from the application and operated independently is a challenge but also a chance for new players. Nevertheless, this new role requires technical solutions and interfaces, standards and of course business models for the AEPs. This article summarizes the state of the art for the definition of AEPs in IoT and discusses their roles.