Internet of Things, connected devices, edge computing, and industrial IoT
New funding backs platform consolidation as SANS data shows unauthorized access drives half of OT incidents. Buyers face choice between specialized vendors and IT/OT convergence plays.
Two platform providers expand edge computing capabilities targeting manufacturing automation and robotics deployments with AI workloads.
New primary research from AMDT reveals that 50% of plants operate on partially automated backups while 77% claim confidence. The $260K-per-hour cost of downtime makes this confidence gap a board-level problem.
Edge AI infrastructure spending is projected to reach $350 billion by 2027. The digital twin market is growing from $33.97 billion to $384.79 billion. Singapore's IntelliPdM predictive maintenance system achieves 93-95% fault detection accuracy. NVIDIA's Vera Rubin architecture targets edge inference at scale. The economics are clear: running AI inference at the edge costs 60-80% less than cloud round-trips for latency-sensitive industrial applications.
Google absorbed Intrinsic, its industrial robotics subsidiary, back into the core company on February 25. Previously an Alphabet 'Other Bets' moonshot, Intrinsic now gets direct access to Gemini foundation models, Google Cloud infrastructure, and a Foxconn joint venture. The Flowstate platform and Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 model represent Google's bet that AI-powered industrial automation is no longer experimental — it's a core business.
Siemens announced that its Industrial Copilot is evolving from an AI assistant into an autonomous execution platform with a third-party agent marketplace. AI agents can now autonomously execute PLC programming, quality inspection adjustments, and energy optimization across Siemens' industrial stack without human confirmation for pre-approved actions.
Eseye CEO Nick Earle declared a 'Great IoT Re-Alignment' at MWC 2026, arguing that the convergence of AI and IoT into sentient AIoT devices demands managed connectivity over DIY approaches. With autonomous devices making real-time decisions at the edge, connectivity failures become operational failures, not just IT inconveniences.
Honeywell and Tata Consultancy Services announced a strategic partnership to build unified OT/IT platforms for industrial enterprises. The joint solution combines Honeywell Forge's operational technology stack with TCS's enterprise IT integration capabilities to create single-pane autonomous operations across manufacturing, energy, and logistics.
At Cisco Live EMEA 2026, Cisco announced AgenticOps extensions for air-gapped and limited-connectivity industrial environments. AI agents can now operate on factory floors and critical infrastructure networks that cannot connect to the public cloud, using on-premises inference and local decision loops.
IoT Analytics projects the enterprise IoT platform market will hit $324 billion by 2029, growing at 30% CAGR. The shift: enterprises are moving from monitoring dashboards to autonomous operations where AI agents act on sensor data in real time without human intervention. The dashboard era is ending.