In a bet to bolster its Internet of Things (IoT) portfolio, enterprise software provider SAP has announced investment plans of $2.2 billion (€2 billion). As a part of the ambitious expansion, the European company has acquired Palo Alto-based PLAT.ONE–an IoT and machine to machine M2M application platform that provides application enablement, data and device management solutions—for an undisclosed sum.
Reportedly, SAP plans to use Plat.One to integrate key IoT capabilities into the SAP HANA Cloud Platform, such as device lifecycle management, broad device connectivity, and IoT edge capabilities.
Filippo Murroni, Founder and CTO, PLAT.ONE, commented:
“We are delighted to be part of SAP. We’ve done amazing things as a start-up and now we look forward to contributing strategically to a much larger business.”
Acquisition Appetite
The acquisition comes after the recent June buyout of Norwegian company, Fedem Technology to build build an end-to-end IoT solution in which a digital avatar inspects operating assets in industries through feeds from sensors, apparently without physical any inspections or site visits. It was followed by purchase of another Palo Alto headquartered company Altiscale to integrate its Big Data-as-a-Service (BDaaS) platform across the SAP portfolio.
The investment clearly denotes SAP’s plans to accelerate innovation in its IoT solutions and increase sales, marketing, service and support in growing its ecosystem of partners in the IoT market, which is estimated to reach $280.58 billion (€250 billion) by 2020.
Bill McDermott, CEO, SAP, was quoted saying:
“With billions of connected devices, we now have the potential to reshape society, the economy and the environment. SAP HANA is the data platform we knew would unlock the Internet of Things. Today SAP is making another bold investment to help our customers seize the benefits of live business. Only SAP empowers businesses to innovate from the core to the edges to the networks.”
Industry 4.0 Packages
Additionally, SAP is introducing Industry 4.0 packages namely ‘Jump-start’ and ‘accelerator’ that will feature IoT solutions to enable customers’ digital business strategies. The jump-start package is designed to initiate operational and business system connectivity, to monitor equipment effectiveness and provide insight into shop floor operations. While the accelerator package adds an automated manufacturing execution and control environment to it by considering performance analytics and advanced plant maintenance, claimed the company.
IoT Innovation Labs
The capital will also support SAP’s creation of IoT development labs around the world and the launch of a new product line, dubbed SAP IoT to help business and government entities leverage the power of sensors, smart devices and Big Data. Planned locations include Berlin, Johannesburg, Munich, Palo Alto, São Leopoldo and Shanghai.