Abundant IoT, Advisors Tackle the eIoT Opportunity
CEO Vince Bradley said partners are tapping into eIoT and ESG trends to move up-market with new customers.
![Smart City, IoT Network Smart City, IoT Network](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/bltd80b0d3b6985a74e/652407281739893c6fe58bfe/Smart-City-IoT-Network-2018.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
The fifth generation of wireless communications technology – 5G – will be the backbone of IoT. 5G is all about faster speeds and low-latency networks. What does this mean for businesses? According to AT&T, it’s about speed, low latency and more — it’s the ability to support the connection of many more devices, and an increase in energy efficiency of the network elements. When talking about IoT, talking about 5G alone doesn’t go far enough — you also have to talk about low-power, narrow-band networks, also referred to as (LPWAN). This year a number of carriers announced they’ll be launching their own LPWANs. In June, AT&T, for example, said that next year it will launch NarrowBand Internet of Things (NB-IoT) to meet the growing needs of business customers for a wide range of IoT solutions. NB-IoT technology complements the carrier’s existing LTE-M network in the U.S. and Mexico. AT&T’s investment in NB-IoT and LTE-M will be future-ready and is expected to become part of the industry’s massive IoT standards. Verizon also announced plans for a NB-IoT network while T-Mobile this year launched its US NB-IoT network. There are at least one-dozen carriers worldwide that also have NB-IoT on their agenda. “There’s a part of this transformation [from currently LTE to future 5G] that’s not just about speed, but having these low power wide-area networks that are slower in speed,” said Mobeen Khan, AVP, IoT products, marketing and management, AT&T. “It’s because of the way they’re built, which allows devices that connect to the network to be able to last a long time on the battery charge, be able to communicate in harsher settings, be able to have a smaller device footprint, and be able to be lower cost than LTE devices.” This opens the potential for a slew of use cases.Shutterstock
Vince Bradley, the architect of California-based tech services distributor WTG, founded Abundant IoT three years after selling his company to AppDirect.
Bradley said the prospect of founding a provider had piqued its entrepreneurial interests.
“I wanted to do the provider motion. That’s the one thing I had not done yet. I also hadn’t done IoT and wanted to do that as well,” he told Channel Futures.
And the pivot to the vendor/supplier space came with its challenges, he said.
“This was a new journey. We had to go in and get all of the things we need to do, the licensing, the registration of systems, the billing platforms, the tax, all that stuff,” he said.
Although Bradley’s former stint at WTG put him firmly in the technology services distributor (TSD) space, it would be a misconception to label his new venture a TSD. Although the company does run wholesale agreements with several IoT marketplaces agreements and sells completely through partners, Abundant also operates in a provider motion. It integrates its suppliers’ technologies into customized solutions, which it delivers to end users in a hands-on fashion.
That means stocking long-Fi gateways, antennae and other pieces of equipment to make its Helium gateways possible, Bradley said.
“We are a provider and a distributor. We are both. We are a provider in terms of the fact that we bill IoT sensors and gateways. We basically orchestrate business ecosystems,” he said.
Bradley said he aims to get partners to see the internet of things as much more than mobility, and much more than sensors.
“There are a lot of providers out there that can do sensors. That’s like table stakes for IoT,” he told Channel Futures.
Bradley said that while 40% of the total addressable market in IoT falls in mobility, a strong 30% lands in energy. Abundant IoT is branding itself as an energy internet of things (eIoT) provider in order to address a huge gap Bradley sees on the energy side.
“Why is no one paying attention to energy as part of IoT? That is exactly what we’re doing. We’re focusing on the integration of energy services into the IoT ecosystem,” Bradley said.
“For example, LED lighting, HVAC, air filtration, solar; it all has sensors. Why not put it into the same ecosystem rather than having a disparate IoT and energy network? Why not have one network?”
For Bradley and Abundant, eIoT fits into a larger market opportunity: environmental and social governance (ESG) initiatives.
One may dismiss talk of corporate sustainability as an afterthought, but Bradley said ESG efforts are going to differentiate companies in the future.
“Everyone’s going to have a carbon footprint. Just like you have a DNB score, you’re now going to have a carbon rating,” he said.
Bradley said investors will pay careful attention to ESG.
“If someone has a low or no ESG score, versus someone who has a very high ESG score, an investor is going to go to that person who has the highest ESG score. This is happening, and enterprises are all on this journey right now,” he said.
Bradley said Abundant IoT aims to turn its sales partners into experts in all things eIoT. That includes educating them on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to position them as experts on topics like electric vehicles, solar energy and LED.
Bradley called his company a “trojan horse” for enterprise accounts. He said some technology advisors are using ESG as the tip of the spear for customer accounts.
“They went in with IoT, and they talked about ESG. And because of that, it opened up connectivity opportunities for them as well,” he told Channel Futures. “That has happened several times. ESG is is sales enablement.”
Bradley said Abundant IoT has turned its focus to the enterprise and midmarket.
“I’m not trying to say we won’t do business with SMB. We do. It’s just that we’re getting into these huge customers, and our funnel is filling with enterprise customers. We’re going to focus on them; it’s a very up-market play,” he said.
Approximately 75 people attended Abundant IoT’s kickoff event, held last week. Thursday began with an education session.
Strategy of Things, pictured above, took partners through a session on smart cities and IoT strategy.
The education sessions touched on different eIoT technologies, including blockchain/decentralized storage.
Abundant IoT also conducted a tour of its eIoT demo site, where it has deployed technologies like a solar/micro grid and a harmonic filter.
A panel of experts featured (from left to right) Adam Lesh of The Maker Foundry speaking on blockhain, Renil Paramel of Strategy of Things speaking on IoT and smar cities, Emmet Tydings of Abundant IoT speaking on energy, and Michael Fair of PiKNiK speaking on decentralized storage.
Abundant IoT treated partners to a reception after the education.
Abundant IoT treated partners to a reception after the education.
Vince Bradley says partners can turn to energy internet of things (eIoT) as a strategic entry point into enterprise customers.
Bradley in 2021 founded Abundant IoT, a distributor and provider that integrates energy services into the IoT ecosystem. He did so in part to capitalize on the growing trend of environmental and social governance (ESG) initiatives that he sees growing in priority among enterprise buyers.
And for the agents, MSPs, TSDs and other partner types that sell on behalf Abundant IoT, he says delivering eIoT as a response to ESG questions could help partners grow in their influence with customers.
WTG’s Vince Bradley
“What we’re essentially doing is saying, ‘Hey y’all, you’ve done telecom and cloud. Now we’re getting into energy, IoT and blockchain.’ That’s essentially what our motion is right now,” Bradley told Channel Futures. “Advisors are upselling our services into their existing relationships.”
And Bradley said technology is tapping into the new motion to move up-market with new customers.
“We’re getting into big customers right now,” said Bradley. “That’s my favorite part of this. We’re knocking on the door with ESG and eIoT, and people love it.”
Bradley spoke to Channel Futures about eIoT, ESG and the opportunity they present for the technology advisor audience. The nine images above detail that conversation and include pictures from Abundant IoT’s recent kickoff event.
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