Hitachi has formed Hitachi Insight Group, a new company that will spearhead the company’s unified Internet of Things business globally. It claims that the global IoT market generated about $5.4bn in 2015 and it wants to play a significant role in the market in the coming years.
Hitachi Insight Group will be headed by Keiji Kojima, who is Hitachi senior vice president and executive officer and services & platforms business. It will be located in Santa Clara, California, US.
The new unit will look to capture a larger share in the IoT market which is estimated by IDC to be worth $1.46 trillion in the year 2020.
The Japanese company is already collaborating with companies such as AT&T, Eurotech, Intel, Microsoft, PTC and SAP to become a global leader in enterprise and industrial IoT markets.
IDC enterprise systems senior vice president and IoT research fellow Vernon Turner said: "The greatest opportunity for IoT lies in the enterprise, industrial and public sector markets, which stand to benefit significantly from digital transformation.
"Although the market is still nascent, digitalisation is already disrupting traditional product-based business models, driving demand for solutions and an everything-as-a-service approach.
"Few companies possess the expertise and breadth of resources required to deliver IoT solutions and services, and drive real business value at scale.
"With today’s announcements, Hitachi is making good progress toward positioning itself to be one of the few likely IoT powerhouses as the market shakes out."
The new company, Hitachi Insight Group wants to focus in four key market segments which include Smart City, Smart Energy, Smart Healthcare and Smart Industry.
To achieve progress in these areas, Hitachi says that it will collaborate with its own group of companies like Hitachi Data Systems, Hitachi Consulting among others to deliver innovative solutions.
Keiji Kojima said: "Through the formation of Hitachi Insight Group and the Lumada IoT core platform we will provide Hitachi’s customers and partners with the fastest and simplest path to develop and deploy comprehensive digital solutions at scale.
"It is a profound honor to lead this elite team in accelerating Hitachi’s global IoT business through the creation of digital solutions and services."
Hitachi Insight Group, as its first move, introduced Lumada, a core IoT platform that integrates technologies across Hitach’s portfolio.
It says that Lumada is a comprehensive, enterprise-grade IoT core platform with open and adaptable architecture that simplifies creation and customisation of IoT solutions.
Hitachi’s IoT portfolio already includes services and solutions for public safety, City Data Exchange for smart city, renewable and sustainable energy, intelligent transportation, precision agriculture and manufacturing, water treatment and building systems, sustainable mining.
Hitachi Insight Group plans to collaborate with Hitachi’s IoT ecosystem partners to co-develop new offerings on the Lumada platform.
