Who is Building the Best Central Nervous System?
HP, IBM and Pachube are all platform companies to watch when it comes to Internet of Things. In upcoming posts, we will look at some products being developed on these platforms.
Let us know in the comments what you think about the three platforms profiled here. Do you think any one of these Internet of Things platforms is poised to be a big winner, or is there another one that we didn't mention which you think has potential?
The above question is from RWW's recent article profile the three noted emerging systems.
I haven't done enough thinking on it, but the question initially reminds me of the way mobile telecommunication networks developed in the US (as compared to the way they developed in Asia, where they've been lightyears ahead of the west regarding mobile).
Here's the 3rd grade level explanation:
American economies are exceedingly good at empowering individual actors through the forces of competition. In many cases this is a good dynamic; in many cases each individual actor (lets say there are 3 of them) in a particular industry system (and their customers) stands to do better off in the long term if pressured by the others to build a better product.
This model fails when it comes to building networked infrastructures. Each AT&T and each Verizon and each Sprint that works to build it's own network at the cost of the others detracts from the potential network effects that a robust and effective system requires.
For the sake of argument I've simplified greatly, of course, but my initial wonder is if the same thing isn't happening between HP and IBM? Pachube stands out to me because it's really just a simple platform that organizes users - there's no attempt here to "build a better network."
