In the 1930s, back when a home radio was very expensive and not very reliable, Konosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic, purchased two key patents then promptly released them to the public domain to spur growth in that nascent market. Last month, in a similar move, Panasonic announced royalty-free access to software, patents and experience from its device-to-cloud software technology, currently employed in home monitoring systems, solar energy and in retail applications. It was a bold commitment to the Internet of Things (IoT). In reality the Panasonic has been quietly operating within the space for many years, according to its North American CTO.
"One thing I need to explain to people is that we're not just cameras and TVs," said Todd Rytting, Panasonic Corporation of North American Chief Technology Officer. "Most of the revenue—in fact 85 percent in the United States – comes from B2B sales. Panasonic is very much an IoT company."
IoT, Rytting said, is a new label that has been put on embedded systems. "I'm fine with latching onto the label and going with it, but realize it is an ongoing evolution rather than a revolution that just happened recently. Our experience and work in connection of things goes back to 1996-1997."
Consider commercial airplanes, in particular the diversity of infotainment options onboard today. Panasonic, building on its commercial radio experience, started in airplane audio systems, then produced digital displays. "What people don't understand," Rytting said, "is that we make the display, we make all the cable, we make the flight-qualified server, we make the antenna, and we manage all the entertainment communications for the plane, up to satellite, down to the ground, collect it all, and funnel it back to our control station in Lake Forrest. CA. We monitor the health of the entertainment system in every plane that is flying our equipment in real time – something like 3000 plus planes in the air at one time."
Panasonic collaborates worldwide with 275 airlines, working with each to customize their infotainment systems to their unique fleet, brand, operations, and business requirements. "The reason for [for the monitoring] is that the airline can do everything under their power correctly -- having their planes on time, the attendants polite, the food good -- but if people can't watch a movie on their twelve-hour flight across the ocean they are upset, they're angry, they're mad. They trust Pansonic to take care of that entire system for them, including the connectivity and getting the content where it belongs."
One immediate IoT spinoff from Panasonic's work with aviation industry is weather forecasting. A few years ago Panasonic bought AirDat, a company that makes weather sensors that capture information from the wing tips of the plane as it takes off and lands. Rytting said all the raw data is processed at a super-computer facility in Orlando, FL. "Because of the volume of data and because of our accuracy, our forecasts are an order of magnitude more accurate than the National Weather service," he said. "We provide that as a service to some of our airline customers and we'd like to investigate making that available for other industries. That Pansonic is into weather, well, it's a perfect fit after you understand the connected information part of it."
So given this rich history of device connectivity, Rytting said makes sense that Panasonic would give away the source code for some of its communications protocols. "The benefit we want to get out of it," he said, "is we want to be recognized as participating in the open source industry. When it comes to connecting devices we, of course, know that It's not just our devices that we want to connect to, it's going to be an ecosystem, and there's going to be bridging to all kinds of things we want to be connected to. That's the primary motivation for us announcing and releasing some of our technology."
IoT is a large canvas with several verticals. For example, Panasonic is working with the automotive industry on the connected car. The company also just bought ITC Global, a global satellite based communications provider, specializing in industries that have remote locations such as energy (oil and gas), maritime and mining markets. A good example of Panasonic's experience with connectivity and IoT can be found in its factory automation division. "We are a provider of the Pick and Place robotic teams that assemble circuit boards."
Perhaps the most exciting IoT initiative involves smart cities. In Japan, Panasonic is developing a smart city initiative in Yokohama, building on the success of a similar city in in Fujisawa. Both sites are former Panasonic factory sites, refurbished with energy-conservation technologies, residential, commercial, and R&D facilities. According to Panasonic representatives, the Yokohama site will open in 2018 and include a new Apple R&D center.
When asked how the US compares globally in terms of IoT adoption, Rytting said we enjoy many benefits. "In the US, we are ahead of the curve as far as the open standards initiative. Cyber security is better here than anywhere else on the planet. I believe that the technology base is more mature here than anywhere else."
Rytting admits the country some work yet to do. "Where we get slowed down is that we don't yet have a business model for home automation or home energy management other than if you want to build a multimillion dollar home and you can afford to invest 100K 200K into home theater and all that smart home stuff than comes with that. For Middle America it's difficult for people to justify spending $500 on a smart home energy management system when they're saving the cost of a pizza each month." He concluded, "I believe when that happens -- there are still a couple key parts that we're going to have to hit -- then I think we'll see more adoption here in the US."
This article has been updated to include clarification of ITC Global's markets.
