Following the "Unlocking the Potential of the Internet of People, Things and Services" conference, thyssenkrupp along with other experts such as Hewlett-Packard, Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) and the GSM association, highlighted the role of connected devices in sharing information. Isabel González, thyssenkrupp Elevator Project Director said: "By 2020, 50 billion units will be connected to 7.6 billion people; which equals 6.58 units per person. This trend will mean that billions of people, devices and services can exchange information about themselves and their environment."
With regard to its various solutions for digitizing urban mobility and modernizing the elevator industry, which has remained virtually without any major change over the last 150 years, Isabel González explained: "Products like the accelerating transport solution ACCEL, the rope-less elevator system MULTI or our Microsoft Azure IoT-based predictive maintenance solution MAX, along with mixed reality experience from Microsoft HoloLens, make a great contribution to the design of Smart Cities, which present new demands and challenges that the sector must face."
The launch of HoloLens and MAX is timely given that global revenues from elevator-related services are forecast to rise 4.9 percent per annum through 2019 to around €50 bn[1].
Ignasi Oliver, director of superstructures’ maintenance at Metropolitan Transport of Barcelona, said that TMB's commitment to thyssenkrupp's products reflects the need "to find the right partner with whom to develop solutions for the best efficiency of a metro network with 385 million trips a year.”
The conference also addressed the new challenges faced with the application of IoT technology, such as security, trust and privacy, all of which have a very real impact on city models. In this regard, the congress was attended by Jung Hoon Lee, a well-known hacker who has helped various companies improve their search engine cyber security through the detection of weaknesses.
For further information:
MAX: https://max.thyssenkrupp-elevator.com/
ACCEL: http://accel.thyssenkrupp-elevator.com/
MULTI: https://multi.thyssenkrupp-elevator.com/en/
HoloLens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OWhGiyR4Ns
[1] Freedonia Group, Inc. World Elevators Industry Study October 2015. Service figures include the initial installation of new units as well as maintenance, repair, and modernization of existing units.