Michael Karlsen, Co-Founder of Onomondo, and Rasmus Jensen, the company’s newly-appointed CEO, shared their insights on the challenges and future of IoT deployments.
“IoT is still not one of these sort of seamless ecosystems that sort of integrate well between the different technology elements,” Karlsen stated.
Karlsen emphasised the importance of integrating the three pillars of an IoT solution: hardware, connectivity, and cloud. Onomondo aims to bridge the gaps between these pillars, moving beyond traditional connectivity to become a “technology play to make these borders or barriers go away.”
This approach seeks to address the issue of siloed solutions, where connectivity is often an afterthought. Onomondo advocates for “intelligent connectivity” to seamlessly integrate these elements.
Reflecting on the initial hype surrounding IoT, Karlsen noted the discrepancy between early predictions and reality. “The traditional view was that this was supposed to be 20 billion devices in 2020. What happened?”
Karlsen attributed this partly to the shift from consumer-focused IoT, like smart fridges, to “behind the scenes industrial digitisation.” He also points out that IoT scalability has been hindered by its reliance on hardware, unlike the internet’s software-driven scalability. Onomondo aims to address this by taking “a more software based approach” to IoT complexities.
Bridging the legacy gap and learning from experience
One of the most difficult challenges in IoT is integrating it into legacy systems. Karlsen used examples like Carlsberg and Maersk to illustrate how Onomondo helps bridge this gap. He explained the difficulty of ensuring older hardware can connect to modern cloud solutions and the challenge of future-proofing devices.
Onomondo positions itself as the “glue between the hardware” and the cloud. This enables Onomondo to act as a “Google Translate layer” between old and new architectures, facilitating the onboarding and simplification of IoT devices into modern cloud solutions. This approach also relieves device manufacturers of the “impossible engineering task” of predicting future cloud requirements.
“That sort of tends to create this chasm of either you over-spec your devices to cater to future cloud functionality, or you under-spec them and you either run a risk of security risk, or whatever it might be, or you have to maintain multiple systems for multiple generations of devices,” explains Karlsen.
Karlsen identified several prevalent errors in IoT implementation, with one key issue being the perception of connectivity as an afterthought. He stressed that connectivity should be integrated into the design process from the outset to maximise its vital and scalable role in the solution.
There’s also the fact that many companies are now more experienced with IoT deployments, having gone through initial attempts. This growing experience helps temper overoptimistic business cases and better prepare for the realities of large-scale physical deployments.
The role of IoT partnerships and a renewed vision for Onomondo
Partnerships are crucial to Onomondo’s strategy. Karlsen believes that partnerships are “a vital part” of the company’s success and the broader movement to create a more integrated IoT industry.
Onomondo fosters partnerships with module makers, cloud vendors, and MNOs (Mobile Network Operators) to orchestrate seamless connectivity between devices, networks, and clouds. Karlsen sees Onomondo as an “orchestrator” that enables any device to communicate through any network to any cloud.
Rasmus Jensen, Onomondo’s newly-appointed CEO, discussed his plans to ensure Onomondo’s continued upscaling, growth, and expansion. He acknowledged the company’s strong vision, established by co-founders Michael Karlsen and Henrik Aagaard, and aims to “move the goalpost” for IoT even further.
Jensen says his focus is on matching the company’s growth and thriving with its continued expansion. He plans to bridge the long-term strategic vision with the short-term management and building of a robust organisation.
Drawing on his experience in scaling up companies, Jensen says that he assesses potential based on the size of the total addressable market, the technology’s differentiation, and the strength of the team. He believes the IoT market has a massive total addressable market, even independent of the industry’s inherent growth.
Jensen says Onomondo’s differentiating technology and the willingness of the founding team, including Karlsen, to take on new roles, were key factors in his decision to join and lead the company on to new heights.
“Having met several scale ups in my experience …. finding a founding team that are, in this case, like Michael, willing to kind of not necessarily step aside, but take a new role and look ahead. It’s not easy to do that, but it does hold a lot of opportunities,” explains Jensen.
Addressing security and embracing emerging trends
As an industry, the IoT has faced no shortage of high-profile security and data privacy breaches.
Karlsen acknowledged the maturity journey of IoT and the security challenges that have arisen. He reiterated the issue of the “weakest link in the chain,” where traditional designs place security responsibility on the hardware.
Onomondo, for its part, aims to mitigate these risks by playing an active role in ensuring compliance with cloud security requirements—allowing these requirements to evolve without being constrained by the hardware.
Emerging trends such as AI-driven edge computing, 5G standalone networks, and sustainability demands are changing the IoT landscape. However, Karlsen noted the tendency for the IoT and broader telecoms industry to focus on the “next big thing.”
While acknowledging the relevance of these technologies for specific use cases, he emphasised the value of the stable and scalable foundation of existing cellular and network technologies. He advocated for active consideration of the relevance and placement of these emerging technologies – such as edge AI, 5G, and private networks – to maximise their value.
Onomondo is focusing on overcoming the fundamental challenges in IoT by fostering partnerships, bridging technological silos, and prioritising intelligent connectivity to drive the industry forward. The vision set out by the company’s founders – advanced with the fresh leadership of Jensen – could go a long way towards finally realising the IoT’s full potential.
Want to learn about the IoT from industry leaders? Check out IoT Tech Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Cyber Security & Cloud Expo, AI & Big Data Expo, Intelligent Automation Conference, Edge Computing Expo, and Digital Transformation Week.
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