INTRODUCTION
For product manufacturers (OEMs), there has never been a greater need or opportunity to connect their products to the Internet.
As Figure 1 shows, a product that is not connected stands or falls by the product offering itself. That offering cannot generate data for new services or be updated with new software features, so will quickly lose its competitive position in the market compared with others that are connected and can do these things. More than this, an unconnected product cannot be remotely maintained either and its performance in the field cannot be checked. The total value of an unconnected product resides in the product itself, whereas the total value of a connected product includes both the product and all the services created by it being connected.
