HCL unveils IoT COLLAB innovation labs in Noida and Seatlle in US

With the aim of accelerating development and deployment of Internet of Things (IoT), software major HCL Technologies on Thursday announced the launch of IoT innovation labs in Noida and the US city of Seattle.

Called IoT COLLAB, each centre serves as a collaborative incubation lab that lets Fortune 500 companies accelerate IoT initiatives by bringing together technology experts, partners, financial advisors, and other relevant IoT stakeholders, HCL said in a statement.

Innovation labs, such as HCL's IoT COLLAB, help organisations develop a roadmap to graduate into pilot stage and eventually to full-scale deployment of IoT to take advantage of what is expected to be a $1 trillion market opportunity by 2021.

"IoT needs a mix of existing and emerging technologies, systems, and standards that are constantly evolving, making the IoT solution implementation process difficult for companies," said Sukamal Banerjee, Corporate Vice President and Global Head of HCL's IoT business unit.

"Our vision for IoT COLLAB is to help businesses transform into true 21st century enterprises by co-creating their transformation blueprint and execute it with award-winning IoT-led solutions and leveraging our expertise to bring them to reality," Banerjee said.

A survey sponsored by HCL Technologies last year found that 82 per cent of organisations embracing IoT believe they have a stronger place in the market.

However, half of the companies surveyed said that they were behind in their IoT implementation plans, with 43 per cent saying that if they fall behind with IoT their customers would suffer.

IoT COLLAB, HCL said, was established to address this void in the market.

Collaborative efforts already underway include solutions for predictive maintenance, cold-chain logistics and specialised asset tracking in the aerospace, manufacturing, and medical technology market segments, the company said.