The global ecosystems of SigFox, a France-based provider of IoT services, can serve as the platform for Taiwan IoT hardware makers to access international markets, according to Robin Chen, managing director at UnaBiz Taiwan, which operates the country's first nationwide public SigFox low-power wide-area network (LPWAN).Chen said that as an exclusive Sigfox network operator (SNO), his company is responsible for establishing SigFox base stations in Taiwan, allowing local firms to complete IoT systems by only installing terminal sensors instead of having to invest in related equipment.Chen continued that any exclusive SNO in a given area is just like a platform for developers of terminal sensors and other IoT devices to quickly venture their products into international markets.Meanwhile, SigFox's upstream technology IPs are licensed to related makers free of charge, allowing them to develop chips meeting SigFox protocols. Among the makers in Taiwan are Lite-On Technology, Jorjin Technologies, M2COMM and InnoComm Mobile Technology, according to Philippe Tzou, ecosystem director at UnaBiz Taiwan.Tzou said that SigFox base stations in Taiwan now boast service coverage of up to 95% of the country's population, suitable for smart city and large-area IoT infrastructure applications.In terms of infrastructure applications, Tzou continued, UnaBiz has cooperated with China Airlines (CAL), utilizing LPWAN to track ground-servicing equipment.As to smart city application, SigFox LPWAN can be utilized to monitor roadside car parking, tilting of buildings, and safety of pedestrians, among others, Tzou indicated.

The just-concluded 2018 Advantech IoT Co-Creation Summit held in Suzhou, China highlighted the top IPC vendor's roadmap for developing IoT solutions and services in cooperation with global partners, in tune with the forum's theme of "co-creation." And the sheer size of the event showed Advantech's determination to embrace the challenges of the IoT era.The event proved quite a success, as it gathered more than 5,000 business partners, media representatives and venture capitalists, according to Advantech chairman KC Liu, who along with other company executives, including board executive director Chaney Ho and president Eric Chen, demonstrated what "co-creation" means.Advantech believes that the thriving IoT market provides immense and multiple business opportunities that are ubiquitous and growing fast, and new business models beyond the traditional "design-win" model are required to secure a preemptive presence in the space. Accordingly, Advantech adopts the strategy of soliciting more partners to develop vertical markets. It will provide partners with cross-domain and cross-platform service solutions integrating software and hardware to co-create business opportunities and achieve a win-win scenario.Cooperation with 20 DFSI partnersAt the event, Advantech signed cooperation contracts with 20 domain-focused system integrators (DFSI) in China, which can offer customized domain-oriented solutions in their respective dedicated fields of smart manufacturing, smart city, information security, mobility and smart healthcare. The company plans to build business ties with 50 more DFSI partners in 2019 and then pursue an annual increase of 20 such firms from 2020 on.In his briefing, Advantech CTO Allan Yang said that as IoT services are still short of standard solutions, intermediary service platform will play a crucial role in this regard. Yang highlighted the importance of Advantech's WISE-PaaS (platform as a service) architecture, which can serve as an intermediary platform between a data platform and application end to provide an easier access for customers and allow them to pay only for use.Advantech has managed to sustain healthy revenue growths and high gross margins over the past few years. The company saw its revenues for 2017 surge 12% on year to US$1.455 billion, and its revenues for the first three quarters of 2018 expand 14% on year to US$1.213 billion, which is expected to soar further to US$1.6 billion for the whole 2018. The firm's average annual revenue growth will hit a high of 11.5% during 2010-2018, with its gross margins lingering at a high level of 38-39%. High gross margins have enabled Advantech to step up business upgrades and transformations and enhance deployments in the IoT space.Operation strategy for 2019When it comes to operation strategy for 2019, Advantech will focus on consolidating its manufacturing systems, tapping edge-computing business opportunities and promoting localized production and services worldwide.Advantech president Eric Chen pointed out that in order to render better services to customers in Japan, the company has acquired a 80% stake in Japan-based ORMON Nohgata, a specialist in embedded computing systems, and both sides will also enhance cooperation in IoT platform services.Advantech has also shown high regard for multiple manufacturing systems at its plants. The firm's board executive director Chaney Ho noted that Advantech's robust capability of handling small volume production of a variety of products has helped to maintain the firm's gross margins at a certain level despite the shortfall of components. In 2017, Ho continued, the firm's plant in Kunshan, China, managed to boost its per capita production value by 16.9% and cut power consumption by 7.8% while slashing its workforce by 2.2%.Marketwise, Advantech has seen 78% of its revenues coming from Europe, North America and Greater China, with North America contributing 27.1% and greater China 32% (including 25% from China and 7% from Taiwan).To mitigate the impact of US-China trade rows, Advantech China general manager Paul Luo said that his company will continue soliciting more DFSI partners in smart manufacturing or smart city sector, adding that Advantech has developed a set of mechanism to sort out reliable partners and provide different cooperation packages in accordance with their professional competences and financial conditions.Globalization 3.0In terms of localized production, Ho said that the de-globalization trend is emerging, but the globalization trend is yet to subside, with Globalization 3.0 gaining momentum in 2018, which highlights localization, differentiation and customization services and requires more production foothold worldwide.At the summit, Advantech also releases its revenue goal of US$2.3 billion for 2021, including US$2.0 billion from traditional industry-control, automotive electronics, and built-in hardware sectors, US$170 million from WISE-PaaS systems and US$130 million from cloud SRP and WISE-PaaS cloud services.Bold movesIt is never easy to arrange such a big event, and Taiwan's ICT firms have rarely held events of such a big scale as Advantech's. The business opportunities are there, and different firms may take different approaches to seize those opportunities. Taiwan's ICT firms have been typically timid in the face of opportunites, but this time maybe they should stake bolder steps.Advantech chairman KC LiuAdvantech board executive director Chaney HoAdvantech president Eric Chen2018 Advantech IoT Co-Creation SummitPhotos: Company

Rapidly developing smart retail will see three major trends in 2019, including an emphasis on the human side of business, according to CC Liu, secretary general of Asia AIoT Alliance.Liu stressed that tech development originates from human nature, with all tech designs aimed at providing consumers with greater convenience. Accordingly designers must grasp users' situations well to provide better services. He continued that Amazon unmanned stores, for instance, allow consumers to take things from the store without having to pay at the counter.The second trend is creating more convenient UI (user interface) and more friendly UX (user experience) to facilitate purchases, Liu said, adding that based on consumer psychology, consuming is quite an impulsive behavior and therefore how to shorten the transaction process will be crucial for further upgrades in smart retail operations.The third trend is that smart retail will entail AI as the core. Liu said that AI is not almighty but serve as a helper to decision making. AI can be utilized to analyze big data to provide references for managers in handling distribution, pricing, marketing and new product development, while also further predicting market trends and facilitating customized services, according to Liu.Asia AIoT Alliance Secretary General CC LiuPhoto: Yihan Li, Digitimes, November 2018

Taiwan's optoelectronics industry players must pursue the development of smart optoelectronics and leverage the prowess and advantages of the country's ICT industry to find a solid foothold in international optoelectronics supply chains, according to Kenneth Tai, chairman of Jasper Display based in Hsinchu, northern Taiwan.Tai made the remarks when speaking at a smart living and innovative design forum hosted on November 9 by the National Taipei University of Technology.Tai said that the Moore's Law has witnessed fast development of Taiwan's electronics industry over the past decades, but it has become invalid now. For instance, TSMC has seen the cost for unit-performance growth turn extremely high, indicating that the semiconductor industry must seek horizontal development and pursue cross-domain cooperation.Tai continued that LCD is a very special industry, boasting the highest growth in the short term but offering the lowest profitability. Its output value is relatively low compared to its consumption of Taiwan's resources, he said.LCD-related sectors may be on the decline, but Taiwan's LCD supply chain players still possess world-class capabilities and should march toward horizontal development and spur technology upgrades through applications, he commented.The optoelectronics industry involves highly complicated process engineering designs, but the incorporation of digital technology will alter the momentum of the industry. Software and algorithm can be combined to control every piece of mirror and simplify its overall structure to adjust the mirror location in accordance with diverse situations, so as to boost application flexibility. In line with the development of AI, optical education must also be changed, according to Tai.Jasper Display chairman Kenneth TaiPhoto: Yihan Li, Digitimes, November 2018

Based in the US with a branch in Taiwan, Toii is dedicated to creating brand-new gaming experience integrated with AR (augmented reality) and location-based service (LBS) and mobile gaming, according to company founder Allen Yu.Yu said that by leveraging the combination of gaming and LBS, his company has entered cooperation with Canal City Hakata in Japan. Under the cooperation, Toii has set six locations inside Canal City locations as gaming backdrops, and players have to use smartphones to spot the six locations after the GPS system zeros in on the places, so that they can pass all the levels to beat the game. This way, Canal City shopping mall can effectively increase visitor traffic at busy trading spots.Yu said that the technologies can also be applied to tourism for promotion. He said in designing gaming contents, important scenic spots can be incorporated into the levels in games, so as to better inspire players to visit the spots. In addition, backend system can also analyze the number of visitors to the spots in the games and build tourism data.Yu continued that feedback from and experience sharing among game players will serve as useful references for his company to improve the designs of movement lines of scenic spits and details of levels in next game.

Having ramped up their combined smartphone shipments by 6.5% on year to 192 million units in the third quarter of 2018, China-based vendors are likely to see a single-digit shipment decrease in the fourth quarter due to weakening demand in the domestic market and competition resulting from the availability of new iPhone devices, according to Digitimes Research.The on-year growth registered in the third quarter stemmed mainly from increased shipments from Huawei, which saw its overseas shipments expand seven million units on year in the quarter, buoyed by its strong deployment in the sub-EUR200 (US$229) segment in Europe, says Digitimes Research. Xiaomi still counted on overseas demand to drive its shipment growth in the third quarter, but the pace of the growth has subdued significantly as compared to the exponential expansion seen a year ago.Third and fourth ranked Oppo and Vivo, which have focused more on the domestic market, saw mostly flat shipment results in the third quarter as their market shares in the home market were eroded by increasing competition from Huawei and Xiaomi.Looking into the fourth quarter, Huawei and Xiaomi will continue to see their shipments grow slightly in the quarter, but shipments from Oppo and Vivo may drop by 5-7 million units each as compared to a year earlier, Digitimes Research estimates.

Worldwide notebook shipments are forecast to increase 2.8% sequentially to their highest levels for 2018 in the fourth quarter thanks to strong seasonal demand and improving Intel CPU supply, according to Digitimes Research.Despite the tight supply of Intel's mainstream and entry-level processors, worldwide notebook shipments still rose 4.8% sequentially and dropped less than 1% on year to arrive at around 40 million units due to rising Chromebook and gaming notebook sales, Digitimes Research's figures showed.Of the top-tier brand vendors, Hewlett-Packard (HP) will stay in the lead in the second half of 2018, although it saw shipments slip both on quarter and on year in the third quarter, affected by the CPU shortages and pressure from competitors. However, the US-based vendor's shipments will rebound in the fourth quarter benefiting from year-end holiday demand.Lenovo in second place officially merged Fujitsu's PC business into its notebook department in May, but the increased volumes from the acquisition are not sufficient for the China-based vendor to catch up with HP in the second half.Dell was in third place and is expected to see decreasing shipments in the fourth quarter as its performance in the consumer sector will be far weaker than its competitors. Apple's newly announced MacBook Air has been in mass production since September and is expected to see a wave of replacement demand despite its US$1,199 starting price, which is much higher than expected. The new notebook is expected to help Apple secure the fourth place.Acer is expected to achieve a better performance than Asustek Computer in the fourth quarter, widening the shipment gap between them.As for Taiwan ODMs, Quanta Computer will take back the leadership from Compal Electronics in the fourth quarter with orders for Apple's new MacBook Air.

Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) used VR technology to promote Taiwan-made machine tools at Japan International Machine Tool Fair (JIMTOF) in Tokyo during November 1-6.As about 80% of Taiwan's machine tool outout is for export, makers are keen to take part in overseas exhibitions. But transporting products to overseas exhibitions is costly.TAITRA set up a VR zone at JIMTOF and used VR video to introduce Taiwan-made machine tools not featured at JIMTOF. TAITRA did the same at the biennial EMO Hannover 2017 in Hannover, Germany.Taiwan-based machine tool maker Yeong Chin Machinery Industries had already used 1,200 VR-based 3D glasses to display information on its products for visitors at EMO Hannover 2005.3D VR software can also be used to educate buyers on how to use the tools before delivery.Visitors watch VR video about Taiwan-made machine tools at JIMTOFPhoto: TAITRA

IoT applications can provide fertile soil for incubating unicorn startups, as long as startups can find key solutions in the process of developing creative IoT devices to satisfy the needs of users, ramp up production in the short term and then develop economies of scale to pave the way for becoming unicorns, according to Hank Huang, professor and director of the Center of Industry Accelerator and Patent Strategy at National Chiao Tung University and concurrently chairman of the Chinese Business Incubation Association.Huang said most startups in Taiwan do not lack technology and creativeness amid the flourishing development of electronics manufacturing and semiconductor industries. But they have to address two major challenges. One is how to get a deep grasp of domain knowledge, and the other is that once startups are able to ramp up production of their creative products, how they can integrate financial and marketing resources available at home and abroad to multiply their operation effects.Huang also noted that the effect of IoT applications to factory automation is easily visible, as the applications are mostly focused on saving energy and increasing production efficiency. But IoT applications will see a significant upgrade after incorporating AI-based smart recognition technology at edge computing nodes, with driverless vehicles and smart surveillance systems, in particular, to get a fresh development scenario.He continued that 5G wireless communication will enable self-driving vehicles and other devices to improve smart application quality through low latency and direct networking, making the combination of IoT, AI and 5G an inevitable development trend.At the moment, many universities and colleges in Taiwan have set up startup incubation centers and accelerator systems to help pave the way for students interested in creating startups after graduation. And Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology has set a goal of developing at least 100 startups in the fields of AI and software by providing funds and resources, according to Huang.

Mechanical motion control component and industrial robot maker Hiwin Technologies is exhibiting its smart ball screws at Japan International Machine Tool Fair (JIMTOF) 2018 in Tokyo during November 1-6.With product development beginning 10 years ago, Hiwin is globally the first to offer smart ball screws, company chairman Eric Chuo said at the fair. In machine tools and general machines, ball screws are used in motion transmission and precise positioning.Smart ball screws are equipped with sensors to detect signals concerning physical properties of ball screws in operation, mainly service life, abnormal vibration, lubrication and rise in temperature, and such signals are analyzed by AI (artificial intelligence)-based modules built in industrial PCs for cloud-based visualized display to remotely monitor many machines simultaneously.Detection of signals regarding service life enables maintenance personnel to know the appropriate time for replacing worn ball screws in advance, while that regarding abnormal vibration gives early warning about functional failure in machines which may result in sharp decreases in yield rate. Detection of signals concerning lubrication is to automatically indicate the appropriate time to adjust operating frequency for replenishing lubricating oil flexibly in order to minimize cost for lubricating oil. Detection of signals regarding rise in temperature gives warning for too high temperature for controlling operating temperature with a normal range to avoid impact of much heat on the function of precise positioning.Hiwin plans to kick off production of smart ball screws in 2019, Chuo noted. Hiwin has entered the Japan market for 19 years and become the second largest supplier of ball screws, linear guideways and other motion control components, Chuo indicated.Hiwin chairman Eric Chuo at JIMTOFPhoto: Chloe Liao, Digitimes, November 2018