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Employee Spotlight: John Marchiando, VP of Business Development

John Marchiando joined Grid Connect as our VP of Business Development about 15 months ago. He spearheads the Internet of Things (IoT) developments in our company on sales/partnering level: continually looking for new companies to partner with and traveling with reps to meet potential customers. “I just love the overall culture,” says John about his experience at Grid Connect, “the only pressure in the job is what I put on myself.”

Data Analytics and the Internet of Things

One of the major promises that discussions of the Internet of Things (IoT) have put forward, is the advances to be made in consumer insight. The idea is that sensors and connected devices can send data on an open loop back to the manufacturer for analysis. This process would presumably secure many advances in a wide variety of things; not only would companies be able to understand their clients, but sensors may even be able to tell us more about the product in general. For example, pedometers on livestock have given scientists more knowledge about when cows are in heat, allowing for a 66% increase in insemination rates.

IoT Design Considerations: Network

Manufacturers have many hardware and software options when it comes to network technology for their IoT-enabled products. Some devices can be directly connected to the Internet using networking such as Ethernet and Wi-Fi, which are based on the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP), a set of communications protocols providing end-to-end connectivity. Other products may use wireless technologies; some of which include TCP/IP, but will require a “gateway,” or a “hub” to convert the chosen network to either Ethernet or Wi-Fi, such as ZigBee or Z-Wave.

Place Your Vote for Adam's Smart Home Panel at SxSW 2016!

Adam, as well as a few other big players in the smart home industry, have submitted a panel proposal for for the 2016 South by Southwest® Music, Film, and Interactive Conferences (SxSW) called "A smart house divided against itself cannot stand" and needs your vote!

Marketing and the Internet of Things

The Internet of Things (IoT) promotes the ability for marketers to engage with data on a level that has been unprecedented up until this point. Increased connectivity through devices will result in much more information about how the consumer relates to the product. The feedback will inevitably allow marketing departments to understand the relationships between customer and product more clearly, paving the way for more dynamic strategies. In the future, marketing campaigns will focus on individual customers’ buying habits, budgets and desires, making the buying process more streamlined.

APPNATION IoT Influencers Summit Panel: THE CONNECTED HOME – THE PLATFORM WARS

The connected home has emerged as an epic battleground for the consumer. Dozens of companies are vying to be the primary gateway and on-boarding point for the connected home and literally hundreds of hardware manufacturers and app developers are competing to capture our attention (and money) while we are in our connected homes. This session will dive-in to the broader connected home platform debate and discussion and the related app development and consumer engagement opportunities.

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