By Jerald Uy
The Internet of things or IoT has turned science fiction concepts into reality, and even helped Filipinos go through the onset of the pandemic such as remote readings of power and water meters.
At the time when less human contact was encouraged, the smart meters sent data to the internet so public utility companies did not have to send people anymore.
“It’s basically the next evolution of the Internet as we know it. Internet is all about the connecting people to each other,” said Arnold Bagabaldo, CEO and founder of Packetworx.
“IoT expands that to connect everything else — your environmental center, your weather station, your water meter, the security sensors in your house — all of that is considered Internet of Things, connecting everything else to the internet,” he explained.
The Philippines still has a long way to go to become an IoT juggernaut, but the Pasig-based startup is done with taking baby steps, taking a huge leap by hosting its first-ever Internet of Things Conference on June 26-28 from 8 am to 5 pm at the prestigious World Trade Center in Pasay City.
“It’s still nascent in the Philippines, but hopefully through the engagement with the different stakeholders, and the government, the academe, and the enterprises, we can increase awareness on how IoT can be used in enterprises and governments and cities, and accelerate, again, the growth of IoT in the country,” Bagabaldo said.
Internet of Things Conference 2023
The Internet of Things Conference 2023 hopes to spark meaningful conversations among thought leaders from various sectors, focusing on the adoption of IoT in enterprises and institutions, as well as the underlying technologies that drive its success.
Day 1 will tackle “Smart City and Agriculture”. There will be speakers coming from the Department of Information and Communications Technology, UN-Habitat Philippines, local government units of Legaspi City, Ormoc City, and Cagayan de Oro City; Future Gen International Pte Ltd, Console Connect, Aboitiz Data Innovation, Asian Institute of Artificial Intelligence, Geos, and Eastern Communications.
Day 2 will focus on “IoT for Utilities and Enterprises”. Participants include Semtech, Manila Water Total Solutions, CBRE, Clixlogic, Magnifi Machines, Actility, Converge, and Source Telecoms.
Day 3 will have discussions on “Data Analytics, Blockchain & IoT Technologies”. Speakers include representatives from the Analytics Association of the Philippines, Women in Blockchain, AWS User Group, PLDT, Arrow Electronics, RAK Wireless, and AIDT.
On top of the thought-provoking discussions, the three-day conference will also feature the exciting culmination of packetHACKS, a hackathon organized by Packetworx. This event invites students, professionals, and enthusiasts to showcase their IoT solutions, addressing critical social and economic challenges faced by industries today.
Why you should attend the IoT conference
These days, enterprises and government agencies cannot rely on guesswork any longer. Quoting Austrian-American consultant Peter Drucker, Balabago said “You cannot improve what you cannot measure, so IoT is part and partial of that.”
“If you cannot measure something, you cannot stand to improve upon it. You don’t have a baseline on how to do things,” he added. The CEO who has handled companies from telecom to business process outsourcing said that IoT contributes significantly to sustainability.
“In terms of sustainability and in terms of keeping our forests — making sure that we don’t emit more than the necessary pollution that we can emit, monitoring that is paramount,” he said.
With the rise of AI or artificial intelligence, Bagabaldo said that IoT is now an integral part of its function, connecting the data collected from the physical item to the AI.
“IoT is about bridging this physical source of information to the digital environment so that way AI can utilize this data,” he explained. “It will have the information to process so that way it can help ourselves our environment in terms of increasing our efficiency and productivity.”
Still, the enterprises, government, or the academe remain as the subject-matter expert. This is also what happens when Packetworx matches interns with enterprises and students doing their theses. “They become the business consultant or the business advisor. And Packetworkx becomes the technical advisor o how they can solve the problems of the enterprise,” he said.
Also a social enterprise, the IoT company allows the use of its facilities and equipment for students at the Packetworx Technology Hub in Pasig City.
Apart from awareness, among the challenges the IoT community needs to tackle is connectivity. Applying IoT on water meters, for example, requires a low-powered battery but has to last 15-16 years. It will also not run on Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) nor LTE 5G and Wi-FI.
“You cannot use Wi-Fi to connect that water meter. You’d need a different technology to connect that water meter and we call that LPWAN, low-powered wide area network; and that’s LPWAN is part and partial to the advancement of IoT,” Bagabaldo explained.
Such topics will be discussed with the great minds of both global and local IoT communities during the Internet of Things Conference 2023.
Packetworx hopes to accelerate the adoption of the IoT in the country with the upcoming summit. “Having more people attend and know about how IoT can help their various industries and various endeavors is enough for us,” he shared.
Join Packetworx at the Internet of Things Conference 2023 by clicking this link: https://iotconference.ph and be part of the IoT revolution that is transforming the Philippines into an IoT-competent nation.
