5 New Tools Partners Will See From SAP's Blockbuster $2.2 Billion IoT Investment

SAP Sharpens IoT Focus

Walldorf, Germany-based SAP is quickening its charge into the Internet of Things market, saying Wednesday it will invest $2.2 billion in the next five years to accelerate its IoT solution portfolio.

"With billions of connected devices, we now have the potential to reshape society, the economy and the environment," said Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, in a statement. "SAP HANA is the data platform we knew would unlock the Internet of Things. Today SAP is making another bold investment to help our customers seize the benefits of live business. Only SAP empowers businesses to innovate from the core to the edges to the networks."

Following are five ways that SAP is deepening its IoT focus.

Jumpstart Package

SAP launched two IoT solution packages for particular industries to accelerate customers' digital business strategies. One of these, the Jumpstart package, enables enterprises to monitor equipment and analyze data operations.

This package is designed to initiate operational and business system connectivity as a foundation to keep tabs on equipment effectiveness and provides insight into shop floor operations.

Accelerator Package

In addition to the Jumpstart package, SAP also introduced another industrial solution package for companies further along in their IoT capabilities.

The Accelerator package adds automated capabilities to existing connected systems by supporting manufacturing planning and execution, performance analytics and advanced plant maintenance.

According to SAP, both packages complement the SAP Distributed Manufacturing application for additive manufacturing 3-D printing services.

Advanced Package

SAP said it will offer a third industry solution package that it plans to introduce "at a later date." The Advanced package will provide advanced manufacturing insight and controls, machine-learning functionality and predictive analysis for quality and maintenance operations.

The company also said it is planning IoT package solutions to address the unique digital operations of cities, agriculture and energy industries.

New Development Labs

As part of its IoT drive, SAP said it will build out global IoT development labs to better collaborate with partners and startups. These labs will be "lighthouse locations" for IoT research, development, and proof-of-concept modeling. These labs will also provide partners with access to interactive demos of IoT-related technology including autonomous systems, like drones and robotics, IoT security, machine learning and 3-D printing.

SAP said it is planning to establish development lab locations in Berlin, Johannesburg, Munich, Palo Alto, Sao Leopoldo and Shanghai.

PLAT.ONE Acquisition

SAP has also marked the start of its IoT investment with the acquisition of PLAT.ONE, an Italian-based enterprise-grade IoT provider that simplifies the process of creating, deploying and managing complex IoT solutions.

SAP said PLAT.ONE's expertise is essential to benefit its SAP HANA Cloud platform, with new capabilities like advanced life-cycle management for IoT devices, broad device connectivity, and rapid development tools for IoT applications.