We’re big fans of the HQ enterprise, and were glad to finally bring the IoT party to Greensboro. Despite the drizzle, a solid crowd of 125 attended RIoT VIII to hear “Use Cases in IoT”. Another strong company with a Greensboro HQ (headquarters), Qorvo, came out in force. One week after delivering a presentation in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress, Eric Creviston gave one of the best RIoT keynotes to an engaged audience. FYI – here’s their President of Mobile Products. He was gracious with both his time and his content, sharing an insider’s view into how they view the IoT market.
One of the best moments of the night was Eric’s comment about understanding the entire value chain. Qorvo foresaw the coming wave of M2M communications, built out an infrastructure to handle it, but then couldn’t bend the mobile carriers to their will. The carriers focused on “average revenue per user”. In their minds, deploying cheap, affordable M2M solutions meant angering shareholders. Eventually the carriers began to come around.
Next up was a panel discussion, moderated by Triad angel investor Troy Knauss. Panelists included representatives from both Triangle and Triad IoT companies. Topics ranges from security, 2G, and how use cases in the developing world differ from the developed world.
Pair this great content with a taco bar, a couple of Yuengling kegs, and the now-expected RIoT camaraderie, and the evening was a hit.