U.S. organizations will invest more than $232 billion in IoT software, services and connectivity this year, said an IDC report Wednesday. IoT revenue is forecast to grow at a 16 percent compound annual rate from 2015 to 2019, to more than $357 billion, IDC said. Manufacturing and transportation industries lead IoT spending for the forecast period at $35.5 billion and $24.9 billion, while cross-industry investment will approach $31 billion this year. Manufacturing, freight monitoring and smart buildings lead projected use cases, it said.

The Senate Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security Subcommittee plans a Tuesday hearing on how the IoT and other technologies can improve transportation. Witnesses include Carlos Monje, Department of Transportation assistant secretary-transportation policy; Los Angeles DOT General Manager Seleta Reynolds; Jordan Kass, president-managed services for logistics firm C.H. Robinson; Intel General Manager Doug Davis; and Robert Edelstein, senior vice president of construction and management firm AECOM. The 10 a.m. hearing will be in 253 Russell. Meanwhile, the Information Technology Industry Council Tuesday said it plans to develop a national IoT strategy so ITI can help policymakers understand the societal and economic benefits from an estimated 30 billion devices that will be connected through the IoT by 2020 (see 1606210041).

CEATEC Japan, the annual consumer technology expo that has had declining attendance and exhibitor participation in recent years, will be “reborn” in 2016 as an IoT “venue,” promoters said in a Monday announcement. “IoT Town” will be a “special exhibit” at the 2016 show “to visualize and contribute to the creation of a future in which a connected society will benefit from the profound potential” of IoT, they said. Japan is “dealing with a myriad of social issues ranging from an aging population and low birth rate, environmental and energy issues, disaster prevention and safety to healthcare,” they said. “The question is how to enhance and manage society and the lives of its people in the face of such looming challenges. Cutting edge technologies will play a role in tackling these issues, but at the same time, the creation of a ‘forum’ made up of multiple dedicated players to collaboratively contemplate the future is indispensable.” The 2016 show opens Oct. 4 for a four-day run at the Makuhari Messe exhibition center in Chiba.

Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Delta Electronics are working on a joint laboratory to develop smart technologies, they said Thursday. The $45 million lab will develop consumer IoT systems and large infrastructure arrangements for water and power distribution, they said. The joint lab is supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore under its Corporate Laboratory@University program, funded by public-private partnerships. At full capacity, the lab will have more than 80 researchers and staff, including NTU doctoral students.

Bluetooth 5, due in the market late this year or early 2017, will include “significantly increased” range, speed, and broadcast messaging capacity, said the Bluetooth SIG Thursday. The next-generation version will quadruple range and double speed of low-energy connections while increasing capacity of connectionless data broadcasts by 800 percent, said the trade group. Extending range will improve IoT reliability connections in home, building and outdoor use cases, it said, and higher speeds will optimize responsiveness. Improving broadcast capacity will spur the next generation of “connectionless” services such as beacons and location-relevant information and navigation, it said. More operating range enables connections to IoT devices "that extend far beyond the walls of a typical home, while increasing speed supports faster data transfers and software updates for devices,” said Bluetooth SIG Executive Director Mark Powell. The boost in broadcast messaging capacity will enable transferred data to be “richer” and “more intelligent,” he said. Bluetooth transmission will move away from the app-paired-to-device model to a connectionless IoT where there's "less need to download an app or connect the app to a device,” Powell said. He forecast Bluetooth will be in more than a third of installed IoT devices by 2020. Some 8.2 billion Bluetooth products are in use today, he said.

Samsung will buy cloud technology services provider Joyent, giving it access to its own cloud platform capable of supporting its lineup of mobile, IoT and cloud-based goods and services, Samsung said in a Thursday announcement. Terms weren’t disclosed, and the deal remains subject to customary closing conditions, Samsung said. As smartphones and connected devices “have taken hold across the world,” cloud computing has become “fundamental in providing users with exciting and reliable services and experiences on their devices,” Samsung said. Joyent’s technology will bolster Samsung’s leadership position in IoT, “while allowing Samsung to scale its own cloud infrastructure and services as it continues to innovate with new software and technologies,” the company said.

The IoT is still “nascent,” but as technology continues to spread, NTIA “is working to understand the challenges and benefits the IoT poses and what role government could play in promoting its growth,” it said in a blog post Wednesday. In April, NTIA sought comment on the IoT. “Last week, we posted the more than 130 responses we received,” wrote Rafi Goldberg and Travis Hall, policy analysts at the agency. “We are early in the process of analyzing the comments.” Some observers question what NTIA will accomplish in its look at IoT (see 1606060042). The analysts said NTIA got more than 130 responses. “One of the questions we asked in our request for comment was how to best measure IoT and its impact,” they wrote. “The responses to these and other questions will help shape our future Digital Nation research as we work to better understand how connected devices are used by the American public. NTIA will also be hosting an IoT workshop later this year and will be drafting an issue-spotting, agenda-setting green paper, which will identify key issues impacting deployment of IoT, as well as benefits and challenges and possible roles for government and the private sector in fostering the growth of IoT.”

The number of IoT connections in North America hit 250 million in Q1, based on figures from Ovum, 5G Americas said Monday. LTE connections also continued to soar, the group said in a news release. Latin America and the Caribbean were second of all world regions for LTE additions, growing 268 percent year over year, surpassed only by the combined Central and Southern Asia region, the group said. In North America as a whole, there were 253 million LTE connections by March, for a net gain of 67 million LTE customers in the past 12 months, a 36 percent growth rate, the group said. The group also reported 69 commercial LTE networks in the U.S. and Canada and seven LTE-Advanced networks. “Even though 5G has captured the minds of the industry, LTE continues to grow at a tremendous rate,” said Chris Pearson, president of 5G Americas. “LTE will be the mobile broadband foundation for 5G as coverage increases and by its continued evolution with new inventive technical features to connect people and machines.”

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., revived his "Make It In America" initiative Monday and included broadband policy among its priorities, said a fact sheet about the revamped initiative. The U.S. must “invest in modern technology infrastructure, including broadband, which is critical to ensuring businesses have access to the growing majority of their customers,” the fact sheet said. It includes sections on promoting entrepreneurship and facilitating the growth of “the on-demand economy” while protecting labor rights. The plan was launched in 2010, and Hoyer’s office touts 17 bills based on it signed into law since then. “Access to broadband is an equally important part of the modern system of commerce,” Hoyer said Monday in Baltimore, according to prepared remarks of his speech. “Without it, businesses do not have access to the growing majority of their consumers. It’s that simple.” Hoyer referred to hearings that House Democrats held starting last July, which helped inform the current plan. “We heard testimony on the ‘Internet of Things’ and its potential to bring thousands of new, innovative products to market -- if the conditions are right,” Hoyer said. House Democrats are also in the midst of putting together a separate platform of ideas known as their Innovation Agenda 2.0, a platform driven by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. (see 1606010050).

More than 90 percent of companies will be using IoT technologies within two years, said a TIA Survey Wednesday. Some 48 percent of U.S. businesses are using IoT solutions today, and another 43 percent expect to deploy them within 24 months, it said. IoT will become a mainstream part of business by 2019, said TIA, and survey findings show that companies expect 44 percent of IT budgets in 2020 to be dedicated to IoT development and maintenance. A key theme in survey findings: companies have accepted the value of data to their business, with 72 percent planning to use IoT to capture data on product feature usage, said the survey.