Germany’s industrial IoT fair was heavy on the IT

Last week, the biggest players in the industrial internet of things gathered in Hannover, Germany for a massive trade show focused on industrial technology. Hannover Messe (which means “Hannover Fair”) has morphed from a trade show focused on equipment to one focused on information technology. While the show has always appealed to big names in IT that needed to show off their wares to industrial customers, in the last four years we’ve seen Amazon, Microsoft, and others have a bigger presence at the show as they focus more on their respective industrial IoT businesses. For example, this year was the first ever for Qualcomm, a CES and telco event mainstay.