FRANKFURT: Europe’s biggest software maker SAP has earmarked two billion euros (US$2.2bil) for investments in products that help companies to connect everything from washing machines to cars to the Internet.
It would invest that amount by the end of 2020, targeting what it estimates to be a 250 billion-euro market in the so-called Internet of Things or IoT, in which regular objects are connected to networks to send and receive data. Such functions are used in manufacturing and areas such as logistics, digital farming, drones or 3D printing. SAP sealed a deal last week to work with German car parts maker Robert Bosch to connect screwdrivers to cars to the Internet. – Reuters