There's no doubt that deployments of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions are increasing at a rapid pace as organizations face intense pressure to innovate and embrace the next wave of the Internet.Digital technology advances now enable new market entrants to threaten - and overtake - incumbents who fail to answer the innovation challenge. Think Uber, Airbnb, Tesla, and more. To up the ante on innovation and stay relevant, organizations across all industries are deploying IoT in an effort to embrace digitization.

How organizations embrace IoT as part of their digital transformation varies widely from industry to industry. For example, in manufacturing the focus is on automating inventory management, real-time monitoring/controlling of machine operations, and energy management. In the public sector, the emphasis is often on theft protection, asset tracking and real-time billing. What these industries and solutions have in common is the challenge of successfully navigating the very complex technology environment involved in getting the insights that drive successful outcomes. Successful IoT deployments require complex elements -connectivity, security, automation, analytics, and application enablement - to work together as a system to deliver those business insights.

At Cisco, we've done a great job of bringing powerful industry solutions to our customers that give them the business outcomes they need. Building these solutions requires drawing upon different ingredients to deliver an offering that is simple, agile, and repeatable. Many elements must to come together to deliver the value our customers need. The process for building a solution that seamlessly integrates all the elements to support a specific industry can be lengthy.

That's why I'm excited about this week's announcement of the Cisco IoT System.This framework helps Cisco deliver industry-specific solutions by providing an architectural blueprint to deliver rapid prototyping, faster time to market and, ultimately, better value for customers. The IoT system expands opportunities for third-party applications by enabling seamless integration with partner offerings for each unique vertical market business model.

This is good news for Cisco customers. Together with our partners, Cisco delivers incredible breadth and depth in our solution portfolio and the Cisco IoT System plays a big part in making that possible and sustainable. .

Let me share some examples.

Harley Davidson

A few years ago, Harley Davison was facing the prospect of having to shut down its motorcycle manufacturing operation. They found themselves guessing what customers wanted, building large batches of each model, and struggling to reduce a lengthy timeline for delivering customized bikes. Cisco's Connected Factory solution and Rockwell Automation helped them revolutionize their manufacturing approach. Connected Factory enabled multiproduct manufacturing on a single assembly line and made it possible to deliver customized products practically "on demand.

The result was overall worker productivity increases of 2.4% per year. Cisco IoT System networking connectivity, physical and cyber security, as well as management and automation products and capabilities were crucial elements of the solution infrastructure.

San Diego Metropolitan Transport System

San Diego MTS wanted to increase ridership and provide trolley riders with a mobile application that provides real-time trolley schedules and status. Cisco and Davra partnered to deliver an enterprise-grade IoT solution providing real-time insights to MTS passengers. The solution uses a combination of Cisco 819 gateways and Davra's RuBAN platform and dedicated implementation services. The Cisco gateways provide MTS light rail trains an enterprise-grade, secure hardware solution and RuBAN provides all the data insights and analytics to track train positions so passengers can view train arrival times on digital signs. Cisco IoT System networking connectivity, fog computing, management and automation products and application enablement platform capabilities streamlined the delivery of this solution. .

These are just two industry examples of how the new Cisco IoT System provides an important foundation enabling Cisco to deliver industry-specific solutions for customers.

For the full story, watch the launch webinar. Explore Cisco's IoT solutions for a wide range of industries. To learn more about the Cisco IoT System, view Kip Compton's blog.

The next wave of the Internet is changing everything. Cisco is ready. Are you ready?