Photos: The 2019 IoT Festival in Melbourne

Well over 500 people were in Melbourne this week to attend our IoT Festival, which provided a forum for a wide range of conversations about this fast-evolving field. 

In this photo gallery, you'll see some of the event, inluding the exhibitors and which organisations were on stage.

The event included an exhibition, keynote talks and panel discussions on topics ranging from IoT for transport and cities to the future of IoT.

The IoT Festival exhibitors ranged from IoT data platform providers, such as Zi-Argus, to connectivity and infrastructure solution providers.

BMW showed off two connected vehicles at the event.

Festival attendees at smart parking solution provider ParKam's stand.

Attendees networking between sessions.

LX Group was at the event to discuss IoT product design.

Dell Technologies provided advice about IoT infrastructure, including edge, core and cloud  computing.

Attendees take a close look at automation vendor Balluff's stand.

Microsoft Australia's IoT and AI lead, Matt Sinclair (left), answers questions from master of ceremonies Brad Howarth. 

Dell Technologies' Internet of Things marketing director Kirsten Billhardt spoke about hard-won lessons from real-world IoT.

Billhardt stressed that some of the hardest challenges in IoT are not about technology.

Attendees hear about the latest local developments  in connected transport, including autonomous car trials. The panellists were from Dell Technologies, Transurban and the Australian Integrated Multimodal EcoSystem.

There was no shortage of burning IoT security issues for these panellists from Ardexa, Blackberry Cylance and IoTSec Australia to discuss.

Guests in the IT channel stream heard from Sofihub, the company behind a home assistant and carer notification system.

A small IoT trial is one thing, but a full commercial rollout is another matter. Here, attendees hear about some of the challenges and approaches to deploying IoT at scale. Panellists included Boral, Kennards Hire, Telstra, Zi-Argus and Pactera.

The audience also heard about how local governments and their partners can do better at deploying IoT projects. The panellists represented City of Melbourne, Attentis, City of Greater Bendigo, La Trobe University and Blue IoT.

CRN and iTnews Editorial Director Simon Sharwood addresses the IT channel stream.

This session looked at how people developing IoT solutions for primary industries and testing them in the field are tackling key challenges. Panellists represented Myriota, Carwoola Pastoral, EscaVox, EY and KPMG.

Russell Riding, Melbourne Water Automation Team Leader, tells the audience about how Melbourne Water is using AI to detect drain grate blockages.

Riding also joined panellists from Smart Technology Solutions and Startup Boot Camp Australia to talk about IoT-connected power, water and energy.

In the channel stream, CRN's Simon Sharwood moderated a panel featuring distributors' IoT leads. (L-R) Ivan Hecimovic of Tech Data, Luke Neofytou of Ingram Micro and Jason Hall from Dicker Data

Dale Rankine, CEO and Co-founder of Reekoh, spoke about the integrated data landscape.

Another big challenge for IoT projects is finding people with the right skills. Panellists from Swinburne University of Technology, IBM and Reesby Recruitment discussed this issue.

Back in the channel stream, a panel of IoT practitioners explained how to start and sustain an IoT practice. (L-R) Jeff Bogensberger from CDM, Bob Sharon from Blue IoT, Chandana Sekar from KPMG, Adrian Crouch from Procept and Ian Hamer from Fujitsu

Data integration specialists Reekoh were among those giving advice about how to overcome IoT data challenges.

The Blackberry Cylance stand. The company's AI platform provides automated threat prevention.

Australian IoT startup Leash IT provides commercial and consumer real-time tracking solutions.

Blue IoT has has developed a virtual intelligent smart building management platform, which is designed to cut the cost of energy management for businesses and government organisations.

Keysight Technologies provides solutions and  insight in electronic design, test, manufacture and optimisation.

Telstra discussed its Telstra Track and Monitor solution. Australia’s biggest private rail freight operator, SCT Logistics, is using the Telstra solution to track its fleet of unpowered assets.

Attentis provides high-powered connectivity for real-time alerts and other IoT use cases.

Myriota is one of a new breed of companies using nanosatellites to provide low-cost satellite communications for IoT.

Reesby Recruitment counts IoT recruitment as one of its areas of expertise.

Pactera develops, modernises and optimises digital platforms for large organisations and governments. It specialises in 'intelligent manufacturing', among other areas.

The Zi-Argus and Balluff stand.

BMW sells a reported 2.5 million cars a year, each of which operates as a managed IoT device capable of transmitting and receiving a wide range of information. BMW Vice President Research, Electric/Electronic Architecture and Technologies, Dr. Michael Würtenberger, spoke live via a link from Germany about how BMW is tackling those challenges.

Representatives from Telstra, Data61 and Cisco took part in a panel discussion about the future of IoT.