Inside IoT Tech Expo 2025: Where AI, Data & Connectivity Converge
This year’s IoT Tech Expo North America landed in Santa Clara on June 4–5, drawing thousands of tech professionals to the Convention Center for two days packed with innovation, networking, and hands-on demos. The event united multiple pillars of emerging tech — IoT, AI, cybersecurity, edge computing, and digital transformation — under one roof. While organizers anticipated 8,000 attendees, my estimate hovered around 5,000–6,000, and the energy on the floor was unmistakable.
A Walk Through the IoT Ecosystem
The expo floor made it crystal clear: IoT is no longer a buzzword — it’s a full-fledged ecosystem. Across hundreds of booths, the foundational elements of modern IoT deployments stood out:
- Hardware: Sensors, edge devices, gateways — all evolving quickly
- Firmware: The invisible code that keeps things running smoothly
- Connectivity: 5G, LoRaWAN, and other networking protocols took the spotlight
- Software Platforms: Tools to process, analyze, visualize, and secure the endless streams of data
Industrial IoT & Smart Manufacturing in Focus
Our team gravitated toward the Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 track, where automation, sustainability, and data-driven operations dominated the conversation.
PepsiCo’s Smart Factory in Action
One session that really landed was titled “AI, IIoT and Delivering Business Impact,” led by Prashanth Srinivasan, Head of Architecture at PepsiCo. He broke down how their Vallejo, Mexico facility boosted chip packaging throughput by 7% through the smart combination of IoT and AI.
The presentation was deeply technical, but the core takeaway was refreshingly simple: when executed well, AI + IoT leads to measurable operational gains.
Building Smarter IoT: The Case for Modular Systems
Another key takeaway came from Tom Clements, VP of Sales, during a talk titled “Powering the Connected World in IoT.” He laid out a practical framework for how scalable IoT systems should be built using modular “building blocks.”
His main points:
- Think modular, not monolithic: Like Lego, components should be easy to plug and play
- Timely data is essential: You can’t fix what you don’t detect in time
- Identity and device management is foundational: Trust and security start at the edge
- Global failure detection matters: Knowing exactly what broke — and where — enables real-time response
AI + IoT = A Smarter Future
A compelling vision for AIoT — the convergence of AI and IoT — was shared in a session hosted by Sudha Jamthe (Business School of AI) featuring Martin Whitlock, CTO at Telenor IoT.
Their key insight:
IoT collects the data. AI makes sense of it. Together, they unlock everything from predictive maintenance to autonomous decision-making.
Final Thoughts from the Ground
IoT Tech Expo 2025 wasn’t just a showcase of cutting-edge tech — it was a glimpse into the future of connected, intelligent systems. Here are a few of my closing observations:
- Massive scale: From dense crowds to sprawling booths, the IoT momentum is real
- Full lifecycle representation: From raw sensors to refined cloud platforms, the entire stack was on display
- Industrial use cases lead the charge: Manufacturing and logistics are clearly benefiting from IoT investment
- AI has become standard: Every platform now includes some level of intelligence
- Security is no longer optional: Identity, governance, and certification came up repeatedly
Bottom line: The synergy between IoT and AI is no longer hypothetical — it’s driving real business outcomes today. And events like this one remind us how far we’ve come — and where we’re headed next.