IoT Tech Expo Europe 2026: What Came Up in Conversations About Connected Software

At IoT Tech Expo Europe, Darren Smith, Senior Director of Corporate Development across EMEA at Lumine Group, saw four themes at the forefront: connectivity-managed software, edge computing and caching, AI working with live operational data, and security and data sovereignty. Security was the one he heard about most, and the discussions kept returning to where data lives and who is allowed to reach it.

IoT Tech Expo is one of several co-located events that together make up TechEx Europe, held at RAI Amsterdam on 19 and 20 October. Sister shows cover AI and big data, cyber security, data centres, edge computing and physical AI. The show’s theme was Powering the Connected World with IoT, and the agenda ran five tracks across the two days, alongside 1-2-1 meetings, roundtables and a startup area.

Darren is Lumine Group’s Senior Director, Corporate Development, EMEA. On any given day he has multiple conversations with communications and media software leaders from Europe, to the Asia-Pacific, which gives him a regular view of what those businesses are working on. Connected devices run close to the communications software that businesses in the Lumine ecosystem already build, including device management, SIM and eSIM provisioning, billing and content delivery. A day on the show floor adds a current view of how connected-device software is being discussed, alongside the themes the show put on its agenda.

Connectivity is increasingly managed in software

eSIM was one of the clearest examples on the agenda, together with hybrid satellite and terrestrial networks, where a connection becomes something an operator manages continuously after the device has shipped. The GSMA’s SGP.32 specification for IoT eSIM is part of that shift: connectivity becomes an ongoing operating model, managed in software for as long as the device is in the field.

That sits close to the software already built inside the Lumine ecosystem, including SIM and eSIM provisioning, device management and billing, where the work continues long after a device ships.

“The interesting part is the management layer. The software that provisions connections and keeps them working together.”

Darren Smith · Lumine Group

Edge computing: Managing the economics of streaming

Edge computing and caching were recurring themes at the show, with Darren’s conversations highlighting the importance of efficient delivery. Caching on the edge takes a shorter route through the network, which lowers latency and reduces the load on central infrastructure.

The edge conversation went beyond caching. Edge computing, caching and physical AI all move data and inference closer to devices, and in Darren’s read, running edge nodes at scale is the hard part.

“Putting computing close to the device is only half the answer. Deciding what is processed locally and what goes to the cloud is what drives both speed and cost.”

Darren Smith · Lumine Group

For Darren, caching is where a topic usually discussed in IoT meets an established challenge for media providers.

AI is meeting live operational data

Another theme Darren heard in conversations at the show was the role of AI in interpreting real-time operational data. Rather than relying solely on dashboards and alerts, he saw growing interest in AI agents that draw on information from connected equipment, identify relevant changes and communicate insights directly to the people managing operations.

Open industry standards are what make this practical. OPC UA, a widely used standard for industrial data, combined with MCP, a protocol for connecting AI assistants to data sources, lets an operator-facing assistant read live plant data, so its answers come from real-time information.

For communications and IoT software providers, this points to an evolving role for the software connecting devices, data and users. As AI becomes more deeply integrated into operational workflows, the opportunity extends to helping organizations interpret data and act on it more effectively.

Security, sovereignty, and regulation

“Security is massive,” Darren says. “Everyone’s talking about security.” Sovereignty came up repeatedly as well, particularly with European companies, who were clear that data stored in Europe should stay under European rules. The EU Cyber Resilience Act, which sets security requirements for connected products, was part of the discussion.

“A year ago, a lot of these conversations started with building first and sorting out the rest afterwards. Now security and data sovereignty are part of the discussion from the start.”

Darren Smith · Lumine Group

One conversation with an internet service provider shared that it was looking to Europe for guidance on managing AI, reasoning that it is harder to pull AI back once it has rolled out than to regulate it along the way. Sovereignty also came up in other conversations.

For software businesses, rules like these end up in product decisions about where data is stored and how devices are secured, and they differ from one market to the next, which Darren sees often across EMEA.

Where this meets communications and media software

Each of the four themes touches communications software, and the edge conversation reaches into media as well. Darren heard the same questions asked from different starting points, which is part of why businesses in this space are hard to place under a single label.

“What stands out to me is how similar the questions are across IoT. Whether it’s connectivity, reliability, or performance, teams are often trying to solve the same challenge: how to keep a distributed network running well. And the software underneath can look remarkably similar.”

Darren Smith · Lumine Group

Caching is long established in video delivery and now features in IoT conversations, while eSIM management matters to mobile operators and to the makers of connected devices alike. For software businesses in this space, the teams asking similar questions may sit in an adjacent market.