In this episode of the IoT For All Podcast, Eystein Stenberg, CTO and co-founder of Northern.tech, joins Ryan Chacon to discuss the critical role of device lifecycle management and over-the-air (OTA) updates for OEMs in today's software-driven world. The conversation covers the five stages of device lifecycle management, the challenges OEMs face when transitioning to software-driven models, how OTA updates maintain cybersecurity and system resilience, the impact of regulations and the EU Cyber Resilience Act, and insights from Northern.tech's latest report.

The State of Industrial IoT Device Lifecycle Management: https://northern.tech/dlm-industry-report-2025

Eystein Stenberg is the CTO and co-founder of Northern.tech. With over 15 years of experience in security and systems management, Stenberg has served on the frontlines of some of the largest production environments and possesses in-depth knowledge on solving real-world system security challenges. An expert in embedded system security and IoT device management, Stenberg routinely shares his insights at industry conferences. Stenberg holds a Master’s degree in Mathematics with a focus on cryptography from the University of Tromsø in Norway.

Northern.tech is the leader in device lifecycle management with a mission to secure the world’s connected devices. Established in 2008, Northern.tech showcases a long history of enterprise technology management before lloT and loT became buzzwords. Northern.tech is the company behind CFEngine, the pioneer in server configuration management, to automate large-scale IT operations and compliance. In 2015, Northern.tech released the first version of Mender, the market leader in over-the-air software update management. Mender offers robust, secure, and customizable OTA software updates for smart devices. Mender boasts a proven track record with Fortune 1000 clients, including Airbus, Lyft, Volkswagen, Siemens, Thales, and ZF Group.

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More about Northern.tech: https://northern.tech

Connect with Eystein: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eysteinstenberg/

(00:00) Intro

(00:10) Eystein Stenberg and Northern.tech

(00:41) Why is device lifecycle management essential?

(02:18) What is device lifecycle management?

(04:42) Challenges OEMs face in becoming software-driven

(07:26) Are over-the-air updates more than a feature?

(09:28) Real-world examples of DLM and OTA impact

(11:43) Risks of neglecting device lifecycle management

(13:21) Impact of regulatory compliance

(14:29) Advice for OEMs to future proof devices

(15:27) The role of AI in device management

(16:48) Insights from Northern.tech's report

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