It seems like everyone is talking about the Internet of Things these days — Congress now has a caucus dedicated to the field, and according to Gartner, it could add $1.9 trillion to the world economy by 2020.

But for technology that is supposed to foster a more connected world, the Internet of Things, or the IoT, is still incredibly disjointed. There is an ever-expanding number of innovative IoT devices and more major players — such as Apple, Google, and IBM — are joining in, but it still does not feel like the tech world is any closer to agreeing on standards that will allow devices to easily communicate with each other.

Not only does this fragmentation make it incredibly difficult for the average consumer to set up a true “smart home” experience, but it also drives up costs and puts the IoT out of reach for most people.

Although there are plenty of established companies offering their own IoT frameworks, none has made a real impact in the market. Rather, the right solution will come from a smaller player that already knows the IoT inside and out. In fact, many offbeat companies have been successful for more than a decade in this intricate arena, and they can (and will) continue to shape the space.

The Battle for IoT Dominance

Although it is possible that a mainstream company such as Apple might succeed in steering the IoT toward its standards, it would be unwise to hold your breath. Owning the ecosystem has quickly become the business model to beat thanks to Apple, but, by definition, the IoT is too diverse for that model.

On top of that, owning the communication standard for what could very well be the next tech frontier is a temptation that few established corporations are willing to resist, so competition is fierce. Just look at the case of the AllSeen Alliance and the Open Interconnect Consortium. These two groups essentially have the same goal — to create an open-source, easily adoptable framework that can act as the de facto standard for device makers, regardless of brand or platform.

However, instead of working together, the two companies are competing to become the dominant standard. And the reason why is pretty clear: Qualcomm founded the AllSeen Alliance, while Intel founded the OIC. In fact, you could argue that the OIC was a direct response to the AllSeen Alliance’s open-source framework. Intel lost ground to Qualcomm in the mobile game, so it is not willing to lose an inch in the IoT space.

This standoff highlights one of the main reasons why a breakthrough in the IoT is unlikely to come from major companies. They bring too much of their baggage from other sectors into this new arena. The IoT is not a stabilized market, nor is it a traditional one. Therefore, it needs nontraditional companies to innovate and find new ways of looking at an old problem.

IoT Needs a David, Not a Goliath

Despite superior resources, legacy tech companies historically are not the frontrunners in the innovation race. Nest serves as a great example. Although it’s possible that Tony Fadell might have developed a smart thermostat for Apple at some point, by striking out on his own with Nest, he was able to innovate much faster and with more freedom than he would have had in Cupertino, California.

Nest put the smart home in the spotlight, and as a result, it is probably one of the biggest IoT success stories to date. This approach of taking an everyday device and enhancing it in a seamless manner is the cornerstone of smart home successes so far, and that sort of thinking needs to be applied to the backbone of the IoT.