The recent acquisition of Exton-based Internet of Things (IoT) application platform Thingworx by software company PTC has helped thrust the 3D pioneer into a position as a “a clear leader in IoT enabling technology solutions,” according to a fresh feature article in Forbes.

“Creating, operating, and servicing smart, connected products is what the Internet of Things is all about,” PTC CEO Jim Heppelmann said in the article, which labeled the growing company as the IoT’s best-kept secret.

The Thingworx platform, in particular, is helping PTC in its pursuit to become the IoT standard going forward; “like other companies trying to establish themselves as the de-facto ‘platform’ in an emerging market, PTC is allowing potential customers to download and play with the technology for free; enlarging its partner ecosystem; and investing in special programs for the higher-education sector so ‘a student could make their own smart connected product and play with it,’” the article stated.

Just this month, Thingworx won the Frost & Sullivan 2014 Global Internet of Things Application Enablement Technology Innovation Award for its platform, designed to sync with whatever legacy technology its customers are using and to operate in the cloud, on-site or as a hybrid. Plus, it has developed drag-and-drop simplicity and the Thingworx Marketplace IoT app store.

“Owing to such a strong value proposition, the ThingWorx platform remains uncontested in the IoT application enablement market, with no solution offering similar ease of development and cost-efficiency,” a blog post on the Thingworx website noted.

Read much more about the history and potential of PTC in the emerging IoT market in Forbes here, and read more details about Thingworx’s acclaim from Frost & Sullivan on its blog here.