The "unified data layer" thesis stopped being a talking point and started consolidating through capital this week. Identiv agreed to sell its IoT assets to Trackonomy in a deal both sides explicitly frame as "creating a global Physical AI and intelligent supply chain leader" — the layer is now being bought, not just blogged about. At Samsara Beyond 2026, the incumbent pushed single-dollar disposable trackers and AI-run "Connected Maintenance," racing to own every endpoint and the intelligence on top of its own telemetry. The trend beneath yesterday's headlines: ownership of the physical-world data substrate is concentrating fast via M&A and ever-cheaper endpoints — which makes a neutral, cross-vendor layer more valuable and more time-sensitive to plant before the walled gardens close.