Preparing for the Internet of Things Posted on : Apr 27 - 2015

The Internet of Things (IoT) has the potential to drive fundamental economic and social change. However, there are serious obstacles to be overcome if we are to gain the full benefits of what could be the building blocks of a new technological revolution.

These obstacles are simple to list and hard to get a grip on, and include data volumes, data storage and management, data security and the difficulty of getting actionable real-time insights from the data flows created by IoT infrastructure.

Dealing with the analytics, infrastructure and security issues around IoT requires significant involvement and investment by both enterprise IT and vendor organisations but it will be worthwhile because of the staggering potential that IoT holds.

Spelling out the prospects, Mike Gualtieri, of Forrester Research, warns, “Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the IoT is just about industrial use cases such as manufacturing or logistics. Perhaps the most interesting Internet-connected device in the age of the customer is the good ol’ smart phone. The smart phone is laden with sensors such as GPS, accelerometer, audio, images, position, and even the touch-screen and buttons.”

IoT sensors, Gualtieri says, “emit live data such as motion, temperature, voltage, pressure, audio, video, position, and the list goes on and on.”

Analyst firm Gartner meanwhile, estimates that there will be 4.9 billion connected ‘things’ this year, rising to 25 billion by 2025.

If we are still in the early days of the IoT revolution, there are already some important and some less obvious applications of the technology. Smart power grids are an example of how IoT could lead to unparalleled levels of sustainability. Intelligent energy systems could monitor usage in real time, and analyse the data to find trends that will help suppliers to optimise energy usage according to demand. View more