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Is the industry ready to join forces to turn IoT hype into reality?

2 mins read
On the surface of it, the vision of a connected world seems promising. Gartner analysts forecast that 6.4 billion connected ‘things’ will be in use worldwide in 2016, up 30 percent from 2015, and reaching close to 21 billion by 2020. The Internet of Things – in all its different forms – will span every aspect of our lives. But one question remains: are the different technologies that IoT relies on really ready to support this new world? Complex communication technologies are needed It goes without saying that with IoT we are facing a new era that relies on ubiquitous networks. Yet, as the future connected world takes shape, we need to solve the challenge posed by the web of complex interconnections. A big hurdle is that there is no cross-industry drive to standardise IoT applications and the interfaces that people use to access them at present. Without standardisation, the burden falls on users: how is a user meant to make sense of the IoT data they hold if they need to access hundreds of individual applications covering areas such as fitness, car diagnostics, energy monitoring, home security, irrigation systems and automated shopping? That’s a lot of work for your average smartphone user. At the moment, IoT data sets may not be huge, but we are already seeing increasing complexity in different interconnected sets of data, in a smart home for example, where temperature sensors might be linked to the freezer to optimise energy consumption. These IoT ecosystems require highly sophisticated systems for communication and management to ensure interoperability and the seamless user experience that people crave. Without interoperability, IoT devices risk becoming technology for technology’s sake. What should the ecosystem for IoT look like? In order to create sustainable growth for businesses, the IoT will require a layered architectural approach, bringing together intelligent and embedded systems, networked services, infrastructure, applications, security, analytic tools and professional services. But the most crucial aspect of all is interoperability. The greatest value is derived when the different layers work together through partnerships, to innovate in the development of new IoT solutions and to help overcome issues that might arise in a web of increasingly complex web of connections. Only a combination of open, public Internet and hybrid networking can deliver the levels of reliability, security, scalability and flexibility that the IoT requires. Traditional private WANs are simply too slow, inflexible and expensive for the multitude of different IoT applications and connections. On the other hand – while flexible – the public Internet isn’t reliable enough for the most critical IoT use cases, such as new IoT-enabled safety mechanisms in the airline industry. By using the public Internet together with hybrid networks, which combine the flexibility of the Internet with the security and reliability of a WAN, we are able to build a solid foundation for the IoT world. Our IZO Public Connect is one example of hybrid networking. It provides a dedicated and deterministic route for critical IoT applications by tagging data packets for pre-determined delivery over the public internet. This protects those applications against potential performance degradation due to volatile consumer data traffic, while capitalising on the reach and scalability of the public Internet. Furthermore, there needs to be collaboration between the developers that make the different IoT applications, and the companies that provide the connectivity – as well as the policy makers that govern the systems surrounding IoT applications. So, policy makers need to start thinking about IoT traffic differently to traditional data traffic, due to the potentially disastrous consequences of a network failure on electric grids, transport systems, and healthcare. Endless opportunities As the hype of IoT turns into reality, transportation, healthcare, energy and any number of other infrastructure areas will all connected to create economic efficiencies, save energy and even save lives. Yet only through real cross-industry collaboration can enterprises make the most of new businesses opportunities that IoT will bring, and lives of entire communities and cities be improved with new smart applications. The opportunities are endless for IoT, but only if the Things can work together.   How do you see networks coming together to create a new world of connectivity? Let us know in the comments below.

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