IIoT Top News: CES 2016 & the Fate of IoT
All eyes appeared to be on the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 in Las Vegas since last week, as more than 3,600 companies unveiled the IoT and IIoT innovations we can all expect to see in the coming year. This year’s CES showcased plans to make the car a complete mobile office—with technology in place to allow Skype calls and the use of Microsoft 365 from the car. The other hot theme at CES was drones – not a surprise since these unmanned crafts have pulled us in like a tracker-beam to the mother ship. The autonomous ‘copter drone was one of the most impressive releases with the reality that the businessman of tomorrow doesn’t need a private jet, just a ‘copter drone and a smart phone. Now, as we watched all the products rolled out for their various purposes, it seems we have more connected things to add to an already expansive connected world. How will IoT connectivity technologies weather the storm as demand continues to skyrocket? According to IDC Research, IoT is about to take center stage by globally growing from $656 billion in 2014 to $1.7 trillion by 2020. The buzzwords of 2016 and beyond, IoT and IIoT specifically, simply show we are moving to an “everything is connected” environment. Naturally, once the luster of a shiny new thing wears off, we are tasked with the goal of protecting a critical piece of the IoT world – the data. Businesses need to make sure they are keeping information safe and secure. In this digital innovation age, plenty of industries (and therefore technologies) can’t afford a hack or cybersecurity breach at any time, for fear of customer loss. Companies need to trust their digital information infrastructure will be not only be safe, but also high-performing – or they could very well risk extinction altogether. This week’s IIoT top news post takes another look at the fate of IIoT, as many new “connected things” hit the market this year. Hope you enjoy this week’s recap, and as always, tell us what we missed! Enterprise IoT Projects Will Be Costly, Lengthy and Vulnerable, Says Gartner (Computer Weekly) As the IIoT continues to inhabit day-to-day life, it’s not a surprise that, fifty percent of businesses will use some form of IoT systems by the year 2020. Gartner states that, “By 2020, addressing the black market and other compromises around IoT security will push overall security budgets up, with IoT costs expected to account for twenty percent of annual security budgets, compared with one percent in 2015.” Does Anyone Really Care About the Internet of Things? (Forbes) In this latest article by Forbes, Todd Hixon claims the term IoT was coined 17 years agoand he is still waiting for the killer ultimate app to come out. Hixon further suggests that when it comes to IoT, “Most of the time people prefer to ignore security and focus on more immediate needs and wants.” CES 2016 Takeaways: IoT Could Be the Death of Your Security Network (Network World) The real takeaway from CES 2016 is the overall lack of security for all these new IoT gadgets entering the market and how they fit into the IIoT ecosystem. Tom Henderson, from Network World believes the fate of IoT after CES is that “The damage, the damnation, the truculent total churl of the event was this: all of the new Internet of Thingies/IoT/KewlGear has no cohesive security strategy.” The Internet of Things: Hyped But Here to Stay (USA Today Tech) As the magnitude of connected things get ready for their clos-up, it would appear all the hype for IoT is here to stay. Edward Baig, with USA Today reports that, “You couldn’t walk around CES this week without hearing about or bumping into products related in some way to IoT, the tech industry’s inelegant way of describing all things connected.” What’s Next for the Internet of Things? (TECHCO) Sensors, software, electronic devices and M2M have taken over our daily lives. So, what’s next for IoT? Monoka Jha, with Tech.CO thinks the industry plan needs, “To use the Internet of Things optimally, we need to connect a device to different industries through varied media. For that to happen, the different industries need to have a common physical medium.”
Earth-Shaking: Resiliency & Smart Infrastructure Lead Seismic Monitoring Efforts
Seismic monitoring tends to pop up in the news only during disaster situations, or, more recently, in conjunction with North Korea’s possible detonation of a hydrogen bomb. Earlier in 2015, The New Yorker ran a piece, “The Really Big One,” looking at the probability of a large earthquake destroying the Pacific Northwest. The earthquake off the coast of Japan in 2011 triggered one of the largest nuclear plant meltdowns of recent history, the impact of which we are still dealing with today. Point being, the typical association with seismic monitoring – earthquakes and explosions – is negative. The day-to-day reality, however, is much more interesting. Every day, vast amounts of seismic data are being collected the world over, and that data is being reflected by cities taking action to create smarter, more resilient infrastructures – especially in areas where seismic activity either happens frequently or would be devastating were an event to occur. Geological hazard monitoring has become a primary focus for many areas of the world, and as the technology has matured, so has the ability to transport data in real time. In turn, with real-time data transport comes the ability to incorporate predictive analytics and more intelligent decision making for city planning and civil engineers. New Zealand is an excellent example of the renewed emphasis on earthquake monitoring and preparedness. Each year, there are more than 250 significant earthquakes throughout New Zealand, so collecting that data allows scientists to detect, analyze and respond to the seismic activity. As the data is processed, the predictive analytics come into play. Data from these monitoring sites can be used to examine ground movement, which can indicate stress points, and to gauge the probability of an earthquake in the future. Today’s technology now allows all of that data to be transferred in real time from the monitoring sites to the back office, greatly increasing the ability to deploy it into actionable intelligence. In 2011, when Christchurch, New Zealand, was hit with a series of devastating earthquakes and aftershocks – including an aftershock that “produced the highest peak ground accelerations on record” – the recovery effort was basically twofold: how could the city not only rebuild the structures and civic needs, but simultaneously make that infrastructure smarter and more resilient, able to predict and handle future seismic events without the crippling aftereffects. And the truth is, those exact questions are being asked by cities in similar positions on a daily basis. What this all points toward is an evolving ability to synthesize IIoT communications technology, data collection and predictive analytics into a smarter and more resilient infrastructure for areas prone to seismic events. Things that used to fall into the realm of “the future” are now very real and very tangible solutions to nature’s enigmatic temperaments.
IIoT Top News: IIoT Predictions and Innovations for 2015-2016
As we inch our way closer to the New Year, we would like to take a moment and appreciate some of the technological advancements of 2015, as well as a few bold IIoT predictions for our connected-world enthusiasts. This medley of top news gives credit to our inventiveness, while highlighting a future forecast for IIoT. No matter your place in the world, drones have captured our attention. Precision Ag has changed the way farmers care for crops and animals. So naturally, more and more farmers would be jumping on the drone plan of action. Recently, the FAA has been putting a major kink in the farmer’s right to use drones in farming. The ruling states that if a farmer uses a drone for farm operations in any way, they must file with the FAA for a commercial exemption to use that technology legally. New permanent rules for drone usage could be in place next year from the FAA. So time will tell how the FAA’s ruling will impact the farmers and other commercial drone users in this country. Now it seems every car manufacturing company has grabbed ahold of the terms automation and autonomous. The next generation of cars needs to be self-driven, so the race is on to see what car company will own the rights first. A group in China raises that bar even higher by creating a self-driven car, they claim is operated solely by your mind. Just think one day in the near future you could climb into your car, click your heels together and merely think, “There’s no place like home,” and off the car would zoom. 2015, has been a good year for smart city development here in the U.S., with more than $160 million dollars in governmental funding allocated for this initiative. Gartner predicts that by 2016, the smart cities planned by the government will end up using 1.6 billion connected things. Twenty-four percent of IoT in 2016 will be in commercial security cameras, webcams and indoor LEDs, according to Gartner’s latest prediction. So, with everything becoming connected, IT departments are trying to stress the importance of securing this growing data collection. Don’t get us wrong IT departments are looking forward to the IoT expansion in 2016, but this level of increase in data could have a drastic impact on the networks, which is why IT managers surveyed suggest a new plan of action to combat the overwhelming IoT to the world we all know and love. This week concludes with three main messaging themes gained from this year’s Internet of Things World Forum (IoTWF). First, we must awaken and realize all the competitive advantage IoT can bring to businesses. Next, we must activate a realistic IoT deployment plan that will fit within our business needs. Last, we must accelerate the connection, with the assistance of service providers and developers. The IoT may change the way we function in this world, but the possibility of more innovation at our finger tips fuels our inventive minds forward. Hope you enjoy this week’s focus on IIoT predictions. As always tell us what we missed! Drone Use in Ag Increasing, But Lack of FAA Rules Slowing Technology (Capital Press) For every, good technological advancement there is a level of disruption expected as it thrusts itself into the market place. Drones are quickly becoming the must-have tool for the farming industry yet Capital Press points out that, “the Federal Aviation Administration’s lack of permanent rules for the technology is slowing its development.” Chinese University Develops a Headset That Lets You Drive a Car With Your Mind (Popular Mechanics) Autonomous cars appear to be the wave of the future. A group in China pushed the envelope even further by producing a car powered solely by your mind. They say the inspiration for this forward thinking technology can“bring more benefits to us, since we can better realize functions relating to brain controlling with the help of the driverless cars’ platform.” Smart Cities to Boost Internet of Things Market in 2016: (Gartner Chronicle Daily) The 2015, push for more smart cities is having an equally important impact on the number of connected things. According the Gartner, “The smart cities planned by the government will use almost 1.6 billion of connected things or Internet of Things (IoT) by 2016, an increase of 39 per cent from 2015.” Data Volumes and Network Stress Top IoT Concerns in 2016 (ITPro Portal) A group of IT managers were recently surveyed about the impact all things connected could have in 2016. The department managers stated that, “all this activity adds up to a huge number of devices with the overall average per individual UK organization expected to run into the thousands over the next 12 months. All these devices will be attached to a variety of networks resulting in increased stress on both existing and new networks.” The Internet of Things World Forum 2015 Highlights Three Themes (AME Info) This year’s Internet of Things World Forum highlighted three main themes throughout. The IoTWF focused on, “awaken, activate and accelerate the IoT solutions for your business.”
IIoT Bold Prediction Series Part 2: Government Regulations Coming
Yesterday, we kicked the 2016 IIoT Bold Prediction Series off with a bang! As a nice follow-up, and second iteration of the series, Tim Mester, Principal Engineer of Advanced Technology at FreeWave, presents his Industrial IoT bold prediction: Prediction #2: Government Regulations Coming for IoT and IIoT Devices Due to a major security breach or reliability failure in connected devices or systems used in the Industrial IoT space, governments will be compelled to create and enforce new regulations on all IoT (and IIoT) devices, much like what is happening with the drone industry. (Note: IoT security breaches are not unheard of, as pointed out in this recent article by Bill Montgomery and Glenn Longley’s latest prediction as the first part of the bold prediction series.) But, like drones, the barrier to entry into the IoT space has been lowered by improvements in technology. For IoT/IIoT devices, it is by the proliferation of a low power “system on chip” technology (SoC) and platforms like the Beagle Bone, Raspberry Pi and Arduino. Also, the Open Source software that is available allows developers to quickly pull products together based on these inexpensive SoC’s. Now that we can quickly have these products, how do those procuring these know that they are secure? How do they know they will be reliable and will not fail in mission critical applications? Companies that are already experienced in the M2M and IIoT space understand these issues and concerns. They take the necessary steps to ensure that they can deliver secure and robust devices to their customers. But what about the new comers? The ones that took the easy route? The ones who do not have the experience in this space? Looking Ahead As IoT/IIoT data and control becomes more sensitive and critical, concern will grow concerning the robustness of all of these devices that our lives are becoming dependent on. I believe that we will see a surge of government regulations that mandate the levels of security and reliability for IoT and IIoT devices. We are already seeing the beginning of these types of government regulations being mandated in some critical infrastructure industries and this will only perpetuate. In smart grid projects, for example, operators must take into consideration the cybersecurity reliability standards which FERC oversees. This helps operators choose a more cyber-hardened technology. On the other hand, for industries that do not have these standards in place yet, there remains a tradeoff between “secure” and “easy-to-use.” When strong cybersecurity has not been mandated, people tend to avoid the “harder-to-use” option that is typically more secure.