For those of you that have met me or heard me speak about the “Internet of Things” (IoT) would know that I normally indicate my displeasure for the term. Don’t get me wrong. I am a firm believer that the future will consist of a world where systems can connect with others via the internet.
My frustration is centered around my assertion that the original definition, coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999 while working at Proctor & Gamble, seems to have morphed to include any type of technology that connects to the internet. The original concept was that everyday objects would communicate with each other. This initial phase of connected devices is categorically happening… Recently ARM sponsored a survey, led by the Economist Intelligence Unit which has now been published here.
Around 800 senior business leaders from across the world were surveyed, with 29% based in Europe, 29% in North America, 30% in Asia-Pacific, and the remaining 12% from Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. These folks were drawn from a broad set of industries, including biotechnology, construction and real estate.
Somewhat reassuringly, IoT is on the agenda at most organizations. Of the companies surveyed, over three-quarters are either actively exploring or already deploying connected platforms and services. The vast majority of business leaders believe that IoT will have a meaningful impact on how their companies conduct business. Optimism about the IoT platforms and services inside a three year time horizon, this positive sentiment is not yet matched by investment. Since 2012 only around 30% of organizations have seen double-digit growth in IoT investment, from what would have been alow base to begin with. It seems that those businesses are skeptical as to the success of their programs since 61% of respondents indicated that companies that are slow to integrate the IoT into their business will fall behind the competition.
The survey showed that manufacturing leads the way in terms of deployment of IoT solutions. 1 in 4 companies surveyed from this market reported they were deploying IoT platforms. My sense is that this is on area where there is a clear return on investment for deployment sensor based networks. The opportunity behind improving the efficiency of expensive equipment can quickly pay off. This is where some of ARM’s partners such as Xively and IntelliSense.io are focused. The use of connected sensor networks was lower in the IT/Technology market than areas like manufacturing or construction/real estate. That, to be frank, was a surprise to me. As announced back in July, ARM has been deploying a range of intelligent systems, including car park lighting and control of lighting and thermostat systems in conference rooms that adjust conditions based on the presence of people.
In the initial phase of IoT, this has primarily been down to finding ways for businesses to save money. The city of Philadelphia has installed sensors in trash cans that detect is full when the bin to improve the efficiency of collection. Manufacturing companies are embedding sensors to help improve the efficiency with which expensive equipment is utilized and identifying early warnings of the need for maintenance. Precious cargo (either from an expense point of view or those that need to be keep at a particular temperature) packages are being tracked with more accuracy. Technology will be deployed in agriculture to improve the efficiency with which fields are watered and pesticides applied. As I mentioned previously, these are connected systems….but it is a closed platform in that the sensors/gateways are only communicating with one cloud service.
The next wave of IoT will, I believe, be about value creation; Use of connected systems to generate new services. In San Francisco, it is possible to find empty parking spaces and subsequently book them via a smartphone. Useful….but fairly conventional. However, the information reporting up to the cloud based service across a wide area has the opportunity to do more analysis and generate additional revenue. Yes, this could result in variable pricing for areas where there is limited space left, but this company could sell valuable information to businesses about parking patterns to help guide location selection. In the UK, there is a company called “Drive Like a Girl.” This company promises lower car insurance rates for drivers that deploy a device in their vehicle which monitors and shares driving information back to the company. Based on driving habits, the driver can get lower premiums.
For the vision of IoT as convinced by Mr. Ashton to be realized, there is a massive amount of work for the industry to do.
The first is simplifying the task of building connected things. The technology industry has to enable these systems to establish connection across the internet in a seamless way for users, allowing them to customize an application to their needs without worrying about the underlying technology. If they don’t notice the technology in their business or home, then we have been successful. ARM’s MBED program is one attempt at helping, providing a simple, low cost development environment which helps the developer focus on his/her application and providing access to a range of open source software.
The second is security. Yes, this word can mean different things and yes, on obvious piece is the need to secure the communication channel to ensure that only the authorized devices are communicating with each other on the network. But beyond that it is the security of the user’s information. If we imagine the insurance example above, then the data being gathered belongs to the company as it is their device in the car. How that data is used, to whom it is sold etc. is out of the consumer’s control. This is a massive area of focus for ARM. We will obviously share more when we can.
Thirdly is a need for alignment of standards. The old joke is that the good thing about standards is that there are so many of them. ARM acquired Sensinode in August. This services company has worked on a number of standards that are focused on providing efficient communication for resource constrained (modest compute, limited power) systems. ARM will do its part here but for great success, the industry will have to align on some common frameworks.
Going back to the survey, the first and third point did come up as two of the top five challenges identified as being inhibitors to the full potential of IoT being realized. Surprisingly to me, the security item did not come up. My sense is that this could be due to the immaturity of IoT deployments. From my perspective, this should be far more in the minds of those currently working on IoT related projects. As big as the security item, will be the decision as to who owns the data. This is something that governments will need to get involved in as it will involve regulation.
So we are not quite at the “everything connected to everything” vision of IoT. But across multiple industries the allure of IoT is pushing companies to go in that direction. The technology industry which is responsible for providing the hardware and software that underpins this vision becoming a reality has to be ready.
I welcome your feedback. do you agree? What am I missing?
I agree on the security comments. But I suppose quite a bit of value can be added without to much worrying of the security. I don't really care who collects the data on my lights, thermostat or pool filter; really this data is already being collected as part of my energy statements. Although I agree we need to consider security up-front...before we build too many connected 'things' whose value will then decline without the appropriate security...there is certainly room to push forward, make new connected 'things' and get users to adopt them.