The fourth industrial revolution bought more than a few drastic changes with itself. We now live in a world that is driven by technological advancements. No matter where we look, we find the technology present and penetrating in every sector.
Most of the tasks are automated or digitised and we turn to Google for all answers. The internet is our go-to for everything we can think of. Booking movie tickets, checking show timings, finding locations, paying bills, getting online consultation along with plenty of other things.
Moreover, combined with the internet we have devices that we can’t live without. Whether it is our smartphone, wearable watches, home automation appliances or more.
As humans, we want to stay in a connected world. This connection need not be just with each other but also with our devices, home, vehicles and everything else in between. As a result, we are progressing towards a world of the Internet of Things (IoT).
The more we embrace IoT, the more we will be moving into a world filled with all kinds of new and smart devices. Statistics suggest that by 2020, we will have more than 20 billion devices that will be connected and running fundamentally on the principle of the internet of things.
Whether we choose to realise it or not, the expansion is far bigger than we can imagine. While last year experts could only conceptualise IoT and dream about it going mainstream, the day has finally come when it takes over the world.
IoT explosion
Everything, as we know today, will be impacted by the explosion of the internet of things. Be it web application development, testing, or devising practices for cybersecurity, all major industries will undergo a rapid transformation.
Moreover, the market size of IoT will reach 11.1 trillion by the year 2025, giving more than enough reasons for entrepreneurs and researchers to enter the segment and capitalise on it.
Also Read: From products to businesses: the hidden opportunities of IoT
It’s amusing to even imagine that the internet of things didn’t even exist a decade ago, but today here we are witnessing a world transform due to it. Be it the changing customer demands or the need for staying connected, the tipping point of IoT is finally here.
By 2025, we can expect more than 75 billion devices installed under IoT. This is also being fueled by the popularisation of technologies such as 5G.
The implementation of IoT solutions will play a crucial role in business applications throughout industries and societies. The IoT edge is closer than ever before, while the top tech enterprises around the world are on board with it, small and medium enterprises are still struggling and trying to find a middle ground amidst the market chaos.
Edge computing
In its latest mobility report, Ericsson predicts that by the end of this year there will be as many as 1.3 billion cellular IoT connections. By the year 2025, this is expected to jump to five billion.
Moreover, as enterprises embrace digitisation and enable more connected machines, the current computing power of the cloud will fall short enough. Organisations will, therefore, need to invest in computing power that can sustain a plethora of devices.
If we look at the current scenario, enterprises are mostly centralised or using cloud service providers such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft that perform all the computing at their specific data centers. But, with the changing implications of storing, utilizing, calculating and analysing data to the limit, IoT experts want the data to be transferred first to a local computing centre that is closer to the source or edge of the network.
Being referred to as edge computing, this offers a series of benefits such as reducing the traffic to a network, better management of large amounts of data, reduced dependency on the cloud along with lesser consumption of bandwidth. But Gartner predicts that by 2023 there will be a shift from edge computing to another form of computing which removes the dependency on the internet.
Also Read: The IoT opportunity is right outside your door
Moreover, 2020 will witness the emergence of mesh networking which will be a type of computing designed just for the needs of IoT. With this, the transmission of IoT messages will be done through a network topology of radio nodes, where every node transmits data to the next through flooding or routing.
5G will be a hit
The need for ‘on the edge’ computing provides an opportunity for communication service providers who are building and expanding the 5G network. The rapid deployment of 5G networks around the globe along with an uptick in 5G subscriptions will contribute significantly towards increasing the number of IoT connected devices, all across the globe.
The fifth-generation cellular network technology, along with giving faster speeds, better connectivity and lower latency will improve network responsiveness. This means it will allow connectivity on far more devices than 4G.
Finally, IoT innovations such as driverless vehicles among others will have a technology that can handle and sustain their needs. Considering the massive expansion scenario.
Moreover, the reduced power consumption will also unbridle energy and cost savings, thus, making IoT even more popular at a household level. In other words, the high capacity, speed, and density of the 5G network, when combined with cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, will allow enterprises to adopt and make shifts to their existing processes for a higher ROI.
This will also enhance node participation and decentralisation, enabling shorter block times and facilitating on-chain scalability.
Statistics suggest that 90 per cent of senior executives in media companies believe that IoT is crucial to their growth, while 80 per cent of retailers will use it to customise store visits in 2020. Similarly, 66 per cent of US cities are investing in smart city IoT technology and the healthcare industry has saved as much as 25 per cent from the adoption of IoT devices.
As we progress towards 2020, we will see the widest number of applications of IoT. From smart speaker displays to the product as a service ecosystem, smart cities, unified IoT framework, industrial IoT, there will be far smarter applications on the internet than there are people in the world.
For customers, it could mean the age of personalised and revolutionary services, while for enterprises it can be an excellent opportunity to jump into the opportune market.
–
Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas by submitting a post.
Join our e27 Telegram group here, or like e27 Facebook page here.
Image credit: Artur Łuczka on Unsplash
The post Welcoming 2020: How IoT will transform everything enterprises know today appeared first on e27.