Since the last quarter of 2019, we’ve been reading predictions from vendors and analysts about the future of technology and other trending stories.
Analysts for their part are laying their cards as well on what lies ahead for Internet of Things (IoT) in 2020. Gartner, for example, forecasts that the enterprise and automotive IoT market will grow to 5.8 billion endpoints in 2020.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of dedicated physical objects (things) that contain embedded technology to communicate and sense or interact with their internal states or the external environment.
The connecting of assets, processes and personnel enables the capture of data and events from which a company can learn behaviour and usage, react with preventive action, or augment or transform business processes. The IoT is a foundational capability for the creation of digital business.
Gartner predicts that utilities will be the highest user of IoT endpoints, growing 17% in 2020 to reach 1.37 billion endpoints.
“Electricity smart metering, both residential and commercial will boost the adoption of IoT among utilities,” said Peter Middleton, senior research director at Gartner. “Physical security, where building intruder detection and indoor surveillance use cases will drive volume, will be the second-largest user of IoT endpoints in 2020.”
Building automation, driven by connected lighting devices, will be the segment with the largest growth rate in 2020 (42%), followed by automotive and healthcare, which are forecast to grow 31% and 29% in 2020. In healthcare, chronic condition monitoring will drive the most IoT endpoints, while in automotive, cars with embedded IoT connectivity will be supplemented by a range of add-on devices to accomplish specific tasks, such as fleet management.
With connectivity a central tenet of IoT, we asked a number of vendors to share their views of the future.
Prioritize WAN transformation to realize a multiplier effect on cloud investments
David Hughes, founder and CEO, Silver Peak
“Early SD-WAN implementations were justified based on cost savings, generally associated with replacing disparate legacy branch devices, combining lower cost transport and realizing operational efficiency gains from eliminating time-consuming manual configuration and troubleshooting.
Going forward, enterprises will realize that WAN transformation can unleash the full potential of their investments in SaaS, cloud, digital transformation and IoT initiatives. In 2020 and beyond, enterprises will prioritize WAN transformation based on the returns from accelerating these strategic business initiatives, eradicating productivity losses associated with inconsistent user experiences when utilizing cloud-based services.”
5G opportunities, challenges in 2020
Jae Won, senior vice president, head of Asia-Pacific and Japan, Nokia
The biggest challenge, and opportunity – is supporting 5G Standalone (SA). 5G SA allows a number of use cases and capabilities that simply aren’t supported by existing network technologies – enabling networks to connect billions of connected devices, new business models, and increasing revenue opportunities for operators and enterprise alike.
Another critical challenge for telcos is in leveraging the benefits of an end-to-end 5G portfolio rather than just investing in 5G radio alone. Investing in innovations such as Massive MIMO can be used on 4G and then shifted to 5G.
Other areas such as capacity and programmability added to IP routing and optical transport can also be quickly monetized and transitioning to a distributed cloud architecture can support the delivery of new digital services beyond connectivity. Ensuring the security of the entire network also poses another challenge to telcos which can be solved by adopting an end-to-end approach.
With the continued developments in IoT and 5G, increasingly more common-use devices will be connected to the Internet, from light bulbs to vehicles. This will give rise to new forms of security intrusions as well as privacy challenges for both organisations and people.
Companies need to figure out innovative ways to counter them before the harm is done. 2020 will bring some changes in the way organisations think about and deal with both the privacy policies and with their usually understaffed cybersecurity teams.
Jason Albuquerque, CISO/CIO, Carousel Industries
The adoption of 5G will enable a massive increase in connected devices. With this influx of IoT devices like sensors, monitors and data collectors our global data volumes will rapidly increase. With this the need to protect these networks and the sensitive data that resides on them will require a more focused approach to IoT security.
Leverage blockchain and IoT to uncover critical data that empower business growth
Fang-How , Lim, Regional Director – Southeast Asia, Zebra Technologies Asia Pacific
As best-in-class customer experience becomes increasingly data-driven, it has become mission-critical for enterprises to master their data ownership pertaining to usage rights, data privacy and security.
Businesses which take an ecosystem approach and combine blockchain with Internet of Things (IoT) or Industrial IoT (IIoT) technologies will drive more transparency into supply chain management. This will also allow these businesses to gain the ability to democratize data in a trusted, secure manner amongst a multitude of cross-functional stakeholders in order to trade data and drive further value into managing a supply chain from origin to consumer.
In 2020 and beyond, enterprises are willing to invest more to increase their efficiency, and they recognize the importance of having end-to-end visibility of their entire value-chain built on a common IoT platform and architecture.
