14
INTERNET OF THINGS
IT Infrastructure
and the IoT
By Marcio Saito, CTO, Opengear
www.opengear.com
How centralised should IoT infrastructure be? Do we
funnel and transport all data to the core, or deploy
components to aggregate it closer to the edge? Marcio
Saito considers the options…
“We always overestimate the change that will occur in the
next two years and underestimate the change that will occur
in the next ten.” Bill Gates
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a set of technologies that
allows intelligence, sensors and actuators embedded in
physical devices to internetwork to collect and exchange
data. As computer technology miniaturises, we can envision
a world where the objects around us are intelligent and
connected, transforming how we interact with information
and technology.
The implication for the IT infrastructure behind the IoT is
the possibility of a large volume of data to be transmitted,
sorted, stored and analysed. There’s ongoing discussion on
how centralised that infrastructure should be.
The IoT hype cycle
IoT is a transformational wave that has been in movement
for a few years, and will cause ripple effects for decades. As
the quote topping this article suggests, experts and users
alike have a hard time evaluating the impact of such large
shifts in technology. We tend to overestimate the change
that occurs in the short term – we get excited too early –
and then, when the hype subsides, we underestimate the
eventual effects of new technology – we get frustrated,
dismiss the trend as a fad and fail to benefit from it. Being
able to see through the hype cycle, and position correctly, is
what separates those who are going to be successful from
those who are going to fail.
Early IoT adoption in enterprise
While IoT technology has been evolving for several years,
we’re still in the early stages of adoption by the enterprise.
Most use cases involve the leverage of mobile/wireless
technologies, but still lack the large number of edge devices
anticipated in most IoT predictions.
www.networkseuropemagazine.com