Devices, as predicted, have become smaller, cheaper, and more powerful over time. IoT exploits purpose-built small devices to deliver its precision, scalability, and versatility.

In response to future hacker

Internet of Things technology will revolutionize our cities, and the change is already taking effect as towns become smarter on many levels. From traffic to shopping, from entertainment to essential systems, IoT-enabled services are helping improve our lives, but this is only the beginning.

In cities, smart parking services can tell us where there are spaces, and you can pay via app or smartcard. It won’t be long before these services can guide us to a specific parking bay, nearest to the destination. For companies that have lots of vehicles, fleet suppliers and managers already benefit from IoT features such as driver tracking and failure rate monitoring.

In response to Professor Dodds

We’ve been hearing about how the Internet of Things is coming soon and will be integrated into smart cities. But in reality, it is already here, and starting to affect how we live and work in the cities. Technology professionals should be aware of the opportunities for IoT and smart city solutions.

Internet of Things technology will revolutionize our cities, and the change is already taking effect as towns become smarter on many levels. From traffic to shopping, from entertainment to essential systems, IoT-enabled services are helping improve our lives, but this is only the beginning.

We’ve been hearing about how the Internet of Things is coming soon and will be integrated into smart cities. But in reality, it is already here, and starting to affect how we live and work in the cities. Technology professionals should be aware of the opportunities for IoT and smart city solutions.

The IoT has a lot to offer businesses, both for tech firms looking to get in on the actions and for the numerous industries that are being transformed by the injection of smart, connected technology into manufacturing processes, supply chains, customer engagement, performance tracking and other areas. 

The IoT is going to significantly impact various industry verticals and in turn is going to change our future. And as it is going to have an impact on different verticals, there are going to be new and exciting careers in IoT. Different fields like that of healthcare, agriculture, data security, automobiles have already adopted and become an integral part of IoT will have a lot of jobs in the future.

IOT is a system of connected devices where there is a no human intervention for controlling it. The devices can be computers, electronic devices or mechanical devices controlled via electronics (cameras). These devices can communicate among themselves without human intervention.  These connected devices can provide real time analysis's for more accurate estimations. Example the heart rate monitoring devices, health bands (which provides information about your body temperature, BP, heart rate). This information guides or helps the user to take the appropriate actions.

The Internet of Everything clearly puts the emphasis on the outcomes, the many possible changes in business models, leveraging this large interconnected space. The Internet of Everything view also requires a high degree of standardization and interoperability. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Cisco is very active in standardization bodies and efforts.

IoT security is also plagued by a lack of industry-accepted standards. While many IoT security frameworks exist, there is no single agreed-upon framework. Large companies and industry organizations may have their own specific standards, while certain segments, such as industrial IoT, have proprietary, incompatible standards from industry leaders. The variety of these standards makes it difficult to not only secure systems, but also ensure interoperability between them.

Connecting legacy assets not inherently designed for IoT connectivity is another security challenge. Replacing legacy infrastructure with connected technology is cost-prohibitive, so many assets will be retrofitted with smart sensors. However, as legacy assets that likely have not been updated or ever had security against modern threats, the attack surface is expanded.

In response to future hacker

A number of challenges prevent the securing of IoT devices and ensuring end-to-end security in an IoT environment. Because the idea of networking appliances and other objects is relatively new, security has not always been considered top priority during a product's design phase. Additionally, because IoT is a nascent market, many product designers and manufacturers are more interested in getting their products to market quickly, rather than taking the necessary steps to build security in from the start.

A major issue cited with IoT security is the use of hardcoded or default passwords, which can lead to security breaches. Even if passwords are changed, they are often not strong enough to prevent infiltration.

A number of challenges prevent the securing of IoT devices and ensuring end-to-end security in an IoT environment. Because the idea of networking appliances and other objects is relatively new, security has not always been considered top priority during a product's design phase. Additionally, because IoT is a nascent market, many product designers and manufacturers are more interested in getting their products to market quickly, rather than taking the necessary steps to build security in from the start.

The hype around the Internet of Things continues to grow, and some commentators have suggested IoT could be a boon to analytics by serving as a major source of data. But it's unclear whether today's companies are ready to take advantage of IoT's potential.

In response to Luned Birutė Mag Raith

If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about things – using data they gathered without any help from us – we would be able to track and count everything, and greatly reduce waste, loss and cost. We would know when things needed replacing, repairing or recalling, and whether they were fresh or past their best.

Luned,

Most people think about being connected in terms of computers, tablets and smartphones. IoT describes a world where just about anything can be connected and communicate in an intelligent fashion. In other words, with the internet of things, the physical world is becoming one big information system.

If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about things – using data they gathered without any help from us – we would be able to track and count everything, and greatly reduce waste, loss and cost. We would know when things needed replacing, repairing or recalling, and whether they were fresh or past their best.

The Web of Things (WoT) is a computing concept that describes a future where everyday objects are fully integrated with the Web. The prerequisite for WoT is for the "things" to have embedded computer systems that enable communication with the Web. Such smart devices would then be able to communicate with each other using existing Web standards.

In computing, ambient intelligence refers to electronic environments that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people. Ambient intelligence is a vision on the future of consumer electronics, telecommunications and computing that was originally developed in the late 1990s. In an ambient intelligence world, devices work in concert to support people in carrying out their everyday life activities, tasks and rituals in an easy, natural way using information and intelligence that is hidden in the network connecting these devices (for example: The Internet of Things).

Information security and data protection are critical to many IoT environments. Markets where personal information is scrutinized and regulated by government agencies, such as healthcare and insurance, are a couple examples. Designing in security becomes top of mind for architects building solutions for such markets.

In response to Анета Владимирова

It takes smart planning to build a smart city—a seamless synergy of high-tech experts, business visionaries, academics and, above all, forward-thinking civic leaders. Yet before the first sensor is locked in place or the first network switched on, the build must gravitate around the most precious resource of all: its citizens.

Here is an example of a smart city leader: Singapore.  Singapore has tackled its considerable traffic challenges through connected transportation solutions. Its Intelligent Transport System (ITS) has given rise to a pioneering system of electronic road pricing, where open-road tolls rise as traffic surges. ITS also allows for real-time traffic information delivered through GPS-enabled taxis, and it integrates the public transportation structure while also making buses more punctual.

It takes smart planning to build a smart city—a seamless synergy of high-tech experts, business visionaries, academics and, above all, forward-thinking civic leaders. Yet before the first sensor is locked in place or the first network switched on, the build must gravitate around the most precious resource of all: its citizens.

Here are some interesting IoT market estimations:

• Bain & Company expects annual IoT revenue of hardware and software to exceed $450 billion by 2020.
• McKinsey & Company estimates IoT will have an $11.1 trillion impact by 2025.
• IHS Markit believes the number of connected IoT devices will increase 12% annually to reach 125 billion in 2030.
• Gartner assesses that 20.8 billion connected things will be in use by 2020, with total spend on IoT devices and services to reach $3.7 trillion in 2018.

IoT has evolved from the convergence of wireless technologies, microelectromechanical systems, microservices and the internet. The convergence has helped tear down the silos between operational technology and information technology, enabling unstructured machine-generated data to be analyzed for insights to drive improvements.

The IoT can realize the seamless integration of various manufacturing devices equipped with sensing, identification, processing, communication, actuation, and networking capabilities. Based on such a highly integrated smart cyberphysical space, it opens the door to create whole new business and market opportunities for manufacturing.

In response to Danika Nedbalek

As IoT devices continue to play an increasingly pivotal role in business and everyday life, it's imperative that all smart device manufacturers take the necessary steps to improve security in their design and deployment processes. Keep an eye out for more IoT-driven attacks in the coming year, to see how governments and manufacturers respond.

Danika,

Good point on information security.  Due to the interconnectivity of the IoT, a cyber incident could result in an information breach which affects multiple levels of your business, from the head office, to your customers, and to the supply chain in between. Whether targeted or indirect, cyber incidents could weaken your entire IT security infrastructure. An information breach could cause a loss of revenue and time, could damage your business's reputation and credibility, and could lead to legal challenges. To protect the information on your network, you should control who and what connects to it.

As IoT devices continue to play an increasingly pivotal role in business and everyday life, it's imperative that all smart device manufacturers take the necessary steps to improve security in their design and deployment processes. Keep an eye out for more IoT-driven attacks in the coming year, to see how governments and manufacturers respond.

Internet of Things is characterized by heterogeneous technologies, which concur to the provisioning of innovative services in various application domains. In this scenario, the satisfaction of security and privacy requirements plays a fundamental role. Such requirements include data confidentiality and authentication, access control within the IoT network, privacy and trust among users and things, and the enforcement of security and privacy policies.

In response to George Waters

The Internet of Things has been with us for a while—it is just that we do not notice it until we need to discuss it.

George,

One of the big targets of the digital age is the city. The combination of technology paired with physical infrastructure and services can simplify the lives of residents. That's the promise of the "smart city." The concept is the result of the ever-expanding Internet of Things, with transportation, utilities, and law enforcement among the many areas being impacted. This is the ideal time for such technology, since more than 60% of the world's population will live in cities by 2050, according to a report from Cisco Systems.

In response to Slobodan Pavlicic

I did not understand how ‘smart bar-codes’ would work.  Are we talking about QR codes and do such codes need the cloud to work?

Slobodan,

Everyone is familiar with barcodes – the black-and-white codes featuring a series of parallel lines that a cashier scans in the checkout line – but QR codes are also becoming widely known and recognized. Both QR codes and barcodes store information about an item or product in a machine-readable format that can be easily scanned with a barcode scanner or, more recently, many smartphones (when equipped with a barcode-scanning app or QR code reader).
 

I did not understand how ‘smart bar-codes’ would work.  Are we talking about QR codes and do such codes need the cloud to work?

Cool stuff

Having heard comparisons between 'pervasive computing' and the 'Internet of Things', I would like to share one definition of the former, courtesy of TechTarget.com: Pervasive computing, also called ubiquitous computing, is the growing trend of embedding computational capability into everyday objects to make them effectively communicate and perform useful tasks in a way that minimizes the end user's need to interact with computers as computers. Pervasive computing devices are network-connected and constantly available.

I am looking for comments on how internet addressing might change in the future in order to accommodate the billions of new devices that will get connected to the IoA in the years to come.

The Internet of Things has been with us for a while—it is just that we do not notice it until we need to discuss it.