IoT : Game Changing Tool for IT Industry
The Internet of Things (IoT) is emerging as the next technology mega-trend, with repercussions across the business spectrum. By connecting to the Internet billions of everyday devices–ranging from fitness bracelets to industrial equipment–the IoT merges the physical and online worlds, opening up a host of new opportunities and challenges for companies, governments, and consumers.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is an important topic in technology industry, policy, and engineering circles and has become headline news in both the specialty press and the popular media. This technology is embodied in a wide spectrum of networked products, systems, and sensors, which take advantage of advancements in computing power, electronics miniaturization, and network interconnections to offer new capabilities not previously possible. An abundance of conferences, reports, and news articles discuss and debate the prospective impact of the “IoT revolution”—from new market opportunities and business models to concerns about security, privacy, and technical interoperability.
The large-scale implementation of IoT devices promises to transform many aspects of the way we live. For consumers, new IoT products like Internet-enabled appliances, home automation components, and energy management devices are moving us toward a vision of the “smart home’’, offering more security and energy efficiency Other personal IoT devices like wearable fitness and health monitoring devices and network enabled medical devices are transforming the way healthcare services are delivered. This technology promises to be beneficial for people with disabilities and the elderly, enabling improved levels of independence and quality of life at a reasonable cost.1 IoT systems like networked vehicles, intelligent traffic systems, and sensors embedded in roads and bridges move us closer to the idea of “smart cities’’, which help minimize congestion and energy consumption. IoT technology offers the possibility to transform agriculture, industry, and energy production and distribution by increasing the availability of information along the value chain of production using networked sensors. However, IoT raises many issues and challenges that need to be considered and addressed in order for potential benefits to be realized.
A number of companies and research organizations have offered a wide range of projections about the potential impact of IoT on the Internet and the economy during the next five to ten years. Cisco, for example, projects more than 24 billion Internet–connected objects by 2019; Morgan Stanley, however, projects 75 billion networked devices by 2020. Looking out further and raising the stakes higher, Huawei forecasts 100 billion IoT connections by 2025. McKinsey Global Institute suggests that the financial impact of IoT on the global economy may be as much as $3.9 to $11.1 trillion by 2025.5 While the variability in predictions makes any specific number questionable, collectively they paint a picture of significant growth and influence.
Some observers see the IoT as a revolutionary fully–interconnected “smart” world of progress, efficiency, and opportunity, with the potential for adding billions in value to industry and the global economy. Others warn that the IoT represents a darker world of surveillance, privacy and security violations, and consumer lock–in. Attention-grabbing headlines about the hacking of Internet-connected automobiles, 7 surveillance concerns stemming from voice recognition features in “smart” TVs, 8 and privacy fears stemming from the potential misuse of IoT data9 have captured public attention. This “promise vs. peril” debate along with an influx of information though popular media and marketing can make the IoT a complex topic to understand.
Fundamentally, the Internet Society cares about the IoT as it represents a growing aspect of how people and institutions are likely to interact with the Internet in their personal, social, and economic lives. If even modest projections are correct, an explosion of IoT applications could present a fundamental shift in how users engage with and are impacted by the Internet, raising new issues and different dimensions of existing challenges across user/consumer concerns, technology, policy and law. IoT also will likely have varying consequences in different economies and regions, bringing a diverse set of opportunities and challenges across the globe.
While the multitude of approaches and companies gives early adopters pause, the key variable to adoption continues to be the business process changes required to benefit from IoT, and the associated organizational restructuring and retraining those changes entail. IoT protocols and standards continue to proliferate, and (as expected) a growing number of startup offerings have emerged as ‘protocol translators’ or routers between them in an attempt to mitigate risk and single-vendor lock-in.
Carriers continue to play a key role in IoT as both the connection between sensors and devices and the systems that transform the data they output into actionable insight. These network operators are still in the process of determining the best place for their strengths and capabilities in the IoT, ranging from operators building physical (or virtual) IoT overlay networks to providing full-service analytics and cloud services. Carriers will have their hands full with the low-power wide area networks (LPWAN)/LTE-M debates in the near term, and outside players continue to propose other WAN connectivity options that keep the door open to market-changing disruption in the space.
The impact of the volume of data ingested from sensors and things is just now becoming evident. Different technologies are being employed to triage the data coming from metrics and measures, transaction and diagnostic data. 451 Research divides these technologies into 10 different categories: in-memory databases and databases with an in-memory option; in-memory grid or cache; streaming and log management; edge analytics (often referred to as ‘fog computing’ in the context of IoT); analytics as a service and database as a service (DBaaS); NoSQL and the new breed of relational databases that 451 refers to as ‘NewSQL’ databases; Hadoop and Hadoop-related technologies such as Storm and Spark Streaming; search, data and text mining; data integration; and visualization. Each has a specific impact on ingesting the data streaming from things and transforming it into actionable insights.
With the growing number of IoT deployments, we are seeing growth in unit shipments across the spectrum from components from Intel, Samsung, Qualcomm and ARM, to short- and long-range radios, to infrastructure components such as the cost of cloud storage, networks and computing. With the increasing volume (and competition) come lower costs, bringing IoT components within reach of a larger audience of potential adopters. This is definitely a leading indicator, and customer uptake and benefit should trail two to three quarters before the adoption impact becomes evident.
Another large barrier to adoption continues to be the real or perceived security exposure that IoT represents to IT/operational technology (OT), with some early IoT security issues in automotive and consumer markets coloring the discussion. The lack of a de facto standard for IoT has resulted in a number of approaches to security, ranging from chip security (Intel, ARM), to gateways (Dell), to more behavioral analysis approaches to monitoring traffic from sensors and embedded systems too lightweight to be able to run their own antivirus software. This is an area we will be monitoring closely over the coming year as the industry unites in its efforts to neutralize the negative press surrounding IoT as a potential weak link in enterprise security by providing infection vector or insertion point.
IoT & Indian IT industry
“The Internet of Things (IoT) is the game-changing tool for the Indian IT industry and holds tremendous potential to create new business intelligence models which enables improved productivity and faster decision-making process with the help of smart machines. IoT is calling a digital period where hardware, software, telecom and internet will come together to create a major interconnected platform to further benefit diversified sectors of the Indian industry including retail, manufacturing, automobiles, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, consumer electronics, home automation applications, energy& utility, security and surveillance, BFSI and a lot more. According to “India Internet of Things (IoT) Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020”, IoT market in India is projected to grow at a CAGR over 28% during 2015- 2020, which shows that IoT is steadily gaining huge momentum. IT industry is keeping the efforts high to establish technology infrastructure framework in order to pave the ways for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) era while reducing the operational cost and enhancing the operational efficiency,” said, Vishal Barapatre, Group CTO, In2IT Technologies.
“At this point, the Internet of things has expanded so aggressively that nearly everything has an IP address and an Internet connection: cars, home appliances, medical devices, phones, video game consoles etc. We are living in the Internet of Things. In our day-to-day life, we encounter things connected to the Internet, starting with our home Wi-Fi routers and leading up to traffic light management systems and street security cameras. The Indian IT industry too is seeking IoT as a crucial tool. The support of IoT devices in the industry is not only transforming the way the industry operates but also accelerating growth. With the ever increasing popularity of internet of things, it has become of one the biggest concern for security experts. According to a recent Kaspersky Lab report, the number of cyber attacks has gone up significantly when compared to the numbers last year. Spam is the number one threat followed by viruses, worms, Trojans and other types of malware. India is especially prone to things like dealing with cost constraints and training users in how to use IT systems. As a result of which cybersecurity IoT run devices in Indian IT industry still remains one of the biggest area of concern,” elaborated, Altaf Halde, Managing Director Kaspersky Lab South Asia.
“IoT is all set to become an indispensable part in the lives of customers, businesses and government – all alike. IoT has impacted sectors like manufacturing, retail, automobiles, healthcare, agriculture, infrastructure, consumer electronics, home automation applications and energy utilities among others. With the steady advent of wearable devices, smart watches. Smart glasses, smart cities, smart infrastructure etc, consumers are experiencing a phase of internet beyond desktops and the smart phones. With the lowering internet tariff rates, low cost of sensors, increased processing power and the increasingly efficient bandwidths and connectivity, the adoption of IoT has also increased. According to a recent report by Gartner, globally, the IoT industry is currently at $300 billion with the number of connected devices expected to grow to 27 billion by 2020. The research part claims that India will account for over 5% of the global pie. The Government is also taking steps towards furthering the IoT goal with the Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) targeting to create an IoT industry in India of $15 billion by 2020. IoT is all set to witness increasing adoption in domains such as healthcare, oil rigs, generators and industrial plants and telecommunications. Few use cases have also been seen in this domain. Connected cameras, internet-enabled printers which gives people the ability to print stuff without being present near the printer, smart-lighting and even weather-control that allows you to switch on your AC 10 minutes before you reach home and several other such connected smart devices are coming up,” said, Nilesh Jain, Country Manager- (India and SAARC), Trend Micro.
“As per a recent report by TechSci, Internet of Things (IoT) market in India is projected to grow at a CAGR more than 28% during 2015 – 2020. Growth in the market is anticipated on account of ongoing technological developments in this space for providing better connectivity and coverage as well as real-time monitoring & tracking of services and systems across diverse industry verticals to reduce operational and manpower costs. Moreover, various government projects such as smart cities, smart transportation, smart grids, etc., are also expected to further propel use of IoT technology in the country over the next five years,” concluded, Atul Anchan- Director- Systems Engineering, India, Symantec.
Will IoT be bigger than the internet revolution?
“In all likelihood. IoT will completely transform the way people live, work, entertain, and travel, as well as how governments and businesses operate connectedly and interact with the world. The revolution has already started. Connected cars, connected thermostats and music systems, fitness tracker that you wear on your wrists, all such smart devices are very much here and now. As per a report by BI Intelligence, the research wing of Business Insider, here are some key projections which boast of the fact as to how much bigger IoT will be, than the internet revolution: There will be 34 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020. IoT devices will account for 24 billion. Around $6 trillion will be spent on IoT solutions over the next five years. Businesses will be the leading adopter of IoT. IoT can improve their bottom line by lowering operating costs; increasing productivity; and expanding to new markets or developing new product offerings. Governments are focused on increasing productivity, decreasing costs, and bettering citizen’s life. After the Government, businesses will be the second biggest adopters. Consumers will the third biggest adopters of IoT in India. Verticals that would be using IoT profusely in India includes manufacturing, transportation, defense, agriculture, infrastructure, retail, logistics, banks, oil, gas and mining, insurance, connected homes, food services, utilities, hospitality, healthcare and smart buildings,” said, Nilesh Jain of Trend Micro.
“The way internet marked its footprints in India and laid the foundation stones of a digital community, it can be estimated that Indian user base would definitely do well to adapt to the Internet of Things. IoT revolution will be somehow bigger than the internet revolution as India is walking on the path of technological progress and connectivity while looking forward to the next wave of revolution. Government of India has further raised new hopes with the announcements of having plans to create a $15 billion internet of things market in the country by 2020 under the umbrella of Digital India. Internet revolution has created the breeding ground for the Smartphone and techno-savvy users in India and enabled businesses to grow and expand globally with the help of continually evolving technology. IoT revolution is thus the need of the hour that could provide a major boost to the Internet revolution while moving beyond the boundaries,” added, Vishal Barapatre, Group CTO, In2IT Technologies.
Biggest Challenges in India
“The more devices there are connected to a network, the more opportunities an attacker has to compromise that network. Simply put: every device represents a possible path into the network and, by extension, onto its machines. There are published exploit-concepts demonstrating wireless attacks targeting things as small as embedded medical devices, like pacemakers and insulin pumps, or as big as commercial airplanes. Everything from televisions to new-age smart meters is potentially vulnerable and nobody is designing security products for them. A strong internet security product is often the only thing standing between a computer and a crippling malware infection. No such barrier exists for many of these newly Internet capable gadgets. The reality with this panoply of Internet connected things is that there are just too many players designing too many incompatible systems getting paid too much money to push operable but not necessarily secure products out the door. The only way we could ever secure these things would be to pass some sort of national regulatory law. Unfortunately, such a law would be nearly impossible to draft, given its broad impact on profitable companies, and absolutely impossible to pass,” stated, Altaf Halde of Kaspersky Lab.
“Some of the biggest roadblocks standing in the way of widespread IoT adoption include. Fragmentation of standards with new ones coming up each day creates a hugely complex situation. However, in the times to come, there will be consensually standardizations in the industry. . Security is another cause of worry as there is sensitive information at stake. Threats are evolving and are getting more sophisticated. It is crucial that value is extracted from IoT through cost savings and better service delivery.4. Internet connectivity is a major challenge in India. With digital India initiatives taking over, this challenge is likely to reduce in the coming times. . Lack of skilled workforce. In order to support the growing ecosystem, the Government needs to create suitable policy changes. Nowadays, any organization can deploy IoT solutions to deliver new services, better customer relationships and unlock new recurring revenue streams. A massive market opportunity exist for IoT in India and we are at the initial leg,” said, Nilesh Jain of Trend Micro.
“While the proposed hyper-connectivity provides seamless integration, it also presents the daunting challenge of security the critical infrastructure and information. Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report Vol.21 highlighted that over the last year there has been an increase in proof-of-concept attacks and growing numbers of IoT attacks in the wild. There is no single silver bullet which can ever deliver truly effective security. Staying ahead of such adversaries requires several security technologies: authentication, cryptographic control of the code for each module, hardening of each module, and sophisticated analytics capability, embedded directly in the car to help ensure the much required safety. For instance, advanced machine learning techniques will be critical to success as we look to secure the connected vehicles. There is a great need to build long-term comprehensive security, while delivering ground breaking protection,” said, Atul Anchan of Symantec.
“When we talk about challenges, Internet of Things is no different than various other aspects of technology. IoT has to deal with various technology hurdles such as IoT security and privacy challenges including lack of security expertise, poor IoT framework, data confidentiality and inadequate technology infrastructure apart from significant availability of IoT-based devices, traditional business models and adaptation to the continually updating hardware and software tools. IoT has a promising future for the Indian Industry but requires combined efforts of IT industry thought leaders, venture capitalists, concerned authorities and government bodies at different levels to eliminate such challenges. Future of the IoT is seamless but it should be taken into account practically and not hypothetically,” concluded, Vishal Barapatre, Group CTO, In2IT Technologies.
Factor Accelerate the Benefits of IoT
According to Nilesh Jain, Trend Micro, as IoT grows, the ecosystem will play a decisive role in driving the industry forward. The industry will need harmonization of standards as well as a network of trusted partners in order to reach its full potential. Challenges such as security and non-interoperability should be done away with and devices should be able to connect with legacy infrastructure systems smoothly.
“Smart Interconnectivity of devices is the major factor that would accelerate the benefits of the Internet of Things. At present, enterprises aim to establish an IoT framework that enables a more reliable, secure, cost efficient and business-friendly network while enhancing the operational efficiency with minimal human intervention. IoT will not only streamline the business activities but also transform the way the whole community live, act, and even think! IoT has a lot to offer for the ease of doing business and driving digital moves such as Smart Infrastructure, Smart Transportation, Smart Monitoring and Tracking of devices via smart grids. It will subsequently act as a catalyst to get inter-connected with most usable and secure infrastructure in the rapidly evolving technological landscape,” said, Vishal Barapatre, In2IT Technologies.
“One of the primary factor that can accelerate the benefits you derive out of IoT run devices and systems is considering the security risk while choosing what part of your life you’re going to make a little bit smarter. If your home is the place where you store many items of material value, it would probably be a good idea to choose a professional alarm system that will replace or complement your existing app-controlled home alarm system; or set-up the existing system in such a way that any potential vulnerabilities would not affect its operation,” added, Altaf Halde of Kaspersky Lab.
Best Examples of IoT
“Industrial and asset tracking industries are witnessing real IoT implementation. Smart cities & building/home automation applications are also receiving huge traction. Cloud, apps, analytics, sensor based devices etc are witnessing uptakes. IoT is also being used in sectors such as manufacturing, retail and healthcare and many experts also says that IoT can be utilized for metering and measurements. With Government of India’s smart city initiatives gaining momentum, there are many opportunities cropping up for increased IoT adoption. Wearable connected device, remote patient monitoring, clinical trial applications, 3D printing, fitness and preventive healthcare are some of the popular ways in which IoT can revolutionize the healthcare space. Sectors like agriculture, mining or environment has witnessed little technology penetration and there lies a huge scope in these areas when it comes to IoT adoption.” said, Nilesh Jain of Trend Micro.
“Understanding the market need, we, at Symantec are committed towards enabling this transformation, keeping security at the core. Symantec already helps protect over a billion IoT devices from smart televisions to critical infrastructure; securing and managing devices and communications, and delivering analytics to detect stealthy, sophisticated advanced threats to IoT systems. Expanding our IoT offering, we have recently launched Symantec Anomaly Detection for Automotive, which is a suite that aims to analyze and spot security threats early and neutralize them. It will prioritize incidents based on risks, be invisible to the driver and use minimal memory and computing power,” added, Atul Anchan- Director- Systems Engineering, India, Symantec
“ Few popular examples of IoT devices are: Fitness bands, a smartphone-controlled IP camera, a smartphone-controlled coffee maker, and a smartphone-controlled home security system, servers, routers and Smart TVs,” said, Altaf Halde of Kaspersky Lab.
The Internet Society cares about IoT because it represents a growing aspect of how people and institutions are likely to interact with and incorporate the Internet and network connectivity into their personal, social, and economic lives. Solutions to maximizing the benefits of IoT while minimizing the risks will not be found by engaging in a polarized debate that pits the promises of IoT against its possible perils. Rather, it will take informed engagement, dialogue, and collaboration across a range of stakeholders to plot the most effective ways forward.
Mr. Vishal Barapatre, Group CTO, In2IT Technologies
“Internet revolution has created the breeding ground for the Smartphone and techno-savvy users in India and enabled businesses to grow and expand globally with the help of continually evolving technology. IoT revolution is thus the need of the hour that could provide a major boost to the Internet revolution while moving beyond the boundaries.”
Mr. Altaf Halde, Managing Director Kaspersky Lab South Asia
“ One of the primary factor that can accelerate the benefits you derive out of IoT run devices and systems is considering the security risk while choosing what part of your life you’re going to make a little bit smarter. If your home is the place where you store many items of material value, it would probably be a good idea to choose a professional alarm system that will replace or complement your existing app-controlled home alarm system; or set-up the existing system in such a way that any potential vulnerabilities would not affect its operation.”
Mr. Nilesh Jain, Country Manager- (India and SAARC), Trend Micro
“As IoT grows, the ecosystem will play a decisive role in driving the industry forward. The industry will need harmonization of standards as well as a network of trusted partners in order to reach its full potential. Challenges such as security and non-interoperability should be done away with and devices should be able to connect with legacy infrastructure systems smoothly.”
Mr. Atul Anchan- Director- Systems Engineering, India, Symantec
“Understanding the market need, we, at Symantec are committed towards enabling this transformation, keeping security at the core. Symantec already helps protect over a billion IoT devices from smart televisions to critical infrastructure; securing and managing devices and communications, and delivering analytics to detect stealthy, sophisticated advanced threats to IoT systems. Expanding our IoT offering, we have recently launched Symantec Anomaly Detection for Automotive, which is a suite that aims to analyze and spot security threats early and neutralize them. It will prioritize incidents based on risks, be invisible to the driver and use minimal memory and computing power.”