Editor’s Note: With 2015 now upon us, RCR Wireless News has gathered predictions from leading industry analysts and executives on what they expect to see in the new year.
Years from now, we may look back on 2014 as the turning point; the year the “Internet of Things” emerged in mainstream adoption. For years, organizations deployed machine-to-machine applications in silos specific to their needs, and usually from the ground up. The industry is now accelerated by core building blocks being deployed in markets such as the connected car. Broadened adoption by industry; greater awareness in the general public thanks to wider availability of easy-to-understand consumer applications like Google’s Nest; and technology advancements that make it easier and more cost effective to build and implement wireless IoT solutions have driven growth.
The evolution of the IoT
Here are a few trends we’re seeing right now that we think will continue to shape the industry and drive further growth:
Evolution from products to solutions
Regardless of industry, the complexity involved in building an IoT or M2M solution from the ground up is enough to intimidate even the most well-resourced and capable organizations. Customers don’t want a bunch of puzzle pieces to put together, they want an integrated solution that they know will work seamlessly to provide the information they need and, in some cases, enable them to expand their services. As a result, ecosystem partnerships have become critical, and companies that can deliver a larger part of the value chain will prove themselves more valuable to their customers. The key will be to provide simple, scalable and secure solutions that will reduce the time and resources required for a project’s completion.
This is an important step because it helps pave the way for things like smart city infrastructure, which brings together innovative solutions around diverse needs. When services like parking, lighting, energy, water and waste management, transportation, and traffic management become intelligent and connected to the wireless network, they can make our cities safer, greener and more cost efficient.
Evolution from proprietary to standardized and open-source solutions
In acknowledging the complexity and need for entire solutions that work together, it’s only logical that we’re seeing a significant increase in activities by standards-bodies and consortiums that are establishing common protocols for devices and software to use for interoperability. In addition, there’s been significant activity within the industry and developer community to broaden the range of available open-source solutions. Clearly, open-source platforms offer value to customers in providing both flexibility and protection for their investment over the long-term, as they can often be ported from one device to another and one generation to the next.
Evolution of networks to better support IoT and M2M devices
Another important trend is the progress being made by organizations like the 3GPP to make cellular networks more IoT-friendly. The recently defined LTE Category 0 and the upcoming release, which many are calling LTE-M, strengthens the position of cellular networks as alternatives for solutions that require less power consumption and are lower in cost. This is good news in terms of accelerating growth in IoT and M2M, because using established network infrastructure around the world simplifies the implementation of solutions and provides confidence in their longevity. The work being done on the new LTE standards is ongoing and will continue to evolve throughout 2015.
Overall, while 2014 may have been the year that people started paying attention to IoT and seeing its potential, 2015 looks to be the year in which the industry lays the critical groundwork to realize that potential. Simplifying the building of IoT solutions through partnerships, bundled solutions, better interoperability standards, open-source development tools and platforms and more M2M-friendly network technologies is not easy work – but it is absolutely necessary for the full potential of IoT to become real.
