WASHINGTON – Jerry Dolinsky summarizes his firm Verisae’s mission statement as: “Connecting every facility, every asset within that facility, and every person who services those facilities and assets through our cloud network, so they can always be on.”
Being “always on” is the very basis of cloud computing and “Internet of Things” integration in a modern business environment. In an exclusive interview with RCR Wireless News, Dolinsky shared his views on cloud computing in the wireless era, IoT cross-platform integration, smart city and society, and the ever-present concern of cybersecurity.
Dolinsky credits wireless with playing a big role in practical applications of cloud computing. It is, after all, wireless technology that allows enterprise infrastructure and employees to be always on and always connected. In addition to providing a means for constant real-time communication, wireless data is always feeding a company’s cloud network with information. Verisae’s goal is to look at this big data and apply it in an economic fashion.
“Take all the data and use intelligence solutions to solve problems,” Dolinsky said. “If we can solve the biggest problem we can create the biggest return for our customers. We call it making big data small.”
Making big data small is key to Verisae’s success and why the firm is expected to be awarded the Verizon vendor of the month award. “Big data analytics [that] just produces graphs and charts is not making big data small, making big data small is only showing the chart or action [that] is going to help your company achieve value,” Dolinsky said
Despite the obvious advantages that can be drawn from IoT integration, Dolinsky acknowledges that sometimes issues can arise from practical drawbacks such as interoperability.
“If you have a smart kitchen, it’s likely you have seven different widgets from seven different vendors. Now, are you going to pay seven different people to keep an eye on your widgets?” Dolinsky asked.
He also acknowledged that one of the main problems confronting seamless IoT integration is lack of standards. Even though he puts faith in trade and industry associations to create standards, a major problem is that by the time standards are reached, the technology has evolved two generations.
Dolinsky also pointed out that push-back from within the IoT industry slowed standards development. “There’s not a lot of support from manufacturers to push standards because they each want to push their own.”
When asked if he thought the fully integrated smart city would be realized in the near future, Dolinsky said he didn’t believe so, pointing to numerous challenges including privacy, push-back from people living in urban centers and, most importantly, capital investment.
Greater integration leads to greater opportunity for return on investment, but it also creates greater opportunity for attack by cyber criminals. Though he professes to not be an expert in the field, Dolinsky is very aware of the issues.
“I think BAH is right” he said when asked about a Booz Allen Hamilton report, which characterized IoT as creating a broader attack surface for hackers. “The more people who have access to your pipe, the greater the risk.”
