The cloud and Internet of Things are often referenced in conjunction. The IoT is considered an application of cloud computing by many. While the Internet of Things does require the cloud to operate, its scope and power will have a major impact on how cloud computing develops.
Deep Connection between Cloud and IoT
Every January, one of the biggest tech events in the country is held in Las Vegas: the Consumer Electronics Show. As expected for the 2016 event, there was an increasing amount of cloud discussion among companies and attendees. The majority of new electronic products, ranging from vehicles to kitchen appliances, are integrated with the cloud. Gradually the technology is becoming more ingrained throughout industry and, in turn, throughout our lives.
Products Are Increasingly Connected to the Cloud
These days, consumers and businesses alike assume that products will be highly connected and interoperable. Whether we are talking about a car, a thermostat, a fridge, or even a coffee maker, everything is hooked to virtual machines backed by VPS hosting.
That’s because the manufacturers of these products quickly figured out that the devices did not need to be turned into dense computers with their own intelligence and data storage. In fact, the focus at CES turned noticeably away from products and toward cloud services this year, notes Stacey Higginbotham in Fortune. “A number of larger companies showed off connected products” that emulate this shift, she said, “including Procter & Gamble with its Internet-connected air freshener that ties into connected Nest Thermostat to spray air freshener to the optimal time to take advantage of your AC fans blowing air around your home.”
Along with wanting to move data to a remote location, makers of household products also want to be able to update their software immediately so value won’t degrade so rapidly. Just like people get automated updates sent to their phones (both OS and apps), the same should be true for appliances so that new features can be introduced to connected household goods as they are released. That is what is beginning to happen: all your stuff is becoming connected to a central brain – well, central brains, really.
Cybersecurity Risks
What about hacking, though? No one wants to connect all their belongings and then have someone get into their car system through a coffeemaker without any defenses, explains David Linthicum in InfoWorld. “Worse, I’m not seeing a focus on security by manufacturers,” he adds. “It’s going to take a few close calls for the industry to wake up and understand that anything connected must come with well-defined and well-implemented security.”
The Future of Cloud Services & Consumer Products
The next twelve months should see an expansion in the market for cloud services to work with your home appliances. There will be services available for individual use and other ones (proprietary and open) that are designed specifically for use with certain products. There will be services available to store and process the data for home electronics, and there will be stronger, faster telecom networks (cellular catching up to the pace of the typical residential network).
This evolution in technology has long been discussed as some faraway concept, a world of roads filled with self-driving cars and refrigerators that notify you when they’re out of bread and milk. Actually, though, the transition is occurring today. Consider how many of your products are currently connected to your home network as an indication.
Security must be paramount moving forward for consumers and businesses to be protected, as advised above. Regardless of security, though, the cloud is central to this technological sea-change. “This change cannot happen without the use of cloud services,” says Linthicum. “And the explosion in cloud-enabled devices is one more reason cloud-based systems usage will explode in the next several years.”
Big Data of Things Will Empower the Cloud
o how big is this growing field? Gartner’s forecast suggests that there will be 25 billion connected devices by 2020, so that’s more than three times the current world population of 7.3 billion. This surge of connectivity will empower companies by gathering small data from various “things” and using it as fodder for cloud big data.
It’s obvious the cloud infrastructure will have to expand astronomically to meet the needs of the IoT era. The things of the Internet of Things are becoming increasingly cloud-dependent. In fact, Jonathan Wilkins, a marketer with European Automation, predicts that 19 out of 20 firms will use the cloud in some form by the end of the decade – a prediction that really is conservative.
Let’s Make Some Magic with the IoT
Cloud big data processing will make the Internet of Things a much more powerful playing field. Sensor data from disparate locations will be used to run vastly complex analytic algorithms, giving this field tremendous value. If you want to be ahead of the pack, you need to gather the information from real users and find the insights it reveals before anyone else does.
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