August, 2018
www.us-tech.com What’s Next for IoT Platforms? By Joseph Zulick, MRO Electric and Supply Company, Inc. F
rom the increased value provided by edge computing to security improvements using blockchain technology, Internet of Things
(IoT) platforms across the board are coming online. The intelligent, digital mesh of the IoT is evolving. Today, enterprises are looking ahead to see how these disruptive technologies will impact business operations on every level.
Pushing it to the Edge The evolution of computing and cost efficiency
has made commercial devices capable of running complete operating systems and complex algo- rithms, right in the office. IoT platforms are contin- uing to push for the fastest possible connectivity. This relies on the concept of edge com- puting — workloads processed at the edge of a network —at the point where the IoT connects with the cloud and the physical world. A key part of this progression is
the fast and effective integration between IoT and the cloud. Many processes are located in the devices themselves and connect to the cloud only for the most essential functions. As machine learning algorithms evolve and advance, there are a few things we can expect. One is the potential for edge
devices to take over a growing percent- age of computing data. An edge device will increase local privacy by not exporting sensitive data to the cloud. In addition, edge devices reduce laten- cy from data requirements. Finally, we will continue to see
an increasing number of companies adding business solutions that require local, secure data analysis. Edge com- puting will be a critical part of that business solution implementation, due to the benefits of the cloud for increased security, easy scalability, design configuration, simple deploy- ment, and management options.
Blockchain While Bitcoin, Litecoin and
Ether eum have each had a huge rise and sharp fall back to a slow climb again, the blockchain technology that underpins cryptocurrency is likely to enter widespread adoption through usage in IoT. The fact is that every system of connected IoT devices can use blockchain to safely and reliably organize, store and share transactions of data. Blockchain technology is expect-
ed to play an integral role in the wide- spread number of industries that man- age tangible, moving objects. One prime example is the recently an - nounced relationship between IBM and Nestle, Dole and Walmart. Together the companies plan to improve food safety by associating blockchain-secured tracking values to each and every product with which they come in contact, resulting in an overall improvement of food quality. Of course, as more devices are
connected and as the IoT expands, security challenges will increase as well. As time goes on, security issues will change as technology evolves. As more devices are connected and the IoT community grows, experts recom- mend preparing for anything and everything. By staying up to date with IoT news as it develops, it will be pos- sible to learn from others’ mistakes.
Expanded Platform Offerings Designers building IoT devices
need functionality for remote product See at NEPCON South China, Booth 1H45
IoT devices are now able to process large amounts of information on their own and connect to the cloud for essential functions.
management, monitoring and control. At the same time, IoT business operators do too. Designers need platforms with robust data management capabilities. This platforms will also need to pro- duce easy-to-use business data that can be lever- aged by managers, engineers, business owners, and others. As far as functionality is concerned, built-in, customizable applications will likely become the industry standard. Edge processing naturally leads to consolida-
tion. As more companies push processing and data analysis to the edge of the network to improve secu- rity, reduce network latency and cut cloud costs, it will become increasingly attractive for an IoT plat-
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