We are living in the age of the ‘Internet.’ As technology keeps on advancing through the years, the ‘Internet of Things’ or IoT has become vital to how organizations collect and share data information between processes, things, and people. Everything has become about data and research firm IDC has predicted that, by 2025, the amount of data generated by IoT devices in a year would reach 80 billion zettabytes, which, in layman’s terms, is a lot!
80 billion terabytes are essentially 30 trillion gigabytes, and that represents a massive amount of information, as nearly 42 billion devices connected devices will be collecting, storing, and analyzing data in the next decade. This prediction places importance on the year 2020, as it is going to be a significant one for solution providers who continue building the infrastructure needed to support IoT applications from the sensors to the servers. Data is going to be the common denominator, as it will be captured, processed, and then used from all corners of the network to create value for governments, industries, and the lives of individuals.
Understanding the amount of data that will be generated from the myriad connected devices will allow vendors and businesses to build solutions that will scale the accelerated data-driven IoT market. To prove that point, we’re going to highlight the five emerging ‘Internet of Things’ trends that you must watch out for in 2020. Here we go:
1. Infrastructure and Resilient Energy Will Drive Smart Cities
It’s expected that by 2023, smart city investing and spending is going to exceed $200 billion, and the most growth is going to be driven by initiatives for infrastructure and resilient energy. Intelligent transportation and data-driven public safety initiatives are also predicted to be strong growth drivers for spending in the coming few years.
Some of the cases that are going to aid this growth is going to include digital twin and office wearables, along with vehicle-to-everything connectivity. Most of the money spent by cities is going to be on initiatives that are smart-grid and involve intelligent traffic management, smart outdoor lighting, advanced public transportation, and fixed video surveillance.
2. Location Tracking and Wireless Sensing Will Become Relevant
Advanced location tracking and wireless sensing technologies will be relevant in 2020, thanks in large part to 5G cellular connectivity, which will open doors to new capabilities. Gartner has already claimed in a report that wireless sensing, which involves the reflection and absorption of wireless signals, will be used to create advanced radar systems for drones and virtual assistants.
Other use cases involve object recognition and medical diagnostics, but for location tracking, the new IEEE 802.11az standard is predicted to allow high-precision tracking that will be the main feature of 5G networks. It will benefit businesses that are in areas like IoT, consumer marketing, and supply chain.
3. Lighting and Building Automation Will Drive IoT Endpoint Growth
The growing relevance of smart meters in residential and commercial markets has shown that the biggest user of IoT endpoints is the utility industry. It represented close to 1.5 billion endpoints this year, and this number is expected to skyrocket and reach nearly 2 billion endpoints by 2020.
On the other hand, building automation that involves connected lighting is predicted to be the leading driver of growth for IoT endpoints in 2020. Gartner has already projected nearly a 50% increase to 500 million endpoints, and the next two fastest-growing sectors are automotive and government. These are expected to grow by 31% and 32% over the next year, while retail, healthcare, and manufacturing are going to show double-digit growth as well.
4. IoT Metadata Will be Vital to Everything
Having sensors, devices, and other types of endpoints generating data is one thing. Still, then you must consider the metadata generated alongside, which will show information like how and when the data was created. This category is going to be vital for driving intelligent systems as the growing source of data will need to be managed and leveraged.
That will result in more personalization and will provide context to inexplicable situations in data sets. It’s going to bring structure to unstructured data sets and improve the method in which cognitive systems will be developed.
5. Automotive and Industrial Sectors Will Drive IoT Data Growth
Video surveillance and all other types of video applications are going to be a big part of the IoT data that is generated with most of the growth over the next six years coming from the automotive and industrial sectors. These two sectors are already showing a 60% annual growth rate for IoT, thanks mainly to the increasing complexity and amounts of sensors that capture data from machines, automobiles, and other industrial assets.
These data types will include video, audio, images, and information, such as analytics, while artificial intelligence will amplify the type of data produced.
I have covered most of the trends that we think are going to make it easier for businesses, individuals, and governments to implement the ‘Internet of Things’ into daily life in this coming decade. There’s no doubt that IoT is going to be ruling and running our lives in the future. You must keep an eye on emerging trends in this field since it is going to play a significant role in making our lives easier, comfortable, and more secure than it has ever been before.
What other emerging IoT trends do you think are going to be big in 2020?
by Bobby J Davidson
We love our company and we love what we do. Check out the ‘Why Percento‘ page to learn more: Love of Technology and Business! As the President of Percento Technologies International, I provide day-to-day leadership to the company’s senior management and I am personally involved in the strategy, business development and sales activities of the firm.
The company was founded in 1999 with the purpose of providing a one call source for organizations in need of Enterprise IT Consulting and Management. We also provide a line of products in the boutique Cloud Server space with a touch of high-end website strategy consulting and design services. We personalizes the IT Service experience with a team approach, working with clients from diverse sectors of industry, including energy services, financial, legal, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, retail and general and/or corporate business. percentotech.com/contact