Top 5 Pre-requisites to IoT Adoption

By Anil Chopra

INDIA: Internet of Things is an emerging technology that will open a lot of new business opportunities for a lot of different industries. Given the feverish pace at which development is happening around it, the IT organizations must start understanding the complexities that they should expect to gear up for. Here we identify the key ones that will emerge out of IoT deployment.

IPv6 Migration:

Companies are just not migrating to IPv6, even though the technology has been around for over a decade. With the IoT gradually taking shape, organizations may not have a choice but to migrate, because there will be billions of unique devices connecting to the Internet. And with the current IPv4 fast depleting its arsenal of IP addresses, it will be completely out of gas with IoT coming in. If your network is not ready, then it’s time to start thinking of upgrading to IPv6. Do it while IoT devices are building up in the consumer space like connected coffee makers, toothbrushes, sleeping beds, etc.

Security:

The second issue would be that of security. CIOs are already reeling under the pressure of ensuring security of mobile devices. With an even larger variety of devices getting connected and generating so much more data, the security scenario will become even more complex to handle.

Storage:

Third issue would be that of storage, especially for consumer focused industries that are going to use devices for a large set of audience, e.g. smart meters. Such devices will generate a huge amount of data, for which storage capacity would have to be provisioned for.

Analysis:

Another issue that stems from data generation is that of data analysis. Ultimately, you would want to be able to analyze the data being generated by these ‘things’ on the Internet for business benefit, e.g. a transport and logistics company using sensors to monitor various aspects of its fleet of vehicles, like diesel consumption, driver behavior, etc. You might require big data analysis software here.

WAN Optimization:

Before you can analyze all the data, you have to ensure that it comes into your centralized systems safely and reliably, which is where your WAN link optimization comes in. Will your existing WAN links be able to handle the additional load created by IoT devices?

(The article was published in PCQuest May 2014 issue)