What does the future hold for IoT? Glad you asked. Here are 10 Internet of Things (IoT) trends and predictions for 2016, and their potential implications for channel partners.
10. RMM Meets IoT: Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) software platforms designed for MSPs will begin to manage and track sensor endpoints and machine learning systems. Think beyond printers and other legacy devices. Get to know in-store sensors within retail chains and more.
9. IoT Market Size: Actually, let's fast-forward a few years. The Internet of Things (IoT) will include 26 billion units installed by 2020, Gartner predicts. By that time, IoT vendors and IT service providers will generate incremental revenue exceeding $300 billion, mostly from IT services, Gartner forecasts. ChannelE2E's spin: Even if you doubt the forecasts, basic logic suggests more and more devices, sensors and machines will have IP connections...
8. IoT Standards Challenges: For IoT to really thrive, vendors and customers will need to embrace open standards that improve device monitoring and management; big data information gathering and analytics; and overall network communications. Keep an eye on the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) and vendor-led groups like the AllSeen Alliance. And of course, big vendors like Apple, GE, Google, Microsoft and Cisco Systems.
7. IoT Privacy Concerns: The Internet of Things will track your every move -- using the mobile device in your hand, and network sensors throughout the environment. New privacy legislation will emerge, but ultimately everyone's digital footprint will grow larger and larger.
6. Intelligent Edges Emerge: Sensors will get smarter and smarter. Machine learning will help sensors to decide what data to gather, what to store, what to delete, and what to forward to a corporate network or cloud for analysis.
5. IoT Security Weaknesses: They'll run rampant. No transport encryption. Faulty network services. Poor web interfaces. And the list of IoT security weaknesses goes on.
4. Startups Grow, And Implode: Hundreds of IoT startups will claim that they are ready to change the world. Some will succeed. Some will be acquired as asset sales. But most, I suspect, will implode. We lived through the dot-com bubble. We survived the financial services implosion. We avoided the cloud bubble (so far). But I suspect the IoT market correction will be painful.
3. Blurring Markets: Machine to Machine (M2M) and IoT computing will blur, and the line between them will disappear.
2. Identity Will Be Critical: At first glance, IoT is all about nameless, faceless devices, sensors and machines. But take a closer look and you'll see how tools like LogMeIn Xively Identity Manager potentially change the game.
1. Biggest Profits: Channel partners that master real time IoT for customers will unlock the biggest profits. The real magic will arrive when real-time IoT integrates with real-time analytics -- delivering real-time business insights or prescriptive analytics. (I.E., telling customers and partners what they should do next.)
Note: ChannelE2E is running 2016 technology predictions throughout the month of December 2016. Submit predictions for consideration to [email protected]. Read all daily predictions here.
