While IoT technology is certainly gaining traction in the market, it is not catching on as quickly as originally predicted. The technology was originally slated to have 50 billion active devices by 2020. The latest numbers estimate about half of that original count. The main reasons adoption hasn't been as widespread as initially thought are concerns about the security of the devices, and the difficulty associated with provisioning a large scale deployment.
Intel wants to fix all that and get the market back on track. The effort is called Intel Secure Device Onboard (Intel SDO). The technology securely automates and brings IoT devices online within seconds rather than hours, the company claims. Intel SDO is being offered to IoT platform providers as a service they can provide to customers who wish to onboard thousands of connected devices.
Intel SDO’s “zero touch” model allows devices to dynamically discover IoT platform account at power-on to register the device automatically. The one-to-many, one-time enablement solution can be integrated into almost any device or IoT platform, which would eliminate the need to custom pre-load provisioning configurations for each IoT implementation. This allows for the plug-and-play experience most customers are used to when provisioning other types of technology.
Intel SDO: Benefits for IoT Service Providers
Intel claims the benefits of this technology are:
- Automatic Activation – Dynamic discovery of the customer’s IoT platform for fast onboarding at power on, with no manual interaction necessary.
- Hardware Protected Onboarding – Anonymously authenticate devices to help prevent hackers from tracing the device from factory to owner.
- Streamline Distribution – Digitally trace ownership from manufacturer to customer, and provide a rendezvous point in the IoT platform where the owner
can claim the device. - Ecosystem Accelerator – Eliminate expensive customer configuration pre-loads with a zero-touch experience.
IoT technology and devices are still very new. I believe we have only just scratched the surface on what businesses can do with it to streamline operations, sales and more.
MSPs: IoT Onboarding, Monitoring & Management Services
The task of implementing IoT devices within companies will surely fall to MSPs over time as businesses look to modernize and take advantage of the benefits the technology can bring. Onsite visits can be costly, both for the client and the MSP. With plug and play IoT made possible through Intel SDO, hopefully, the task can become as simple as sending the device to the company and allowing them to install it.
