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IoT and interoperability: Let’s not leave a trillion dollars on the table

Much has been said about the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), but it’s important to emphasise that innovation in this market is simply not going to happen of its own accord. According to a recent report by McKinsey & Company, failing to solve the sticky issues around IoT interoperability could cost the industry a minimum of $1.5 trillion in lost value per year.

Developers are eager to make the most of the growing IoT market, which is predicted to reach $3.9 trillion or higher by 2025, based on the McKinsey analysis. However, 40% of this value is dependent on interoperability between technologies and applications. Interoperability is a key consideration for any developer looking to build an IoT prototype and bring it to market, and developers simply can’t afford to avoid the issue any longer.

Starting an IoT project is daunting and there are a multitude of factors to consider. Some of these are common across IoT solutions, including the need for wireless connections, communication between devices and back-end systems, as well as the collection and interpretation of data. However, industry silos and proprietary systems make developing and building these solutions more complex and time-consuming than it needs to be. Once you complicate the open flow of communication between different systems in this way, you begin to hinder future innovation and end up cutting yourself off from that additional value in making your applications interoperable.

One answer to the interoperability challenge is to establish and commit to using solutions based on industry standards. Standardisation improves choice and flexibility, enabling developers to use products from multiple vendors to customise a solution to meet their specific needs. As a result, they can be more innovative and more cost-efficient in building their solutions.

There are already a number of industry standards organisations looking to address this. One such example, oneM2M, has developed technical specifications to address the need for a common M2M Service Layer that can be embedded within various hardware and software, allowing a wide range of devices to connect to M2M application servers. The group recently published the oneM2M Release 1 specifications – the world’s first global standards for M2M deployment – which cover key areas such as requirements, architecture, API specifications, security solutions and common industry protocols.

Another approach that has been growing in popularity is the release of designs and specifications into the open source community. This creates an open portfolio of hardware and interface standards, which have been developed by key industry players and are available for other developers to adopt. Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and Beaglebone are examples of how this approach has already been rolled out successfully. A newer example of this is Project mangOH, an open hardware reference design for IoT applications developed and released earlier this year by Sierra Wireless.

These can greatly contribute to innovation in an open source community. Releasing the design into the public domain helps to create a pool of industry-standard compatible products that allow a prototype to be commercialised more easily. Several companies have already developed wireless module designs based on the IoT connector standard introduced within Project mangOH, for example, including Freescale, Linear Technology and Texas Instruments.

Platforms like these enable developers with limited hardware, wireless, or low-level software expertise to develop applications in days rather than months. If executed properly, they can significantly reduce the time and effort to get from paper to prototype to production, by ensuring various connectors and sensors work together automatically with no additional coding required.

There are also a handful of well-known open source-based software solutions already contributing to development of IoT applications, such as the Linux-based Legato embedded platform. Legato is free to download and can be embedded on any application processor, simplifying the development of IoT applications. Open source software application frameworks widen the development community, and mean you will still be able to find development resources and support five years from now regardless of the status of your original solution vendor – a significant benefit in terms of product longevity.

The true value of the IoT open source community will be realised as it continues to develop and grow. New contributions will accelerate next-level innovation within the industry, as barriers to entry for smaller developers are lowered and interoperability becomes much easier. Open source software, open hardware specifications, and agreed-upon standards are all crucial components in the quest for interoperability and should work together to plug that potential $1.5 trillion hole in the IoT market.

Promoting innovation within the Internet of Things through a standards-based and open-source strategy will ultimately enable developers to get their products and applications to market faster and easier. It is in everyone’s best interests to operate under established industry standards and cooperate within open source communities to guarantee that we continue to foster innovation and reap the full commercial benefits in this rapidly growing market.

The author Olivier Beaujard, is vice president of market development at Sierra Wireless