Who would have thought that the Internet of Things (IoT) could impact anything from artificial insemination of cows to supply chain management decisions, writes Nick Finch, the technical director of Concentra? (more…)
February 9, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
The first wave of connectivity to serve the continent of Africa was mobile communications; in fact more than double the population in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has mobile phone access compared with access to paved roads, writes Stephen Stewart, the regional director for Africa at Eseye. (more…)
February 8, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
Intelligent device manufacturers are operating in an environment that is more demanding than ever: devices are becoming more interconnected in the Internet of Things (IoT), profit margins on those devices are being squeezed as competition heats-up across a global stage, and customers are demanding more flexibility in tailoring products to their needs than ever before, writes Vincent Smyth, the vice president for EMEA at Flexero Software. (more…)
Posted by: George Malim
IT is no longer the sole guardian of technology in the business. From IP enabled turnstiles to smart manufacturing systems that continuously monitor and optimise performance and smart buildings with IP connected environmental controls, the Internet of Everything (IoE) is slowly but inexorably expanding across every business environment, writes John Pepper, the chief executive and founder of Managed 24/7.
Right now, however, these deployments remain completely separate from the core business network – and IT has little or no visibility of IoE deployments. While companies are gaining operational benefits, these siloed deployments also represent significant operational risk. Security is the primary concern, but organisations are also missing out on essential business information. By failing to consolidate IoE deployments into the core network, organisations cannot enable CxOs to take advantage of a depth of real time analytics that should be informing changes to every part of the building, estate and production systems.
It is, therefore, no surprise that there is a growing CxO push to integrate IoE into the existing corporate network, not least to exploit IT’s security expertise. Few CxOs even consider any difficulties arguing, quite reasonably, that there is little or no difference between an IP enabled temperature sensor and any cloud based application. However, there is one fundamental and essential difference to consider: IT systems are still managed on the basis of 99.999% – five nines – availability; IoE demands 100% availability – failure is simply not an option.
A small but growing minority of IT organisations have therefore begun to explore the value of consolidating monitoring tools to move beyond break/fix to a predictive model that delivers 100% uptime. End to end monitoring that accurately predicts trends in performance combined with self-healing technologies both prevent problems and enable organisations to achieve far more effective IT utilisation.
Given the speed with which devices are becoming Internet enabled, there is no time to delay. But organisations have some tough questions to consider. From ownership to budget, capacity planning to network audit and security, organisations need to determine where the responsibility lies for this new connected model – and, critically, ensure IT embraces the predictive approach required to deliver the 100% availability now required of these essential systems.
The role of IT is changing; today’s requirement to support servers is evolving fast to one that is about managing millions of connected devices, from coffee machines to life saving NHS equipment. IT needs to step up quickly to embrace this critical, predictive model for every aspect of the corporate infrastructure.
February 5, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
The Internet of Things (IoT) has truly begun to take off with enabled devices including smart watches, smart meters and connected cars as well as smartphones and tablets, writes David Watkins, the service delivery director at Virtus Data Centres. However, technology and appliances are not the only industries affected by this growing trend. In fact, IoT’s potential reaches far beyond, and could play a major role in helping disconnected industries re-engage with their customers. (more…)
February 3, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
February 2, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
Andreas Schierenbeck, the chief executive of thyssenKrupp Elevator, discusses how modern IoT developments are bringing one of the world’s oldest industries – construction – into the 21st century. (more…)
January 27, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
Internet connected devices are becoming embedded in our everyday lives, with almost every object either already connected or currently being modified in an attempt to be smart, writes Grayson Milbourne, the security intelligence director at Webroot. (more…)
January 26, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
Smart home and consumer applications in the Internet of Things (IoT) are seen as huge growth markets. Numerous related products and solutions already exist today however, although these solutions achieve enormous comfort and security gains as well as energy savings, an important component is missing: the user acceptance. The convergence of standards and technologies resulting in seamlessly connected, worldwide solutions will change this situation, write Graham Martin, the chairman of the EnOcean Alliance, and Tobin Richardson, the resident and CEO of the ZigBee Alliance. (more…)
January 25, 2016
Posted by: George Malim
One of the many sizable challenges in healthcare today is ensuring patients are taking care of themselves: taking their medication on time, getting enough sleep, doing what the doctor has advised, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, writes Mathew Kuruvilla, the chief innovation officer of Ness Software Engineering Services. (more…)
January 22, 2016
Posted by: George Malim