The development of the Internet of Things, with the help of wearables and Big Data
The Internet of Things will be a global market worth trillions of dollars by 2020, according to IDC.
The explosion of the Internet of Things is a fact. The consultancy firm IDC maintains that the sector is forecast to grow even more spectacularly than its current rate. If a figure that amounts to nearly $656 billon could be put on the global IoT (Internet of Things) market in 2014, IDC projects an annual growth of 16.9%, which would lead the sector to reach $1.7 trillion in value.
In fact, by 2020 two-thirds of the IoT market will be dominated by devices, connectivity and IT services. These devices, which are in reality modules or sensors, will represent almost 32% of the total market.
These sensors that are being implemented on devices or modules on the web are one of the aspects that is most encouraging development as they are closely related to Big Data, because of the information they generate and, in this case, share.
Another point which is also standing out in the sector is the booming popularity of wearables. It should be noted that this is only the human face of the Internet of Things – the one that reaches the consumer. In this regard, the reflection made by Vernon Turner, from the IDC, is interesting: “The IoT is a technological spill-over that moves the status quo of IT. If traditionally business processes made possible by technology have moved on to services made possible by it, now the technology has reached the products”.
Definition of the Internet of Things
But how do you narrow the study of a niche market in full swing without constraining the resulting projection? To do this, it is very important to solidly define the study subject. IDC defines the IoT as a network of networks of uniquely identifiable endpoints (so-called ‘things’) that communicate without human interaction using IP connectivity.
The ambiguity of the definition is not an accident. The Internet of Things is an umbrella under which numerous industries can innovate for many sectors. Some of the most important components of this emerging technological taxonomy would be devices (or modules as they are referred to mean they do not need human interaction, which automatically discards smartphones, PCs, tablets, etc.), connectivity, storage, servers, analytical software or IT services.