October, 2014

What Experts are Saying About the Internet of Things – October 2014

October 31, 2014/0 Comments/in Industry Commentary /by Chris

This is the latest post in a blog series here at bbotx that highlights what happened in the Internet of Things world during the past month.

This article from the Harvard Business Review ‘Digital Ubiquity: How Connections, Sensors, and Data Are Revolutionizing Business’ examines how adapting to ubiquitous digital connectivity is now essential to competitiveness in most sectors of our economy.
Currently the IoT lacks a common set of standards. This article from ZDNet gives a short rundown of some of the leading IoT standards and protocols and standards bodies now in formation.
Business Insider has released a new Intelligence report that examines what is driving growth in the IoT and how various sectors of the economy will embrace IoT innovations.
Disruption shouldn’t mean the users are disrupted, but that is what the IoT is threatening to do. This post from our CEO Paul Hanson takes a look at what could possibly go wrong when the world has 50 billion connected things by 2020.

What other articles caught your interest about the IoT space this month? Let us know on twitter at @bbotx or in the comment section below.

50 Billion Connected Things by 2020 – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

October 9, 2014/1 Comment/in Industry Commentary /by Paul Hanson

Cisco, McKinsey, and others are predicting big things for the IoT – 50 billion connected state reporting things by 2020 with an economic impact of between $14 and $33 trillion by 2025[i]. This will be an explosion of creativity, large corporations rushing to be early, if not first. Not to mention the small inventors and startups trying to gain attention and market share for new ideas. What could possibly go wrong?

Disruption usually refers to an emerging technology or business model that undermines an existing industry. It can be an entrenched, dominant player, or a fragmented industry that gets transformed – for example, Airbnb organizing the fragmented hospitality business. The Model T disrupted the transportation industry. Disruption doesn’t have to be bad – disruption can be a creative force that generates new opportunities, and creates new markets.

Disruption shouldn’t mean the users are disrupted, but that is what the IoT is threatening to do. Early examples include a sad litany of bad planning, poorly conceived products, and horrifying security failures. Samsung’s smart appliances were turned into spam bots by smart hackers, parents have found strangers talking to their children over baby monitors[ii], and technology has given governments unprecedented access to invade our privacy[iii]. The IoT is giving hackers enormous numbers of targets of opportunity. Read more →

What Experts are Saying About the Internet of Things

October 3, 2014/0 Comments/in Industry Commentary /by Chris

This is the first post in a new blog series here at bbotx that highlights what happened in the Internet of Things world during the month. This month we focus on how enterprise is using the IoT, and how the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is ripe with potential.

Accenture has released a new report that outlines the possibilities for the Industrial Internet of Things. Key findings include the opportunity for growth in enterprise digital services.
Who would have guessed that an explosion of new, Internet connected devices rushed to market by both big companies such as Samsung and small inventors seeking attention would provide new attack vectors for hackers. The need for people to be able to trust their devices is becoming more and more important, as cyber-attacks become greater risk, say 9-11 commission chairs Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton. This is especially relevant with sensitive corporate data. (via The Wall Street Journal)
Though an oldie this white paper from Cisco is still relevant. It predicts there will be 50 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2020. We characterize this future vision as large companies rushing to be first then small inventors with good product ideas (and a huge creative burst of energy). What could go wrong?
This article from Paul Hanson, our CEO at bbotx, takes a look at how the IoT started and gives a rundown of how bWare fits into it (naturally we think this one is rather insightful).

What other articles caught your interest about the IoT space this month? Let us know on twitter at @bbotx.