FROM THE CIMPHONI BLOG ON TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
The Internet of Things - Four
Things CIOs and IT Can Do Today
By Rick Davidson
Today’s blog is for information technology leaders who know they want to explore the Internet of
Things (IoT) as a powerful capability and want to learn how they can get started now building a
technical foundation for it. You’ve probably heard a lot of discussion about the Internet of Things (IoT)
over the past few years. It’s here now, in its earliest forms, and it’s generating industry momentum
quickly. Part of the reason is that IoT is a perfect third partner for mobile and cloud computing. And
over time, it will be the genesis for the IT function to enable new business models and revenue growth
opportunities.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is in the early stages of the “S” curve and will certainly continue to evolve.
We will see new business models and technology solutions take shape, leveraging data harvested
from smart and connected devices that will permeate our work and personal lives.
Already, companies are embracing IoT supported strategies that connect customers to their devices,
their devices to each other and all of those back to the enterprise.
To address the IoT opportunity, we will first start out with some definitions and then discuss some
practical challenges CIOs should as they consider as they prepare for the deployment of IoT within
their enterprise.
The Internet of Things - What Is It?
IAsk two people and you’ll get three answers on what the Internet of Things actually is. Even
companies like Cisco, IBM and SAP differ in their definition, with Cisco branding it as the Internet of
Everything (IoE). IBM suggests it will be a completely separate web, based partially on the protocols
that make our current worldwide web work, but requiring new standards for device control,
communication and data security. General Electric calls it the Industrial Internet.
For our purposes, we’re going to assume IoT means bringing a whole range of physical objects
online—from complex machines like automobiles and mining equipment to simpler objects such as
home appliances and thermostats.
THE INTERNET OF THINGS - FOUR THINGS CIOS AND IT CAN DO TODAY
The worldwide web we all use today focuses on people and servers. The IoT web, on the other hand,
will be optimized for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication. It will need to be efficient at
bringing inanimate objects to life online through embedded hardware and low-overhead data
collection and integration services.
For example, embedded sensors in products use mobile technology to connect to each other and to
cloud services and hybrid data centers, all the while feeding Big Data to analytics applications. This
ecosystem is enabling products to communicate their condition and usage to users as well as the
manufacturer. The possibilities to harness this information and use it to improve the performance and
value of IoT enabled devices are nearly infinite.
However, there is much uncertainty in not knowing all of the ways in which IoT will technically manifest
itself. It’s widely acknowledged that IoT has potential security challenges that will require new
standards and protocols that may not exist yet. But that hasn’t stopped companies from enabling
solutions based on today’s IoT capabilities.
Almost 20 billion new products will connect to the Internet of Things over the next five years.
Four Ways to Prepare for IoT
1. Develop an IoT Strategy
IoT will enhance existing products and services, enable new lines of business and transform the ways
existing businesses operate, from creating new sales channels to improving supply chain efficiency.
New business models will grow as IoT capabilities continue to mature, and the implications are
enormous for IT, CIOs and the enterprise. CIOs and senior IT leaders will find plenty of challenge in
collaborating with their business counterparts to exploit the capabilities of IoT within their enterprise,
but the impact on the business can be significant.
How Can I Get Started?
The IoT is ideally suited for products where the value of the product can be enhanced by knowing
more about certain parameters associated with the product – its usage or utilization, its
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THE INTERNET OF THINGS - FOUR THINGS CIOS AND IT CAN DO TODAY
performance, its state or condition and its location over a certain time period. The essence of IoT today
is capturing these parameters in real-time or near real-time from smart and connected devices. As
these devices can spin off quite a bit of data, the challenge is in analyzing these parameters to identify
trends and other useful business insights. These insights can then be used to 1) improve the customer
value of the product directly (e.g., improve performance or reliability) or 2) create ancillary services
based on the product’s usage (e.g., provide suggestions on how the product can improve customer
benefits).
CIOs and senior IT leaders should engage business leaders in a review of current product and service
offerings to determine if any are candidates for the development of an IoT enabled solution. The
best approach is to start small (i.e., avoid a “big bang” approach) with the goal of learning more
about opportunities to enhance products (using the parameters mentioned above), understanding
complementary IoT technologies (third party vendors) and the size of the market for smart and
connected devices (customer receptivity). As an IoT strategy begins to emerge, CIOs will then need to
consider the implications on the enterprise computing environment.
2. Plan for New Demands on Infrastructure and Operations
As said earlier, 20 billion devices will be online by 2020. Let’s combine that with another interesting
statistic. Most IT professionals, some 57%, report that their current networks are already at capacity.
Given that 46% of IT professionals also believe that IoT devices will be coming online and talking to
existing networks, this is a recipe for disaster.
For those running private clouds, the time is ripe for additional investment in IT infrastructure. For
those who need to scale up quickly, cloud solutions provide immediate scalability. Plus, the proven
capabilities of Amazon, Microsoft and others to ensure that when the data storage demand hits, you’re
already covered.
How Can I Get Started?
Consider the operational management of all of this. You’ll need to deploy, track, reassign and deprovision all manner of sensors and devices lined up at the edge of your network, all chatting and
requesting valuable resources to service themselves, customers and other devices. So, create or
augment your asset management service and Configuration Management Database (CMDB) so your
IoT deployment doesn’t resemble stadiums full of strangers all shouting at the same time.
3. Embrace Big Data
The initial barrier for most IoT implementations is the infrastructure required to get devices talking
to the network. Then, as IoT data is generated, it needs to be harvested, stored and processed for
analytics. This is the domain of Big Data, and it will determine much of the effectiveness of your IoT
strategy.
Most private data centers are geared towards scaling in terms of terabytes. When scaling in units of
petabytes and exabytes becomes the new reality, this may not mean simply scaling up or out in ways
that the enterprise hadn’t factored, it may mean completely different approaches and wholesale
replacement of existing solutions. Few IT shops today are ready for this amount of data processing
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THE INTERNET OF THINGS - FOUR THINGS CIOS AND IT CAN DO TODAY
and analytics.
How Can I Get Started?
Big Data is another area where you may want to push the solution outside your physical walls and
adopt one or more cloud solutions to provide the scalability and sheer processing power required
to handle the demand. Amazon RedShift, Hortonworks, Cloudera, Mongo and other providers are
already scaling at this level, and have invested time and money into data solutions designed with the
intent of supporting not just large volumes of data, but IoT specifically.
4. Update Your Services-Oriented Infrastructure
So now that you have a network or cloud solution that will handle the traffic, storage and analytics,
you need to integrate all of this at the application layer. Depending on the application of the device,
you will have latency requirements varying from sub-second (traffic control systems) to near realtime (banking and financial systems). Some messages will also directly request enterprise services
and workflows that exist in ordering systems and ERP systems.
Sensors and smart devices of all sorts will become smaller and smaller with minimal amounts of
local processing power required. The ability to process large payloads of SOA-generated XML, an
expensive operation required of many Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) clients, may not be
desirable or possible. However, RESTful services provide a far more lightweight method of dealing
with data payloads.
How Can I Get Started?
Prepare a REST services capability either in place of, or in front of, your existing SOAP-based SOA
infrastructure to readily communicate information from your IoT world to your bus. Having fast,
secure services accessible from the edge of your network will be a requirement, and REST services
will help.
Imagine being able to embed intelligence in your products and monitor their entire lifecycle, from
initial purchase to obsolescence. Consider the value of applying proactive diagnostics to equipment
all over the manufacturing floor to fix issues before they become problems. Think of the advantages
of making products that communicate with each other in the field. And if you see robotics playing a
role in your future, the Internet of Things will become central to your plans.
Watch what happens as IoT transforms the world with advancements we never thought possible.
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About Cimphoni
Cimphoni is built on the premise that technology, when properly applied and led, can deliver
innovative solutions that transform businesses, enrich the products we use daily and improve the
quality of our lives. The Cimphoni team is comprised of technology and business leaders, physicians
and medical researchers with a thirst for innovation and a passion for solving problems. Cimphoni
Consulting is focused on business transformation using information technology to enable new
product and service offerings and improve business performance.
Cimphoni Solutions develops Internet of Things strategy, devices and data analytics, as well as
custom enterprise software. Cimphoni Life Sciences creates new medical devices and solutions that
address acute and chronic illnesses and improve the health of individuals.
Founded in 2012, Cimphoni is headquartered in suburban Milwaukee and has an office in
Phoenix to serve customers throughout the United States. More information can be found at
www.cimphoni.com.
440 Wells Street, Suite 202
Delafield, WI 53018
t: (888) 365-4176
e: [email protected]
www.cimphoni.com