"Getting More out of the Internet of Things with Real-time Analytics"

ENTERPRISE IOT

Article | December 23, 2021

The biggest IoT trends are likely to manifest in 2022 and beyond. 1. BLOCKCHAIN The term blockchain is a new concept and is known as a single registry; agreed and distributed in several nodes of a network that will continue in force in the coming years in various activities. 2. MOBILE COMMERCE OR M-COMMERCE It is part of electronic commerce that is carried out exclusively through mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets. The processes will be specialized. With mobile commerce comes the need for device management. Device management is a vital step to ensure security is promptly implemented.Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions, also known as MDM, offer brilliant benefits across all areas. 3. TELEWORK AND DISTANCE EDUCATION Academic and work activities that are carried out remotely, preferably from home, will continue to be applied in a fixed or hybrid way. A smart device(s) can be used from a remote location and therefore enable workers to more effectively manage time. 4. ROBOTIC PROCESSING AUTOMATIZATION It is all technology-oriented to the use of software, with the aim of reducing human intervention in the use of computer applications, especially in repetitive tasks. This reduces the risk of human error and will also cut down management costs. 5. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE It is the combination of algorithms proposed with the purpose of creating machines that have the same capabilities as humans, with the aim of doing a variety of tasks. If we decide to develop an Artificial Intelligence that has greater intelligence, responsibility and scalability, we can make the most of learning algorithms and interpretation systems. In this way, we are able to create value more quickly and with a greater business impact. It is essential to have new techniques that achieve smarter AI solutions, that require less data, with greater ethical responsibility and more resilience.” Gartner 6. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Digital transformation is the change associated with the application of digital technologies in all aspects of human society, and especially in organizations. Accelerating business digital transformation requires entrepreneurs to step back and re-evaluate their plans. It’s about aligning the customer experience strategy with coordinated and detailed digitization plans of what needs to be done, by whom and when. To do this, having precisely identified the customer journey of your digital customer allows you a complete approach, for which tools such as the customer journey map is key. 7. FINTECH It is a nascent industry in which companies use technology to provide financial services in an efficient, agile, comfortable and reliable way. They aim to expand bank penetration. 8. DATA ANALYSIS It is the process by which raw data is analyzed in order to answer questions and reach practical conclusions that support an organization’s decision-making. Using predictive models and AI tools, we can run simulations that are based on real scenarios and information. Thanks to this, we obtain data on contexts that would be difficult, very expensive or impossible to test in physical environments. Big data is big money. 9. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT Software development is generally considered part of the agile family of approaches, and is often used in combination with one or more other methods. Softwareon a smart device can also be upgraded to include better connectivity. In addition to its development, there is likely to be more outsourcing also. 10. ADVANCED MANUFACTURING OR INDUSTRY 4.0 It refers to a new business model in which the interconnection of integrated ICT systems both with each other and with the internet is key. The adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies and the training of personnel will be the greatest opportunities that industries, companies and governments will have in the next decade. Therefore, 2022 represents the next step to embrace technological transformation as an indispensable element for competitiveness, resilience, and development.

INDUSTRIAL 4.0

Article | December 16, 2021

Manufacturers were already digitizing their processes before March 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic gave IT and operational professionals in the manufacturing space reasons to want to move faster. Teams that can’t work on the factory floor (pandemic, weather, closed roads, etc.) need a way to monitor and control processes over the network. Supply chain woes—like wildly fluctuating demand and the container ship that blocked the Suez Canal—highlighted the need for agility. A skilled labor shortage has further accelerated plans for automation. Digitization brings visibility and agility The fourth industrial revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, lays the foundation of modern digital manufacturing. It brings together cyber and physical systems, automation, industrial IoT, and better vertical and horizontal integration. The network has a starring role in digital manufacturing, connecting people and applications in any location to factory-floor assets like sensors, actuators, cameras, and industrial automation and control systems (IACS). Benefits of digitization include improved overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) uptime, product quality, worker safety, cybersecurity, 24/7 asset monitoring and faster new product introduction and accelerating plant buildouts. Four essentials for manufacturing networks As IT and operational professionals work to innovate traditional manufacturing facilities and operations, we must consider that digital manufacturing requires more networks. Here are guidelines for making sure your manufacturing network is up to the task. Use network devices specifically designed for industrial environments like factories In addition to high performance and reliability, industrial routers, switches, and firewalls need to withstand harsh environmental conditions like extreme temperatures, shock, vibration, and humidity. They also need to be able to control access, have support for real-time industrial protocols, and enable the flow of key operational data to move across applications in the cloud. Further, the operational networks they build need to be scalable and highly resilient. We designed our industrial routers and switches to meet these requirements. Give IT and OT visibility and control into what they care about The manufacturing network is a joint project of the IT and OT teams. If you’re on the IT team, you want a solution that works with your existing network management and security applications, and doesn’t require significant training or disruption. You want to automate network maintenance and quickly identify and solve performance issues, especially in this business-critical space. If you’re on the OT team, you’re probably not an IT expert. You want visibility of issues that impact availability, product quality, workforce effectiveness and straightforward recommendations to resolve them. Cisco DNA Center – proven in the largest IT networks – meets all these needs. It automates time-consuming manual tasks, continuously monitors network health, and provides reports and controls on an easy-to-use dashboard. Cisco Cyber Vision gives you visibility into assets and processes. For agile manufacturing, look for “plug-and-play” deployment Manufacturers are simultaneously expanding production, hyper-customizing products, improving operations, and launching new products and services. To achieve these goals, you need the agility to scale product capacity, change product mix, and reallocate resources as needed. Quickly shift networking and production resources where you need them using Cisco DNA Center’s plug-and-play onboarding and provisioning. Pay careful attention to cybersecurity Cybersecurity starts with knowing everything that is connected to your industrial network, who’s talking to each other and what they are saying. Cisco Cyber Vision automatically takes a complete inventory. OT teams use a graphical interface to create production zones (aka network segments) containing all assets that need to communicate. (The painting controller doesn’t need to talk to the assembly-line controller.) Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) deploys polices that block unintended communications between segments to keep malware infections from spreading. Cisco Cyber Vision also takes a baseline of each asset’s usual communications patterns, alerting OT and IT teams to unusual behavior that could be a sign of a security breach. Prepare to do more with less The manufacturing skills shortage has widened the skills gap, with fewer experts left on the plant floor to prevent mistakes and solve crises. Connecting your plant floor helps you do more with less. A resilient network with the four qualities I’ve described—rugged devices, IT and OT collaboration, simpler and agile network management, and cybersecurity—helps you proactively identify potential problems, discover the cause, and resolve them before they affect production or quality.

INDUSTRIAL IOT

Article | December 15, 2021

2022 looks bright for power optimization! The vibrant research and development in Internet of Things (IoT) is fueling the expansion of wireless monitoring solutions and enabling giant leaps in terms of low-power design. A longer lifetime for your batteries, and thus for your device, is a dream about to come true. We have gathered some of the most notable power optimization trends that are getting us all excited for 2022… 5G, the next era of broadband cellular networks will offer improved power saving capabilities The next wave of wider 5G cellular technology is designed to support various new highly challenging industrial use cases. These usually require increased hardware complexity and more processing, together with higher processing power. These requirements can raise power consumption quite significantly. Smart power consumption and energy efficiency are thus becoming keys for the success of these applications and 5G technology.To that extent, 5G New Radio (NR) has progressed swiftly. The new 3GPP™ release is designed to significantly improve the performance, flexibility, scalability, and efficiency of current mobile networks. Improved power saving features now allow IoT developers to get the most out of the available battery capacity. This could make all the difference for new IoT use cases and efficiencies. A new generation of sensors are optimized for low power technologies New families of ‘breakthrough’ sensors, based on anultra-low power architectureare optimized for use in compact wireless devices. These sensors offer a richer set of functionalities and can be combined to create new insights (sensor fusion). One of the greatest challenges facing developers of these small form-devices is power consumption. Aware of these limitations, hardware manufacturers have been working hard to address them. Integrated circuit designs and techniques are now using less power while smart processing capabilities are enabling the sensors to intelligently manage sensing functionalities,delivering ultra-low power performance for best-in-class power consumption. The use of advanced Low Energy Bluetooth and wireless protocols (e.g. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or ZigBee Green Power) also allows the transmission of data to the gateway more efficiently compared to prior solutions, opening new possibilities for developers. Big Data, Analytics, Machine Learning and Edge computing are picking up the pace The explosion in data volume and diversity is forcing organizations to rethink the way they process the information. Indeed, capturing, sending and processing the information in the cloud can be taxing for the network, the storage and the computing infrastructures which demands more processing power, hence the need to keep the transmission window as short as possible. This has led to the development of advanced devices capable of collecting, processing and storing data autonomously before the data is sent to the servers. This concept is calledEdge computing. By reducing the need for data to be streamed through the networks, diminishing computing and processing costs,Edge computing contributes to optimizing power performance, whilst delivering quality data in a more sustainable way. The rise of DevOps and new IoT Device Management platforms are contributing to better efficiency and better devices The rise ofDevOpshas been swift. Derived from Development and Operations, ‘DevOps’ teams are responsible for making sure that the infrastructure is being maintained properly.With the help of IoT Device Management platforms—which are a central part of today’s IoT ecosystems— DevOps teams can better manage, scale and operate their fleet of devices remotely and reduce long-term operational costs.One of the areas that benefits from the rise of DevOps implementation is power supply optimization, as more efficient protocols such as Lightweight Machine to Machine (LwM2M) allow for device and battery monitoring, remote device actions and faster communication. Harvesting technologies are becoming more effective Power harvesting technologies include processes where energy from ambient sources such as the sun, temperature, movement or wind, is captured and stored to power wireless autonomous devices. Now gaining experience,harvesting technologies can exploit natural resources better than ever before. As a result,the gap between the power requirements of embedded systems and the energy generated by energy harvesting systems is finally closing. Industrial applications for these technologies are still very limited, but coupled to efficient rechargeable batteries, they can present new opportunities for devices deployed in wild remote areas. Power optimization tools are becoming increasingly exhaustive and reliable Battery optimization is everyone's business and needs to be considered throughout the overall system performance analysis, from prototyping to deployment and on toward maintenance cycles. Several innovating tools haveappeared on the market over the past few years and developers have now access toa rich ecosystem of tools to analyze their overall system performance. Wisebatt for Saft for example can help creating a virtual prototype and simulate its consumption.Deutsche Telekom’s IoT Solution Optimizergoes even further. You can model the complete system to identify potential energy consumption issues or leaks. The system can not only recommend the right combination of power saving features based on your use case, but also can help you visualize how communication payload size, protocol use and communication frequency impact your battery life. When at the prototype stage,Qoitec Otii solution measures in real time the consumption of your device at various temperatures, up to the measurement of the firmware and hardware operations without the need for expensive testing. These tools are constantly enhanced and improved to deliver better analysis and more accurate data. With an increased awareness from IoT developers of the stakes of power consumption and the growing rate of low-power innovations, batteries are now able to outlive the devices they’re in. This opens the doors tomany new markets and applications and above all to more sustainable consumption patterns. When we told you the future looks bright, we weren’t joking!

Article | February 12, 2020

Google announced that together with Amazon and Apple (the big 3 smart home players) they will work on the adoption of a joint wireless IoT standard for the smart home. This new connectivity standard is designed to make it easier for smart home products to work with each other.In the statement, Google said they were “joining Amazon, Apple and others to create Connected Home over IP, a new independent working group managed by the Zigbee Alliance (separate from the existing Zigbee 3.0/Pro protocol). We’re contributing two of our market-tested and open-source smart home technologies, Weave and Thread. Both are built on IP and have been integrated into millions of homes around the world.”