Rethinking the Database in the IIoT Era

In the Internet of Things, there's no such thing as a mobile device that operates in isolation. And yet, mobile devices and apps are often marketed, sold, and bought as if they're independent products. Manufacturers and consumers alike need to think less in terms of "discrete product" and more of "interconnected systems." No one wants 50 different mobile apps to control 50 different things in their smart home or smart health environments. With IoT product manufacturers championing different communications protocols, the challenge is to enable one mobile app to control many devices.

Industrial IoT (IIoT) solutions are built on data. However, while web applications and microservices write transactional data to databases, IIoT data is generated by machines – and machines don’t write data to databases. As a result, one of the most common challenges when building IIoT solutions is data access.

IoT deployments carry inherent risks like undeterred access to devices, poor connectivity and a very large threat surface. With ever-increasing incidents of intrusion, denial of service, spoofing attacks, etc., businesses must take a strategic view of IoT security. IoT developers and Solutions Architects know that a solid security architecture for IoT will require encryption, authentication, and authorization to run at scale. However, today, IoT security needs a different paradigm than IT security – here is where MQTT comes in to help in mitigating IoT security vulnerabilities.

In response to the rising demands of cargo volume and vessels size in catching up with the global trading hubs, port terminals are looking to improve operational efficiency and increase productivity. Meanwhile, port authorities must also ensure that they remain attractive by enhancing their smart port journey with the availability of critical infrastructure.