What Phase of IoT Are We In?

The next phase should be bringing IoT & AI together.

So,

Phase IV: IoT with AI

If anything, I think IoT is still in the Get Connected, or even Adoption phase.

Intel is still playing in the IoT space? From their IoT web page, they still list WindRiver, which they sold off, McAfee which they sold off, and then TAP (Trusted Analytics Platform).  I guess they still have Quark and Atom products but for limited use.  This seems to be the standard in the IoT Realm where companies are still moving in and out of the space.  

On the consumer side, the adoption rate has been much slower than what the product vendors had expected.  One main issue I can see is that there is no standard with regards to connectivity, so someone looking to have a nice connected house will be left with multiple apps on their so called smart device and devices that may or may not communicate with each other without another device or online service like IFTTT or Yonomi. Oh, and if someone turns off that light switch that the Phillips Hue Lights and/or hub are connected, then the whole system might need to be reset.  If there is a power outage, which is common in California during the summer, good luck getting everything back online. Ah, the internet is down again and now the whole system has lost its mind.  I suppose this explains why Amazon is creating their own Geek Squad. OpenHAB is certainly a move in the right direction but it is still a bit of a bugger to set up.  The whole appliance connectivity thing looks interesting though. But, again with no standard each company is left to implement their solution as they feel works best for them.

I think on the business front, the adoption rate has been much faster.  Ambient Light sensors, Motion sensors to turn off lights when there is no movement as well as Amazon Voice Services (Alexa) have been implemented in multiple spaces.   Also, RFID and Bluetooth readers to track inventory as well as product movement seems to be getting more traction.  Perhaps this is due to the System Interrogators that cover the business and corporate area where they can come up with a complete end to end solution that has been proven out. 

It sure is fun to watch though.

One of my favorite podcasts is the IoT Podcast with Stacey Higginbotham and Kevin Tofel. They seem to cover a wide area of the whole IoT spectrum.

Reading the predictions for IoT adoption kind of takes me back to the late '90s - early 2000, where the buzz was all about smart handheld devices and how many billions of them would be deployed in a very short time. As it happens, those predictions where a bit "inflated", reflecting more the desire of the big players rather than the real need of the market, and eventually those figures were reached, but only 5 years later than predicted.

I feel with IoT we are in a similar situation. The technology is maturing at a fast pace, but I too think, for the vast majority of the market sectors, we are still in the get connected stage.

I have read of many small businesses adopting IoT-based solutions to manage their production line, but they are more "showcases" rather than the norm.  Let's not forget the new IoT solutions are often meant to work side-by-side or replace well tried and tested automation solutions, already safely in place for years in many industries, so the inertia is understandable ("if ain't broken, don't fix it").

There is one exception though. One market vertical seems to be pushing IoT adoption very hard: the energy distribution sector. More and more countries around the world have deployed or are actively deploying smart meters to all the energy users. But the energy distribution market has experienced fierce competition in the last decade, which probably has been one of the stronger incentive to innovate.

Definitely interesting times ahead of us! Lets see how it will evolve. One thing is sure: this is already opening up lots of new opportunities to get creative and find new solutions.

Fabio.

There as been lots of progress in IoT and it is already possible to connect just about anything to the internet, but as a fraction of what is possible to connect, we are in the infancy of getting connected. There is a vision phase and a sell-it-to-the-investor phase that comes before the buildout phase. So far the vision is not complete enough to attract more than a small fraction of what will eventually be invested. Once a critical mass of things are connected there will be an explosion of "big data" applications that feed off each other and do not need more buildout. The second phase above could be described as when most investment money has shifted from hardware buildout to software exploitation. The third phase above alludes to AI, which is likely to play a role, but it isn't clear to me yet that the biggest investment money will go there. I think it is possibly more likely to go to "the internet of people" as people get enhanced by technology.

I agree with Rod, from what I can tell, it seems that different businesses/industries/verticals are in different phases. "Software defined" is definitely occurring in some areas - as Rod says, we see this traction pioneered in universities, and now businesses want it, for the flexibility, ease of use, low cost, scalability, etc.. It means there is little risk trying new things, and if it doesn't work, the solution can be changed without ripping out equipment. Amazon and others are providing the tools to help do this too, at speeds measured in milliseconds nowadays - before it took hours, then 10+ minutes to deploy a solution (e.g. deploying virtual machines) but nowadays there are instant-on options to scale and move at the speed of software as you say.

Some of the things that needed to be solved with IoT, like how to deploy thousands of devices securely and configure remotely, are now resolved in a lot of industries. Retail is one example, where things like gateways can be deployed in each site, with zero config, and they will power up and securely update and download their unique configurations.

Some firms are making good progress with the first two phases, building out solutions that they can offer to their customers as "value-add", so that they can proactively monitor equipment, and let the customer know when a system needs servicing. Some stuff is very industry-specific, with machines costing huge sums, such as parts of a ship engine room etc. Another example I heard of (there is an IoT meet-up in the town next to mine every few months, I try to attend) concerned construction projects; apparently when building roads and things, hundreds or thousands of sensors can be deployed, to monitor the vast area during the construction phase and to do that they use an IoT solution.

It's nice to see that most businesses are along these phases and also that surprisingly many businesses have been very open to sharing their journey so that others can learn from their experiences too.

I think this depends upon the sample of society or industry being looked at. If you look at households we are likely to be in the 'Get Connected Phase' with most household items not connected: we have PCs, TVs, home assistants, WiFi lights/cameras etc. But the figure of 85% is probably about right.

If you looked at a modern business then I would expect some of them to be looking at the 'Get Smarter' phase; especially where a lot of money is made or lost by the slightest changes e.g. global data hubs for stock trading and the oil/gas industries.

Lastly, there will be organisations exploring the 'Go Autonomous' phase - likely university tech departments or other big tech corporations. Trying out what the art-of-the-possible.

Exciting times though.

Rod