Tag Archives: IoT

Gartner’s Guesses—Predictions for IT in 2018

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As another year begins to draw to a close, industry experts are already looking to the future. The IT industry has been dynamic over the past few years, with innovations such as improvements in cloud computing, machine learning, and even IT management propelling it forward. At the recent Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2017 in Orlando, FL, Gartner took a shot at the future of IT, painting a picture of the industry as being more integrated with business than ever. IT is now so central to operations that businesses can no longer afford to isolate their departments, and Gartner knows this.

Since IT is often a means of improving products/services and generating additional revenue, Gartner’s central point was that professionals in the industry will need to have a working grasp of business tactics and company goals. From there, they can set up IT departments that maximize technology usage to meet these goals. CIOs, Gartner believes, will become more integrated than ever into business operations and become important collaborators for the companies they work for.

One trend that Gartner discussed was cryptocurrency. Starting as a technological curiosity, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have since attracted significant interest for their value in facilitating swift and secure transactions. While working cryptocurrency into business models has proved to be slow going, Gartner predicts that over $1 billion in business value will be derived from it by 2020. They were also optimistic about the future of IoT-enabled devices, predicting an upsurge in these products with smartphone integration.

However, there were other trends that Gartner was less bullish about. The aforementioned prediction of IoT devices came with the caveat that that billions of dollars will be necessary for companies to safely harness this technology. IoT devices are almost famously difficult to completely secure given network decentralization, and their usage would divert funds that would otherwise be spent to improve cybersecurity.

The use of AI was also the subject of controversy for Gartner, with the company citing it as a potential contributor toward a future age of digital mistrust. While they praised the ability of AI to help inform business decisions, they also believe that its use on the web will hasten the spread of false information. This has social and financial implications, with Gartner stating that a major fraud as a result of these prolific falsehoods will occur by 2020. Commercial projects to detect and halt fake news have already begun, and a tenfold increase in these projects is predicted in the coming years.

Still, IT is slated to prosper. As its role in business changes and it becomes more integral to operations, the industry is expected to grow, with a predicted 2.3 million jobs being created as opposed to 1.8 eliminated. Early adoption is, as always, important in the IT sector, and one of the latest trends, visual and voice search, may be the next big investment. Both are growing quickly, and large tech companies are expected to invest in improving their visual and voice query offering through the use of AI.

There is a lot on the horizon for IT. While these improvements will undoubtedly be a boon for the companies and individuals that harness them, a level of caution is necessary. Much of this technology is relatively untested, posing security and operational concerns for businesses. Now more than ever, a need for skilled professionals is arising to ensure that companies are able to adopt in an efficient and safe manner.

IoT and Cloud Computing: A Revolutionary Relationship

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When tracing the taxonomy of breakthroughs in modern technology, two concepts stand as major stems in terms of progressive innovation: the cloud and the internet of things (IoT). The former has revolutionized the ways in which we store, share, analyze, and manage data across a large user base, speeding up the efficiency and productivity of many industries worldwide. The latter, a concept referring to the connectivity of devices across a potentially widespread network, as changed our perception of interactivity, and it too has revamped many aspects of the working world, from interconnected law enforcement resources to evolving possibilities surrounding smart cities.

Both the cloud and IoT, in themselves, are exciting and reflective of a seemingly limitless array of uses. However, what’s even more fascinating are the ways in which the two concepts are being utilized simultaneously, creating a relationship of vast potential.

Cloud complements

Cloud computing acts as a natural complement to IoT initiatives, mainly since both concepts strive to “increase efficiency in everyday tasks.” In simple terms, IoT’s basic functionality creates a large amount of data, and cloud computing essentially gives this data a “pathway” to travel upon. In an office with a growing dependence on connected technology, for instance, the cloud’s presence can help to facilitate stronger collaboration and quicker data accessibility, allowing workers to access this data both remotely and on location.

Symbiotic security

Both the cloud and IoT have been criticized in the past for potential security concerns, leading some to question their functionality and safety. Respective security debates aside, the IoT/cloud relationship is undeniably fruitful in terms of increased security and privacy measures. The basic nature of IoT has led to an increased emphasis on several aspects of functional infrastructure, namely connectivity, reliability, and computing power. The cloud, in turn, can act as a “backbone” of sorts, helping companies to address these points of interest by means of application programming interfaces (APIs) and backend databases.

Improved functionality

Since IoT is still technically a fledgling technological movement in several regards, its general handling has presented a lack of standards, which has subsequently led to breakdowns in manufacturer communication as well as device integration. However, the cloud can help to sharpen pre-existing IoT systems in terms of their fluidity and architecture. Often, data sets within current IoT systems are “siloed on separate servers,” and their accessibility suffers as a result. Cloud implementation can allow these servers to connect in a more seamless manner, cutting back on data stagnation and ultimately providing these servers with more value. In short, the cloud is able to make the already speedy IoT even faster, all while strengthening its functionality.

Best Cloud-Based Apps for Business

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I spend a lot of time talking about applications of the cloud, so I figured I’d dedicate myself now to discussing some applications for the cloud. If you’re the owner of a small-to-medium sized business (often colloquially referred to as an SMB), then you’ll be happy to know that, even without cloud services, it’s still possible to leverage this technology to work for you and improve productivity. Thousands of applications exist on the web, and now, some recent additions are using the cloud to better manage their resources.

Have a look at some of the best services available now.

Intuit Quickbooks Online Plus

For under $40 per month, you can use cloud-based accounting to get a better handle on company finances. From its modest beginning, Intuit has since expanded its services and created a simple, user-friendly UI that caters specifically to SMB needs. It even includes a flexible payroll management service to make it your one-stop shop for dealing with finance.

IDrive

For the business with a minimal web presence looking for a hassle-free way to protect its data, IDrive is ideal. It’s inexpensive and boasts an easy setup that offers businesses disk image backups, folder syncing, and a hard drive for physical data security.

The downside? It only offers a terabyte of storage, which some smaller businesses may not mind, given IDrive’s ease of use.

Carbonite

For slightly larger businesses, Carbonite offers a more robust backup option for businesses looking to protect their data in case of disaster for a reasonable price. However, it does nothing to protect or back up virtual infrastructures or cloud-based data centers, making it so that businesses that are more digitally involved will have to look elsewhere for answers.

MailChimp

Even if your budget for email marketing is low, MailChimp delivers (pun intended) with a level of customization that’ll keep anybody happy regardless of their level of technological expertise. It’s also capable of integrating third party tools, and includes templates to get a new user off and running as fast as possible.

Hootsuite

If you’re interested in easily managing multiple social media platforms from one place, then consider Hootsuite. It starts off free, but an interested user can scale up and add more socials if they decide that the like the service.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer all-in-one analytics; though most social platforms have their own free services if you’d like to really track engagement.

Webroot SecureAnywhere Antivirus

For a little bit of money (around $20, to be precise), you can protect your devices from viruses and ensure recovery of files encrypted by ransomware. It doesn’t take up a lot of space on your device, scans rapidly, and offers a protective firewall. Plus, Webroot is constantly updating its database of programs and potential threats, and is willing to respond and adapt to any attack by an unknown software.

Ascencio System OnlyOffice

It’s a lot like Google Docs, but OnlyOffice offers a few more options that make it worth the higher price point. It provides additional features that can aid in productivity, including task, project, and customer relationship management tools. Plus, its myriad of functions are all cleanly integrated together in a way that makes it easy to shift from task to task.

Its main drawback is its lack of included storage, but this is offset by the fact that OnlyOffice plays nicely with other third-party storage providers for your convenience.

Forecast of Fog: How Fog Computing Could Make an Impact

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When it comes to the Internet of Things, connectivity is the name of the game.

Connectivity is, in fact, the appeal of a related technology that could represent another evolution in the same vein as the cloud. In fact, it even has a similar weather-based name to go along with it.

In terms of purpose, this new concept, dubbed “fog computing,” is essentially identical to the cloud; it is still intended to allow users to store and retrieve files without the need for a costly server infrastructure. However, the difference lies in the way the data is handled. Fog computing creates a “fog” of data; scattered packets that don’t contain the whole of any file.

This approach makes it much more difficult for attackers to steal information. Any attempts to retrieve files illegitimately only allow for access to one part of the data, giving attackers a garbled, incomplete mess. This is because, unlike cloud computing, fog computing involves a network of smaller servers, called fog nodes, that distribute packets of data. Nowhere in the fog network is any file stored in its entirety.

The other advantage of fog computing is that the decentralized fog nodes enable data to be closer to the businesses that need to access it. The disadvantage of the cloud is that data still has to travel from servers to wherever it’s needed, reducing performance. Fog computing bypasses some of these concerns and enables faster data retrieval. In fog computing, data centers are smaller, easier to place, and ideally as widespread as possible.

In fact, some fog nodes are so small that they can be placed anywhere that they can connect to the network. Power poles, vehicles, and even oil rigs can host fog nodes and widen the network. Ideally, fog-enabled devices are situated at the edge, right where data is needed immediately. With this larger, less centralized network, doors open to monitor new types of data, particularly as it relates to machine to machine communications. Fog computing allows data to be analyzed and acted upon in seconds.

It’s the ideal marriage of the cloud and the Internet of Things, two concepts that have gained a lot of ground among technology and data experts in the last several years. Cloud computing, though certainly a disruptive technology, has faced scrutiny for the security issues associated with sending raw data over the Internet, particularly if sensitive data is subject to regulation. Its fog-based counterpart offers an approximation of cloud capabilities with the accessibility of IoT devices.

However, the cloud is not going away anytime soon. Fog computing is a great complement to the cloud, but does not process massive amounts of historical data the same way that the cloud does. Plus, with fog computing being an emerging technology, its capabilities may not surpass the cloud in many cases. For now, it offers businesses the opportunity to improve their data infrastructure without replacing any cloud services they might already be using.

In the future, we will see fog computing delivering valuable data that can help make business and technology more efficient and interconnected. The OpenFog Consortium is a collaboration between a number of high profile organizations, including Intel, Cisco, and Microsoft, with the intent of promoting widespread fog computing usage. After all, like other IoT devices, fog computing becomes much more effective the more devices that are integrated into the network.

Street Smarts—Pioneering the Smart City

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Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud technology are two of modern business’ biggest disruptors because of the extent to which they integrate company data architecture and logistic management. Though businesses have heavily adopted this technology, it is starting to gain ground on a greater level.

Enter the smart city. Invisibly, amongst skyscrapers and heavy traffic, devices exchange data, creating a detailed and complicated picture of city life. Any aspect of a city’s infrastructure can be monitored, be it water usage, traffic patterns, information systems, and waste management.

If this sounds a bit Orwellian to you, don’t worry—we’re far from installing surveillance on every street corner. Still, individuals have raised concerns about privacy as it relates to smart cities, an expected development when considering the similar controversy surrounding Big Data.

However, it’s hard to, at this juncture, define what a smart city is. Several “flagship cities” have already claimed the title as a result of their integration of IoT technology into the city’s infrastructure. Across the board, most of these cities have similar goals—to better manage factors such as traffic, energy consumption, and crime to create a better environment for their citizens.

Based on the widespread adoption of this technology, it’s hard to set a threshold for what qualifies as a smart city. Most modern cities have monitoring devices tied into their infrastructure in some way, but truly smart cities have cross-platform integration, where multiple facets of management are tied into a single massive network.

Another important way to define smart cities is their potential to benefit citizens. While monitoring city infrastructure may sound like it only benefits local governments, it should be noted that the implementation of citywide networks is ideally completed to improve the lives of those living there.

For instance, Madrid’s smart city initiative, known as the Smarter Madrid Platform, is dedicated to studying social issues and then using technology to help solve these problems. Other than the applications already discussed, Madrid also seeks to assist startup companies throughout the city.

There are certainly ways that a smart city can go wrong. As previously mentioned, privacy concerns may hamper progress, and for good reason. Some smart cities have opted to make all data collected publicly available, and this level of transparency may have to become a standard as the idea develops further.

So where can smart cities go from here?

The ideal is to use technology to create a safer, more automated lifestyle. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, but the general consensus seems to be that linking household technology to large scale city technology is the most solid start. Many aspects of life, including personal agendas, power efficiency, and financial management can be improved with cloud networks.

Better communications lead to more efficient offices, which in turn begets employee happiness and encourages new ideas. Waste can be minimized. I could spend an entire post listing the applications of smart city technology, and it would sound like a compilation of science fiction ideas. The result, however, is perhaps not utopian cities of glittering spires, but cities much like our own, albeit with a higher standard of living that civilization has always strived for.