The internet of things: a market landscape

Table of Contents

  1. Summary
  2. Introduction: the internet of things is everywhere
  3. Trends driving the internet of things
  4. Characteristics of a thing
  5. Building the internet of things
    1. Hardware and sensor components
    2. Communications components and protocols
    3. Controller boards and platforms
    4. Things
    5. Management and infrastructure
    6. Data management and analytics
  6. The internet of things market evolution
  7. Early-adoption scenarios for the internet of things
  8. Potential inhibitors to the internet of things
    1. Security challenges
    2. Privacy and surveillance
    3. Meltdown
  9. Trends and technologies to watch over the next 3 to 5 years
  10. From the internet of things to the web of everything
  11. Key takeaways
  12. About Jon Collins

1. Summary

While the internet of things (IoT) is expected to have a massive impact on business and wider culture, these are still early days. There is no standard definition of the technology as of yet, and protocols and standards are still in development. So what can we expect the IoT landscape to look like, and how will its impact be felt? And is the attention being given by governments, manufacturers, and industry players merited, or is this just a fad?

In this paper we look at the trends leading the growth of the internet of things, its components, and its characteristics. We perceive four stages of development:

  • Passive tracking
  • More-active interactions
  • A more aware landscape of physical objects, devices, and structures
  • An autonomous landscape

Each of these represents new opportunities for innovation and enablement. As we speak, we can see players align around where they see the benefits being felt. We examine the scale of the different opportunities and early examples of use cases. We also look at potential inhibitors to adoption and potential challenges, notably around security, privacy, and system failure.

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