The Internet of Things: A Cloud Frontier That’s Being Settled Today (Part 2 of 2)

In the second part of our exploration of the Internet of Things IoT, we’ll explore the downstream effects of the proliferation of IoT technology. The Internet of Things is expected to not only place new demands on data center infrastructure, especially storage and security, but also enable new types of connections between devices and applications that will bring about new use cases for cloud technology.

In This Article

• Let’s Make Some Magic with the IoT
• Internet of Things Too Powerful for Cloud?
• The Ability to Process Data in All its Diversity
• Different Types of Standards
• Security in the IoT
• Will There Be an Internet of Things Cloud?
• The Automation of Things
• Cloud Hosting to Fuel Your IoT Transition

Let’s Make Some Magic with the IoT

Cloud technology was designed for an Internet of Things world, argues Jamie Carter of TechRadar. The structural approach to computing makes it much easier to achieve interoperability between many different devices and systems, a feature that becomes increasingly complex but nonetheless fundamental as the IoT expands.

Cloud has been growing incredibly as businesses have shifted from entirely Windows environments to Mac and mobile, according to CSID chief innovation officer Adam Tyler. He adds that the technology will become even more prevalent as the Internet of Things continues to build.

Internet of Things Too Powerful for Cloud?

The Internet of Things will certainly mean that the infrastructure of VPS hosting needs to expand since the total amount of data flowing through data centers worldwide will hit 10.4 zettabytes by 2020, more than tripling its 2014 level of 3.4 zettabytes. Think for a moment about three times as much data transfer in just six years. The massive increase in demand will be in large part because of the Internet of Things.

How much extra data need will there be? To comprehend the zettabyte, it is 1 trillion gigabytes. How do we grasp this amount of data? A zettabyte is 1000 exabytes, and an exabyte is enough to hold 36,000 years of high-definition video, as described in The Guardian. To look directly at the zettabyte, it can contain approximately 250 billion feature films.

European Automation marketing director Jonathan Wilkins notes that the general growth of cloud and the move to IPv6 will both be key in readying the Web infrastructure for much more work. “The IoT can only happen through the cloud,” he says, “but today’s cloud infrastructure still has a long way to go before it can accommodate for the huge amounts of data that connected devices will generate.”

Although systems will need to be refined and bolstered, the amount of data in the IoT is not going to be too much for the infrastructure to handle, explains Tyler. Scaling will be a challenge since the increase is so sharp and fast, he says, but current cloud systems should be able to support it.

The Ability to Process Data in All its Diversity

To be clear, the data that will be processed by the Internet of Things is not just a matter of tripling the workload. Information will come in from vastly disparate sources, sensors throughout the world on all types of devices. The data will also be coming in at breathtaking pace, according to Splunk marketing director Matt Davies. “The data coming off a car, plane, train, industrial machinery, production line or building will be used to make critical decisions in real-time,” he says, “and will need to be combined with other data, some of which will be historical.”

Different Types of Standards

Actually, it isn’t just the data itself and the technical environments in which it’s produced that are challenging; it’s also the communication standards used to transmit information from the sensors. It’s a good thing that there are various radio standards in use for cloud computing but not immediately clear which direction is best for a company.

It’s important that there isn’t any latency and part of what will allow that reliable performance is the use of the same standards throughout the IoT. The basic requirements that are placed on trading systems by banks will soon become used throughout the infrastructures of cloud providers, argues Davies.

Security in the IoT

Everything isn’t going to change overnight – and it’s that lag that could cause problems for the Internet of Things. Standardization will be a sign that the IoT is secure, but that standardization won’t be comprehensive right away. The services of IoT will have to bring together devices that were manufactured and implemented as much as ten years apart or more, so integration needs to be a huge focus. Security on the Internet will be increasingly intertwined with general physical safety and the plethora of tools we use in everyday life.

Will There Be an Internet of Things Cloud?

The Internet of Things takes the issue of Web safety into potentially life-threatening real-world scenarios. Consider that connected cars require perfect reliability. Some experts say that the needs for connected cars, especially in terms of developing self-driving capacity, could fuel an IoT cloud. Davies notes that this type of cloud would have to be completely secure and insight-rich with predictive analytics and immediate guidelines for resolution if anything is amiss.

The Automation of Things

A logical next step for the Internet of Things is to automate. Automation becomes extremely important in this context because of the massive scope of the data, comments IO managing director Nigel Stevens. “Efficient, automated platforms are the only way to make the IoT manageable and useful on an industrial scale,” he says.

Cloud Hosting to Fuel Your IoT Transition

A new Web era is now emerging, and it is quite literally all around us. Do you want to be a part of the Internet of Things? At Atlantic.Net, our cloud hosting is built for the speed and reliability needs of the IoT. Choose us for VPS hosting that’s built for its nexus of speed and standardization: up in 30 seconds, powered by 100% SSD servers in SSAE 16 compliant data centers.