big-dataOk, you’ve heard the terms bandied about – Big Data and IoT. What’s the relation? We’ll tell you. Big Data has literally been the fuel on which Internet of Things (IoT) runs on. The tech sector is catching on fast, leveraging both Big Data and IoT to get a foot in. Add cloud computing to the mix, and you get to see what the future of technology is going to be. So what exactly is Big Data, what is IoT and why are so many big-name investors and product companies panting after them? We’ll tell you.

Big Data in Brief

Billions of people connect to the internet on an hourly basis, interacting with each other, shopping and sharing information. There’s social media data, truckload of financial transaction data, Geo-location data, mobile logos, SMSes, live data streams, website usage analytics, consumer behavior and more. This is Big Data – there’s Velocity of data, in great Volume and in unbelievable Variety.  The Three Vs. Companies are now able to sift this enormous data and use their analysis to predict market trends and confidently take major bottom-line-boosting decisions.

What You Need To Know About IoT

Consider this – a network of IP-enabled smart devices, communicating with each other via Wi-Fi. That’s the “Internet of things” (IoT). Gartner is of the opinion that there’ll be 26 billion connected devices by 2020. Consider the implications – improved transportation, improved waste management, improved lifestyles – the scope is endless! Security is an issue of course, but it’s the vast amounts of Big Data that’s generated by these connected devices that really thrills companies.

So What’s Next?

IoT is the next big thing, bringing everything under one umbrella – Big Data, the Cloud, software apps and high-tech IP-enabled hardware. Here’s what we can look forward to in the coming year:

  • Infrastructure companies (such as Microsoft Azure) plan to develop SDKs to build cloud-based portals to monitor and control household IoT devices.
  • Various tech enterprises plan to build IoT apps without coding, using visualization based on collected and processed data. This data will then be integrated into various enterprise-level systems.
  • Industrial automation will be merged with cloud services in the near future. This will enable centralized, remote management of distributed industrial facilities, without the need to invest in in high tech.
  • We can look forward to many industrial protocols that monitor data transfer over non-IP enabled public internet channels. This means, either operate within the IP-enabled IoT network or forget about high speeds and reliable data transfers.
  • High-tech hardware is going to be smaller, cheaper and so much smarter.
  • Security and standards, both open source and proprietary across all networks, including the cloud, will become a major point of discussion worldwide.
  • Software developers will focus more on developing IoT solutions that’ll help extract more Big Data from device sensors to enable bottom-line-benefitting business decisions.
  • We might also see various machines and sensors in IoT systems communicating with each other, turning human intervention redundant.
  • Movement to IoT platforms from current closed platforms. Support for multiple networks, devices and applications.

The article is by Vaishnavi Agrawal loves pursuing excellence through writing and have a passion for technology. She has successfully managed and run personal technology magazines and websites. She currently writes for intellipaat.com, a global training company that provides e-learning and professional certification training.