THE INTERNET OF THINGS- SCHNEIDER’S PERSPECTIVE




The Internet of Things (IoT)

Have you ever imagined how much more profitable and reliable business would be if we could communicate with and control all the assets in real time? Asset optimization would be immediate and easy leading to improved efficiency and profitability. Well, the Internet of Things (IoT) actualizes that imagination. IoT is a vast network of smart devices that are connected to the internet and have the ability to collect and transfer data over the network in real time. IoT has experienced tremendous growth in the recent past.
Schneider Electric’s pursuit of innovation has seen it contribute tremendously towards the growth IoT. Earlier this year, Schneider Electric launched the next generation EcoStruxure architecture and platform that delivers IoT solutions to data centers, the national grid, and buildings. In August, Peter Martin, the company’s vice president of business innovation, announced that they have launched a new concept dubbed “Profit Engine”. He argued that this concept will enable industrial entities to optimize all their plant assets while improving on industrial safety, efficiency, and profitability. This is a huge leap for IoT.

Schneider’s perspective of IoT

So, what does this world renown electronic manufacturer think of IoT? Innovation Enterprise was able to interview Stephen Dillion the Big Data Architect at Schneider Electric on IoT in September this year. Dillion has vast knowledge and experience having worked with IoT for over 7 years. He has worked in many highly reputed and established IoT firms. Dillion is at the moment working on IoT innovation with a specific focus on Fast Data. Innovation Enterprise interviewed him on many aspects regarding IoT and this is what he had to say;

Adoption of IoT in companies in the next 5 years

Dillion explained that as more companies adopt Fast Data solutions to enhance real-time decision making, we will witness an improved uptake of streaming, Graph analytics, and In-memory databases. This is anticipated to prepare companies to implement predictive analytics and deep learning. He, however, acknowledged that despite predictive analysis being paramount in production, most companies are not ready to embrace it yet. He cited skilled labor and failure to see reasons to invest in it just yet as some of the reasons why they haven’t embraced predictive analysis. He expressed his optimism that the gap between companies already utilizing IoT will and those who are not will reduce significantly.

Data security.

Stephen urged companies to not only invest in the technological effort, but also in social awareness. He further explained that as more devices become more connected to IoT, companies have to learn to react fast to any potential threats. While acknowledging that the future could bring with it many unforeseen threats, Dillion urged that companies now need to look to machine learning so as to identify and tackle threats before they result in breaches. More importantly, employees have to be aware of the threats of social engineering lest a single individual cause a multi-million-dollar IoT network to be breached.

Government regulation

According to Dillion, the real concern is “where and how regulation will be implemented”. He anticipates the regulations with regards to IoT to increase. He argued that locking down and encrypting data under the transmission and in storage is not sufficient. He further warned that regulations should not create numerous or harsh constraints since this would inhibit the achievement of full potential. In this sense, Dillion argued that artificial intelligence could play a great role in ensuring that security is as fluid as it can be.

Schneider Electric has been at the forefront of IoT’s growth and adoption. It is hoped that their current and future innovations will be able to address the emerging worries by companies already using IoT and those preparing to implement it. Nonetheless, IoT’s potential is still being exploited and it can only be hoped that the resulting challenges can be contained by the existing solutions.


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