How to Future-Proof Your IoT Infrastructure

IoT Solution 

The dilemma

Buyers are often concerned that what they buy today may become technologically obsolete tomorrow. This worry is further heightened by the fact that IoT solutions have high initial cost and is disruptive. IoT solutions as they are today are still immature point solutions and addresses emerging use cases with evolving technology standards. Faced with this dilemma, many corporations defer buying IoT solutions that could have otherwise offered them tremendous value today and in future. The only way to lift this dilemma off their way is to make future-proof IoT infrastructure. How do you do that?

Future-proofing IoT infrastructure

What could make IoT obsolete?

Any IoT solution whether bought today or in the future can become obsolete after some time. IoT solutions are still immature and fast evolving making them prone to obsolescence. There are numerous other factors that could cause IoT to be obsolete. They include;
  • Low marker acceptance
  • Evolving use cases
  • Supplier decision
  • Poor economics
  • Government regulations
  • Lack of expertise

How to build future-proof IoT solutions

In planning a future-proof IoT, designers need to understand the key characteristics of a future-proof IoT infrastructure and then define specific requirements for each of the characteristics. These characteristics include:

Secure

Security should be every IoT solution’s priority. Every IoT solution needs to address authentication, authorization, and encryption of data to avoid putting enterprises a risk of cyberattack. Lack of security will fuel low acceptance of the IoT solution. This poses a huge risk of obsolescence.

Scalable

IHS estimates that in 2015, approximately 15.4 billion devices were connected to the internet. It further predicts that this figure to 75.4 billion in 2025. This means that a huge increase in data is expected. In this regard, IoT solutions need to be based on horizontally-scaling architectures making it easy to add processing capability whenever the need arises.

Flexible

The IoT frontier has proven to be full of surprises. New protocols, devices, and integrations keep cropping every now and then. A future-proof IoT infrastructure should, therefore, be designed to accommodate these new devices and protocols. Failure by an IoT network to accommodate emerging technologies will result in it aging rapidly. Such a system will also fail to deliver long-term ROI.

Economical

To ensure high acceptance of the IoT infrastructure by Enterprises, it is prudent to ensure that the cost ownership is rational and remains within the forecasted range.

Supportable

The technical and SLA issues incurred by the system should be easy to resolve.

Steps to follow in creating a future-proof Infrastructure

Change is constant and unavoidable. The secret lies in managing change. Every IoT solution has a useful and functional life, it should be designed to ensure that this functional life is perpetual. To achieve this, you can follow the following three steps:

1.Plan and design

First identify and categorize the various IoT infrastructure, systems and solutions into the following categories:
  • Short term
  • Midterm
  • Long-term
  • Do not future proof
  • Transition when convenient
  • Future-proof
To successfully categorize them, you need input from IT, operations and other business units within the enterprise. You also need to factor in the characteristics discussed earlier; secure, scalable, supportable, economical and flexible.

2.Source and build

Once you have appropriately categorized them, go ahead and procure the necessary solution (hardware and software). Despite buying and sourcing being used interchangeably, these terms are different. Sourcing entails ensuring strategic access to supply, buying, on the other hand, is transitional. During procurement, it is important to understand the supplier product lifecycle. Once you have acquired all the desired solutions, you can go ahead and build the IoT infrastructure. By all means, make sure it is less disruptive as possible.

3.Support and monitor

The third step in constructing a future-proof IoT infrastructure and solution is to ensure that its operation over a desirable period of time. This involves offering efficient technical support and monitoring services. These services are better offered by than the buyer. If these services are being offered by the buyer, they need to;
  • Constantly install vendor firmware updates
  • Purchase warranty
  • Build in-house maintenance and repair capability
 Source : https://blog.enrgtech.co.uk/how-to-future-proof-your-iot-infrastructure/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Little Know more about Brush-less Motors

Image
Brushless motors Brushless differs from conventional dc motors in the sense that it does not have brushes. Commutation is done using electronic drives to feed power to the stator windings. They consist of a rotor which is in the form of a permanent magnet and a stator that is in the form of polyphase armature windings. A  brushless DC motor  can be constructed in two ways; one is by placing the rotor outside the core and the other is by placing the rotor inside the core. How a brushless motor works Brushless motors are driven by electronic drives that  switch  the supply voltage between the stator windings while the rotor turns. There is a transducer that monitors the position of the rotor as it turns and conveys the information to an electronic controller. The controller then decides which stator winding to be energized based on the position of the rotor. Electronic drives are made up of two transistors each phase which is run by a microprocessor. T...
Read more

LED Modules: Manufacturer,Types and Application

Image
LED Modules Light-emitting diodes (LED) modules are LED self-contained devices that are designed to either function on its own or to plug into a compatible unit. These modules are mostly used in the development of both energy-efficient and portable lighting.  An LED contains several LED bulbs that are connected to a fixture that contains a battery or an alternative power supply which powers all the bulbs contained therein. LED modules can either emit white light or emit different colours based on the material they are made of. They are prominently used for advertising and signages but could as well be used for other purposes due to their versatility. Types of LED modules There are a variety of LED modules available in the market. There no specific parameters that can be used to categorize LED modules . They can be categorized in terms of efficiency, form, CCT, colour among others. Some of the common ones used in signage and advertising include; Side LED mod...
Read more

Block-chain: A Complete Beginners Guide | Block Chain Technology

Image
Blockchain technology Blockchain technology is barely three decades old, but it has completely changed global money transfer as we know it. It was first conceived in 1991 by a group of researchers who originally intended it to be used to timestamp digital documents to make it impossible to tamper with them. This concept was first put into actual use in 2009 by Satoshi Takamoto to create Bitcoin. Bitcoin has since spurred the adoption of  blockchain technology  for cryptocurrency, medical records, and land records among others.  What is blockchain? A blockchain is a network of computers that share a digital ledger that is duplicated and distributed across all participants in the network (nodes). That is to say that each node on the network has a duplicate copy of the ledger. The digital ledger keeps a chain of transactions since the creation of the network. The chain of transactions keeps growing as new blocks of transactions are approved and then added along....
Read more