The Internet of Things is linking up a number of operability tools for businesses, including wearables, temperature sensors, video cameras, beacons, surveillance systems, building management controls and so on.
Applications include boosting customer engagement by allowing users the ability to interact with and control appliances; bring detailed monitoring to different areas of business, including office work and field operations; for freight, in terms of maximizing visibility of supply chains and improve transport operations of valuable cargo.
These applications will be extended and will increase in use, according to research undertaken by Zinnov. The analysts predict that global spending on Internet of Things technology-based products and services by enterprises will climb to $253 billion in 2021.
The analyst website Extreme Connect has recently looked at Internet of Things devices and how they are affecting networks across industries. The review provides practical advice for preparing wired and wireless infrastructures for the Internet of Things, in the form of five steps.
Discover
This step is about identifying the most suitable types of devices planned and ensuring that the devices are assigned to the right role.
On-Board
Once the most appropriate devices have been identified, the network needs to map each device to its assigned role. This allows for predefined business rules to be set in relation to the exact expectation of a device.
Contain
The survey notes that not all devices are equal and hence security is important for ensuring that the Internet of Things solution is working as efficiently as possible. With this, ensuring that devices are segmented is important.
IP fabric simplifies the network’s ability to adapt to new devices and services that will be fitted onto the network, allowing fabric to expand automatically and so that client devices are automatically detected and mapped into the right role.
Monitor
As devices are discovered, on-boarded, and contained, the ability to monitor and identify problems when they occur is a key aspect. Here real-time coverage maps for locating and fixing sensors remotely is important.
Optimize
As the network expand, the ability to being able to adapt to network changes is of great importance so that adjustments from the back-end can be made, such as changing traffic priorities.
