If 2014 was all about the growth and development of cloud computing, 2015 may very well be centered on the Internet of Things (IoT). The technology realm certainly seems to be moving in this direction, with a growing number of devices now capable of connecting and communicating with one another without any sort of user intervention.
This connectivity is driving M2M communications and networking, and creating a world in which everything from thermostats, to appliances, to automobiles are able to share information and make intelligent, actionable decisions based on parameters like proximity and of course, user preferences.
Unicom Engineering specializes in integrating appliance technologies and services with customer applications, and recently had a blog post about the growing hype surrounding IoT. The company participated in Intel’s (News - Alert) 2014 Developer Forum in San Francisco last fall, since they use Intel products in their appliance solutions and services. According to Unicom, smartphones and smart cars are only the beginning of how the IoT is shaping up.
IoT devices will allow the collection of data on a micro level, which can then be processed to provide a macro picture,” wrote Unicom. “By communicating with cloud services, IoT devices identify trends and allow social connections.” The company is excited by these developments and is planning to help customers develop unique IoT solutions that will mesh well with their business models.
Intel also introduced its new CPU series at the Developer Forum, codenamed Haswell, which it is touting as the new CPU for the enterprise. It features high performance compute and IO levels with CPUs containing up to 18 cores along with DDR4 memory support.
Unicom plans to help its customers transition to the new processor family, while also helping them build out their visions for IoT. This certainly seems like a good strategy, considering the IoT market has the potential to generate trillions of dollars, by some estimates. GE, for instance, believes the market will add from $10 to $15 trillion to global GDP during the next 20 years.
In the short term, Gartner (News - Alert) says IoT products and services will generate more than $300 billion in revenues in 2020, while IDC predicts the worldwide IoT market will blossom from $1.9 trillion in 2013 to a whopping $7.1 trillion by 2020.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson