The report claims that despite greater awareness, many organisations are not fully sold on the benefits of gender equality in leadership, even though ample evidence correlates gender equity with improved financial success and competitive advantage.

The report further revealed that organisations are over-relying on “good intentions” and applying a laissez-faire approach to diversity, rather than applying the disciplined focus on operational execution they apply to other aspects of organisational performance.

Ask for her take on inclusion, the theme for the 2024 International Women’s Day theme,

Telstra’s Hong Kong managing director, Alice Ting argues that inclusion is about fostering an environment where every employee feels safe, respected, and valued. She posits that it involves encouraging individuals to freely express their thoughts, concerns, and ideas without judgement or the fear of negative consequences.

“Beyond this, inclusion encompasses various dimensions, such as gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, race, religion, and background. It is not limited to any specific group; it’s a collective effort that both men and women must advocate and encourage within their organisations,” she added.

The state of inclusion in the workplace today

Yean Cheong, executive director with SGTech in Singapore believes that leadership plays a crucial role in fostering a culture of inclusion, with this commitment starting from the top.

Looking inward at SGTech she notes that as an organisation it comprises individuals from diverse disciplines, backgrounds, experiences, and skill sets, all united in our cause.

“We are committed to continuous learning and transformation, emphasising the importance of thinking differently, keeping an open mind, and being receptive to emerging trends locally and globally,” she adds.

She posits that inclusion is integral to SG Tech's ethos as: “we build our Secretariat and tech community.” SGTech is dedicated to enabling anyone who wishes to join the tech workforce, irrespective of their current qualifications, skill sets, gender, culture, ethnicity, or age.

“This commitment also extends to our team at SGTech, ensuring that we embody the inclusive values we advocate for,” she adds.

At Telstra, the message of inclusion resonates just as well. According to Ting, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are embedded in Telstra’s culture. She notes that gender equality is a core part of Telstra’s corporate values.

“Telstra requires at least 50% female representation on recruitment and interview shortlists. What’s more, our CEO is a female leading by example,” she continues.

“Paying men and women equally is also fundamental to improving female workforce participation. At Telstra, we conduct remuneration gap analysis and have targets in place to help us see more women at Executive and Senior Management levels.

“We take pride in fostering an inclusive environment for all employees and spearhead various initiatives to promote DEI in our community,” said Ting.

Obstacles to Inclusion

Despite significant progress in recent years, gender inequality persists in many parts of Asia. Gender stereotypes, traditional gender roles, and limited opportunities for women hinder progress toward achieving gender parity.

Cheong cites the presence of unconscious biases as an obstacle to inclusion. She says it leads to a lack of empathy and understanding towards others. She warns that these biases can result in difficulty identifying skills and needs gaps within a diverse workforce.

Telstra’s Ting concurs adding that unconscious bias in the workplace can significantly hinder efforts to promote diversity, impact recruitment strategies, and affect employee retention. “These biases subtly shape an organisation’s culture, often without us realising it,” she added.

Cheong opines that organisations may struggle with fostering a culture of learning where individuals are encouraged to continuously develop their skills and knowledge. “Overcoming these obstacles requires a concerted effort to raise awareness of unconscious biases, cultivate empathy, and promote a culture of inclusivity and continuous learning,” she continued.

Ting believes that it is crucial that everyone consciously acknowledge the existence of such biases and actively advocate for individuals who may not belong to privileged demographics.

“By fostering awareness and championing inclusivity, we can create a more equitable and supportive work environment for all. Unconscious biases subtly shape an organisation’s culture, often without people realising it,” she continued.

Ting called out education programs and policies at Telstra to tackle unconscious bias directly. “From training to support our people with practical techniques to find common ground and discuss difficult topics through to our equitable hiring practices and pay reviews that specifically seek out bias, we’re striving to eliminate bias in all its forms,” she elaborated.

She went on to explain that leaders are trained to shift their approach in hiring, meetings, assignments, and review/promotions, so they can recognise and interrupt unconscious bias in their day-to-day.

“It’s crucial that everyone consciously acknowledge the existence of such biases and actively advocates for individuals who may not belong to privileged demographics. By fostering awareness and championing inclusivity, we can create a more equitable and supportive work environment for all.”

Alice Ting

Inclusion lessons

Cheong says achieving inclusion requires a multifaceted approach. Firstly, she suggests pushing for skill-based hiring, where individuals are evaluated based on their competencies rather than traditional qualifications. “This approach promotes diversity and ensures that the workforce is equipped with the necessary skills for the job,” she added.

She also posits cultivating an attitude of lifelong learning within the organisation is crucial. “This involves encouraging employees to continuously develop their skills and knowledge, fostering a culture where learning is valued and supported at all levels,” she added.

These efforts can help create a more inclusive and dynamic work environment where individuals are empowered to reach their full potential.

For her part, Ting believes that championing inclusion requires a united and collaborative effort that transcends individual responsibility. It is not a matter solely relegated to someone else's concern; rather, it implicates each one of us.

“Both women and men hold significant roles in driving this transformative process. As we commemorate International Women's Day, the conversation should extend beyond celebrating women; everyone should be part of the discussion in shaping and nurturing an inclusive environment,” she added.

Inclusion – a call to action

“To inspire inclusion within SGTech, we have implemented several key strategies,” started Cheong. “Firstly, we have a clear organisational structure and unbiased HR hiring policies to ensure fair hiring practices. This includes defining roles and responsibilities to support hiring based on the right size and right skills.

“Additionally, we have in place year-long learning & development plans that encourage and reward upskilling and reskilling, enable skills exchange, training, and talent development within teams and across the organisation to foster a culture of continuous learning and development.

“Promoting mindfulness is another crucial aspect, encouraging individuals to refrain from judging others based on appearances, be aware of perceptions, and use language that is respectful and inclusive.

“Providing open feedback channels, conflict resolution mechanisms, and access to counselling as needed will further enhance inclusivity and support employee well-being. Our goal is to build a lifelong learning and growth culture where every individual feels valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their best,” concluded Cheong.

Ting believes in leading by example and creating an environment where every individual feels genuinely valued and heard. “At the office, I actively cultivate diversity by acknowledging and encouraging a rich blend of cultures and perspectives. I believe through positive reinforcement and setting clear goals, we can shape a more inclusive workplace for all,” she added.

In Hong Kong, Ting reveals that the company plans to relaunch a mentorship program with a specific focus on nurturing and empowering young female leaders. “While emphasising the significance of inclusion, it’s essential to acknowledge that a truly inclusive environment transcends gender boundaries,” she continued.

“It is important to ensure every individual has an equal opportunity to succeed, irrespective of their background or identity. By actively encouraging individuals to voice their perspectives and providing support on their journey toward success, we contribute to creating an environment where everyone thrives.”

Similarly in Singapore at SGTech, Cheong says the plan is to continue walking the talk by embracing diversity in all its forms. “Currently, our permanent hybrid working model approach not only fosters a more flexible and adaptable work environment but also significantly facilitates the seamless transition for mothers returning to full-time employment, thereby promoting inclusivity and flexibility within our workforce,” she revealed.

“In addition, we also work on maintaining a workforce that spans a wide range of ages, from fresh graduates to individuals in their post-50s, as well as welcoming interns from Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs),” she added.

“We recognise and value the skills and experience that each of our colleagues brings to the table, fostering an environment where everyone feels valued and included.”

Yean Cheong

The post Orchestrating inclusion in Asia in 2024 appeared first on FutureIoT.

It is this diversity of form, function and technology, and the proliferation of multiple standards or protocols that has limited the ability of IT and security teams to integrate the security of IoT technologies into the enterprise.

According to Amit Bareket, VP for Secure Service Edge at Check Point Software Technologies, the challenge lies in the transformation of corporate networks due to mobility and cloud computing. He explained that this shift has redefined the Internet as the new corporate network.

“Employees accessing cloud resources from outside the office necessitates opening up corporate resources to the internet, introducing significant security risks,” he added. “Traditional network security measures are often inadequate in this new landscape.

“There's a pressing need to rethink security strategies to effectively mitigate various cyber threats, as evidenced by recent high-profile attacks like the oil pipeline incident in the United States. This shift will undoubtedly remain a top priority for every CIO and CISO over the next five years.”

Amit Bareket

Securing OT is not that easy

Bareket commented that part of the security challenge lies in the sheer number of devices that need to be connected to the network. Finding all the devices remains a challenge, he opined.

Reflecting on the transitions many organisations had to undergo during the COVID-19 pandemic, he pointed out that the rapid transformation caught many off guard. He cited the global shutdowns that occurred during the pandemic.

“Suddenly, businesses that never envisioned remote operations have to thrust themselves into a new reality where remote work became the norm almost overnight,” he commented. “This abrupt shift left CIOs and CISOs grappling with uncertainty: Would we revert to the old ways, or was this the new normal? It became increasingly clear that remote work was here to stay, challenging our preconceptions about the pace of change.”

He added that what was initially projected to take 5—10 years unfolded within a single year. “I think today we stand in a strong position with robust solutions to meet the demands of this new landscape,” he continued.

SASE to the rescue

Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) is the convergence of connectivity and security helping organizations to achieve a consistent security posture by implementing a decentralised concept where security is provided directly at the source, with the management of all involved components done in the cloud. Bereket says SASE is just a secure network over the internet. SASE is a secure network infrastructure over the internet, encompassing various components such as users, cloud resources, and IoT devices.

Unlike traditional endpoints, IoT devices cannot typically accommodate agent or app installations, necessitating a network-level approach to security. He used Check Point's integration with SD-WAN devices and gateways as an example claiming it facilitates the creation of a unified network under the SASE platform.

“This integration provides visibility into IoT devices and enables security enforcement at the network level. Check Point's IoT security features, including device discovery and policy enforcement, play a crucial role in securing these devices within the SASE framework,” he continued.

SASE promises to bring IoT into the security framework of the organisation.

Asked whether IT leaders have heard the SASE story and are incorporating the technology into the overall network architecture he opined it has already happened.

“It’s evident that the internet is now the new corporate network. It is here to stay,” he started. He recalled a recent conversation with a major bank: “It was clear that they recognise this shift and understand that embracing solutions like SASE is inevitable,” he revealed.

“The pace of digital evolution will only accelerate, with forecasts from Gartner projecting a 30% year-over-year growth in the market for the next three years. By 2027, this market is expected to reach US$25 to US$28 billion from US$9 billion in 2024, further emphasising the significance of this shift in networking and security paradigms,” he concluded.

Click on the PodChat player and listen to Bareket elaborate on the intersection of IoT and SASE in OT security.

1. What are the top challenges faced in OT security in 2024?
2. What are the key components of OT security?
3. For a long time, the security of operational technology has been kept out of the IT portfolio. Given the recent rise in attacks against critical and industrial systems, do you see a convergence of IT and OT security and who will lead the charge?
4. How does IoT fit into SASE (and vice versa)?

The post PodChats for FutureIOT: The intersection of IoT and SASE in OT security appeared first on FutureIoT.

The starting point of any inclusion culture is at the point when an organisation lists down the specifics of a job or role in the organisation. It is at this point when bias creeps into the hiring process such as hard and soft qualifications, ability to work under specific conditions, etc.

At a time when nearly every industry faces a talent shortage following the COVID-19 pandemic, it is interesting to observe that aspirations to inclusion remain a challenge – albeit less insurmountable compared to perhaps a decade ago.

FutureIoT and FutureCOO spoke to Serene Yeo, vice president for human resources at Ensign InfoSecurity (Ensign) for her take on the challenges and opportunities of broadening the doors to talent regardless of ethnicity or gender.

The talent shortage exists at all functions and across most industries. There is no shortage of graduates in educational institutions. Where is the disconnect here?

Serene Yeo: In my view, it is due to the following factors:

One – Skills mismatch.

As technology evolves, so do the skills that employers seek. There is a mismatch between the skills that are sought by employers and the skills that are possessed by individuals.

For example, as cyber threats continue to evolve in sophistication and scale, cyber defenders need to evolve accordingly, giving rise to new cybersecurity roles such as malware researchers and big data engineers.

Events such as the COVID-19 pandemic can also have an immediate impact on the demand for certain skills. There was a surge in demand for technical and digital skills to support digitalization and the shift to remote work.

Two – Expectations mismatch.

The aspirations, preferences and priorities of each generation of graduates evolve as well.

One generation may increasingly prioritize factors such as work-life balance, flexible work arrangements, and comprehensive benefits packages. However, employers may not always be able to meet these expectations due to operational requirements or cost considerations.

Eg 2. Remote work and flexibility: The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted expectations around remote work and flexibility, with many job seekers seeking opportunities for remote or hybrid work arrangements. However, not all employers are able or willing to offer remote work options, leading to mismatches between what job seekers desire and what employers can provide.

At Ensign InfoSecurity, we have initiatives and programmes that engender a growth mindset and foster a culture that supports and celebrates lifelong learning. We also provide resources to empower our employees with the flexibility to determine their own path, learn at their own pace, and take ownership of their professional development.

To further invigorate on-demand learning, we gamified the process by creating a leaderboard highlighting the top learners each month. Based on 2023 results, Ensign has collectively spent 27,252 hours on this learning platform, with an 85.1% active rate!

We also provide a variety of opportunities for learning and exposure, including participating in overseas conferences such as the RSA Conference, and training courses from reputable accredited vendors such as SANS Institute and Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Given the niche intersectionality of the work that Ensign does, standard courses may not always adequately address the needed areas for skill development. Our Ensign subject matter experts tailor trainings that address specific skill gaps and knowledge needed for productivity improvement and transformation within the organisation.

Ensign has also sent a cohort of our employees back to school on a Work-Learn Degree Programme with SIT. Through this, we support our employees’ aspiration to deepen and broaden their skills and earn a cybersecurity degree while gainfully employed. They are expected to graduate in 2025.

You’ve been in the talent management practice for at least two decades, including a year specifically on diversity and inclusion. Coincidentally, the IWD 2024 theme is Inspire Inclusion – to inspire others to understand and value women's inclusion, we forge a better world. What is your view on this?

Serene Yeo: Is this a tall order given the many challenges and issues already facing humanity (climate change, poverty, socio-economic volatility, etc.)?

"In today’s digital age, technology services are consumed by people of all genders. Having women actively involved in technology development ensures that technology caters to the needs of everyone, effectively addressing the diverse perspectives and preferences of consumers."

Serene Yeo

Diversity also fosters creativity and innovation. With more women in the workforce, they bring unique experiences and fresh ideas that enable companies to stay ahead of cyber adversaries.

At Ensign, we believe women can be game changers in the cybersecurity industry. This belief is translated and reflected in our workforce and the activities we embark on. Led by a female chief, around 1 in 3 is a female staff, cutting across job functions and leadership positions.

We also partner with associations and academic institutions to inspire young women to join the cybersecurity industry. This includes the Association of Information Security Professionals “Ladies in Cyber”, and the Work-Learn Degree program with the Singapore Institute of Technology.

What lessons can you share with (a) HR professionals, and (b) security professionals as regards finding success in their chosen fields/profession?

Serene Yeo: I view success as something deeply personal. Everyone defines success differently. Moreover, a person’s definition of success can evolve as life changes and as one goes through different stages of life.

For some, it may be achieving a high-ranking position or earning a substantial income. For others, it could mean finding meaning and purpose in their work, making a positive impact on others, or having more time with family. Receiving recognition from peers or opportunities for career growth and advancement may be measures of success for some.

To find success, you first have to look within yourself – Why do you do what you do? What is deeply satisfying to you?

"Understanding your motivations, values, and passions is crucial in charting a path towards meaningful success. By aligning your actions with your innermost desires and aspirations, you can unlock your full potential and find fulfilment in your endeavours. So, take the time to introspect, identify your purpose, and let it guide you on your journey towards achieving success."

Serene Yeo

For security professionals, I feel that success in cybersecurity is not just about achieving technical certifications but also making a meaningful impact. Being in cybersecurity, your work protects individuals and organisations in the digital age by staying ahead of evolving threats.

So, finding success means striking a balance between achieving qualifications and contributing to a safer environment. Find ways to remain passionate, such as being engaged in cybersecurity communities to reinvigorate your enthusiasm for your work or mentor others to reignite your passion, reminding yourself of the importance of your mission in safeguarding the digital world.

The post ExecOpinion: How HR solves the inclusion challenge appeared first on FutureIoT.

"Generative AI can increase the overall productivity of ITOps teams by streamlining ITOps workflows, lowering operational expenses, and increasing system dependability," says Dhiraj Badgujar, senior research manager for digital innovation practice and xOps program, IDC Asia/Pacific.

He cautions that any GenAI success will only come if properly implemented to ensure that they correspond with enterprise goals and that adequate guardrails are in place to manage unanticipated events. The advice is not limited to the IT department.

FutureIoT spoke to Jim Chappell, global head of AI and advanced analytics at AVEVA, for his view on how organisations can better realise the gains of GenAI.

What does real generative AI (GenAI) adoption look like in enterprises in Asia?

Jim Chappell: The Asia Pacific region is at a crucial juncture in embracing Generative AI. Singapore is emerging as one of the most rapid adopters in the area, with 53% of executives currently experimenting with Generative AI.

As Generative AI is anticipated to enhance productivity and operational resilience across various functions, we can anticipate a growing number of organisations in the region to emulate the early pioneers, integrating the power of artificial intelligence (AI) into their transformation endeavours to drive business outcomes.

What are the early mistakes enterprises make while adopting GenAI?

One prevalent error that enterprises often commit is hastily joining the Generative AI trend without a strategic plan. As with all technologies, organisations should first assess where its implementation can yield the most significant impact. They can also start with smaller projects before scaling them across the entire enterprise. 

Organisations should not adopt Generative AI merely for the sake of it; they should first identify a real-world business need and then address it using Generative AI, if applicable.

What technologies/tools in the workplace will GenAI replace?

Jim Chappell: With the ongoing advancements in large language models, Generative AI continues to offer more and more sophisticated capabilities.  In the industrial setting, Generative AI is set to revolutionise mundane tasks, embraced by 67% of enterprises in their AI strategy.

With AI transitioning to technology leadership, recent projections envision a 60% surge in workers adopting personal AI tools, driving a BYOAI trend. Advanced machine learning and robotics will optimise processes, boost efficiency, and manage repetitive tasks, empowering human workers to concentrate on intricate problem-solving, decision-making, and creative endeavours.

To maximise the benefit of GenAI, what new skills should employees take on?

Jim Chappell: Employees should first acquire a fundamental understanding of what AI is, including areas of machine learning and predictive analytics. This involves skills such as interpreting AI-driven insights, adapting to predictive asset optimisation tools, and mastering grey-box modelling. A crucial part of this evolution includes expertise in data management, cybersecurity, and seamless AI integration into existing workflows.

Leveraging that foundation, they should then learn what differentiates Generative AI and what it can provide in a business context. Likewise, employees should understand what Generative AI does not provide, to manage real-world expectations and leverage the technology for maximum real-world value such as data contextualisation and problem-solving.

What will be future themes across GenAI in 2024/2025?

Jim Chappell: The convergence of profitability and environmental sustainability is accelerating as Generative AI becomes a driving force in addressing the climate crisis. Industries are increasingly adopting AI technologies to transition to greener operations.

Various types of AI, including Generative AI applications, predictive analytics, asset optimisation, and grey-box modelling, are aiding companies in achieving net-zero targets and reducing environmental impact. The marriage of sustainability and profitability is now a tangible reality, with AI optimising processes and fostering eco-friendly practices.

What is your advice for leaders managing the integration of GenAI in the enterprise?

Jim Chappell: To guarantee the successful realisation of Generative AI benefits within organisations, business leaders must shift their focus beyond the technology itself. Instead, they should undertake a transformation of how employees work, collaborate, address challenges, and contribute value.

Emphasising a people-centric approach becomes paramount, involving substantial initiatives to upskill and reskill employees and ensuring their ethical and responsible deployment of the tools. Cultivating a culture of experimentation is also valuable, commencing with smaller projects in areas conducive to Generative AI adoption.

Overall, real-world goals and business value should be emphasised over the technology itself.  Generative AI can provide amazing assistance when humans have a clear vision of what they want to ultimately achieve.

The post GenAI integration lessons in 2024 appeared first on FutureIoT.

Transport infrastructure includes roads, railways, ports, and airports. A transport system is a vital driver of social and economic development, which generates opportunities for both poor and facilitating economies to become competitive. It facilitates the supply of goods and services globally.

The Transportation Infrastructure Market report paints a positive outlook for the market from 2022 onwards. “As the industry continues to recover globally, it remains an attractive investment landscape, attracting new ventures and setting the stage for future developments,” concludes the report.

Fitch Ratings paints a more sombre outlook for the industry reflecting what it perceives as slowing economic growth in 2023, with high inflation and rising interest rates offsetting strong sector fundaments.

Speaking to FutureIoT at the 2023 Year in Infrastructure and Going Digital Awards, Dustin Parkman, vice president for Transportation at Bentley Systems, believes that the ongoing transformation of the sector may have been led (or kickstarted) by China and its One Belt/One Road initiative.

What is different about recent developments, he reckons, is diversification outside of China, in places such as India, as well as Southeast Asian countries.

“What we're seeing particularly in urban areas is a change in attitude, particularly in as far as how projects are done,” he started. “The engineering methods in transportation tend to be rooted in tradition for a very long time. You can argue there is resistance to change.”

However, he acknowledged that resistance to change is peeling away as a result of a combination of a greater number of more complex technical projects, involving more subcontractors – meaning more people to coordinate and collaborate with, and a greater reliance on data to support these mega projects.”

Demand for BIMs on the rise

The concept of Business Information Modelling (BIM) has been around for decades. Its evolution, however, may have accelerated with the development of the Internet and the realisation that digital connectivity facilitates even higher productivity while lowering the chances for errors.

Parkman noted that BIM allows different engineering disciplines and planners to coordinate and share their information.

“You have people that are designing roads, people that are designing and engineering bridges, tunnels, and drainage. All these things come together to form a complex system. Despite this complexity, BIM allows those participants to share their data and be able to match it up in 3D space and allows them to identify all the different mismatches that happen.”

Dustin Parkman

He opined that BIM helps mismatches be identified and sorted out during construction. “This way you can identify potential problems much earlier in the design and engineering phase because you are essentially able to simulate the construction.”

Click on the video to see Parkman’s responses to the following:

1. Provide of state of where we are in Asia's transportation sector.
2. Which technologies are proving to be effective tools in the modernisation of public transportation?
3. What are the top challenges slowing/hindering modernisation?
4. How/where do you see data-centric digital workflows supporting modernisation?
5. How do you see AI/ML technologies being applied (low-value to high-value) to support modernisation?

The post Asia's transportation trends in 2024 appeared first on FutureIoT.

Analysys Mason observed that the number of projects using 5G rose by 32.5% from 2022 to 2023 and that 5G deployments made up more than half of all LTR/5G deployments. IDC says the private cellular networks market continues to show promise, as both LTE and 5G are being rolled out to address enterprise and industrial challenges.

“5G is starting to see more traction within the manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics verticals, where we expect the bulk of growth to occur over the forecast period," said Patrick Filkins, research manager of IoT and Telecom Network Infrastructure at IDC.

FutureIoT held a recent discussion with executives from Belgium-based BICS, the global connectivity provider for telecommunication operators and provider of global connectivity solutions to enterprise customers.

BICS executives Malcolm Chan, senior VP, BICS Asia, Enterprise; Gabriel Salvate, enterprise solutions manager; and Luc Vidal-Madjar, head of IoT Solutions, discuss ubiquitous connectivity and transitioning to 5G, the investments it requires, and how it can change the way the world connects.

Ubiquitous connectivity

Spending the last two decades building BICS’ global network, offering the widest connectivity coverage, and relating with “literally every operator in the world, both fixed and mobile”, Chan says that connectivity has changed and improved over the past years.

“You cannot travel anywhere in the world without your phone and roaming. The cost of roaming is going down. It is a lot more affordable today. The quality is much better.”

On the enterprise side, Chan adds that connectivity has become completely seamless. “It is so critical, but it is so seamless, and it is taken for granted. People tend to forget all the heavy lifting that is required to do it.”

Seamless connectivity across devices, networks, companies, and countries has its share of challenges. For Chan, the biggest challenge for operators and enterprises is navigating different hardware and software that can work across different countries.

“The challenge lies in ensuring that every device that works in your country is in your home network and works just as well when you leave. Operators and enterprises need to make things happen and they need to protect their customers’ experience.”

Chan says that the key is to ensure that devices work and provide services to test devices before deployment in the market. He says that the enterprise space has a similar challenge.

“Enterprises need to make sure that devices and software work before they roll it out to the market. If they do not, it is extremely costly – and not only financially. If they damage the customer goodwill that they may have built-in one country, they will also damage their reputation in other countries. That is an expensive lesson.”

Malcolm Chan

5G Investment 

5G, or the fifth-generation mobile network is the new global standard for wireless connectivity after 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. Qualcomm allows connection with machines, objects, and devices while delivering high multi-Gbps data speeds, low latency, more reliability, massive network capacity, increased availability, and a more uniform user experience.

Chan posits investing in 5G technology helps operators optimise their costs. “It helps them use the spectrum better. You can serve more customers and provide more data in a particular way. It is more around optimisation. We have seen this already happen across Asia.”

Salvate differentiates between standalone 5G and non-standalone 5G, which operators have been recently using. “At the end of the day, it is the improvement of the standard network,” he says.

“In parallel, we see a lot of operators investing and testing the new 5G standalone that uses a dedicated core that can unlock capabilities like faster upload speeds, ultra-low latency, ultra-high reliability, and edge functions.”

Salvate says that operators need “some levels of investments” to replace the standard network with the new one.

Operators’ role

Salvate recognises the role of operators in facilitating the integration of different devices and systems for seamless connectivity. He says operators are in charge of offering a good ecosystem for it to happen and that includes infrastructure, capacity, and partnerships.

He adds that there are several ways to manage the network infrastructure and the device itself. “We have the Connectivity Management Platform we offer to enterprises to check scenarios. Our enterprise customers can see by themselves if the network is available, if it faces any type of issues if the device is connected, and if the device is sending and receiving data.”

As BICS’ Enterprise Solutions Manager, Salvate says it allows operators to give to enterprise full control of the device and it can also be available for the enterprise back-end systems, such as CRM, ERP or business analytics systems through integrations via APIs.

Operators also face operational issues they need to handle as they transition to 5G connectivity, one of which is managing the operational costs.

“When you decide to shut down the network, devices must be upgraded to a new version. You have operational costs to be managed by customers. You need to manage what is happening in the market. You need to remove the device and issue a new one, and it is more about cost.”

Gabriel Salvate

Aside from that, Salvate shares that from an MNO perspective, it is more cost-effective to operate an LTE or 5G network than a 2G or 3G network, as more devices can share the available spectrum. In addition, the 5G network is more secure, robust, and easy to maintain.

Ubiquitous connectivity for 2024

Vidal-Madjar, head of IoT Solutions at BICS, believes there is a new eSIM standard coming into the market that will make it easier for enterprises to simplify how they embed connectivity into the products they sell in multiple geographies. 

“I can foresee that enterprises will be requesting more flexibility to change the mobile carrier on the SIM card, which is bringing a lot of value for global deployment.”

Luc Vidal-Madjar

"I also see security as an important aspect. The more you deploy a device, the more you open the risk for the enterprise infrastructure. They will have to mandate some key characters to have solutions to protect the infrastructure,” Vidal-Madjar adds.

On the telco side, Salvate says that standalone is the new trend with telecommunication companies and must offer this new technology as quickly as possible because it will improve the network coverage.  

“We will see a huge number of new devices entering the network and the latest version of network technology. 5G is the future; it is the trend,” Salvate shares.

Chan adds they are looking at specific segments within the enterprise. “You already heard the many things that we do. You already heard the value that we bring to the enterprise space, in particular, the global philanthropy part, and making it easier to be connected. We are optimistic about 2024 because we have seen the momentum build over the last two years.”

The post Connecting the future with 5G appeared first on FutureIoT.

Syed Najam us Saqib, a senior technical team lead – IoT Operations at Vision Valley in Dubai, believes that Yes, the Internet of Things (IoT) can play a significant role in addressing climate change challenges by providing data-driven insights, improving resource efficiency, and enabling smarter decision-making in various sectors. In his LinkedIn posts, he lists 13 use cases – an interesting read IMHO.

IoT driving green

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says the operations of buildings account for 30% of global final energy consumption and 26% of global energy-related emissions1 (8% being direct emissions in buildings and 18% indirect emissions from the production of electricity and heat used in buildings).

When incorporated into building automation systems (BAMs), Internet of Things (IoT) technologies are helping to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance building operations.

Lian Jye Su, chief analyst for applied intelligence at Omdia says the primary role of IoT technology in building and infrastructure energy consumption and monitoring is data collection. More and more enterprises are deploying an intelligent energy management system that can control energy consumption depending on ambient conditions and automatically report defects or malfunctions.

He adds that data from various IoT sensors are consolidated to provide a better picture of overall usage. He noted that the number of sensors being deployed is directly proportional to the granularity and comprehensiveness of energy utilization patterns.

“In some cases, drones and automated aircraft with infrared sensors have been deployed in industrial and commercial buildings to detect potential leakage and wastage,” he added.

Tsubasa Bolt, a senior ESD consultant for Surbana Jurong, explained that IoT devices are being used to monitor systems at a more granular level compared to traditional building management systems (BMS).

“One such example would be smart branch circuit monitoring systems or smart sockets. This allows for the monitoring of receptacle loads at higher resolution which can then be fed back to users to modify their behaviour to eliminate standby power.

“Smart lighting systems also have more granular sensor coverage which reduces the size of lighting zones (sensors are per fixture). This means that the sensors are monitoring and responding to much more localised occupancy and daylight which reduces overall lighting consumption,” he continued.

IoT in waste management and recycling

Asked in what ways is IoT contributing to the optimisation of waste management and recycling processes, Bolt pointed to IoT devices being used at weighing stations to monitor waste production at facilities where devices are fitting onto bins or at collection points where bags may be weighed.

He added that digital tracking and associated data provide critical insight into:

• The proportions of the different waste streams.
• Frequency of recycling bins contamination with non-recyclable waste.
• Opportunities for cost optimisation.

“With this data, interventions could be made upstream at the source of the waste with the aim of overall reduction. Contaminated recycling bins are also a major issue and data can be used to provide user feedback to educate and initiate behavioural change,” he elaborated.

IoT in air and quality monitoring

“Like IoT in energy consumption monitoring, air and water quality in urban environments are tracked through different sensors, such as humidity, chemicals, and light, to detect pollutants, turbidity, and hazardous content,” said Su.

Surbana Jurong’s Bolt confirms adding that these provide user feedback on various indoor air quality (IAQ) metrics (CO2, VOCs, PM2.5, PM1, Radon, etc.) to raise awareness on the importance of IAQ concerning human health in office spaces.

The WELL Certification standard, which allows organisations to demonstrate their commitment to the health and wellbeing of occupants, includes IAQ monitoring as achievable credits. IAQ metrics must be kept within specific thresholds which incentivise building operators to regularly maintain air handling unit filtration systems.

Another exciting application of IAQ sensor data is CO2 data as a data domain for airside system AI optimisers. Bolt explains that CO2 is a better measure of occupancy than traditional occupancy sensors since CO2 is correlated to the number of occupants.

“Aside from demand-controlled ventilation, this has the potential to ensure enclosed office or meeting room ACMV systems only operate when CO2 levels are rising instead of the triggering of motion detectors,” he continued.

When it comes to water quality, IoT devices could be deployed to obtain more granular datasets that can provide insight into the maintenance health of a distribution network. Bolt noted, however, that water quality generally has to be tested in a certified lab for verification.

IoT in supply chain

The supply chain is arguably one of the earliest use cases for IoT in the form of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. Indeed, nearly everyone in the supply chain ecosystem depends on RFID tags to track product and equipment movement.

Chan Hsien Hung, vice president of Integrated Enterprise Services & Sustainability at AETOS, says transportation is recognized as a critical factor in Scope 1 carbon emissions within the supply chain.

“Without IoT integration, the management and measurement of carbon emissions would heavily rely on manual processes, introducing inaccuracies and inefficiencies,” he added. “Traditional methods like manual log books and even GPS tracking, while capturing digital data, often fell short by omitting crucial information such as fuel consumption, influenced by variables like vehicle efficiency, fuel type, and driver behaviour.”

He cites the integration of IoT sensors within AETOS fleet of 200 operational vehicles. “This IoT-driven approach enables real-time tracking through a cloud-based platform, offering a comprehensive and accurate overview of our environmental impact in supply chain operations.

“This not only enhances efficiency but also empowers us to make informed decisions aimed at reducing carbon emissions and advancing sustainable practices,” he continued.

IoT in transportation

The US government, Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, defines sustainable transportation as low- and zero-emission, energy-efficient, and affordable modes of transport, including electric and alternative-fuel vehicles, as well as domestic fuels.

“IoT platforms help to track fuel usage better,” reveals Su. “They can identify driver behaviour, such as heavy acceleration or vehicle idling, increasing fuel costs, and contributing to emissions. Fleet platooning is also an area of autonomous trucking that many believe will reduce emissions by programming the vehicles to maximize fuel efficiency.”

AETOS’ Chan says in promoting sustainable transportation, IoT applications monitor driver behaviour in real time. “IoT sensors in our vehicles track events like harsh braking, fast acceleration, speeding, and idling,” he revealed.

“This information is crucial in influencing driving habits to improve fuel efficiency and subsequently reduce carbon emissions. Through the utilization of data from our advanced smart telematics system and increased data transparency, we observed a 20% decrease in negative driver behaviour and a notable reduction in carbon emissions.

“Any reduction in carbon emissions contributes to achieving carbon emission reduction certifications, which can be utilized for green financing,” he concluded.

The post Supporting green projects with IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

While water covers 71% of the earth’s surface, only 3 per cent of it is fresh water with only 0.3% found in lakes, rivers and swamps.

The scarcity of fresh water may be apparent among city dwellers, but safe and clean water is even more scarce in the less developed regions of Asia.

Gregg Herrin, vice president for water infrastructure at Bentley Systems, says water scarcity in Asia presents different challenges depending on which part of Asia you are looking into.

“There are areas of Asia where people do not have water infrastructure at all. So, bringing clean drinking water, bringing sanitation services, is important for people who don’t have access to it,” he revealed.

Speaking to FutureIoT at the 2023 Year in Infrastructure and Going Digital Awards, Herrin acknowledged the wide disparity of development when it comes to water management, citing places like Singapore where advanced infrastructure exists, and efforts exist to further optimise how the resource is consumed and managed, and to do so while reducing their energy consumption, their carbon footprint, improve reliability and reduce service interruptions.

On the other extreme, he goes on, are regions that are looking to just build infrastructure and provide that service.

The impact of decades of legacy infrastructure

Herrin comments that much of the current water and wastewater infrastructure is buried (under the ground). And because pipes are hidden, this presents the challenge of managing what is not easily visible.

He concedes efforts to bring technology that would make it possible to visualise and measure the water flowing through the networks of pipes, as well as simulate (model) how water is flowing through that underground network of pipes.

He cited the potential to use data collated from sensors that monitor water flow or pressure to determine the condition of the pipes and pumps.

“Combining it digitally lets you see things through this network of systems that you wouldn't be able to see if you were just using traditional methods,” he continued.

The state of water management

Herrin concedes software tools are used to help design the network of water systems as these can be complicated. However, a growing trend is in the use of digital twin technologies, particularly in complex use cases like water treatment facilities where complex issues like chemistry, biology, or the hydraulic characteristic of water (and wastewater) come together to undergo some treatment prior to distribution.

“All sorts of different types of engineers and other professionals are working together to try to make sure that everything functions the way it should,” explained Herrin. “If the plant process engineer decides that they need to change something, the structural engineer needs to make sure the building won't fall.

“There's an aspect of working with digital twins that helps those different collaborators be more effective in doing that type of work together,” continued Herrin.

He further cites the example of a (water) pump that will gradually degrade over time. “The pump may not operate as efficiently as it could, or if the conditions in the network are dramatically different from the initial design – the pump might not operate at all,” he posited.

Click on the video to see Herrin’s responses to the following:

1. In Asia, what are the current constraints towards better water management?
2. What does digital transformation look like in the water utilities sector?
3. What is meant by digital water management?
4. How do you see digital technologies enabling the water industry to support GHG emissions reduction?
5. Do you need to go digital, and to what extent, to achieve ESG/sustainability targets?

The post Water management trends for Asia in 2024 appeared first on FutureIoT.

Market potential remains strong as the user penetration in the meal delivery market will only reach 16.7% in 2023. In 2021, foodpanda led the online meal delivery market in the Philippines with a market share by revenue of 58%.

Since 2007, foodpanda has partnered with PLDT Enterprise to enable its business. More recently foodpanda upped its technology investment with the adoption of IoT solutions from PLDT.

The IoT SIMs provide devices with reliable connectivity. These allow businesses to transmit data and communicate with other devices, making them an essential component in building and deploying IoT applications and solutions.

IoT SIMs are also more secure and flexible, making them a perfect digital tool for today’s evolution in delivery and logistics businesses.

Significance of IoT SIMs

IoT SIMs enable foodpanda to optimise operations and access real-time data gathering.

This level of data localisation and connectivity enhances the food delivery company services in ways that result in improved efficiencies and a better overall experience for both merchants and customers.

According to Robert Jay Sumulong, Smart IoT category head at PLDT Enterprise, IoT enables businesses to manage multiple devices seamlessly in an integrated platform. “With full control over connectivity, companies can drive operational efficiency and unlock their true potential,” opined Sumulong.

Partnership to power innovation

According to Luis Antonio Yanga, commercial director at foodpanda Philippines, the company’s partnership with PLDT Enterprise reflects the organisation’s commitment to delivering top-notch services and tailored solutions for our partner vendors.

“With IoT solutions, we are at the forefront of innovation, enabling our restaurant and merchant partners to optimise their business operations while providing a seamless experience for our customers,” he continued.

PLDT global president and CEO and PLDT enterprise revenue group head, Albert Villa-Real, emphasised the strategic role of IoT in driving business transformation and improving customer operations, saying, “PLDT Enterprise understands how innovation is essential for success in today's dynamic market. Our collaboration with foodpanda showcases the power of technology to reshape industries, and IoT is a key enabler of this transformation,” he elaborated.

More sustainable food delivery industry

Reflecting on its partnership with PLDT Enterprise, Leopoldo De Castro Jr, foodpanda Philippines' Finance Director, says: “Our partnership with PLDT Enterprise and the adoption of cutting-edge solutions like IoT position us at the forefront of digital transformation. Together, we are poised to revolutionise the delivery business sector and create a sustainable future for our customers and stakeholders.”

The post Foodpanda revolutionises food delivery with Smart IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

The report offers guidance for policymakers to address severe disruptions and long-standing development challenges in cities for a sustainable urban recovery in Asia and the Pacific.

The problems and challenges of governments and city developers are nothing new. But with new technologies and lessons learned from other countries, Asia may yet to reap the benefits of not being the first mover.

Jacques Beltran, VP for Cities and Public Services at Dassault Systèmes says what is happening in Asia is not local to the region. It is a global trend. “Asian cities face two major challenges – demographic growth and climate change,” he called.

“Today, half of the world's population lives in cities, and it’s expected to reach 80% of the population by 2050. This creates huge demographic pressure on existing and new cities being built. Cities are also facing enormous challenges related to climate change and all the natural disasters that come with it.”

Jacques Beltran

Previous top priorities of urban planners

Beltran says due to urban demographic growth, urban planners have much work to do to ensure that citizens living in cities have a good life, and that has to do with meeting fundamental needs like housing and mobility.

“Mobility is probably the top issue globally and in Asia. Cities need to ensure that people can go from one point to another in a reasonable time and a sustainable manner. There are also issues with car traffic and air pollution. Mobility, housing, and access to energy and clean water are issues at the heart of urban planning worldwide,” he continued.

Climate change and its impact on city living

Asked how significant the impact of climate change on cities in Asia, Beltran was quick to pronounce: Major! He explains that the number of natural hazards hitting cities has multiplied by five since the 1980s. Flooding is probably the top natural hazard that's hitting cities, particularly in Asia. There are also extreme temperatures or wildfires.

“Such natural hazards have become a key focus for urban planners and agencies. We are doing everything we can to find ways to help cities adapt to those risks and climate change challenges. Cities need to become more sustainable and resilient,” he elaborated.

Sustainability aspirations and its influence on urban development

According to Beltran, people living in the cities are increasingly conscious of sustainability challenges, and they are increasingly thinking about their impact on climate change. He acknowledged that this is a major challenge not only for urban planners but for city governments themselves.

“What’s obvious now is that transformation will not work without a strong political will to change how cities are managed. We firmly believe that technology, supported by a strong political will, can help those cities become more sustainable and resilient,” he added.

The influence of evolving technology

Reflecting on the past 20 years, Beltran acknowledged a huge acceleration in technology that can help cities transform how they operate and plan for the future.

“For mobility, intelligent transportation systems have been developed for public transportation. Mobile apps help people find their way around traffic jams. Smart grid technology is helping cities cope with the ever-increasing energy demand. IoT sensors capture data on how a city is functioning, and that data, together with data analytics, helps city authorities plan for the future."

Jacques Beltran

“To help your city adapt to future challenges, you must first understand the reality now. Today’s technology helps us do that tremendously well,” he continued.

Challenges for urban planners

Beltran cites two main technological building blocks that urban planners can use today:

Data analytics and AI. Once city data has been captured widely, these technologies can be used to interpret, understand and transform that data into actionable information.

3D modelling and 3D simulation. One of the biggest challenges that cities face is breaking the silos. Everybody sees the city from a certain perspective. 3D simulation technology, or digital twinning, helps different stakeholders see the city through a common view by aggregating all available data into one single 3D referential. This lets all stakeholders move ahead as one.

Ownership and stakeholders of 3D models

3D mockups and 3D representations of the city are easy to do. What’s more complex and adds much value is identifying the types of data to inject into the 3D model.

“We can connect different dimensions, such as safety, environmental, and economic development in a 3D model. From there, entire city ecosystems can be improved, covering aspects such as diverse administration, businesses, and citizen comfort,” said Beltran.

He commented that all stakeholders involved in city planning and development should have access to such a 3D modelling and simulation system.

Challenges ahead for urban planners

Beltran says one of the major challenges for urban planners is building what-if scenarios. He opines that 3D modelling and simulation can help cities design future products like infrastructure.

“The beauty of such technology is that you can do virtual testing of different policy options – by setting up each scenario, assessing the merits of each scenario, and seeing what will happen when each option is selected,” he elaborated. “Aircraft manufacturers use the same technology to circumvent crashing their planes. Such what-if scenario enablement and testing are invaluable to city planners.”

Click on the PodChat player to listen to Beltran elaborate further on smarter ways for modernising urban development.

1. Give us a state of city growth in Asia.
2. Before sustainability became the buzzword, what were the top priorities of urban planners?
3. How significant is the impact of climate change on cities in Asia?
4. What mindset is needed to make cities sustainable for the long haul?
5. Beyond mindset, do we have the technologies and skilled/experienced people available/ready to make the change towards more sustainable urban development?
6. Can we go into a little bit of detail in terms of what technologies are available today for urban planners?
7. Describe the challenges urban planners face in Asia in the coming years. What can we learn from global cities when it comes to sustainable development?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Smarter ways for modernising urban development appeared first on FutureIoT.

MBI segments AEC services into building design (35%), infrastructure design (25%), and product design (20%). The firm says the remaining share is accounted for by other services such as 3D modelling, data analytics, and construction management.

MBI says demand for smart cities, infrastructure and development initiatives and technological advancements are fuelling demand for AEC services with Asia Pacific growing fastest in part due to the rapid growth of urbanisation and infrastructure development in the region.

At the 2023 Year in Infrastructure and Going Digital Awards, FutureIoT spoke to Lori Hufford, vice president for engineering collaboration at Bentley Systems for her take on engineering trends in Asia, and how efforts to modernise are developing.

According to Hufford, the rapid population growth in Asia has fuelled the increased need for infrastructure in the areas of water, transportation, and energy. Even as governments invest in infrastructure projects, the size of these developments coupled with the scarcity of skilled resources present a conundrum to authorities tasked with city development.

She opines that the use of technologies to drive forward these developments is influenced by the maturity of the market to adapt or integrate these innovations into existing practices.

“At Bentley, what we are working to do is to close the adoption gap,” said Hufford. “That’s the gap between available technology to provide innovative results and the design firm’s ability to consume that technology.”

“One of the ways that we're doing that is we're delivering innovative iTwin data-centric workflows into existing Bentley applications. We believe that by augmenting users’ existing workflows with new data-centric workflows with incremental advancements, through solutions like Projectwise powered by iTwin, the new iTwin advancements and MicroStation, into their existing workflows, these will be able to help close that adoption gap.”

Click on the video to see Hufford’s responses to the following:

1. What is your observation of engineering projects in Asia?
   a. Where do you see projects showcasing the creative use of technology?
   b. Where are the areas that remain isolated or not taking advantage of innovations in technology and process?
2. What remains the top holdouts for organisations in Asia leveraging technologies like AI, digital twins, IoT, etc?
3. Can organisations continue investing/pursuing modernisation projects, including advanced construction projects, while supporting commitments towards sustainable development and ESG?
4. Coming into 2024, what is your outlook on engineering projects in Asia?

The post Enterprise engineering trends in 2024 appeared first on FutureIoT.

Warehousing today, of course, is much more convenient with innovations around track and trace, robot automation, wearables and warehouse management systems (WMS) coming together under hybrid, multi-cloud to facilitate improved optimisation of assets.

The Zebra Technologies paper, Warehousing Vision Study 2023, reports that warehouse leaders are investing in technology and intelligent automation to increase inventory visibility and resiliency.

State of warehousing in ASEAN

Vivien Tay, vertical solutions marketing lead with Zebra Technologies Asia Pacific, observes that while warehouses in the ASEAN market are growing, growth rates have slowed when compared to during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She recalls that during the pandemic when people stayed home, there was a sharp increase in online shopping. Businesses responded by stocking up on inventory and building more warehouses. Post-pandemic, fewer new warehouses are being built.

“The ASEAN market is very diverse. On one hand, we have the developed markets like Singapore, which are more advanced in their modernisation plans, compared to a less developed market like Vietnam, where most businesses we speak to have a general understanding of modernisation but are unclear of where and how to begin,” said Tay.

She cited the example of Alpro Pharmacy, a diversified community pharmacy chain in Malaysia, that saw the limits of pen and paper to manage inventory movements. Increased demand promoted the chain to deploy mobile computers and RFID. The modernisation increased the operational efficiency of order fulfilment in the e-commerce division by 80% and allowed them to meet the increase in orders without additional workers.

Challenges to modernising

The path to modernisation is not going to be easy. Tay noted that even in mature markets like Singapore, there remain industries that hold on to their legacy warehouse management systems. These do not integrate well with modern devices in the warehouse.

She opined that employees are the most important asset of a warehouse. “For many warehouses, associates have often been working for a long time and are used to manual operations, which may cause them to be averse towards adopting new technology on short notice,” she continued.

“The barriers to entry are often not as high as they’d think, as there are some devices in the warehouse that are specifically designed to be user-friendly, such as the Android devices which use the same operating system as many smartphones out there.”

Vivien Tay

She posits that adopting a phased approach is the key to implementing modernisation plans smoothly. “Warehouses that want to kickstart the digitalisation process can start with basic scanners before moving on to sensor-based technologies like RFID,” she suggested.

Automation and robotics in ASEAN

Mordor Intelligence estimates the warehouse robotics market at US$6.74 billion in 2023 and forecasts this to more than double to US$15.22 billion by 2028.

The analyst cites the emergence of industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and the advent of a network of connected systems as helping industries perform a multitude of tasks, such as material batching, picking, ordering, packaging, warehouse security, and inspection, as well as improve the operational efficiency by huge margins.

Tay says for operators who have not begun their automation journey, the main challenge they might face is the integration of hardware devices and software solutions.

She opined that empowering employees is also a key aspect to consider. She adds that once operators receive the buy-in of their associates and begin upskilling them with smart devices, associates can move on to engage in higher-value tasks in the warehouse.

“The other challenge I foresee is related to the e-commerce boom. While the e-commerce boom is slowing down due to growing competition in the space, many businesses are struggling with returns management. Efficient handling of returns management is key to managing evolving consumer demands,” she continues.

In terms of robotics, she comments that while markets like China are ahead of the curve and deploying robots beyond the warehouse, such as in consumer-facing roles in shopping malls and restaurants, it is not as prevalent in ASEAN yet.

“The main obstacle to the widespread adoption of robotics in ASEAN is typically the cost in investment and lack of knowledge in the implementation and integration with existing systems,” says Tay.

Sustainability and warehouse modernisation

According to Tay, sustainability has emerged as one of the top priorities for warehouse decision-makers in the upcoming years, led by recent government regulations and sustainability directives, such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and Net Zero by 2050 commitments.

Southeast Asia is beginning to catch up on sustainable warehouse operations, says Tay, deploying technologies like solar panels, efficient lighting, and connecting to energy monitoring software to maximise efficiency.

Warehousing in 2024 and beyond

A central theme of Zebra’s 2023 Warehousing Vision Study is supply chain agility and resilience. The study found that decision-makers are accelerating modernisation projects to meet evolving consumer demands and reduce operational challenges.

Tay explains that returns management is one of the top challenges that businesses face, especially for e-commerce. “Interestingly, research has shown that return rates for e-commerce sales are between 15 and 20%, more than twice the median return rate for all sales categories,” she comments. “Decision-makers recognise they are under pressure to improve performance in returns management, inventory management, and warehouse productivity and output while adjusting to shifting consumer e-commerce demands.”

According to Tay, the warehousing landscape will continue to expand over the next five years. A slowing e-commerce boom notwithstanding warehousing will continue to experience an upward trend.

She predicts that businesses will build more warehouses closer to the consumers, moving away from a large, centralised warehouse system to multiple smaller distribution centres. “Another trend we see in last-mile delivery is the availability of drop-off options for consumers,” she continued.

On the topic of automation, businesses are beginning to empower their employees with automation and technology. The study concurs with this – as it found that employees are happier when they are equipped with technology.

RFID will continue to be a key technology in the warehouse, helping to increase inventory visibility and reduce out-of-stocks. Robots will also increasingly have a larger role to play in the warehouse alongside humans, taking over simple tasks in the picking process to free up associate’s time to move up the value chain.

The post Modernising warehousing in 2024 appeared first on FutureIoT.

The Nokia 20203 Threat Intelligence Report claims that 60% of attacks against telecom mobile networks are linked to IoT bots scanning for vulnerable hosts for use in distributed denial of service attacks.

Impact of unmonitored technology on security

Many say the weakest link is humans. I'd argue that the IoT devices that have been quietly sitting in the business perimeter present just as big a clear and present danger to consumers and enterprises. This has been repeatedly highlighted in cyberattacks against critical infrastructure.

Steven Scheurmann, regional vice president for ASEAN at Palo Alto Networks, says the escalation of cyberattacks on IoT and OT devices is a significant concern in ASEAN, with 60% of organisations acknowledging increased security risks associated with IoT. He pointed out that Unit 42's IoT Threat Report highlights that 57% of IoT devices are susceptible to medium to high-severity attacks.

He opined that the primary reason behind this trend is the expansion of the attack surface, as hackers exploit unsecured IoT and OT devices newly connected to networks.

“These devices often lack security updates and configurations, making them easy targets. Also, they may store sensitive personal data, making them attractive to hackers, particularly in sectors like healthcare. This evolving threat landscape is deeply concerning.”

Steven Scheurmann

The sum of the parts is better

It is widely known that IT teams and those with operational technology oversight have not, traditionally, seen the need to work together. However, recent attacks against critical infrastructure and supply chains suggest that threat actors are looking at multiple channels to penetrate an organisation.

“Across ASEAN and globally, organisations possess a multitude of diverse devices, including traditional endpoints like PCs and smartphones, cloud-based applications, and a mix of on-premises and hybrid cloud systems,” said Scheurmann. “In recent years, this fragmentation has become prevalent, resulting in varied configurations, standards, and compliance measures. This lack of uniformity creates vulnerabilities that attackers exploit.”

He suggested that by integrating IoT and OT under the shared responsibility of IT and security departments, enterprises can establish consistency, standardisation, and compliance, making it more challenging for hackers to breach systems.

“While this transition is positive, there is a learning curve involved, and our role is to educate the market on achieving this level of standardisation,” continued Scheurmann.

Factors driving a convergence of oversight

A report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in the USA noted that hackers targeted government, military, and civilian networks across the Asia Pacific leveraging malware to obtain confidential information. The malware targeted both the data on victim machines as well as audio captured by infected machines’ microphones.

Scheurmann says securing critical infrastructure, like airports and telecommunications, at the national level is paramount to safeguard citizens in countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.

He pointed out that protecting these vital assets is essential to prevent catastrophic disruptions and ensure public safety.

“The supply chain is another critical aspect, with many organisations reliant on interconnected third-party systems. Disrupting the supply chain can affect the delivery of goods and services, impacting everyone,” he added.

He explained that legacy systems pose unique challenges; identifying and managing them is a fundamental step in cybersecurity. “Without visibility, it's impossible to secure these systems effectively. Addressing these issues is complex but essential for comprehensive security,” he elaborated.

Protecting an expanding attack surface

The pandemic has accelerated organisations’ use of connectivity solutions. As enterprises start to connect IoT devices, sensors and instrumentations into the corporate network to acquire real-time visibility of assets or processes may have had the unintended consequence of exposing an organisation to threats previously not thought of by both security and IT teams.

“5G technology presents an incredible opportunity for organisations to scale services dramatically, impacting various sectors such as manufacturing and healthcare. It enables real-time decision-making on production lines and allows doctors to provide remote guidance in critical medical situations,” said Scheurmann.

He pointed out that the challenge lies in the speed at which data is transferred and shared – a breach could result in data being disseminated and compromised within seconds.

“Moreover, the connectivity of critical infrastructure through 5G raises concerns about potential attacks disrupting vital services like transportation and financial markets,” he posited. Despite these risks, he opined, the focus should be on harnessing 5G's benefits through education, preparation, and expert support, ensuring responsible and transformative use.

Expanding the protection envelope

Asked what steps should organisations then take to mitigate cybersecurity risk related to operational technology and IoT? And, more importantly, who should get involved?

Scheurmann believes that bringing OT and IoT devices into the realm of security and business units offers an opportunity to establish standards, governance, and policies. He added that this includes clear procedures, ongoing training and awareness, and a risk mitigation framework to anticipate and respond to incidents effectively.

He explained that visibility and tracking become crucial as more devices connect, ensuring a swift response to potential attacks. Resilience plays a critical role, ensuring systems can recover swiftly in the event of an attack.

“Delays in system restoration can have a significant impact, such as prolonged ATM network outages affecting everyday transactions for millions of people, emphasising the importance of quick recovery in a robust governance framework,” warned Scheurmann.

Predictions and advice for 2024

Recognising that Asia will continue to experience a shortage in skills and expertise, particularly in the areas of cybersecurity, Scheurmann believes that automation is pivotal for IT departments. He explains that automation ensures consistency in compliance, policy enforcement, and standardisation, allowing IT teams to focus on higher-priority tasks.

“For IT leadership, rationalising and consolidating the security stack is essential, given the proliferation of disparate products in response to recent challenges like COVID-19. Streamlining security measures simplifies administration and enhances effectiveness.

“Beyond IT, cybersecurity discussions must become a central boardroom topic, with every organisation recognizing the risk of potential cyberattacks. Leaders should prioritise cybersecurity strategy, investment, and integration into their overall business framework for successful digitisation,” concluded Scheurmann.

Click on the PodChat player to hear in detail Scheurmann’s take on how enterprises in Asia can mitigate OT and IoT cyber risks.

1. What is the impact of unmonitored and unsecured IoT devices on a system’s cybersecurity, and why is it one of the biggest cybersecurity challenges across ASEAN?
2. Why do the majority of ASEAN organisations (82%) see value in having a common team that looks after IT and OT infrastructure and systems? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
3. What factors are driving organisations’ focus on securing IoT/OT in their future cybersecurity strategies?
4. What are the specific cybersecurity concerns related to 5G-connected IoT devices, and how do organisations plan to address them?
5. What steps should organisations take to mitigate cybersecurity risks related to OT? Who should get involved?
6. Coming into 2024, more devices and sensors will be added to the enterprises. What is your advice for operations, IT and leadership to improve the overall organisational security posture?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Mitigating OT and IoT cyber risks appeared first on FutureIoT.

The use cases for accurate timing have been around for decades. Timing is what enables communication systems to work, time is essential for global navigation systems to function, and timing is what makes automation possible.

SiTime is a precision timing company supplying industries with oscillators – devices that generate oscillatory currents or voltages by non-mechanical means. Quartz crystals have been used in timekeeping technology including clocks, watches, computers, and other devices that keep time.

On 19 September 2023, SiTime announced the SiTime Epoch Platform – designed to solve the most complex timing issues in electronics and claiming to disrupt 100-year-old quartz-based technology.

The SiTime Epoch Platform is a micro-electromechanical system-based, oven-controlled oscillator that delivers an ultra-stable clock to the data centre and network infrastructure equipment. SiTime claims that over time the Epoch technology will be extended to other high-growth electronics markets, such as aerospace and defence, and industrial controls among others.

FutureIoT spoke to Piyush Sevalia, executive vice president of marketing at SiTime, to discuss precision timing and its significance across a wide expanse of use cases.

What follows is a discussion on the significance of SiTime’s Epoch announcement, and how it changes things when it comes to precision timing.

"Timing is the heartbeat of electronics pretty much any electronic device will require timing. We are now in the era of intelligent connected devices, every electronic device that you use now is likely connected and likely can make decisions on their own, to some kind of intelligence on the device."

Piyush Sevalia

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Precision-timing in the intelligent economy appeared first on FutureIoT.

“Organisations worldwide are under mounting pressure to ensure their IoT and connected devices are protected while navigating an increasingly complex digital landscape that requires complete trust,” said

Ellen Boehm, senior vice president, IoT Strategies and Operations at Keyfactor, says the survey demonstrates the importance of identity-first security for those who manufacture IoT devices and those who deploy and operate them in their environment to establish digital trust at scale.

She opines that most organisations implement PKI solutions in their IoT security strategy, which is a huge step in the right direction.

“Ensuring that IoT device security is managed throughout its lifecycle will go a long way in both eliminating costly certificate outages and enhancing the long-term viability of IoT within the enterprise.”  Ellen Boehm

Highlights of the survey

Unrelenting attacks: 89% of respondents’ organisations that operate and use IoT and connected products have been hit by cyberattacks at an average cost of US$250K. The March attack on Amazon’s Ring that exfiltrated sensitive customer data such as recorded footage and credit card numbers is an example of the increase in IoT attacks. 

In the past three years, 69% of organisations have seen an increase in cyberattacks on their IoT devices.

Boehm says many IoT security strategies fail to prevent and protect against IoT-targeted cyberattacks because organisations lack the proper education and support needed to fully understand the task at hand.

She added that over half of respondents agree that their organisation doesn’t have the proper awareness and expertise to prepare for IoT device cyberattacks, spotlighting the need for more guidance to fully secure their devices.

“Organisations can’t protect against what they cannot understand,” she called out.

Proliferating growth of IoT devices: Respondents reported a 20% average increase in the number of IoT and connected products used by organisations over a three-year period.

IT is not fully confident in the security of IoT and connected devices: About 88% of respondents agree that improvements are needed in the security of IoT and connected products in use within their organisation. 37% of respondents reporting that significant improvement is needed and 60% reported that some improvement is needed.

When it comes to specific strategies, 4 in 10 organisations report that they strongly agree they would benefit from using a PKI to issue digital identities on the IoT and IIoT devices in their environment.

IoT security budgets being diverted to cover costs from outages: While budgets for IoT device security are increasing year over year, with an anticipated increase of 45% in the next five years, 52% of that budget is at risk of being diverted to cover the cost of successful cyber breaches on IoT and connected products.

Pointing fingers on responsibility: 48% believed that the manufacturer of IoT or connected devices should be at least mostly responsible for cyber breaches on their products.

The post Securing IoT and connected devices is a global challenge appeared first on FutureIoT.

As governments look to address public health and safety issues, a collaboration between the Singapore University of Technology and Design (STUD) and Minmed-SmartRx promised convenient, remote health services for those who are unable to come face-to-face with a healthcare provider.

FutureIoT spoke to Tong Ping Heng, managing director at SmartRx, on the challenges to automating the provision of healthcare.

What is the vision of smart RX? From that perspective? What do you hope to achieve with the business?

Tong Ping Heng: We wanted to first reduce the number of trips to the hospital. We want to make the collection of medicines quick, convenient, and easy. This is why we developed an integrated solution where you can have your tele consultation, and then collect your drug immediately after.  

Today, when you have a teleconsult, what happens? The doctor will diagnose you, and then ask you to wait a few hours to have the medicine delivered to you. Imagine if you have kids running a high fever, or you yourself suffering from diarrhoea, can you wait three to five hours?

Of course, this is better than going to wait at the clinic or hospital for a few hours—so that's already a big improvement, but you still need to wait for your medicines to be delivered to you.

We are trying to change that. Imagine having a medicine vending machine that is just like an ATM. You could go there, and through self-service pick up medication anytime, anywhere 24/7. You can collect medicines, and buy your medicines, all at your convenience. Imagine an automatic pharmacy machine every 400 to 500 metres that is accessible within 10-15 minutes by foot or cycle. Whether near your work or home, you can just pick it up without the waiting time associated with teleconsultations and their medicine delivery.

That is what we are trying to do, not just for Singapore, but also across the region where quality care is very uneven. People oftentimes must travel to the major cities to get better healthcare. With our system, we are trying to democratise health care to include smaller towns and villages in the country or around the world. So, think good quality care, good quality medicine that is available throughout the country.

The SmartRX platform is an ecosystem of multiple parties coming together to deliver a service. What are the challenges that must be resolved to achieve the same outcome as the example of the STUD-Minmed-SmartRX partnership?

Tong Ping Heng: Even in Singapore it is very difficult. On the regulatory front, we need partners who are licensed to practise healthcare and dispense medicines. Even in these two areas, there could be different regulators. In Singapore, for example, the Ministry of Health (MOH) oversees doctors while pharmacies fall under the Health Sciences Authority (HSA). 

SmartRX must work with two different partners because we are not licensed holders to provide either service. Our value proposition to healthcare practitioners is that SmartRX becomes the technology platform with a micro warehouse-like system through vending machines, able to dispense prescribed medicine at locations convenient to the patient, who can also teleconsult with their doctor at their own time.

Do you think consumers in Asia are ready for this type of healthcare service?

Tong Ping Heng: There are a few categories of consumers. For those with multiple chronic problems, draw multiple doses of different medications and sometimes may need larger quantities for treatment. These patients may be best served with the current practice.

For those with acute conditions, like red eyes or colds, or if the patient is unable to leave the house, SmartRX may just be the answer. For sure, there are different use cases from a consumer perspective.

When it comes to the provision of healthcare service itself, the MOH already completed the sandbox and today, GP clinics can widely provide teleconsultation. If we bring smartRX into the ecosystem, the opportunity to work together boils down to the integration of our platform or backend to their apps to make it seamless.

Outside of the practitioner and patient, other technical aspects that need to be considered if SmartRX were to be deployed involve negotiating with landlords, be they office buildings, factories, or dormitories.

As for the payment system, for Singapore, our physical terminal covers various payment gateways such as credit cards and NETS, along with digital payment like Google Pay and Apple Pay.

What would interest hospitals in SmartRX? Hospitals may want to distribute their patient load away from their central pharmacy. This would reduce the long queues often found in hospital pharmacies, allowing staff to focus on more critical or complicated drug dispensing.

In situations where medicine dispensing has been centralised, patients don't need to go all the way to the central pharmacy for collection of their drugs. Obviously, the challenge here is integrating into the hospital's electronic medical record system.

What the pandemic has taught us

Tong Ping Heng: One of the health scares of the pandemic is the risk of infection from using public facilities. At SmartRX there are technologies built in to disinfect the surfaces of our machines and consultation pods, similar to nanotech solutions used in high-touch areas like toilets, lift (elevator) buttons, and door handles.

During the pandemic, the traditional methods of medication collection might not have been the best solution. A safer, more convenient way for drug collection without the need to visit a healthcare institution could be made possible using SmartRx’s solution. We chose our partners depending on the various use cases and moving on from the pandemic it would be about building trust between the practitioner, the business, and the patient to have a successful system in place.

Metric for success

Tong Ping Heng: If my mom or family member can say “This form of healthcare is very convenient”, “I don't need to go to the hospitals so many times”, and “I love it”, they will probably be a good validation of my success. From a business perspective, if we can provide machines at locations such as Resident Committee Zones, ActiveSG locations, and elder centres, it’ll come up to over 700 potential installations. In Singapore, that will be the ultimate goal.

The post Automation meets healthcare appeared first on FutureIoT.

Organisations are now aware that state-sponsored actors and cybercriminals are capable of exploiting security gaps in key infrastructure to cause serious harm and supply chain issues.

According to Frost & Sullivan, major corporations throughout the world want to increase their spending on OT security.

The growing need for OT security

Vinay Biradar, associate director at Frost & Sullivan, says OT systems become significantly more vulnerable to cyber threats as they integrate with IT infrastructure. Biradar points to market data which reveals that 90% of firms experienced at least one OT system intrusion incident in the previous calendar year.

He opines that worries are worsened by the expansion of zero-day threat vectors in this field and the inadequate security features built into Internet of Things (IoT) and OT equipment.

He explains that security is compromised by problems such as system-level attacks, lax device management, and inefficient authentication.

"Risks are exacerbated by poor patch management and program updates. Non-compliance by IoT manufacturers, inadequate network segmentation between IT and OT, public OT network access, and weak identity management further increase vulnerability," he elaborates.

According to Biradar, weak encryption, insecure data transfer, misconfigurations, firmware glitches, and a lack of secure update mechanisms add to the security woes of these systems leading to a variety of different attacks:

Unauthorised Access to SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems – where attackers infiltrate them to manipulate machinery, potentially causing safety risks or equipment damage.

Device Hijacking – where attackers gain control of OT devices, enabling eavesdropping, data theft, and operational disruption.

Data Manipulation – where cybercriminals target SCADA or Industrial Control Systems (ICS) devices to tamper with or delete stored data, leading to misinformation and compromised decision-making.

Man-in-the-Middle Attacks – where attackers intercept and modify communication between devices, altering device instructions and causing malfunctions.

Permanent Denial-of-Service – where attackers destroy firmware, rendering devices or systems inoperable and requiring extensive recovery efforts.

Fraudulent Identity and Control Panel Access – where attackers use fake identities to access control panels, compromising system settings and operational integrity.

Biradar opines that addressing these challenges demands a multi-pronged approach involving collaboration among manufacturers, regulatory bodies, and end-users to build industry standards.

"Consistent adherence to security, establishment of guidelines, conformance enforcement, and widespread adoption of best practices are essential throughout the lifecycle of OT devices," he suggested.

Growth areas in OT security

According to Frost, infrastructure security and smart buildings are quickly becoming important growth areas for OT security for businesses. Building Management Systems (BMS) security is seeing a noticeable increase in spending and budgetary allocation from organisations, in our market studies.

Biradar argues that BMS security is no longer the sole responsibility of the facility and operations teams; instead, CISOs are taking a more active role in harmonising the security stack as a whole and in developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

"While the traditional BMS Providers have started to invest in expanding their portfolio into smart buildings cybersecurity services, IT security vendors have started to perceive smart buildings cybersecurity as a new growth area and a vital component of their OT security offerings," he continued.

How organisations can prepare themselves

Biradar says the growth of the OT security market provides opportunities for both security vendors as well as end customers alike.

He posits that as an end client, "you can choose from the best-of-the-breed solutions and approaches as providers significantly increase their R&D in this area."

He acknowledges grey areas in comprehensively understanding the market opportunities and the key areas of investment.

"By embracing comprehensive market landscape analysis – which can feed into the organisation’s business as well as the technology roadmap, fostering industry collaboration, and prioritising security throughout the lifecycle of OT devices – organisations can stay prepared for the future," he concluded.

The post Safeguarding OT in a connected world appeared first on FutureIoT.

In its report, Hype Cycle for Mobile Robots and Drones, 2023, Gartner experts said that many organisations already deploying mobile robots will expand their fleet in the next three years. It’s likely companies will have hundreds, if not thousands, of mobile robots in use, while drones will be deployed in more targeted ways, such as for inspection at a location or delivery of critical goods like medicines to remote areas.

“By 2027, over 75% of companies will have adopted some form of cyber-physical automation within their warehouse operations,” said Dwight Klappich, vice president and fellow in Gartner’s Supply Chain Practice. “Labour shortages and challenges retaining talent, coupled with technology advances such as machine learning and AI, will continue to drive adoption of smart robots.”

The 2023 Hype Cycle includes several technologies that have been rated “transformational,” including machine learning (see Figure 1), which is expected to hit mainstream adoption within the next five years. Additionally, many technologies with “high” impact will also mature within the next few years, creating an accelerated market for increasingly capable smart, autonomous and mobile robots and drones.

Figure 1: Gartner Hype Cycle for Mobile Robots and Drones, 2023

Advanced technologies accelerate the adoption of smart robots

Smart robots are nearing the “Peak of Inflated Expectations” where early publicity produces success stories, but expectations rise above the current reality of what can be achieved. These AI-powered, often-mobile machines help supply chains automate multiple physical tasks.

Smart robots can rely on advanced technologies such as machine learning to incorporate tasks into future activities or support unprecedented conditions.

As companies expand their use of robotics, most will eventually have heterogeneous fleets of robots from different vendors performing various tasks, which will require standardized software that can easily integrate into a variety of agents and robot platforms.

As such, multiagent orchestration (MAO) platforms, which help orchestrate work are “on the rise” in this year’s Hype Cycle. MAO platforms will reduce the time, effort and cost to onboard new robots and will lower support costs, ultimately making organisations more efficient.

Klappich noted that in the past year, we’ve seen increased interest in smart robots and MAO platforms as companies are looking to further improve logistic operations, support automation and augment humans in various jobs.

“Rapidly emerging and evolving technologies, like MAO, will enable organisations to leverage heterogeneous fleets of mobile robots to assist with more complex activities, delivering cost savings and productivity benefits.”

Dwight Klappich

The post Gartner: Smart mobile robots in supply chains, not drones, are the future appeared first on FutureIoT.

CISA identifies 16 critical infrastructure sectors including chemical, commercial facilities, communications, critical manufacturing, dams, defence industrial base, emergency services, energy, financial services, food & agriculture, government facilities, healthcare and public health, information technology, nuclear reactors, transportation systems, and water and wastewater systems.

Friedhelm Best, vice president for APAC at HIMA, noted that within the industries the company operates in, every operator has an operation which has risk involved. "Within the oil & gas industry, the mining and processing of raw materials involves risks. A rail operator, who has an infrastructure for rail, with rolling stock, with rail track, there is some risk associated with that," he pointed out.

According to Best, the objective is to maintain risk at levels that are tolerable for people, assets and the environment. "Functional safety is specifically that part of risk management – beyond all of the mechanical and operational measures – can be achieved by an electrical or electronic system, is called safety integrated systems," he further elaborated.

He acknowledged that critical infrastructure typically involves significant investments carried out over decades. "These complex investments are not replaced as and when new technologies become available.

"Rather, changes have to wait for the next phase of modernisation, or when there is a test run of new technology. That’s why it seems like there is a lot of old technology," he continued.

He also noted that in some cases, changes only happen following regulators' call for system management evidence or data to bring.

Impact of COVID on critical infrastructure

Best recalls that historically safety-related automation was often performed onsite, meaning the operator or the manufacturer of the equipment has to send an engineer on site.

"However, with travel restrictions and health regulations during COVID, remote access was allowed in a secure way as there was a need for that to happen. Now this option will stay because they are more used to working with remote access," observed Best.

Responding to market forces

The world remains vulnerable to market forces. A case in point is the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war saw global energy prices increase 20% for five straight months. Rising energy prices may decrease social surplus, which in turn, would slow economic growth.

Best stressed that the world needs stable energy over the long run. Disruptions, be they man-made or natural forces some operators, particularly in directly affected markets, to run operations continually without shutting down the plant for any turnaround.

"They are now prolonging their operations for as long as possible but well aware that their equipment needs maintenance and repair, hence using technology such as predictive maintenance and other options to help them," he opined.

Responding to digital threats

The May 2021 attack on the Colonial Pipeline in the US, reveals just how vulnerable critical infrastructures are from digital threats.

"Digital threats are very real today and everyone who runs a critical infrastructure has to act now," acknowledged Best. "It (digital threats) should be treated the same way as how safety systems were implemented at the beginning when they build a plant – where they analyse and study the requirements and put measures in place."

He points out that with new threats emerging constantly, more proactive measures and investments must be put into this in Asia Pacific as organisations become more aware of the cost to them in terms of potential loss of production hours and damage to infrastructure.

New challenges ahead

Best identified the changing environment and changing market conditions as top of mind when considering the challenges facing operators of critical infrastructure. "In the past, you can build a plant and keep it running for 10 or 20 years. Today, size and design need to adapt to changes often, which affects safety systems. Hence, the management of change is more important now than ever," he continued.

The other challenge he was quick to point out is the constantly changing security threats coming from outside which are hard to predict.

Click on the link to watch the full VODChat with FutureIoT.

1. Describe operational and functional safety at plants and critical infrastructure in APAC.
2. Critical infrastructure usually means operational technologies that are decades old. Why is that?
3. How has COVID impacted how critical infrastructure operators go about their business?
4. How do you see critical infrastructure operators responding to market forces?
5. What is hampering the digitization/modernisation of critical infrastructure?
6. How are critical infrastructure operators in APAC responding to digital threats today?
7. What is the problem that HIMA is solving?
8. What is your advice to critical infrastructure operators as regards safety?
9. What are the challenges of critical infrastructure today as it relates to safety?

The post VODChat: Operational and functional safety in plants and critical infrastructures appeared first on FutureIoT.

"The last few years have shown that connecting with a digital infrastructure is no longer a luxury, but a necessity," said Carlos M. González, research manager for the Internet of Things at IDC. "For organisations to excel in data-driven operations, investing in IoT projects is essential."

"Connecting devices to data networks to gather insight, expand operations, and increase performance are the hallmarks of executing an IoT ecosystem."

Carlos M. González

Industry perspective

Discrete and process manufacturing are the industries that will see the largest investment in IoT solutions in 2023 and throughout the forecast period, accounting for more than one-third of all IoT spending worldwide.

Professional services, utilities, and retail are the next largest industries in terms of overall IoT spending with roughly 25% of the worldwide total. State/local government and telecommunications will deliver the fastest spending growth over the five-year forecast with CAGRs of 12.0% and 11.7% respectively.

IoT investment is a key building block to supporting an increasingly digital and distributed organisational footprint. Most of these investments are seeking solutions that can help organisations achieve a specific business goal or customer challenges, such as cost savings or supply chain efficiency. As such, use cases are the focus of most IoT investment plans.

Use cases

The two IoT use cases that will receive the most investment in 2023 are both closely tied to the manufacturing industries: manufacturing operations (US$73.0 billion) and production asset management (US$68.2 billion). The next largest use cases – inventory intelligence (US$37.6 billion), smart grid (electricity) (US$36.9 billion), and supply chain resilience (US$31.6 billion) – will benefit from strong investments from the Retail and Utilities industries.

The use cases that will experience the fastest spending growth represent the diverse application of IoT technologies – electric vehicle charging (30.9% CAGR), next-generation loss prevention (14.5% CAGR), agriculture field monitoring (13.9% CAGR), and connected vending and lockers (13.8% CAGR).

The influence of digital transformation is evident

IDC says updates to the IoT use case taxonomy in this release of the IoT Spending Guide reflect the evolving digital transformation investment objectives of enterprises.

Thematically, greater investment in goods production and supply chains resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and global reactions that caused massive business and societal disruptions are evident in the new use cases.

"These production and supply chain-related use cases can be seen in the discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, retail, and transportation industries," said Marcus Torchia, research vice president with IDC's data & analytics group. "Meanwhile, digital business investments are ramping up in other industries such as the resource industries. For example, IoT is helping to improve upstream supply chain processes in agriculture, such as growing, harvesting, and delivering higher quality products to market."

Technology view

From a technology perspective, IoT services will be the largest area of spending in 2023 and through the end of the forecast, accounting for nearly 40% of all IoT spending worldwide.

Hardware spending is the second largest technology category, dominated by module/sensor purchases. Software will be the fastest-growing technology category with a five-year CAGR of 11.0% and a focus on application and analytics software purchases.

Regional view

Western Europe, the United States, and China will account for more than half of all IoT spending throughout the forecast.

Although Western Europe and the United States currently have similar levels of spending, Western Europe will expand its lead with an 11.0% CAGR over the 2023-2027 forecast, compared to an 8.0% CAGR for the United States.

China's IoT spending is forecast to surpass the United States by the end of the forecast due to its 13.2% CAGR.

The post IDC outlines growth drivers in industrial IoT in coming years appeared first on FutureIoT.

Additionally, owing to the locations where most industrial facilities are built, remote access to OT assets and operations is all but mandatory. The TakePoint Research report, The State of Industrial Secure Remote Access, states that remote access is now a universal and fundamental requirement for most industrial enterprises.

The same report, however, noted that ensuring all access is safe and secure and cannot be exploited or abused by malicious actors, whether external or internal, remains a challenge.

The report concludes that industrial secure remote access (I-SRA) strategies have become a critical building block for every OT environment. The report recommends that securing remote access and building an overall cybersecurity strategy should be approached like any other business decision, with advantages and associated risks that must be reviewed.

The report cautions that many challenges around people, technologies, and processes need to be considered and that these will likely vary between and within industries. It also recommends that organisations begin by identifying their operational objectives and risk appetite to develop an appropriate strategy.

"A diverse, multidisciplinary approach will help organizations align with various stakeholders and expectations while successfully deploying and securing remote access to industrial environments."

TakePoint Research

The sponsor of the report, Cyclo, picked three key findings:

1. Third-party access is the top reason for enabling I-SRA

Across all industries, 72% of respondents ranked third-party access as the number-one reason for securing remote access.

"This isn’t too surprising, as OT environments tend to depend heavily on third parties due to a significant skills gap, original equipment manufacturer (OEM) maintenance requirements, and risk mitigation, among other factors," said Kevin Kumpf, chief OT/ICS security strategist at Cyclo.

2. I-SRA is not just a “big company” problem

The TakePoint report reveals a linear relationship between company size and the sheer volume of remote connections: the bigger the company, the more connections (see Figure 1).

Kumpf acknowledged that larger companies may have a larger attack surface to secure, but they are also more likely to have teams robust enough to do so. "In contrast, small companies may lack the budget, headcount, and experience necessary to adequately defend their systems," he added.

Figure 1: Concern about remote access threats to OT/ICS systems

3. Across all industries, concerns outweigh confidence

Kumpf says the most striking finding of the survey is that across all industries, respondents were more concerned about threats than confident in their current I-SRA solutions. "A common practice is to give teams remote access to critical systems because operations depend on it. However, that access is far less secure than these organisations would like them to be," he noted.

Figure 1: Concern about access risks vs confidence in current solutions

Kumpf opined that industrial settings have built brittle workarounds for securing remote access, like firewalls and virtual private networks (VPNs), and have sought to implement frameworks like NIST 800-82 or ISA/IEC62443.

"Still, they recognise that the problem is not solved," commented Kumpf who wrote that VPNs struggle to scale and cannot cover the full range of OT use cases.

"Due to a lack of SRA solutions built specifically for OT, there’s a frequent need to rely on tools designed for IT. These are far from ideal because they often require a cloud connection, need regular patching that requires downtime, or interrupt sensitive OT processes."

Kevin Kumpf

The post Secure remote access: awareness is high, confidence is low appeared first on FutureIoT.

Staff at Foodstuffs have used mobile computers to perform core functions such as ordering stock age of stock, stocktaking, price verification and the recent online order pickle application.

Time to upgrade

According to Ian Colhoun, user technology manager for Foodstuffs South Island, the previous mobile technology the company was using, the mc3190, was nearing its end-of-life, and was starting to cause reliability issues. In addition, the costs and capability to develop additional applications on these devices were unsustainable. The company also identified that it needed a 3D bar scan going forward.

The upgrade includes Zebra’s TC51 and TC52 mobile computers, ET51 Android tablet, and RS5100 Bluetooth wearable scanner. The TC51 and TC52 mobile computers provide its retail associates with ready access to their inventory levels to reduce lost sales resulting from out-of-stock situations.

Having such crucial information at their fingertips would also enable retail associates to spend more time engaging with shoppers to provide a better shopping experience.

The ET51 Android tablet and RS5100 Bluetooth wearable scanner help streamline workflows and increase the scanning speed of its market online picking team, resulting in enhanced productivity from its retail backend.

Colhoun said that by digitalizing its processes, "we give our retail associates ready access to key information about our inventory levels from the shop floor to avoid facing out-of-stock situations."

“This also eliminates the hassle of leaving the shop floor to check our office computer for data to answer shoppers’ simple questions. Promptly responding to our shoppers’ questions with real-time information about available stock will vastly improve the overall shopping experience which is our utmost priority,” he added.

A global trend is underway

According to Zebra’s 15th Annual Global Shopper Study, retail associates expressed out-of-stock complaints as their number one frustration (43% globally and 38% in APAC). Globally, a whopping 76% (64% in APAC) of shoppers leave without the items they intended to purchase with 49% (44% in APAC) blaming it on out-of-stocks.

“In recent years, we are observing a trend of renewed consumer expectations across the region as more shoppers seek a seamless omnichannel shopping experience,” said Christanto Suryadarma, Southeast Asia (SEA) sales vice president for Zebra Technologies Asia Pacific.

“With retailers pressured to keep up with rising shopper expectations, empowering retail associates with the right technology tools to effectively perform their duties will be crucial in responding to shopper needs and deliver on-demand effectively.”

Christanto Suryadarma

The post Kiwi grocery co-operative streamlines workflows appeared first on FutureIoT.

“Global robot installations grew tremendously throughout 2021 and have continued to do so in 2022, reaching record levels for industrial and collaborative robots,” explains ABI research director Lian Jye Su. He concedes that this recent boom is expected to fade a bit in 2023 due to the ongoing war in Ukraine and inflation.

In this PodChats for FutureIoT, Su discusses the latest trends in industrial automation, artificial intelligence and robotics in Asia.

1. Describe the state of industrial automation in Asia in 2023?
2. How has robotics technology evolved in recent years? (types and applications)
3. Beyond Korea and Japan, how are other markets in Asia adopting/deploying robotics?
4. Most “hardware” robotics use cases are designed to perform a single specific task (for example moving goods or welding components). As AI and machine learning matures, do you ever see robotics taking on more sophisticated functions?
5. Are cobots a sign of things to come?
6. In IT, we’ve seen the rise of “as-a-service”, what will robotics-as-a-service look like?
7. The terms industrial IoT, industry 4.0 and robotics – how are all these connected?
8. Where are the hurdles in the evolution of robots or robotics in industrial applications?
9. What is your advice for organisations looking to integrate advances in robotics into operations further?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Industrial automation trends in Asia appeared first on FutureIoT.

The report concludes that with IoT-enabled solutions being introduced in various verticals and applications ranging from transportation and logistics to energy and utilities; digitalisation and IoT have become the only path towards a connected future.

SPTel provides unique connectivity and digital services for customers to become the digital services provider of choice.

Titus Yong, chief executive officer for SPTel, says most businesses want to collect as much sensible data as possible. The aim is to derive insights to automate processes, improve efficiency in an operation, and improve customer experience.

"The challenges many businesses face today is the large amount of information generated on the ground and the lack of a homogeneous platform to harmonise this information to derive insight easily, which can be applied regularly into operational decision making," he elaborated.

Beyond the awareness challenge

In its Worldwide Internet of Things Spending Guide, IDC forecasts the global IoT market to reach US$1.1 trillion in 2023. Just as important identified 18 technology categories, 70 use cases and 19 industries that have a potential real-world use for IoT.

In addition to the broad list of possible applications of the technology, there are at least three competing protocols: MQTT, CoAP, and HTTP; and at least three standards: IEEE, IETF, and ISO. The lack of unified standards and protocols continues to limit IoT from seeing wider adoption.

"Across multiple domains, there is no standard expectation of what IoT can really do for businesses and that is an opportunity for industries to level up on the knowledge of what basic IoT to more complex IoT, e.g., video analytics as IoT, can do for businesses."

Titus Yong

He reckoned businesses should start by embracing basic IoT, to collect information in a simple format to benefit from the insight. "The state of knowledge is not as deep as we would like it to be," he opined.

Connecting the dots

Digital transformation initiatives have opened the imagination of leadership, and users of technology, to the possibilities to change or transform the way work is conducted. IoT extends the spectrum of possibilities provided organisations are able to connect the dots.

Yong acknowledged that even internally at SPTel, there are many moving parts as he called them – from the network to the applications.

"Despite being probably the most digitalised telco in Singapore today, we have to leverage many pieces of information on the ground to determine whether the network is stable for customers.

"To connect the dots will require the operational technology (OT) player, from our engineers running the network, to our application guys using the information to produce a capability for customers to get their services in a digital manner. It's a long chain," he conceded.

Where are the disconnects

According to Yong, there are different appreciations of IoT depends on the industry. He cited, as an example within the power industry, OT has been collecting data for a long time, albeit in a very proprietary environment.

"Today, the power industry has realised that if they deployed the latest generation of sensors, they could get insights that will upstream, allowing them to automate the process of pre-emptive meetings. There are people who have played with IoT, and today translate the OT capability insight into a more automated upstream to the application, which can speed up the whole automation end to end," he continued.

With climate change awareness at an all-time high, it is natural to see an increase in the launch of innovative ideas that merge new emerging technologies while supporting social causes such as sustainable initiatives.

SPTel announced Singapore’s first Sensor Network powered by LoRaWAN Gateways which runs on solar energy, a first-of-its-kind network built for national scale, to increase the accessibility of IoT technologies and sensors for business applications, government projects, and Smart Nation initiatives, supporting Singapore’s digitalisation and sustainability ambitions.

Considerations for fuelling IoT Adoption

Yong believes that harmonising information from IoT to fit into an automation process requires a huge investment. He understands that infrastructure costs will deter many businesses.

"In Singapore, we built a common platform to collect data from different types of sensors, because we don't worry about the communication protocol. We can rationalise this on a common platform, which provides a common dashboard that can be easily customised to different verticals, lowering the cost to serve and deliver.

Arguably, setting common standards and platforms is important but that is just the first step. The ability to talk to the different technologies in the network is important.

"Most importantly, sensors have to talk to the backend, which is why we invested in the islandwide LoRaWAN network in Singapore, which allows sensors to easily turn on, plug and play, to talk to a common network," concluded Yong.

Click on the PodChat player and listen to Yong elaborate on how markets in Asia may be poised to accelerate IoT in the years post-pandemic.

1. What are the main obstacles faced by organisations when it comes to enabling technology and innovation in their processes?
2. Focusing our attention on IoT – what do most businesses know about IoT as it relates to their business operations?
3. When it comes to digital transformation and IoT, are our business, operations and technologies connecting the dots?
4. Can you highlight where the disconnects are?
5. What is your general view of IoT adoption in Asia? Where is it more mature and where are there significant opportunities ahead for those willing to adopt IoT?
6. As we start to hear more leaders commit to and call on their organisations, to sustainable practices, how do you see IoT supporting such efforts in the near and long term?
7. What will be critical considerations for organisations undergoing digital transformation, as it relates to the use of IoT?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Accelerating IoT in Asia appeared first on FutureIoT.

To help companies keep their OT environments secure, Palo Alto Networks launched what it claims is the most comprehensive Zero Trust OT Security solution.

A key component of the solution is the new cloud-delivered Industrial OT Security service, which can be easily enabled — without the need to install additional sensors — by any of the 61,000+ active customers of Palo Alto Networks network security products: hardware and software Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFW) and Prisma SASE. Built on an AI-powered foundation with ease of deployment in mind, the new solution enables customers to secure their OT environments from the most sophisticated threats while simplifying their operations.

The challenges around security OT

OT devices can be hard to secure because many lack built-in security and were not designed to be patched. In addition, high uptime requirements limit the ability to do regular security maintenance. OT environments are also at risk as organisations adopt new technologies like 5G, which enable mass connectivity, and open up remote access.

“Most OT security solutions in the market fall short because they can’t identify all the assets and can only alert but don’t prevent threats. This leads to a patchwork of siloed security technologies, which can lead to security gaps,” said Anand Oswal, SVP for network security at Palo Alto Networks. “Our OT Security solution is designed to help organisations stay secure through granular visibility and effective inline security while meeting their availability and uptime requirements.”

Implementation

Using the industry’s first ML-powered OT visibility engine, the Industrial OT Security service recognises hundreds of unique OT device profiles, and over 1,000 OT/Industrial Control System (ICS) applications, and has hundreds of distinct OT threat signatures to help protect these hard-to-secure assets.

“As industrial OT systems and IT systems become more interconnected, so does the size of the attack surface available to the adversary. Defending against increasingly sophisticated threats requires expanded security strategies that can provide visibility, context, and Zero Trust capabilities across both OT and IT networks, devices, applications, and users,” said Dave Gruber, principal analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “The Palo Alto Networks solution embraces this unified security model, promising to help protect complex OT environments.”

A notable feature of the service is its ability to help security teams proactively understand risk and apply controls. It continuously observes, categorises, and visualizes asset behaviour so anomalies can be discovered immediately and addressed with a firewall policy.

“Manufacturing has come into the crosshairs of many recent cyberattacks. Palo Alto Networks Industrial OT Security is a must-have to ensure security best practices are in place,” said Jared Mendenhall, director of information security at Impossible Foods. “We look forward to Palo Alto Networks’ dedicated OT Security solution to help us further secure our manufacturing plant, and remote operations, and realise our broader Zero Trust vision.”

Palo Alto Networks’ Zero Trust OT Security solution secures multiple OT use cases with consistent Zero Trust policies, all managed centrally:

• OT assets and networks using Palo Alto Networks NGFWs, along with the new Industrial OT Security service.
• Remote access using Prisma SASE.
• 5G-connected devices using NGFWs with Palo Alto Networks 5G-Native Security.

The post Palo Alto Networks simplifies OT security appeared first on FutureIoT.

Although the new normal may have a slight mix of paranoia over the possibility of a new COVID variant, the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, and the threat of runaway inflation, other issues remain table stakes for those in the supply chain ecosystem, including appropriately stocked inventory, manpower needed to move things around. And in cases where robots move inventory, manpower is to oversee the accuracy of such movements.

FutureIoT spoke to Oscar Lindberg, CIO at AutoStore, to cover some of the current trends impacting the office of the chief information officer as organisations look to deploy smart warehousing strategies.

We hear about the smart warehouse. What exactly does a typical smart warehouse look like?

Oscar Lindberg: First and foremost, to have smart order-fulfilment solutions in place, you need to implement some sort of automation technology. Today, more than 80% of warehouses globally have no automation whatsoever. Besides the automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS) solutions, it is important to have a reliable warehouse management system to optimise and streamline your processes.

Businesses should apply both data and analytics capabilities that provide real-time inventory insights, and real-time locating systems that monitor the position of material and vehicles in the warehouse. In summary, a smart order-fulfilment solution helps you reduce costs and become more efficient.

Looking at the technologies involved in smart warehousing, where does the CIO get involved and typically who does he or she work with at the start of a warehouse modernizing effort going all the way to day-to-day operations?

Oscar Lindberg: I believe a CIO should work side-by-side with logistics, operations, and finance from the very start. A natural responsibility is a system installation, configuration, and integration of the warehouse systems, but also ensuring product security throughout the process.

Smart order-fulfilment solutions are increasingly system-dependent and business continuity requirements increase. After deployment, the CIO is responsible for day-to-day operations such as maintenance and security.

What IT technologies need to be integrated into the smart warehouse to achieve optimum benefits?

Oscar Lindberg: Your data is synchronised across all systems. Technologies such as AS/RS, WMS, WCS (Warehouse Control System) and RTLS (Real-Time Locating System) should be integrated with your ERP system and other relevant enterprise platforms. To further enhance a data-driven operation, businesses should integrate these technologies into a data and analytics platform.

How does a CIO prepare for warehouse modernization?

Oscar Lindberg: A good place to start is assessing current capabilities and weaknesses. There is no one size fits all solution, as smart order-fulfilment solutions need to be tailored to your organisation’s operational needs. Unless you have the expertise internally in your business, I recommend connecting with a logistics and supply chain integration partner for specific recommendations. 

How does the CIO ensure all parties involved, including those outside the IT team, work seamlessly in the operation of a smart warehouse?

Oscar Lindberg: To me, it is a matter of alignment from an early phase. The CIO should work closely with relevant stakeholders such as logistics, operations, and finance from the initial phases such as the assessment and planning phase.

Given all the continuing developments within the warehousing ecosystem, how does the CIO stay abreast of innovations? Or is it his or her job to do this?

Oscar Lindberg: Ideally, this should be a partnership between the CIO and the COO. The IT team should then support the supply chain team with relevant insights, acting as partners to achieve an efficient order-fulfilment solution.

We are into 2023. What can we expect when it comes to the adoption of smart warehousing technologies, and how does this get integrated into the overall digital transformation of a business?

Oscar Lindberg: Long-term growth of the automation market is supported by global megatrends and will continue to drive growth. Economic challenges such as labour constraints and inflation, coupled with consumer preferences for same-day delivery, reinforce the value of automation technology.

AutoStore just launched a research report with insights from over 300 C-level business leaders in warehouse management and fulfilment. The survey shows that a large majority of respondents have or will implement an automated storage and retrieval system by 2024. 32% have some sort of automation technology in place already and 56% are making plans to deploy it in the next 12 months.

The post For CIOs: a smarter way to warehousing appeared first on FutureIoT.

Perhaps this was the thinking behind computer scientist Kevin Ashton, then working at Procter & Gamble, when he proposed putting radio-frequency identification (RFID) chips on products to track them through a supply chain.

That was 1999. Fast-forward to 2023, IoT devices and sensors are expanding their influence from the production floors of manufacturers to warehouses all the way to retail shelves, and homes. Most remain designed for a specific, single purpose, their value now extends from innocuous public lights to critical systems that power cities.

The recent cyberattacks against public organisations, such as healthcare, and critical infrastructure like power and utilities, reveal the extent to which organisations need to enhance the security of these facilities while at the same time responding to business and consumer demands for faster, better, and more reliable service.

Can you have your cake and eat it too? How do you merge the unwieldy world of IoT with the controlled, predictable environment that IT is built upon? And do so while delivering it securely, faster and cheaper?

The IoT conundrum for the CIO and IT

Dee Dee Pare, senior marketing manager at CradlePoint says “the cloud is the de facto way that everyone delivers applications and stores data.” She points out that applications work as if they are next door. In contrast, IoT is messy, outdoors, usually at a larger scale, is distributed, and is found in environments where things just don’t operate (in a predictable fashion).

“IoT is not necessarily the most clean-cut way of doing things,” she added.

She hints that edge computing may be just the answer for IoT – “by having a lightweight version of your application, you can bring this closer to wherever the IoT device is,” she explained. “That way you minimise latency, also filter out some of the unnecessary traffic that goes back to the cloud (presumably saving bandwidth and data storage).

She called the increasing popularity of using containers, a self-contained application, inside a router.

“What you have is a low-footprint device closer to the IoT Edge. You only have one device to manage, figure out how to power it. Everything happens very quickly within the router, you have the connections back to the cloud,” she elaborated.

The other benefit is business continuity. “If the cloud goes down, the router with the containerised application can continue to work with the IoT devices connected to it. When the network comes back up, the router can send the necessary traffic back to the host,” she added.

Critical components of an edge strategy

What would be the critical components to developing an edge strategy that involves IoT, Pare suggested calling the containerised application running inside a router a “customer edge”. She then goes on to comment there are other edges.

She referred to Amazon Web Services as an example of the Internet edge. These tend to be distributed (in the cloud) and have more processing capability. She cautioned that by its design (in the cloud), the Internet edge will be further away from the devices – hence some latency can be expected.

The other edge is the 5G edge. “You can set up an edge in the cell tower as well – as some carriers are doing. That way you can improve and enhance performance as it goes out for the application and out from the cell tower,” she added.

Conceding that the customer edge provides the ‘most bells and whistles’, she advised anyone developing an edge strategy to keep in mind where the edge is located. “It is about balancing between the placement, the quantity of data processing, the latency from the application to the IoT devices, as well as how much you need to customise,” she elaborated.

Getting IT started with edge technology

Asked how easy it would be for traditional IT teams to build these applications around the edge, Pare noted that the challenge lies in developing lightweight versions of current applications. Pulling examples from within, she noted that among managed service provider partners, developing lightweight applications is their value-add.

She cited a partner in the US that developed an application for car wash operators. Running off a CradlePoint router, the solution ran the point of sales, the surveillance cameras, as well as the automated car wash machinery. An entire running on one router.

Getting IoT/OT to work with IT

Pare says IT needs to collaborate with the operational technology (OT) team. In the converging world of IT and OT, it is not feasible to manage each technology in a vacuum. She acknowledged that IT, throughout most of its history, has worked in predictable environments and therefore may not be ready for what she described as the ‘messy world of OT’.

“OT tends to work with machinery that is not the latest technology. In some cases, these types of machinery cannot be updated. OT needs to educate IT on these projects,” she added.

She conceded that the mixing of IT and OT will blur as the two start working together. But ultimately, she believed IT will own a little bit more of the onus because they have to understand it end-to-end.

“They (IT) must make sure things such as security are in place end-to-end, and they are ultimately responsible for that. There are several scenarios where the end-to-end fits a bit more cleanly in the IT side, but they can't do it without the help of the OT side, because OT knows the reality of what's happening on the ground."

Dee Dee Pare

The post Supercharging IoT with edge computing appeared first on FutureIoT.

IoT Analytics market research, Matthieu Kulezak, observes that within the (ICT) supply chain there are three distinct submarkets: software, hardware, and connectivity. The software itself is further segmented into sourcing software, supply chain planning and design software, and supply chain execution software.

This software is then connected to hardware like packing and place machinery, and automatic sorting and retrieval machinery for logistics. Finally, there is the connectivity submarket such as IoT-based track and trace devices. Network operators fit into the connectivity submarket.

Changes introduced during the pandemic

According to Kulezak, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, CEOs and CFOs assumed that supply chains just operated unencumbered by the day-to-day problems of running a business. The pandemic revealed just how complicated supply chain issues were – vulnerable not just to business cycles but to operational issues of suppliers and business parties.

“They realise that supply chains are important, and they need to work to have their business working so that that's clear. And they'll ask way more questions on supply chain visibility,” he added.

He concluded this is why supply chain managers are undertaking digitisation.

Digitalisation and transformation of the supply chain

Kulezak noted the recent big push for digitisation in part to support remote work and to gain supply chain visibility.

“There's been a lot of issues on the structures of the supply chain, on the networks. For example, an automotive or pharmaceutical manufacturer realised that they could not produce, not because of their own production capabilities, but because of a supplier that couldn't produce,” he added.

He acknowledged that at times, it’s the very little things that can stop an entire production system. He noted that the adoption of digital twins is enabling manufacturers to create replicas of the entire supply chain network to identify and pinpoint where the issues are.

Trends influencing the digitisation of the supply chain

He reiterated the big push towards visibility across the supply chain. He observed that the different players in the supply chain will have their view, albeit narrow, as to what constitutes visibility within their supply chain.

This complicates the challenge for IT vendors who, according to Kulezak, face a “fight for semantic” where depending on the business of the party in the supply chain will have a different interpretation of what visibility within the supply chain is important.

By way of example, a transportation company may have a different track and trace requirement compared to a manufacturer or warehouse distribution hub or parts supplier.

The cybersecurity angle

Complicating the digitisation journey for organisations in the supply chain is cybersecurity. Kulezak concede to have a functioning supply chain requires that all parties are connected.

“For example, an automotive manufacturing company will need to have all of the inventory of production capability data from suppliers, as well as the suppliers of its suppliers, in order to have a good prediction of the future,” he elaborated.

The predicament here is that some organisations may not be so open to sharing their data with others in part because they are concerned about cybersecurity risks. He called out efforts in some industry sectors to create third-party platforms that allow for data to become available to participants in the supply chain in a secure fashion.

Conclusion

Kulezak sees healthy growth in the software and hardware sectors of information technology supporting the supply chain.

He sees a growing demand for the simplification of technologies that deliver supply chain visibility. This, in turn, is resulting in a consolidation of the technology solutions marketplace. He foresees pe challenge for ICT players – choosing the right product to go for.

Click on the PodChat player to listen to Kulezak’s observations and recommendations for supply chain leaders in 2023.

1. Define Digital supply chain.
2. Looking back from pre-pandemic to this period (mid-August 2022), how have things changed regarding digital supply chains?
3. In accelerating digital transformation, which areas of the software have gained relevance in the industry verticals of the supply chain?
4. Which trends are helping in terms of digitisation of the supply chain?
5. How are companies approaching the topic of cybersecurity in the supply chain?
6. In summarising everything we’ve discussed, what are IoT Analytics’ recommendations for business, operations and technology leaders?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Changing the future of global supply chains appeared first on FutureIoT.

Speaking at the IoT Asia+ event in Singapore, Sathvik Rao, principal director of Accenture’s Industry-X, noted how the pandemic has permanently changed the landscape. “Covid-19 has thrown up many uncertainties and changed the way we live, work and play. It has also accelerated the adoption of IoT – in fact, we have leapfrogged five to seven years in the past two,” he added.

Rao cautioned that several issues that need to be addressed as priorities. “The most immediate challenges relate to ensuring operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) security. In addition, several developments including device security and operation, power constraint and battery management issues, as well as the growing problem of chip shortages, also need to be resolved,” he continued.

For his part, Anson Bailey, the head of Consumer and Retail for the ASPAC region for KPMG China, posited that maintaining that the retail world is on the cusp of a new normal. He called for organisations to be more agile and resilient.

“The rise of IoT is a key enabler, but trust and purpose are going to also be key drivers, especially in the case of Gen Z consumers, a demographic that sees businesses through quite a different lens. Retailers, meanwhile, are looking at new technology and new innovations, while turning to AI, VR, big data and 5G to drive customer experience,” he added.

FutureIoT spoke to Paul Jesemann, regional chief technology officer for Asia-Pacific at Mavenir for his take on where IoT deployment is headed in the region.

Where is the concentration of IoT deployment? Why is that? What is driving this deployment of IoT?

Paul Jesemann: To pinpoint a region or market for the concentration of IoT deployment would be difficult, especially in a region as diverse as the Asia-Pacific (APAC). For different countries, various IoT projects have gained prominence, driven by demand within a sector or government and societal development initiatives.

For instance, advanced solutions for the mining industry in Australia differ from the smart city and digitalisation projects and initiatives in India, Singapore, or Thailand. Commonalities in driving the deployment of IoT is the need for and focus on value, whether derived or delivered.

Which industries are leading the deployment? Compared to other regions outside Asia, how sophisticated (mature) is the level of use of IoT?

Paul Jesemann: Different industries such as mining, agriculture, healthcare, and governmental or societal initiatives, such as smart cities, lead to IoT deployment in various ways.

The global IoT market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 25.2%, between 2022 and 2028, and the APAC region is projected to grow significantly during the forecast period. The growth is driven by several factors including urbanisation, mega-cities, population growth, and migration, amongst others.

Demand for IoT development is growing and made easier to meet. Combined with the innate innovation mindset, APAC can witness rapid growth in IoT solutions.

Within the leadership of these organisations deploying IoT, what do you see are the primary motivations?

Paul Jesemann: A primary reason why organisations deploy IoT is the numerous societal benefits derived from smart cities and government-driven initiatives. According to the UN, more than 60% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2030 and, if implemented properly, IoT can help optimise city functions, improve quality of life, and promote economic growth.

Another motivation is the opportunity for businesses to expand their digital capabilities and improve their operations to be more cost-effective and efficient. In fact, IoT is expected to reduce maintenance costs by more than 25% and downtime by 35%.

How do you see these IoT deployments impacting other initiatives like transformation, modernisation and many more?

Paul Jesemann: IoT deployment is often the result of digital transformation projects, and these are inextricable. The early IoT projects have led to the development and adoption of digitalisation initiatives and will do so in the future.

Consider the ecosystem effect, where technological advancement and cost-reduction initiatives driven by demand have led to further advancements in space.

"Cloud connectivity and edge solutions have enabled larger, more integrated projects that allow us to rapidly evolve through scalability, agility and leveraging cost-efficiencies. Human behaviour and expectations against IoT solutions, whether explicit or implied, will also change, further driving IoT deployments."

Paul Jessmann

Given that security is a rising concern for businesses, how should enterprises deploying IoT manage the security strategy of the company?

Paul Jesemann: Security remains an integral part of any business process or solution. The threat vectors and exposure to security breaches increase as the complexity and size of a project grow. The key to success is to make IoT deployments as secure as possible by including all solution components and mitigation measures against the worst possible scenario.

In mission-critical private network deployments, specifically for IoT projects, security is a key driver, top-priority requirement, and design criteria. This includes extending sophisticated access control to network services for devices or behaviour drift detection, in addition to the traditional aspects of security solutions.

As we step into 2023, how should enterprises review IoT deployment strategies to ensure that these initiatives meet expectations?

Paul Jesemann: Enterprises should review IoT deployment strategies according to the size and maturity of their organisation. As a starting point, it is important to recognise the business value and identify what problem it solves, the benefits the intended project delivers, and the costs.

Another consideration is choosing the right IoT partner to work with. An experienced partner that has executed implementations in your industry will help save you time, and money and guide you throughout the pilot phase. Another key consideration is to ensure a secure network that is robust, prevents any potential attacks and addresses any cybersecurity issues immediately.

The post State of IoT deployment and what to do next in 2023 appeared first on FutureIoT.

The Deloitte report, 2023 manufacturing industry outlook, predicts that manufacturers will likely continue progressing toward smart factory transformations, as these initiatives drive future competitiveness.

Many manufacturers are making investments in laying the technology foundation for their smart factories. One in five manufacturers is already experimenting with underlying solutions or actively developing a metaverse platform for their products and services.

Trends influencing ASEAN’s manufacturers

According to Euromonitor International’s Voice of the Industry: Digital survey, around 62% of companies globally plan to increase their investment in cloud computing over the next five years, while around 50% of companies plan to invest in Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things and production automation tools.

Pavan Mahajan, VP of solutions delivery for APAC at Belden observes that the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies gaining momentum among manufacturing companies in the region. He attributes this trend to manufacturers seeking to accelerate their journey towards full digital transformation.

Boston Consulting Group observes that harnessing Industry 4.0 will be key in helping the ASEAN manufacturing sector become more competitive and move up the value chain, with Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam among countries that are already investing in smart manufacturing solutions such as smart factories, industrial IoT, advanced robotics, and cloud computing.

“Customers are beginning to embrace the desire for digital transformation and are looking to transform their manufacturing ecosystem with industrial automation and smart solutions,” added Mahajan.

Industry 4.0 investment priorities

According to Justinas Liuima, insights manager, industrial with Euromonitor International, says to partly solve the problem and compensate for rapid wage growth, companies are forecast to accelerate their investment in production automation tools in 2023.

“Production automation in many cases could be the only viable option for companies to ensure productivity growth,” opined Liuima.

Mahajan says among Belden’s customers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, a key investment area is IT/OT convergence.

IDC predicts that by 2024, 50% of industrial organisations will be integrating data from edge OT systems with cloud-based reporting and analytics, moving from single-asset views to sitewide operational awareness. The IT/OT convergence market in APAC is estimated to develop at the highest CAGR of 7.1% from 2022 to 2027, from US$49,195 million in 2021 to US$73,523 million in 2027.

“As data becomes increasingly crucial for manufacturing companies to solve business challenges and achieve greater operational efficiency, performance, safety, and profitability, having access to an optimised, convergent network is key,” noted Mahajan.

With both IT and OT data available, he opined that companies could collect, move, integrate, and analyse data to automate processes and make better, more informed business decisions. “The additional capabilities in an IT/OT converged network, such as edge computing and analytics, will also usher in even greater opportunities for productivity and problem-solving,” he added.

Mahajan said that another key area of investment for manufacturers is in edge-to-cloud environments, especially edge technologies. We are seeing a higher level of acceptance and readiness among our manufacturing customers to invest in industrial edge solutions, with an increasing adoption rate over the past two years.

This is happening worldwide as well as in APAC, with GlobalData predicting that the global edge computing market will reach US$17.8 billion by 2025, with APAC sales accounting for 26.4%.

“As Industrial IoT (IIoT) and Industry 4.0 continue to gain momentum, investing in industrial edge capabilities will be key in enabling fully connected operational systems, reducing latency and cost of data processing while maintaining security and communication with the cloud,” concluded Mahajan.

Core competencies needed to benefit from Industry 4.0 innovations

Katarzyna Grzybowska and Anna Łupicka, authors of the report, Key competencies for Industry 4.0, noted that the demand for special skills will drive the shift of job creation within Industry 4.0 requiring more qualified managers.

For his part, Mahajan believes that to benefit from industry 4.0 manufacturers will need to have skills in network security, and data management and governance.

“The expanded, highly connected networks with more data transmission points, which are characteristic of Industry 4.0, create a greater need for security. This only grows with the integration of cloud computing, edge computing and the presence of older devices on an industrial network that can be more vulnerable,” he explained.

“Manufacturers need to have proper security measures in place to ensure network security, including the implementation of advanced network access control systems, industrial cybersecurity firewalls, and other hardware components to secure network infrastructures.”

Pavan Mahajan

He added that manufacturers also need to place more emphasis on industrial data management and governance. “With the adoption of smart technologies and IIoT, more and more devices are getting networked and connected. Organisations need to have a strong data governance policy that outlines how data needs to be stored, managed, accessed, and analysed and by whom to ensure data isn’t lost, stolen, or misused,” concluded Mahajan.

Top recommendations for ASEAN manufacturers

According to Mahajan, the pandemic has shown that digitisation which leads to digitalisation and usage of advanced technologies is key to staying resilient and agile in the face of major disruptions.

“As we move into a 2023 full of uncertainties, manufacturers in ASEAN need to further accelerate their digital transformation journey, prioritising the adoption of technologies such as warehouse automation and connected manufacturing,” he opined.

Mahajan posited that moving towards full automation for warehouses will help boost productivity and operational efficiency for manufacturers at the material handling level.

“Beyond being able to streamline workflows, eliminate waste and maximise output, smart automated warehouses will also be flexible and robust enough to support future technologies and processes, effectively futureproofing network infrastructures against changes and disruptions,” he continued.

“Depending on their focus and goals, manufacturers could also consider making the leap towards connected manufacturing, which harnesses the power of data to transform operations as well as customer and employee experience. With many uncertainties and challenges facing manufacturers now, it can be difficult for them to focus on the future,” he cautioned.

“Transitioning to connected manufacturing will ultimately enable manufacturers to stay ahead of the curve with significant long-term benefits such as boosting efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing communication across all stages of manufacturing.”

Pavan Mahajan

“As the threat landscape is becoming more sophisticated than ever, manufacturers should look to reinforce their network security. Security should be taken into account at the initial stage of network design for a more holistic and effective approach to securing modern industrial networks.

“At the same time, security best practices such as implementing firewalls and continuous monitoring of potential threats should be applied in day-to-day operations to minimise security risks,” he concluded.

The post IoT’s influence on Asia’s manufacturing sector in 2023 appeared first on FutureIoT.

"In many phase one projects enterprises focused on a single use case and on acquiring the data streams from single sources but as the organisations gain a deeper data-driven understanding of their operations, they can start to use other data sources (such as geolocation, machine maintenance data, weather, transactions activity, vehicular telemetric traffic data, and so on) to improve their analytics and expand beyond the original use case," he continued.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that any device that is connected to the internet is susceptible to some form of cyberattack. The Mirai Botnet and Stuxnet are two infamous attacks against targets that caused massive disruptions.  

Any device that is connected to the internet is susceptible to some form of cyberattack. Apart from the fact that IoT devices inherently have very little built-in security, and that patch management can be difficult because of their physical nature, the interconnectedness of these devices and the subsequent complex environments they are implemented pose grave security threats across entire networks.

Monitoring is a vital part of every security strategy, ensuring that all classic security tools like firewalls, unusual detection systems or privileged access management (PAM)-tools work flawlessly.  

Suitable monitoring solutions can ensure physical security by integrating door-locking systems, security cameras, smoke detectors or temperature sensors into central monitoring. And businesses in APAC should be prioritising this in 2023 to reduce their risk of cyber-attacks and data breaches.

In describing the state of IoT security or lack of it, David Montoya, the global head of IoT at Paessler, noted that it is not just the lack of security features in the IoT devices themselves that is the challenge, but where these devices are located.

“When you think about cybersecurity from the IT perspective, everything is central. You might have the perimeter and then you have all the endpoints in the middle. But here (with IoT) we might be talking about having a device, which is sending out information about the flow of water, or temperature or humidity of the soil, for example, in the farming context,” he explained.

“It is important to look at different security problems or challenges because we are not only talking about the security of the information. We are, in several cases, even talking about the security of the device itself.”

David Montoya

“People are creating vulnerabilities out of IoT, and they are willing to get a device, open it up and figure out how to reverse engineer it.  They will then try to figure out how it works and then install it again with some malware, which can then make the network vulnerable,” he continued.

Why IoT continues to be vulnerable

Montoya comments that despite more regulations and security practice context within the vendors, it is very costly or inconvenient for them to put extra resources, like computing resources into these tiny little IoT devices in use to be able to deal with patches and updates.

“For companies creating IoT devices, there is not a lot of value in needing to put more resources there,” he surmised.

He argued that device manufacturers are incentivised to create small devices that cost as little as possible. The other issue is the variety of devices and vendors. “Even though there are more regulations, there are still no standard practices put in place as to how the information should be stored,” he commented.

Twin standards to consider

Montoya clarifies that there are two standards they consider when it comes to IoT – security and communication. One is related to a standard for protocols and the way those devices connect to different cloud-based systems monitoring systems. These central consoles ensure all the devices are on and reporting data, etc. In such a heterogeneous environment the lack of standards is creating chaos in the IoT world.

“Every vendor with a specific device for a specific reason created specific ways of communication that led to multiple protocols nowadays,” he continued. “When you have different players, each looking at their market niche, what ends up happening is a lack of communication standards and protocols.”

“This (situation) opens the same vulnerabilities that have happened for operational technology (OT) before now happening for IoT as well. Stronger standards are one way things can get better in terms of how to secure all these kinds of devices.”

David Montoya

Monitoring tools can help improve the security of IoT

According to Montoya, monitoring tools help visualise the data, including receiving alerts about the data. And while IoT vendors may provide tools to monitor their solution, the variety of vendors and the specificity of their use cases, suggest that a user may have a collection of monitoring applications that track a specific kind of device.

And because these may not come from the same vendor, it is likely that these do not use the same standard and may not be able to communicate with each other.

In addition, Montoya believes that users will not likely stay with one vendor for the same use case throughout the entire life of the process. “It is very normal that you have a certain IoT device from a certain vendor today and maybe two, or three years later you need to go for another technology and another vendor,” he explained.

The result is complexity on the part of the user trying to make decisions on the entire system or process. “You will have multiple different visualisation tools with different databases where the data is stored. And whenever you are trying to retrieve the data from multiple sources, you will take more time to know what is going on, how to use the data, how to bring the data into a central location, how to use that central location to provide central visualisation,” elaborated Montoya.

Ideally, you will want a central location from which to manage all these different proprietary technologies, standards and protocols, something Montoya says is what Paessler does.

“We keep up with all these new technologies to provide a single pane of glass. So that multiple vendors for IoT devices can share the information with our visualisation tool and monitoring solution. So that the users can see everything in one place and can handle everything from a single location, we provide a central database, and they can also get centralised alerts,” he explained.

Where do we go from here?

IDC market analyst for Asia-Pacific, Sharad Kotagi, says enterprises no longer think IoT value is only limited to achieving operational efficacy and improved productivity.

“They see IoT as an enabler in the evolution of enterprises' requirements and challenges in an ever-changing business environment. Many organisations are willing to invest in digital technologies such as IoT, and AI to fully leverage the new expansive role of data in emerging digital business models.”

Sharad Kotagi

But in the race to Industry 4.0 and the promise of smarter IoT-enabled enterprises, businesses and operations should not forget that behind the facade of benefits such a transformation promises, lies a myriad of security threats and vulnerabilities that must be addressed not for the lifecycle of the IoT but the use cases it is trying to enable.

Click on the PodChat player and hear Montoya talk about the challenges organisations face as they integrate IoT into their operations, and why monitoring may be the best path forward to securing IoT as the converged future of IT, OT and IoT.

1. Paint us a picture of the security landscape where it involves IoT.
2. Technologies like IoT, security practices and regulations have evolved, why do IoT continue to be vulnerable?
3. Is the lack of standards around IoT protocol a problem for securing IoT?
4. Will this wide range of protocols also hinder the effective use of monitoring tools and services?
5. As IoT start to connect – be part of the enterprise, how should the CIO, CISO and the COO or head of operations work together to better secure IoT as these connect to the enterprise?
6. Your thoughts for 2023?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Why monitoring is essential in IoT adoption appeared first on FutureIoT.

“When it comes to data centres, monitoring solutions support the monitoring of all IT components, which includes external facilities and security, as well as customisable alerts and reporting,” he commented.

In this article, Krueger provides insights into how networks of sensors are deployed in the data centre and used to monitor and predict the status of a data centre facility, including cooling systems, lighting, and security.

He explained that predictive maintenance anticipates future problems with IT infrastructure through forecasts and predictions made by analysing real-time data obtained from sensors and IoT, allowing organisations time to identify and work on anticipated risks.

“Predictive maintenance employs technologies such as machine learning to model and analyse real-time data and optimise the execution process, drastically reducing infrastructure downtime.”

Sebastian Krueger

He explained that by providing a centralised overview of the entire data centre infrastructure, a holistic monitoring solution supports a predictive maintenance programme in monitoring the sensors and IoT devices that provide real-time data.

What are the elements of a monitoring solution that support the monitoring of the entire scope of IT environments?

Sebastian Krueger: Sensors are the building blocks of a monitoring solution - monitoring solutions usually rely on sensors and other IoT devices to gather real-time data from an application or device. These range from generic sensors for monitoring hardware devices to platform-specific, preconfigured, or customised sensors to CCTV cameras and smoke alarms that monitor the physical environment.

Sensors in a monitoring solution integrate with important technologies such as SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation), and HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to gather system and performance data and to monitor the diverse variables present across the entire data centre infrastructure, which includes servers, networks, websites, and applications, present across a range of operating systems.

Apart from monitoring, another important element of a monitoring solution is being able to access and communicate the real-time information gathered in a simplified, convenient, and efficient manner.

Interactive dashboards and maps, that are based in real-time, allow for an easy-to-read and centralised overview of the system - this is especially convenient for larger and more geographically distributed IT environments such as data centres.

Customisable alerts and notifications - for whenever there has been a status change - are another element that enhances the scope of monitoring solutions.

Why do organisations need to monitor all the sensors and systems 24/7 with regard to availability and function and, at the same time, collect surveillance data?

Sebastian Krueger: Special attention needs to be given to the data centre security which not just covers the IT network and infrastructure risks but the entire premises.

When it comes to physical risks, it is important to monitor that there are no instances of overheating, cable fires which can cause massive damage while leakages in the air conditioning systems release water that can result in short circuits or damage the IT equipment.

What is needed is extensive sensor technology which can detect humidity, room temperature, hot spots, smoke, and other environmental influences. Monitoring issues such as smoke, fire, water intrusion, faulty cooling, faulty batteries, physical intrusion, building access security, as well as CCTV manipulation is important.

Given this backdrop, it is essential to keep a constant eye to detect any potential security threat, since data centres are doubly at risk, whether on the IT level, through distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, viruses, Trojans and similar threats or on the physical level, that can cause unwarranted disruptions.

Thus, organisations need to use the right monitoring tools which can leverage extensive sensor technologies and systems 24/7, regarding availability and function, and concurrently collect the surveillance data and integrate it into a central system to be pro-actively prepared for any anomalies.

How important is environmental monitoring of the data centre?

Sebastian Krueger: Given that data centres are required to always operate, disruptions such as power failure or overheating can cause massive damage, which includes increased costs, potential downtimes, increased wear and tear, and other disruptions.

Hence, apart from security and operational hardware devices, the monitoring of environmental parameters is an extremely important component of maintaining a functional data centre. A monitoring solution can support the monitoring of environmental parameters such as power and cooling.

While data centres are usually equipped with backup power systems such as UPS and SPS in case of a power outage, a monitoring solution helps monitor the status and performance of all power systems, including the backup.

Sensors help monitor any power-related occurrences - be it outage, heavy loads, or replacement. Similarly, to avoid system overheating, it is extremely important to maintain optimum room temperature.

A monitoring solution can integrate and combine multiple systems that give a singular overview of the detection of an irregularity and its cause, allowing for a much quicker and more efficient resolution.

The post Enhancing data centre operations with IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

As Asia comes out of the three-year economic slump because of the pandemic, what lies ahead for businesses? What is the role of IoT in the return to some form of normalcy?

FutureIoT spoke to Danny Mu, principal analyst at Forester Research on recent trends around IoT adoption in Asia and where this will lead us in 2023 and beyond.

Drawing from the Forester Report, state of IoT in Asia Pacific in 2022. Where is the concentration of IoT?

We have seen that companies in Asia-Pacific are shifting the share of IoT engagements toward production deployments.

Five years ago, in 2017, production deployments comprised just 25% of engagements, and these were predominantly POCs or pilots.

But in 2021, 61% of engagements were production deployments. That is a clear indication that Asia-Pacific firms are getting more confident in the potential of IoT initiatives to generate business value.

Among all the IoT use cases, smart industry, smart consumer services, and smart infrastructure are popular in Asia-Pacific.

Why do you say the smart city industry in Asia Pacific's leading the world in terms of IoT?

As we know, Asia Pacific contributed 35% of the world's GDP, but when focusing on industry value added, including manufacturing, construction, and utilities, Asia Pacific contributed 44%. That is why the smart industry is a leading IoT use case.

What’s driving this deployment of IoT?

Three drivers. The first appearance and rising maturity of specialised IoT solutions and cloud-based IoT. Second, connectivity technologies such as 5G. Third capabilities and offerings of IoT consultants and service providers.

In Asia, which industries are leaving the deployment?

In Asia Pacific, two-thirds of telecom decision makers say their firm is currently adopting IoT solutions.

Adoption and investment are highest in high-tech manufacturing, 81% followed by telecom, 71%. General manufacturing and pharma are broadly in line with Asia-Pacific outreach.

Adoption rates below the average are found in financial services and insurance, 60%, and retail in wholesale 56.

Compared to other regions outside Asia, how sophisticated do you see the level of use of IoT in our part of the world?

According to the survey data, the IoT solution and application adoption rate in Asia Pacific is higher than in Europe and North America. Particularly in the high-tech manufacturing sector, the adoption rate in Asia Pacific is more than 10% higher than in Europe and North America.

Within the leadership at organizations deploying IoT, what do you see are the primary motivations most surveyed?

Asia-Pacific Telecom decision-makers are confident that IoT solutions will generate significant operational efficiency. Half of them expect IoT initiatives to significantly improve customer experience and increase revenue.

How do you see these IoT deployments impacting other initiatives like digital transformation and modernization, for instance?

Impacted by IOT solutions, enhancing customer experience in public places is the most often mentioned. Other use cases related to smart consumer services are also popular.

The two years of the pandemic have likely driven this trend as customer experience in public. It's driven by private companies, public infrastructure operators, and governments.

IoT Solutions also help to enable new business models, particularly in financial services and insurance – a clear indication that those firms will spend the extra IoT budget on usage-based insurance financing and lending.  

Given that security is a rising concern among business leaders, how should enterprises deploying IoT manage the security strategy of the company? 

Security is on top of the concerns with deploying IoT 10% higher than the second option. To help protect data in IoT scenarios, confidential computing can help to isolate sensitive operations in a trusted execution environment during processing.

To support the transfer of data between edge and cloud while appearing seamless to the developers, two networking markets, zero trust/edge, and multi-cloud networking will combine to create a business-wide networking fabric.

Finally, as we step into 2023, how should enterprises review IOT deployment strategies to ensure that these initiatives meet expectations?

We have found that Asia-Pacific companies are less confident in their in-house skills to deliver IoT solutions successfully. These points will need for consulting partnerships.

We also predict that the adoption of in-region digital industrial platforms will gain significant growth. Embracing these in region platforms and industry-specific cloud solutions will help Asia-Pacific firms meet their expectations.

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: IoT in Asia in 2023 and beyond appeared first on FutureIoT.

The COVID-19 pandemic has become a fertile ground for the combination of the IoT and digital twins to solve one of the biggest challenges brought about by the ensuing mobility restrictions – how to be more resilient to ongoing uncertainties.

As we prepare to face continuing uncertainties in 2023, what can we learn from the past three years to help businesses be more adaptive and resilient in the years ahead?

KONE is a Finnish engineering company best known for its elevators, escalators, automatic building doors, and monitoring and access control systems.

IoT has opened new business opportunities for Kone in areas such as remote monitoring, as Markus Huuskonen, KONE's head of maintenance processes, explains it: “This ability to remotely monitor equipment has been one of our targets for a pretty long time, but now IoT really enables us to do it efficiently while scaling up our operations.”

FutureIoT spoke Jukka Salmikuukka, partnership development director at KONE Asia Pacific, for his perspective on how organisations are adopting IoT to solve real-world business problems.

Which industries are leading the deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT)? Compared to other regions outside Asia, how sophisticated (mature) is the level of use of IoT?

Jukka Salmikuukka: IoT is utilised so widely that you can find great deployments happening in many industries. Good examples are manufacturing, finance, and healthcare where IoT is widely utilised.

"Regardless of the industry, often the deployments are driven by global organisations with the help of global technology/platform providers. This means that the best practices can be efficiently utilised, and the smartest deployments can be done regardless of whether the location of the underlying infrastructure (for example core networks for the internet) is solid and reliable enough."

Jukka Salmikuukka

In Southeast Asia, Singapore is leading the way and setting the standard in digitalisation in many ways – especially compared to the rest of the world.

The Smart Nation initiative has proven to be a very powerful approach in combining public and private sector actions to drive the adoption of digitalisation and IoT. Following this example, we have also seen the neighbouring countries actively working on various IoT opportunities.     

Within the leadership of these organisations deploying IoT, what do you see are the primary motivations?

Jukka Salmikuukka: Quite naturally it is usually about money – often IoT enables significant cost savings or opens new revenue opportunities.

More and better data combined with advanced analytics helps healthcare to operate more efficiently and provides more accurate care for patients.

Elevator and escalator companies such as ours can predict possible upcoming problems and neutralise those before issues arise allowing the people flow in busy buildings and cities to continue without interruptions.

The better retailers can understand their customer’s behaviour and preferences, the more successfully they can tailor their offerings for them.

Hotel operator may solve their service personnel challenges by deploying delivery robots to manage in-room deliveries. Numerous similar examples can be found in many industries.

At the same time, IoT can also play a significant role in helping organisations achieve their sustainability targets – IoT solutions can help eliminate waste, minimise energy consumption or achieve carbon-neutral operations, which besides providing financial benefits is also good for the planet.

Similarly, IoT can future-proof buildings for owners, so they can more accurately plan their future investments throughout the building’s lifecycle. 

How do you see these IoT deployments impacting other initiatives like transformation, modernisation and many more?

Jukka Salmikuukka: I would like to use a very worn-out cliche here: “everything is connected”. IoT is one of the key enablers for transformation, modernisation, and renewal.

IoT has changed and will keep on changing the world – the way we do things, how we work, how we play and how we live. Some jobs may disappear thanks to IoT, but new roles will emerge because of it.

Therefore, IoT deployments should be seen as tools and enablers to achieving the targeted transformations and other changes.

Given that security is a rising concern for businesses, how should enterprises deploying IoT manage the security strategy of the company?

Jukka Salmikuukka: Data security is a top priority when we speak about IoT. When leveraging IoT, security cannot be something that you “add” on top of the solution in the end.

It must be designed into the solution from early on to ensure that there is comprehensive, end-to-end security in place in a way that can be managed and updated when needed.

This type of comprehensive security management can be achieved only through systematically organised processes and practices that are applied throughout the entire organisation and in collaboration with the right type of partners.

As we step into 2023, how should enterprises review IoT deployment strategies to ensure that these initiatives meet expectations?

Jukka Salmikuukka: I believe everybody agrees that no organisation can walk away from digitalisation, but we all need to have a clear strategy and plan for it. It is very important to pick the right partners with whom the IoT initiatives can be carried out successfully.

The IoT and technology landscape is evolving so quickly that organisations need to stay on top of all the possibilities new technology can enable, being those digital twins, metaverse or anything else. This understanding combined with systematic technology roadmaps helps organisations deploy IoT successfully into their operations.   

The post IoT in 2023, beyond smart connectivity appeared first on FutureIoT.

Despite Singapore reporting a slightly smaller figure at 86%, there remain widespread gaps in industrial security and indicated opportunities for improvements.

Addressing the audience during the Operational Technology Cybersecurity Expert Panel (OTCEP) Forum 2022 on 12 July, minister for Communications and Information, Josephine Teo, stressed the importance of enhancing the collaboration between the public and private sectors, supported by suitable security tools investments, which will better position Singapore to manage future OT cyber-attacks.

During a media briefing, representatives from Fortinet, including Adam Wu, regional solution architect for OT, Rashish Pandey, vice president of marketing and communications, and Jonathan Chin, OT business development manager, joined Kenny Yeo, Frost & Sullivan's director and head of Asia Pacific cyber security practice, to talk about how organisations in Asia need to represent OT security practices.

When an OT attack occurs, what is the workflow for resolving the attack? Typically, when does the CIO/CISO/IT team get involved when an OT attack occurs?

Adam Wu: Don’t panic and don't pull the plug. Assess the process that you have currently in your plan. Then the CIO and IT team can decide, whether they want to isolate or start an instant response. The incident response has to be formulated by the organisation based on their needs. They toned to invoke caution before hitting the brake glass button and disconnecting everything.

Frost says OT refresh cycles take longer than IT. How do you then keep OT and IT security practices synchronised and reflect the present environment?

Rashish Pandey: The refresh cycles are different and longer for OT. The patching protocols are different depending on the different types of assets. How can these two teams work together? We observe that the air gap goes away and there is a need to have a common playbook that cuts across both IT and OT, known as IIoT alignment.  Aligning the mindset of OT and IT security is a bigger concern.

Adam Wu: Organisations can do virtual patching, periodic validation, and risk assessments in their environment. Organisations should conduct risk assessments and audits regularly to ensure that the current controls are being followed.

Do you see the current variety of connectivity standards for OT, and the varying age of OT devices as frustrating the securing of OT?

Rashish Pandey: We can choose to do something about it. Organisations need to make sure that traffic is protected in transit as well and are taking security measures. We can’t rip out all the OT infrastructure and replace it with brand-new infrastructure. We need to start with where we are and put in place a pragmatic approach to protect these assets.

How would you assess the state of OT security in Asia? Is the lack of maturity in OT security a reflection of lack of understanding or it’s just not a priority?

Rashish Pandey: OT security as a discipline has come to the forefront of the day which coincided with the rise of industry 4.0. It's mainly the lack of awareness but it’s speeding up fast. We see the board of directors getting involved in this conversation. We do see varying degrees of maturity across Asia, in which Singapore is a leading player. We have a very robust conversation happening on OT and critical infrastructure security.

Kenny Yeo: Regulation is also key, it’s the key number one factor leading to increased adoption of cybersecurity. Organisations tend to postpone OT security until something happens.

Do you think CISOs/CIO/Head of OT Ops will trust an AI to take remedial action against OT threats without human intervention?

Adam Wu: So, the level of security is according to the CVE rating, that is being assigned to a particular vulnerability. The score is derived from a variety of factors, whether it can easily exploitable, and whether it costs a lot of damage.

There is also a human element to giving that score. If the exploit is being stopped, that’s the most important.  For FortiGate, you can set what level of security you want to stop, let's say, out of five scores, you can set maybe three and above to block anything. It is flexible.

How should an OT security program be managed? Who should oversee this?

Jonathan Chin: The conversation is about cyber resiliency, which depends on the organisation's dynamics. For example, some organisations have a dedicated individual working specifically on readiness. They are responsible for understanding whether threats are real and critical, but also what they should be doing and who they should call.

Sometimes, the Lead Automation engineer takes charge due to OT system expertise, and the CIO/CISO acts as a consultant. In other cases, the IT teams take control regardless, and the Lead Automation engineer serves as a consultant. In an ideal case, an IT/OT specialized group should balance the IT/OT perspective.

Do you see AI/machine learning as going beyond the identification of threats and into the pre-emptive prevention of threats?

Jonathan Chin: AL/ML is utilized primarily for threat detection and automated responses upon discovery. However, we see AL/ML being increasingly used beyond threat identification to being utilized as take-down services, threat hunting at both networking, as well as endpoint levels, and actively pursuing botnet malware threats on the internet.

AI/ML models provide an effective way to counterattack by learning the pattern of these attacks. Putting in place intelligent analysis at the endpoints can also provide an enormous advantage since it protects the point where the possibility of human error is most exposed.

With IT looking at passwordless as the next level of authentication, do you see the necessity to deploy FIDO2 for IoT?

Jonathan Chin: Passwordless authentication and FIDO2 came out of consumer password fatigue while preserving the need for security. However, implementing the same for air-gapped scenarios/ private clouds will need expert supervision.

Security professionals can consider Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) technologies which confirm the identity of users by adding a step to the authentication process. A second step is to verify a user's identity to ensure that a cybercriminal can't access an individual's account even if a password is compromised.

OT organisations can also consider a Digital Risk Protection (DRP) Service that includes external attack surface management (EASM) and adversary-centric intelligence (ACI) which are essential in stopping adversaries early in their campaigns.

The post The Game Plan: Modernising OT security programmes appeared first on FutureIoT.

By the programmable logic controllers (PLC) The Stuxnet computer virus disrupted the Iranian nuclear program by damaging centrifuges used to separate nuclear material.

The United States Presidential Decision Directive 62 (issued in 1998) stated that “Critical infrastructures are those physical and cyber-based systems essential to the minimum operations of the economy and government. They include, but are not limited to, telecommunications, energy, banking and finance, transportation, water systems and emergency services, both governmental and private.”

Trending in ICS security

Tim Conway, a certified instructor and technical director for ICS and SCADA programs at the SANS Institute says globally there are common trends across multiple geographies and critical infrastructure sectors with asset owners and operators pursuing increased interconnectedness across systems, increased remote access, and increased pursuit of cloud integration.

“In addition, with this movement toward connecting and operating systems in ways they never were previously designed for, there is a corresponding increase in concern, which is driving regulation and framework adoption to ensure appropriate levels of cybersecurity detection and defence capabilities.”

Tim Conway

What are the current and emerging ICS vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure (in Asia)? What is the industry doing to address these?

Tim Conway: This is truly a global issue, while some sectors may be of higher risk in certain geographies than other parts of the world, we all face similar challenges across common ICS devices, and protocols that are used in various industries. 

In general, we are seeing a rise in ICS-targeted malware which is concerning for all vendors and the associated industries that rely on those vendor products and solutions. 

Modular malware frameworks that allow adversaries to add capabilities or customise an attack approach have been discovered and they truly provide a force multiplier capability that could enable an increased frequency of attacks across a broader scope of targets potentially.

With the increasing adoption of IIoT, to what extent are ICS vulnerabilities expanding beyond operational technology (OT)?

Tim Conway: There will continue to be a feverish pursuit of connectivity and automation to everything everywhere, our challenge is in understanding where all those trusted communication paths are, how they could be misused and what impactful effects could be achieved. 

Understanding these attack vectors, and vulnerabilities will allow organisations and individuals to make risk-informed decisions about what technologies should be pursued and where.  The phrase, “Just because you can, does not mean you should” applies well here. 

Singapore is probably one of the best examples to look at regarding guidance and thoughtful discussions on the development of a common balanced approach to pursuing innovating technologies and interconnectedness with a healthy dose of concern about how those technologies should be implemented and maintained.

Can you share common pitfalls and challenges in ICS security that impact/endanger critical infrastructure security in Asia?

Tim Conway: Every process has unique considerations and nuanced discussions around appropriate cyber-informed engineering concepts that need to be pursued.  There needs to be a focused investment in the workforce around the areas of operations, engineering, safety, and cybersecurity to begin addressing the issues truly.

What lessons can Asia learn from recent compromises and attacks in industrial companies around the world – to protect the community and national security?

Tim Conway: As a region, I would recommend any country to look to activities being pursued around the world to run national exercises throughout their critical infrastructure sectors and examine the regulation or guidelines that have been implemented elsewhere to determine if there are areas within their own country that could benefit. 

From an attack perspective, each sector should look to impactful attacks around the world and ask the questions of their teams – how that attack could occur in our organisation, would it have been worse, how would we detect and prevent it, what can we do to improve our abilities to operate through a similar attack, and then establish exercises to practice and prepare.

What are the key ICS cybersecurity critical controls that governments and organisations should deploy to adapt, to best fit their environment and risks? How has ICS cyber security evolved in recent years?

Tim Conway: ICS cyber security has greatly expanded from the perspective of solutions and guidance.

We have recently released a whitepaper on “The Five ICS Cybersecurity Critical Controls” and we feel this will significantly help organisations establish focused capital and O&M projects and programs to address the areas of greatest risk.

The post Securing the critical appeared first on FutureIoT.

According to Data Bridge Market Research, the IoMT market in Asia Pacific is expected to grow with a CAGR of 24.1% from 2021 to 2028. Despite the growing IoMT market and rising adoption of advanced technologies, the healthcare industry still lags behind other advanced sectors such as info-communications on cybersecurity.

The cybersecurity risks patients and operations can be exposed to are real and pervasive. Additionally, the accreditation and compliance to standards for connected medical assets, including IoMT, are also straggling.  With the growing number of unmanaged medical and non-medical devices and sensors, the risks to hospitals' cybersecurity go beyond IoMT itself.

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), during the first half of 2022, the healthcare sector has been the number one target of data breaches.

James Millington, senior director of product marketing at Armis, says concerns are not only with confidential medical data but also with patient care disruptions that might have life-threatening consequences. After all, the threat landscape has evolved with the rise of ransomware as a lucrative business model for criminals.

“The complexity of the healthcare tech stack, due to a diverse number of devices and types of systems, makes it harder to track assets and manage their vulnerabilities.”

James Millington

“For example, hospitals need to deal with a great number of medical device vendors, each one with its own, little-known proprietary operating system. Besides, many of those devices are mobile — think of infusion pumps being moved from one room to another, which can lead to misplacement or loss,” he added.

Does the coexistence of OT, IT, IoT, and IoMT expand the attack surface?

The healthcare device ecosystem is highly connected – beyond smart medical devices that are touching the patient or directly providing care. The growing number of devices connected to the internet – over 55 billion by 2025, as per IDC – leads to an increased attack surface, too.

Printers, self-check-in tablets, surveillance systems, smart lighting systems, and temperature control for vaccine storage are just a few examples of enterprise IT, Internet of Things (IoT), and operational technology (OT) in medical facilities. Hacking a smart TV in a waiting room might open the door to threats that can move laterally in often poorly segmented hospital networks and cause disruptions to patient care.

Why is it a concern that medical devices do not accommodate agents?

Since medical and clinical devices are regulated and built intentionally as walled hardware to achieve a specific outcome (for example, administering a medication), they usually don’t accommodate external software. As a result, they cannot be secured through traditional endpoint agents, nor easily updated or patched.

Effective patch management is a significant concern given that cybercrime and nation-state actors have focused on discovering vulnerabilities or unpatched systems as a main method of attack, according to the 2021 Microsoft Digital Defense Report.

Will the use of legacy technology compromise cybersecurity?

Medical devices generally have a higher lifecycle than consumer technology. Due to concerns over patching or restrictions due to FDA certifications, the operating systems and software running these devices may go untouched and unpatched for fear of rendering the device inoperable and impacting patient care.

Since medical equipment is expensive to replace, devices may even be operating outside the supported lifetime of the software they are running. An MRI machine, for example, might cost more than $400,000. Investments in hospital technology involve planning, training, and government subsidies.

Are vulnerability scans disrupting healthcare?

Medical devices have different sensitivities. You don’t know how a specific operating system (OS) will respond to the protocols of a vulnerability scanner. When the communication deviates from the expected, the device might crash.

If you are doing a scan through a workstation, the end user can likely tolerate the disruption, but a medical device malfunction while touching a patient can negatively affect care (for example, if the device stops working in the middle of surgery).

Network segmentation is recognised as a standard security strategy. How is the inconsistency in network segmentation affecting healthcare?

A typical hospital network is flat and divided between biomedical and corporate IT security teams, creating silos. IT is concerned with cybersecurity, while biomedical teams focus on clinical usage. Traditionally, VLAN keeps both sides separated, but it’s not designed for security.

Exposure to the IT side of the house increases risks. Many threats start on the IT side, such as the case of WannaCry malware, which spread through computers operating Microsoft Windows. As per Armis research, 40% of healthcare organisations suffered from the WannaCry attack.

How to stay on top of IoMT vulnerabilities?

Healthcare delivery organisations often lack the visibility to expand their vulnerability management programs to medical devices. Asset inventory is often a manual effort where healthcare professionals do a site survey, literally walking through every single room to see what they have and writing it down in an Excel sheet.

Improved Internet of Medical Things security requires a holistic, automated inventory of every digital asset (IT, OT, IoT, and IoMT), regardless of who purchased them (IT or biomedical teams).

To support today’s healthcare innovations, hospitals need a comprehensive cybersecurity and asset management solution that can monitor all devices, including those that cannot accommodate security agents.

The post Cybersecurity challenges of IoMT and mitigation appeared first on FutureIoT.

But with the US-led trade tension with China, Southeast Asia or the ASEAN region is presented with a golden opportunity to take a bigger slice of the manufacturing demand in the years ahead. Of course, to do this most of the ASEAN member nations must move up the value chain stepping out of the shadows of what is primarily viewed as – a location for low-wage assembly work.

Next-generation Industry 4.0 technologies and mounting pressures on companies to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, meanwhile, are creating new opportunities by changing the game.

In line with its rebirth as a more modern manufacturing base, the Boston Consulting Group forecasts that by 2030, the manufacturing industry in SEA will see an increase in foreign direct investment by up to US$22 billion, potentially generating up to US$600 billion, and see and create up to 140,000 new jobs annually.

But what will it take to become the factory to the world? And how will advances in information technology, particularly software, help Asia’s manufacturers to compete globally amid the continuing macroeconomic uncertainties.

Chris Lee, regional vice president, Asia Pacific for the software business unit at Rockwell Automation, noted that the region is seeing a rapid transformation both in smart manufacturing and the workflow across various industries.

ASEAN as a manufacturing hub for the world

For decades, the ASEAN region has served as a manufacturing hub for companies in North America, Europe and even North Asia. With the ongoing trade tensions between China and the US, there is an even greater opportunity for ASEAN to pick opportunities from companies that are shifting their base out of China.

Lee claims that among customers it surveyed, 75% of those in Asia Pacific are looking at some form of smart manufacturing technology. He attributes this interest partly due to COVID-19 and how it impacted supply chains.

Challenges ahead for smart manufacturing

According to Lee, one of the main challenges is understanding what technologies are available to facilitate this transition to smart manufacturing and identifying partners to help them cross the chasm. He also sees education and building the talent pool to implement smart manufacturing.

He also acknowledged the diverse economic structure of Southeast Asia presents disparities when it comes to technological maturity.

“Digitisation and digital transformation are key to allowing customers or these countries or manufacturers to transform themselves,” said Lee. But the challenge, and opportunity will be in how to bridge the technology and skills divide in the region.

Modernisation-ESG conundrum?

Asked whether manufacturers can pursue a modernisation strategy while complying with evolving regulations and the recent spike in interest around environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, Lee acknowledged that ESG is top of mind among CIOs and CEOs.

Click on the PodChat player for more details on Lee’s observations, opinions and recommendations on how industrial IoT is transforming Asia’s manufacturing sector.

1. What is the significance of smart, connected factories?
2. In terms of Southeast Asian as a manufacturing hub, where do we stand?
3. What are the challenges that Asian manufacturers will face, as they try and adapt these new technologies to their existing operations in the region, including the partners in the ecosystem?
4. What do you see is the role of government in supporting these manufacturers?
5. How do you see Asian manufacturers adopting new technologies while complying with ESG requirements as demand for a more sustainable manufacturing practice rises?
6. How should manufacturers accommodate concerns around cybersecurity?
7. Is reshoring going to be a concern for manufacturers in Asia?
8. What are your thoughts on rising inflation in 2023?
9. What is your advice for Asian manufacturers as they start to look to implement or integrate these new technologies be more competitive, efficient, and productive, as a supplier to the world?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: How Industrial IoT is transforming Asia’s manufacturers appeared first on FutureIoT.

He noted that the continued shortfall in the availability of skilled workers has spurred the adoption of robotics, automation, AI augmentation and connected operations.

Challenges of IIoT adoption

As with many emerging technologies, challenges await organisations looking to tap the potential of IoT to improve the company’s competitiveness and business value.

For Rao, the most immediate challenges relate to ensuring operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) security.

“In addition, device security and operation, power constraint and battery management issues, as well as the growing problem of chip shortages, also need to be resolved,” he continued.

Ajithkumar Nandakumar, VP for strategic initiatives, IOT practice at Hitachi Vantara, says IoT pilot projects are focused on the innovation factor rather than the business outcome. He also noted that legacy systems with their proprietary protocols are still siloed. Efforts to link them to the rest of the enterprise often undermine the potential benefit.   

Part of the value proposition of IoT devices and sensors is the data they acquire. According to Andrew Ling, head of industries and customer advisory at SAP Hong Kong, there remains a lack of correlation between the IoT data collected and how it could be used to improve processes and create business value.

He also commented that data for many organisations are stored in silos. He posits that companies are collecting IoT but not holistically, as different business units within a company adopt IoT technologies for different reasons.

“They might collect IoT-generated data on the workforce, machinery, and process efficiency. But these multiple sources of data are, however, isolated, and not fed into an end-to-end platform,” he added.

“Without an end-to-end ERP or data management system that can integrate and harmonise the mass volume of data, it defeats the purpose of the investment. Having an end-to-end integrated system can facilitate data to run throughout the system and generate business insights.”

Andrew Ling

Strategies for accelerating IoT integration

While use cases abound for IoT in both commercial and industrial applications, the environment must remain conducive to encouraging adoption.

For Nandkumar, the path to IoT adoption begins with a business outcome in mind. He posits the need to plug the business-IT alignment gap.

“Most IoT programs will involve custom-built solutions combined with out-of-the-box software across multiple vendors spanning across business & IT. They must work with a partner that cannot just define a roadmap and deliver on an IoT-based innovation project but also has the experience to scale and cross the business & technology partner ecosystems.”

Ajithkumar Nandakumar

He cautioned that planning is very important in an IoT project. Typical innovation projects are kicked off with minimal planning since they are considered test beds.

He warns that scaling an innovation project (with little planning) will meet with failure since due diligence and proper planning are often skipped in urgency to test out new technology.

“The third critical factor is to look at IoT projects holistically over the longer term. This means considering combining them with other emerging technologies and looking at a longer horizon for profit and returns.

“IoT projects do take time to deliver outcomes and work best as part of a larger transformation initiative. Measuring outcomes from IoT projects in isolation does not deliver the expected outcomes, leading to early scrapping of IoT pilots,” continued Nandakumar.

Kickstarting the adoption of IoT in Asia

One strategy often cited by consultants and industry practitioners is starting small to get those quick wins.

SAP’s Ling explains that for quick wins, companies should map out how IoT technology can improve and optimize specific work processes and measure the time or resources saved.

“These use cases could illustrate what IoT technology can achieve and contribute to creating business value. Successful use cases can be baby steps for companies to develop a more holistic IoT roadmap and elicit funding and executive support,” he concluded.

For this part, Nandakumar suggests that Asian enterprises establish clear ownership for their IoT programs and form teams that cut across organisational functions and stay focused on the business value outcomes.

“Firms should also select the right pilot use cases that directly impact core business outcomes. This is where they can learn from some of the successful programs in other markets and start with such successful use cases but adapt it to their specific business context,” he added.

He commented that IoT architecture, even a pilot, should be designed with scalability in mind than just for meeting the immediate use case scope and needs. Another factor to consider upfront is on building the technical talent and skills needed in the program. This is quite crucial for execution and success.

“In addition, while designing architecture and making technical choices, it is important to focus on the interoperability of systems. It is key to solve this upfront to successfully scale and improve adoption beyond the pilot.

“Finally, there can be never enough emphasis on change management in an IoT program. Many pilots have failed because they were treated as mere technical projects. Asian firms need to approach such pilots with a change management mindset and thereby have the right talent, governance and business alignment upfront to accelerate the adoption of the IoT project beyond the pilot project,” concluded Nandakumar.

The post Realising innovation with IoT adoption appeared first on FutureIoT.

IoT Analytics forecasts that globally the number of connected IoT devices will grow at 9% annually, reaching 27 billion IoT connections by 2025. Riding on this growth of connected devices is an increased need for security.

ResearchandMarkets forecasts the global IoT security market to grow from US$3.86 billion in 2021 to US$5.09 billion in 2022. The firm attributes this growth due to the companies stabilizing their output after catering to the demand that grew exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

While 64% of respondents to the Kaspersky study, Pushing the limits: How to address specific cybersecurity demands and protect IoT, use IoT solutions, as much as 43% do not protect them completely.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) paper, Recommended Criteria for Cybersecurity Labelling for Consumer Internet of Things (IoT) Products, posits that to reduce IoT product vulnerabilities, it is important to understand already exploited vulnerabilities in IoT products and ensure that consumer IoT product labelling programmes consider these incidents in its criteria to help improve the cybersecurity of the IoT ecosystem.

Dr Dorit Dor, chief product officer with Check Point Software Technologies, explains that there are many levels to IoT leaving to misunderstanding and potential risks of exposure to threats from within and outside the organisation.

“Even the lowest cost IoT device could be a starting point for an attack. You have to understand the connectivity of the IoT device to the internal and outside world. The fact that it bridges the two things without having the right IoT controlling them is the biggest evidence of this,” she explained.

“People use IoT to do massive attacks (DDoS massive attacks) by taking over IoTs in many locations and doing denial of service or other destruction for the world. These are less focused attacks and more widespread attacks.”

Dorit Dor

More common than you think

Dr Dor cautions that attacks that stem from unprotected IoT are not always targeted at specific industries. She calls back understanding that cybercriminals are often looking for the least protected targets.

That is not to say that there are attacks that are specifically directed at certain industries or organisations.

“It is less of a sectorial issue. It's more of a general issue of IoT devices being spread around and kind of hindering the security architecture of the organisation. By creating all these hidden links, the IoT itself could be served as a jump point for the intended target,” she cautioned.

Common misconceptions and challenges

Dr Dor noted that one of the biggest misconceptions when it comes to IoT security is the perception among enterprises that they do not have any IoT devices in the workplace. And if they did, the other misconception is that these devices are not connected to the internal network (without their knowledge).

Another misconception, she added, is enterprises think they are protected when they are not.

“People don’t always have the right personnel to perform the security sections required,” she posited.

Advanced technologies to the rescue?

Asked whether any advanced technologies help solve some of the challenges she presented, Dr Dor is confident that tools are available to help in the process of understanding the challenges.

She cited the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as helping map the devices that are seen on the network of IoT devices and mapping their behaviour.

“But to do this, you need to have a lot of data on similar IoT devices that exist,” she cautioned.

“So as an organisation, you may not have enough data to secure your IoT devices. However, you probably have enough data on different uses and usages of this IoT device that could help you sanction or create sectioning policies for the IoT device.”

Dorit Dor

Bringing about greater security of IoT devices in the enterprise

Dr Dor suggests reducing the access atmosphere of the IoT device to the least limited or a zoning-based approach. The other step is to understand what the IoT does and see that it behaves like a legitimate IoT device.

She recommended organisations buy IoT devices that have some security and stability built in.

Click on the PodChat player and hear in greater detail Dr Dor’s observations and recommendations for securing IoT for the enterprise.

1. What are the IoT cyber security threats faced by enterprises?
2. How common are these threats?
3. What are common misconceptions and challenges encountered today when enterprises try to secure IoT devices?
4. Can advanced technology such as AI, machine learning and deep learning solve these problems?
5. What are the roles of AI, machine learning and deep learning in IoT security?
6. What are your recommendations to bring about greater security of IT devices in the enterprise?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Understanding the fundamentals of secure IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

IoT Analytics market research analyst, Matthieu Kulezak, acknowledged a persistent confusion in the market as regards what constitutes IoT software. He points to vendors that refer to IoT software as a bigger umbrella term for any kind of software that they wish to fit and bundled together.

For its part, IoT Analytics classifies it as a subset of a more extensive umbrella called industry software. In a typical manufacturing firm, for example, there’s designing, manufacturing, supply chain and service involved.

There are very specific functions, operations, and software for each of these steps which make up the three types of IoT platforms: application enablement, device management and data management.

At FutureIoT, we dare ask: are we at the beginning of software-defined manufacturing? And if so, how do we transition to this future?

IoT software is evolving

Back in 2017, the industrial software market was approximately 40% smaller than the hardware-centric OT market, but things are changing quickly.

Kulezak noted that back in 2018, the researcher estimated about 600 vendors selling software specific to IoT platforms. Fast forward to 2022, he estimates that about 200 of those vendors have stopped developing IoT platforms. He posits that the industry may be seeing consolidation as major players vie for a larger share of the market and a stable value proposition.

He posits that 2022 is a turning point for manufacturers.

For the first time, the average manufacturer will spend more on industrial software than on industrial automation hardware (OT hardware), according to IoT Analytics’ latest report on the industry titled Industrial Software Landscape 2022–2027.

Kulezak acknowledged that the pandemic and the boost in digital transformation efforts have benefited the software industry.

Ten years after Marc Andreessen, in 2011, proclaimed that “software is eating the world,” manufacturing is becoming software based. It is estimated that five years from now, the industrial software market will be twice as big as the OT hardware market. (The total market size for 2021 is $109 billion; the estimate for 2027 is $288 billion).

Why manufacturers are embracing cloud

Kulezak commented that manufacturers are embracing the software-as-a-service movement and cloud. But in the process, they are also discovering the limitations of the SaaS model – customisation. As a compromise, he noted a rise in interest in low-code and no-code platforms.

He opined that customisation was part of the legacy on-premises strategy of the past. With the cloud and SaaS model, the underlying intent is to harness the other benefits of cloud – scale and flexibility.

He further posited that customisation introduced complexity.

“That would be way too complicated to scale up. I think here the key is to go with a flexible go-to-market approach so flexible deployments and something quite standard so you can scale up."

Matthieu Kulezak

Recommendations

He suggests that manufacturers start very simple.

“Do trials and explore the new capabilities. It does not have to be a very complicated customised software which would be difficult to scale up in the future. Go for low code no code platforms, start with a standard, and then scale up,” he added.

“Digitisation requires leadership and commitment so IT leaders are doing more than before. There are security concerns which is why higher-level commitment is essential so the digitisation journey is smooth.”

Matthieu Kulezak

Click on the PodChat player to hear in detail Kulezak’s observations on how IoT is helping the digital transformation of manufacturing and hear his recommendations on how to take advantage of the opportunities.

1. Define IoT software.
2. Looking back from pre-pandemic to this period (mid-August 2022), how have things changed when it comes to IoT software?
3. In the period of accelerating digital transformation, which areas of IoT software have gained in importance?
4. Which software trends are helping in terms of IoT software adoption and development?
5. What needs to happen for organisations in manufacturing for us to see greater integration of IoT software in industrial settings?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Transforming manufacturing through IoT software appeared first on FutureIoT.

The real-time nature of IoT data presents opportunities, challenges and threats to organisations. Analytics will have to happen in real time for companies to benefit from these types of data.

According to Niraj Naidu, APJ head of field engineering for DataStax, the internet of things (IoT) refers to the billions of internet-connected devices around the world that use different types of sensors to collect real-time data remotely.

He adds that the IoT use cases span many different industries in a wide range of applications, depending on the application, the data that is collected from these devices can be used to perform analytics.

These devices need support from a modern technology stack that can ingest and handle a continuous flow of real-time and often time series data. Some IoT devices may have multiple sensors collecting different types of data.

“All that data flows in and is integrated into a platform where analytics are applied, patterns emerge from the analytics and insights are uncovered. These insights are then effectively converted into useful information that is delivered to end users via the IoT application user interfaces.”

Niraj Naidu

“And so, we see the type of valuable information will vary by each application’s purpose, but it could be a recommendation it could be an alert, a status update, or any other variety of use cases being tackled by specific IoT initiatives that you know, these organizations have,” he added.

The six challenges of a growing IoT ecosystem

Naidu forecasts that by 2024, the global IoT market is predicted to surpass a trillion dollars annually.

He posited that due to this growth, companies are now speedily accumulating hundreds of terabytes or even 1000s of terabytes of data, depending on the industries that they're based in.

“These companies are therefore having to deal with many different challenges when it comes to managing data produced by these IoT devices or even gadgets.”

There are six main things that we tend to see:

Scalability: Companies need a modern architecture that can quickly and seamlessly scale alongside the number of users’ devices or even the associated data volumes if they suddenly skyrocket to this.

Security: Data flowing in from IoT devices can be located anywhere globally, and there is a high probability that some if not all of it, is sensitive information. A company trying to completely handle the security of this data internally places itself at risk of a breach occurring.

Control: Data should be a company's most asset, and IoT collection and analysis can yield some amazing insights that will lead to them creating a competitive advantage for them in their markets. Organizations should therefore have complete control over that data and their data. And be able to migrate whenever and wherever they want and make it a first-class citizen.

Performance: The value that can be gained from IoT data depends on its timelessness. And the effectiveness of IoT devices largely relies on the responsiveness of the system. The platform that can truly handle millions of devices, and elastically scale with any unexpected spikes, can do all of this without slowing things down

Flexibility: Companies need that flexibility to speedily adjust, when necessary, to handle that rarity of data and devices. The database should have the ability to deal with many different types of data models and cloud environments that these IoT devices are generating.

Availability: That's one of the other key challenges that organizations are having and the success of an IoT system requires continuous flow and exchange of data, and as such going offline, it could be disastrous.

“When it comes to smart products, smart devices customers expect to access and information to be just to be available right at the click of a finger. The systems must therefore always be online, with no single points of failure,” he concluded.

Data infrastructure for IoT

Naidu suggests that the data infrastructure for an IoT system today needs to be open. It is built on a modern data management layer that once again can ingest large volumes of high-velocity data that these IoT devices and gadgets are created.

There are three parts to the system there is device connectivity, IoT Hub and the business layer.

Device connectivity is metadata information for each deployed device that needs to be managed. Each of those management layers is looking at specific things like the device registry device. Once again, metadata right device configuration, looking at device states, the device commands and interactions, and device shadows.

This part of the IoT system also contains field gateways, specialized devices, or software that acts as a communication enabler in even a local device control system, and a device data processing hub.

The IoT Hub is where all the data comes together to allow operations, administration, and insights to take place. It has two or more types of storage, looking at a hot layer for ingesting and a holding layer for recent data and another cold layer for older data.

That hub can be on-premises or close to the edge or in the cloud depending on the scale of the data or latency requirements that the organization may have.

There are then two types of analytics that can be conducted via that hub. There's real-time analytics right as data arrives at a central hub. It is streamed with event streaming technologies, which allows complex event processing tasks and analytical tasks to take place.

Batch analytics is ideal for cases where large amounts of data must be analysed right with batch queries, or even ad hoc queries, as those systems or users require.

At the business layer is where all the data from those devices’ gateways and, other sources come together to provide analysis for actionable insights. This analysis provides the ability to spot anomalies and explore trends and measure operational efficiency is just an example.

Other tools like artificial intelligence and machine learning form the basis for predictive maintenance and operation.

“I think that those three elements, they're aligned around device connectivity, the IoT hub in the business layer is what really kind of help form the right data infrastructure, architecture for IoT.”

Click on the PodChat player as Naidu elaborates on how to achieve better results using IoT analytics.

1. What is IoT analytics?
2. How prevalent is the use of IoT analytics in Asia?
3. We know that IoT produces a lot of data. What are the real challenges why enterprises struggle to better utilise/monetise the data produced by IoT?
4. Can you name a high-value/promising use case of IoT analytics?
5. What would the data infrastructure for IoT look like?
6. Do you see IoT streaming data as further complicating (or facilitating) IoT analytics adoption?
7. Where does DataStax sit in the adoption of IoT analytics?

The post PodChats for IoT: Working with IoT data analytics appeared first on FutureIoT.

IoT Analytics also reports record levels of VC investments for IoT firms, including acquisitions in the areas of AI and analytics. It is anticipated that despite headwinds like rising inflation and prolonged supply chain disruptions, overall sentiment will continue to be positive as the number of connected IoT devices reach 14.4 billion by the end of 2022.

With this growth, we can expect more targeted and perhaps creative ways of attacking both producers and enterprise consumers of IoT devices in the years ahead.

According to Satyajit Sinha, principal analyst for IoT Analytics, organisations tend to focus on security from a softer aspect or had network security at best.

“We have never seen security from the device aspect, and IoT demands different requirements of security such as authentication, authorisation, and identification. Most devices are secured through software security which is not adequate as they are vulnerable to attacks.”

Satyajit Sinha

“The more we create awareness about IoT devices security, the more people will implement security in their devices,” he added.

How adequately do you think current IoT ecosystems are secured, especially for unmanaged IoT devices?

Satyajit Sinha: The IoT devices do not have the capability to hold a higher level of security because of the power constraint thus security will always be a challenge. However, if these devices are connected to a gateway or a router, they can secure the touchpoint of the network and IoT ecosystems. It is not the case for small devices or unmanned devices.

Are concerns around IoT security justified? Or why does the IoT ecosystem require security?

Satyajit Sinha: People are focused on securing devices that create critical data, autonomous driving and intelligent devices for example. But this should not just be about selected devices.

A thermostat may not provide critical data so you may disregard whether it is secured or not. But, if it is linked to your home gateway, it is easy for someone to hack into your network and get all the information from all other connected devices.

What is the strategy that will secure IoT?

Satyajit Sinha: For hackers, it is a business. They will not invest their time and money in devices with multiple layers of security. So, the best strategy is to have multiple layers of security from hardware to software to network to cloud security. Connect these four and create end-to-end security, also called chip-to-cloud security.

What are the challenges or roadblocks to securing IoT end-to-end?

Satyajit Sinha: First is having the right policies and regulations. There needs to be proper regulations and direction for security implementation in the market. The second is industry sentiment.

"Treating security as an extra cost will incur a burden in the long term. We need to understand that if you don't spend on that extra secure element chip, you will have to pay more in a ransomware attack."

Satyajit Sinha

Last is device provisioning and key management services for chip-to-cloud security. It is difficult to manage security especially if you switch between service providers.

What are the key similarities and differences between traditional IT security and IoT Security?

Satyajit Sinha: The similarity I believe is that both are accountable not just at the OEM level but also platform and the cloud level. The difference is that it is new for the IT industry to manage IoT security with multiple applications. There are many standards, and numerous players come up with their own solutions.

How much is post-quantum security relevant for now?

Satyajit Sinha: All IoT devices have a lifespan of about 10 to 15 years which means they are not capable of quantum security in the long run. Security needs to be future proof and there is no extra cost for adding quantum-level security so organisations should consider having it.

Click on the PodChat player to listen to Sinha on the state of the security of IoT devices in Asia.

1. How adequately do you think current IoT ecosystems are secured, especially for unmanaged IoT devices?
2. Are concerns around IoT security justified? Or Why does the IoT ecosystem require security?
3. What is the strategy that will secure IoT?
4. What are the challenges or roadblocks to securing IoT end-to-end?
5. What are the key differences between traditional IT security and IoT Security?
6. How much is post-quantum security relevant for now?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Securing IoT beyond 2022 appeared first on FutureIoT.

Recognising this trend, the Commission is calling for organisations to take advantage of the decentralisation trends through IoT and edge computing capabilities, and leverage the expertise of its communities in the physical, industrial world and in digital world to bring the best of both worlds towards Europe’s next-generation IoT and edge computing infrastructure.

IDC says the IoT market in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) will continue to grow in 2022 by 9.1%, accelerating from 6.9% in 2021. Headwinds such as semiconductor shortages and supply chain disruption caused by geopolitical tensions have limited the growth in 2022 to single digits, and rising inflation may dampen growth.

However, rising demand for remote operations, better network coverage, and the deployment of commercial 5G and testbeds are driving IoT adoption in the region. IDC expects spending on IoT to reach $436 billion in 2026, with a CAGR of 11.8% for the period 2021-2026.

IDC’s research director for Asia-Pacific, Bill Rojas, says the ongoing deployment and expansion of 5G will drive the growth of connectivity use cases that utilize massive narrowband IoT as well as wideband/broadband IoT such as 4K IP cameras.

“Low Earth Satellites including nanosatellites and next-generation Very High Throughput Satellites will enable a wide range of remote connectivity uses cases relating to smart cities, environmental and sustainability monitoring, transportation infrastructure, energy and resources, and utilities.”

Bill Rojas

FutureIoT reached out to Kenny Ng, head of worldwide market development, network business division at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise for his take on where IoT is headed in Asia.

Do you think a decoupling of IoT hardware from software would further accelerate the adoption of IoT in the enterprise or is this a case of a solution looking for a problem to solve?

Kenny Ng: IoT adoption requires a holistic approach to meeting business needs in the digital transformation process. It will require a solution-based approach rather than approaching it from the decoupling of hardware and software.

However, there are a few challenges to surmount for enterprises in the IoT sector, including having a short time to market, airtight security, a versatile update mechanism for hardware and software and mastering device management.

Businesses need to evaluate hardware and software IoT choices pragmatically for their needs, but finding a cost-effective product that satisfies all requirements can be difficult.

For IoT-related projects, knowing the specific use case is essential to identifying the most applicable hardware. Careful software selection is also important, centring around ease of integration and maintenance.

What business problems/customer expectations are ideally suited for IoT?

Kenny Ng: IoT serves as a critical foundation and enabler for digital business processes. It also offers enormous value to businesses undergoing digital transformation. The connectivity provides also benefits enterprises that rely on collecting and processing large amounts of real-time data.

In a world where efficiency is key, IoT is best suited to enable enterprises to harness the data available at their fingertips to derive value-driven insights that can optimise workflows for better outcomes and accelerate business transformation.

As the pandemic boosted the digital transformation and sprouted the number of devices connected through IoT everywhere, the public sector saw an opportunity to leverage IoT capabilities to meet customer expectations and enhance processes and efficiency in everyday life.

IoT has the capability to transform the public sector, by significantly reshaping how governments keep track of data and information and harnessing mobility, automation and data analytics.

For you, what would constitute next-generation (next-gen) IoT?

Kenny Ng: Next-generation IoT would need to be holistic and enable organisations to scale up their digitalisation efforts securely with ease to welcome the age of digital networking. According to IoT analytics, there will be 30.9 billion IoT devices by 2030, making 75% of total devices.

With the growth of mobility and IoT, security is skyrocketing to become a top priority as networks become even more exposed to potential bad actors. And, with cyber-attacks increasing in volume and in complexity, unregulated devices can introduce security risks and chew up bandwidth unbeknownst to network operators.

With the sheer number of devices in a connected network, configuring and managing so many individual devices is unrealistic. Approaches like IoT containment must thus become more commonplace, where devices can be efficiently and safely onboarded via automation.

The ability to rapidly identify and classify every object connected to the network and automatically provision a configuration associated with a specific device, alongside virtual segmentation, are also crucial characteristics that must be present in next-gen IoT. Monitoring the objects is vital so that immediate action can be taken if there is unusual activity on the network, thus containing the impact and scale of a potential cyberattack.

Do you think culture and mindset are mature enough to accept these next-gen IoT solutions/technologies to realise real business value today?

Kenny Ng: While next-generation IoT does pose a complex challenge for enterprises, it offers massive versatility in the automation and optimisation of business processes.

Particularly after COVID-19, digitalisation has been at the top of many organisational agendas and has become a widely recognised priority in industries across the board. Though risk-averse enterprises may hesitate to make the leap when it comes to emerging technologies, organisations with a disruptor and agile mindset will be able to effect change and realise these benefits. This change in mindset must start from the top, with business leaders and decision-makers leading by example before it can become a part of their corporate DNA.

Once culture and mindsets have matured, then can concrete actions be taken to enact definite change. To unlock the potential of next-gen IoT, time and resources must be invested into building a skilled IoT workforce, such that the technology can be fully and strategically harnessed to drive core business competencies.

For those who may be limited by budget or resource constraints, an intelligent network fabric tackles this pain point by automating various manual tasks to simplify a network’s design, deployment, and operations. Automation also reduces the risks of vulnerabilities associated with manual errors.

How do you create an environment that will encourage IoT adoption and innovation within an enterprise? Who needs to own it?

Kenny Ng: As mentioned, enterprises will need to have the mindset for accepting change and embracing innovation, and this needs to start with the leaders. They will also need to invest in training a robust IT team to aid the secure operation and maintenance of IoT deployments.

The responsibility will lie with the senior leadership of the enterprises to instigate change from the top-down. IT leaders must transparently communicate both benefits and challenges of IoT adoption and push for ongoing education to overcome employees’ inertia towards change and help them understand the impact and implications of the organisation adopting IoT.

For instance, getting the message across that IoT help automate operations and streamline infrastructure, which in turn, can ease the workloads of employees may help to get their buy-ins.

The key also lies in cultivating an organisational culture and mentality that is comfortable with calculated risks. Every new technological adoption comes with its own sets of associated risks, but organisations that stay ready to mitigate risks will enhance their agility and responsiveness, and in turn their ability to compete.

Being comfortable with risk will also encourage new methods of trying out things, ultimately forming an enterprise environment that drives business innovation and constant evolution.

The post Shaping the digital future with the Next-Gen of IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

“Moving from the cloud to the factory floor, some manufacturers are turning to a micro-factory model, which relies on automation and robotics to create more flexible manufacturing frameworks that can be deployed in a fraction of the time and at scale.”

CB Insights

IoT Analytics forecasts the Internet of Things (IoT) market will grow by 18% to 14.4 billion active connections. It also posits that by 2025, as supply constraints ease and growth further accelerates, there will be approximately 27 billion connected IoT devices.

These billions of connections are a natural magnet luring cybercriminals looking for new targets and new opportunities.

According to CB Insights this “plunging deeper into virtual worlds opens up the playing field to more cybercrime: security solutions will become a major priority, especially as crypto hype and data privacy controversies continue to boom.”

Creating awareness about IoT vulnerabilities

BlackBerry EVP and CTO, Shishir Singh says the massive network of connected things will require interoperability between systems. He posits that organisations need to sensitize employees to the fact that IoT introduces unprecedented safety and privacy risks.

He believed that employees in government and enterprise organisations need to wake up to the fact that bad actors can now access records from any device, anywhere, in real-time, and cautioned that more worrisome is the fact that IoT device makers oftentimes omit rigorous testing and support just so they can get products out to the market sooner.

“They also frequently abandon development of software and security updates the moment products are released, leaving customers—both enterprise and consumers—with an ever-increasing number of unsecured devices in their environments,” Singh continued.

But while IoT is proliferating in any enterprise, it is on production floors of industrial operations where industrial IoT (I-Iot) is rapidly becoming an integral part of the Operational Technology (OT) landscape,” said Rafael Maman, vice president of OT security at Sygnia.

He posits that it is this risk related to I-IoT that is not well articulated, resulting in low awareness.

“These I-IoTs must be considered as part of the OT environment, both to work towards better cyber preparedness and resilience, and organisational awareness."

Rafael Maman

According to Srinivas Kumar, VP of IoT solutions at DigiCert, vulnerabilities in IoT extend beyond published exposures and exploits. He noted that the “closed” and “siloed” nature of OT/IoT ecosystems provide limited visibility through on-device logs or control through third-party intervention.

“OT/IoT devices are micromanaged by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in production environments. This creates a blind spot for NOC/SOC supervision and mitigation. Application security by design and a security profile for device field operations are essential to qualify and certify IoT devices for compliance and achieve cyber resilience in connected systems.”

Srinivas Kumar

“A comprehensive approach to digital trust ensures that all access points and data are properly authenticated and encrypted, and that identity- and access-based attacks are given an extra layer of protection that can be enforced and monitored throughout the organisation,” said Kumar.

Recommendations for creating sustained awareness around IoT security

Sygnia’s Maman recommends considering IoT, specifically I-IoT, as an integral part of the OT environment, and managing the related risk landscape as part of the overall OT security framework.

“And include it in all your cyber awareness campaigns and training programmes – again, as an integral part of your operational technology – and make sure to highlight the additional risk it introduces to your OT environment,” he pushed forth.

Kumar adds that cybersecurity in multi-vendor and heterogeneous device ecosystems is a collaborative effort and requires OEMs, device operators, device owners, and regulators to set mandatory compliance standards and best practices for endpoint security on headless field devices.

“The paradigm shift in OT/IoT ecosystems is to harden devices for protection throughout the active service life that may span 10-30 years,” concluded DigiCert’s Kumar.

BlackBerry’s Singh believes that an effective way to drive greater awareness about IoT vulnerabilities is to inform employees about their responsibilities from day one – adapting cybersecurity processes and policies as part of the company’s onboarding is a good method to educate users.

“Besides regular and mandatory training programmes that all employees must undertake, conducting cybersecurity drills like simulated crisis management exercises can raise awareness, preparedness, and ultimately reduce the impacts of critical events.”

Shishir Singh

“Lastly, ensure that IoT security training is targeted and easy to consume. Sharing irrelevant and confusing details about the threats of IoT vulnerabilities can be counterproductive. Communications should be kept simple, concise, and easy to understand as not every employee is an IT expert,” concluded Singh.

The post Creating cybersecurity awareness for IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

This is the case of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government's Flood Control System in the Jakarta Smart City application. Developed by Jakarta Smart City in collaboration with the Jakarta Water Resource Service (DSDA) to optimise flood risk management in Jakarta, the project involved the use of IoT, AI and ML as part of an early warning system against the risk of floods in the city.

As more organisations deploy IoT in commercial and industrial environments, the amount of data that is derived from these devices and sensors may prove important in improving quality, operational efficiency, and in the case of Jakarta – saving lives and property from natural disasters.

Kenneth Koh, head of industry consulting at SAS Institute, argues that the speed and accuracy with which an IoT system reacts to its environment is critical. However, with the devices and other sensors in a typical system generating overwhelming amounts of data, traditional tools and methods can slow down the process of making sense of that data.

Can you explain what AI-embedded IoT is?

Kenneth Koh: Processing data at or near the edge allows IoT systems to be nimbler and more impactful. But the quality of a data-led action is only as meaningful as the quality of the data-based insights it is acting on.

IoT by itself is not new to manufacturers. Manufacturers have been collecting and storing sensor data from machines for decades. The value proposition for them is in AIoT -analysing that data, at the edge in real-time, using AI and ML to drive efficiencies and value.

By equipping IoT systems with AI capabilities, a wide variety of data, both structured and unstructured, can be processed on the edge. High-quality insights are made available at increased speeds for systems to act on.

AI-embedded IoT and how it unlocks business value

Kenneth Koh: AI-embedded IoT improves operational efficiency and productivity while reducing costs. It also drives innovation towards better customer service, better products, and faster product deployment to the market.

Embedding AI in IoT devices enables edge computing, allowing for the deployment of IoT systems in situations where consistent 5G networks are unavailable. For example, logistics providers can use IoT sensors in their transportation fleet to monitor the internal and external conditions in their vehicles, even in remote parts of the latter's routes.

Aside from edge computing, AI-embedded IoT utilises machine learning to develop actionable insights from the terabytes of data an IoT system generates daily. In the example above, data collected from these sensors are sent to the cloud in real-time, enabling technicians to address vehicle breakdowns more accurately and much faster.

Manufacturers can also use these insights to predict when a particular factory system or piece of equipment would fail, allowing technicians to implement preventive maintenance. Proactive detection of faulty equipment saves precious man-hours while reducing costly unscheduled downtimes.

On the retail side, insights from IoT systems can be used to identify optimal prices for products and minimise disruption to their supply chains.

ML and its role in IoT analytics

Kenneth Koh: Machine learning is the edge AI-embedded IoT has over other IoT deployments. Systems can learn as it processes sensor-generated data using diverse advanced analytical methods such as decision trees, random forests, gradient boosting, neural networks, support vector machines, and factorization machines.

This creates savings for enterprises in terms of man-hours and specialists in the organisation. Without the need to extensively train AI systems, specialists can focus on other critical tasks as non-data scientists can access, view, and process data.

Machine learning capabilities also increase the range of data that AI systems can access and process: visual images online and offline, text, and even verbal speech. The increased volume and quality of available data increases the value and impact of insights derived from it.

Combined, these machine learning capabilities enable both increased speed and volume of data processing, enabling real-time actionable insights which are crucial in many IoT systems.

How AIoT supported Jakarta Smart City: Using SAS's AI-powered platforms, Jakarta Smart City was able to integrate multi-source data in real-time and provides advanced analytics with IoT, machine learning & AI technology to provide emergency/disaster predictive capability and optimisation to serve the public. The result is a flood emergency response to mitigate the risk of floods in Jakarta.

Given that IoT historically falls under operational technology, who should own the securing of IoT?

Kenneth Koh: The introduction of IoT is blurring the lines between IT and OT across enterprises. Sensors and devices are connected to the network to create new systems and improve processes. At the same time, this convergence exposes traditional OT equipment and systems to threats they were previously insulated from.

The fact is that true device security is a combination of technologies, processes, and best practices. Thus, securing IoT systems should not be the sole domain of either OT or IT teams but engendering closer, more effective collaboration between both.

However, this is easier said than done, as IT security teams and OT security teams often don't speak the same language and find it difficult to understand each other's point of view.

Responsibilities are distributed quite differently; priorities often diverge and regulations governing OT security and IT security can sometimes contradict one another. Gaining an overview of all assets within the given environment makes clear what assets and processes must not fail under any circumstances.

By doing this, organisations can establish and practice unified cybersecurity that ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data.

Name one best practice for IT and operational technology staff working together.

Kenneth Koh: In manufacturing, data is very time sensitive. For example, if the chemical concentration of a process is drifting away from optimal, the engineer may have only minutes to react to save many tons of product. 

In many semiconductor processes, engineers have only seconds to react. In such situations, Analytics needs to move to the ‘edge’ which means the data must be analysed and decisioned at the machine or on the shop floor, not in the back office or engineering.

This requires the ability to do analytics wherever it is needed –at the machine, on the production floor, in the cloud or the back office.

One of the major challenges faced is data silos. For organisations that are not implementing IT/OT convergence, due to a patchwork of unintegrated or partially integrated apps and enterprise systems. Without careful planning, introducing new sources of data (e.g. IoT sensors) will compound the problem.

Implementing a data integration platform to connect IoT systems with organisations' existing technology stack breaks down silos between historical and future data while providing all teams the same access through a single point of control. This ensures that IT and OT teams are with the same page, establishing a foundation for better IT/OT convergence.

The post The value of AI in IoT analytics appeared first on FutureIoT.

To be clear, enterprise 5G goes beyond standard consumer 5G service. In an enterprise 5G, the enterprise has complete control over the network assuming the company forks out the money to have its infrastructure, radio devices, mobile core, and management software.

The possibility of having private 5G networks means an enterprise will have better control over how it scales its network in addition to better control over cellular resources.

This will grow in importance as enterprises adopt IoT sensors into the workflow and gain real-time insights for improved efficiency and preventive maintenance.

One of the challenges this opportunity presents is around network management. Fortunately advances in artificial intelligence and automation may present a solution in the form of autonomous systems for managing network resources.

IEEE posits that autonomousity is not just making the network capable of managing resources, but rather making the network learn and adapt itself to the dynamic environment.

“In networks, the autonomous tasks refer to self-healing, self-diagnosing, and self-provisioning. With the help of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Blockchain, autonomous tasks can be realised in current network systems.”

Autonomous Networks: Opportunities, Challenges, and Applications

Richard Howe, chief technology officer for Kyndryl Singapore, says an autonomous network is a self-configuring, or self-healing network that runs with minimal to no human maintenance. The network adapts to changes in devices being added, or degradation of network performance such as data throughput due to packet loss.

“Having a network that keeps devices consistently connected, and transmits data to an edge computing platform, enables fault detection. It ensures worker safety in industrial and manufacturing plants and facilities – you can add new drones to monitor whether employees are wearing hard hats or are in dangerous areas.”

Richard Howe

Benefits of autonomous networks for the manufacturing ecosystem

According to Deloitte, to remain competitive, manufacturers must absorb digital and advanced technologies across their business operations, including production.

The 2019 Deloitte and MAPI Smart Factory Study noted that connecting to an ecosystem was a hallmark of the Trailblazers (pioneers in smart factory adoption), a cohort of manufacturers that were making great strides by adopting Industry 4.0 technologies to solve specific business problems and opportunities.

The manufacturing ecosystem today is no longer limited to the manufacturer and its suppliers of raw materials. In smart manufacturing, an ecosystem is formed when different entities come together in meaningful ways to solve shared challenges and meet shared objectives.

Because the ecosystem comprises several companies, many independent from others in the network but sharing common interests, having a way intelligently manage some of the systems and processes automatically just makes sense.

According to Howe, autonomous networks enable scalable automation and add real-time intelligence to industrial processes, ensuring manufacturing quality, speed and efficiency without the need for much manual and human management.

“It enables fault detection and works safety, and for a manufacturer, this means more reliability and resiliency. For example, you can add cameras inside the manufacturing facility/plant for fault detection,” he added.

The use of 5G permits the use of mobile endpoints capable of collecting vast amounts of real-time data from industrial processes at low latency and taking advantage of local edge computing.

Machine learning leverages the experience of industry specialists at scale humans can’t match given the high data rates possible with 5G.

Use cases of autonomous networks

Asked where early applications of autonomous networks, Howe noted that in the manufacturing sector, these would include remote production monitoring using portable and deployable sensors.

He also highlighted use cases in predictive asset monitoring and condition-based maintenance, as well as vision analytics to ensure quality management.

He also highlighted the use of advanced robotics and human worker coordination (cobots), that can enable worker safety through wearable sensors, or support real-time worker augmentation via low-latency augmented reality/virtual reality that can either troubleshoot field problems or enable knowledge transfer between workers

“It is important to understand that successful integration of such autonomous networking applications will require the migration to cloud-native technologies and robust deployment of 5G. Such a foundation increases the speed and efficiency of properly integrated use case rollout that can be adjusted for specific operating environments,” he explained.

Integrating autonomous networking

Howe warns that implementing autonomous networks and also other related intelligent edge solutions can be a daunting task.

He stressed that a foundation of different technologies across the autonomous network’s application stack will be required like specialised compute infrastructure, wireless network connectivity like Wi-Fi 6 or 5G, along with IoT devices, data acquisition protocols, and lifecycle management tools in which volume of data can be compiled and processed by cloud-based Artificial Intelligence (AL) and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms.

“Such an undertaking will certainly require the right expertise for building applications on the autonomous network, and knowledge of the latest orchestration techniques. A majority of these technologies have only recently evolved and developed over the last decade, there is also an existing shortage of skill sets that can support these emerging use cases,” he added.

He posited that introducing and deploying autonomous networking to tomorrow’s industrial and manufacturing environments is a challenge that will require concerted support from an ecosystem of multiple vendors and partners.

“Such an ecosystem will include the major hyperscalers, vendors that provide low latency connectivity or analytics, AI and ML, and also managed services providers that can interconnect elements across all application layers,” he continued.

Economic implications of autonomous networks

Citing a 2021 study, Statista researchers noted that the concept of autonomous networks implemented in the sector of telecommunications may have a global economic impact of 13 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, and it is forecast that the implementation of this concept could have an economic impact of more than 800 billion dollars by the year 2030.

Howe believes that autonomous networks will simplify and enable the full extent of what can be possible in industrial and manufacturing environments by replacing costly, inflexible workflow processes that are manual and rely on legacy technological deployments.

“Aside from the direct benefits such as cost and workflow improvements, autonomous networks will enable the acceleration of a range of IoT, application and data use cases; this, in turn, will provide the basis for new revenue streams and products,” he added.

Advise for decision-makers

Asked what senior business, technology and operations leaders should bear in mind when evaluating autonomous networks as a solution to solve current business/operations challenges, Howe recommended that for organisations big and small, the transformation of network architectures and technologies can be uniquely challenging – yet imperative.

He further added that it is important to select vendors and partners that provide unbiased guidance and deep knowledge.

“Organisations have broad footprints, and each has the potential for thousands of edge environments needing deployment and management. Every manufacturing floor, every distribution hub, warehouse, or airport terminal counts as a single edge environment.”

Richard Howe

“The adoption of autonomous networks will enable organisations to speed system deployments and service activations, avoid failures and slowdowns, enable more dynamic operations, and operate at a greater speed and scale,” he concluded.

The post Why autonomous networks are important in Manufacturing 4.0 appeared first on FutureIoT.

Commissioned by Armis, The Forrester report, State of Enterprise IoT Security in North America, revealed that 74% of the respondents felt their security controls and practices were inadequate for managed, unmanaged assets across IT, cloud, IoT devices, medical devices (IoMT), operational technology (OT), industrial control systems (ICS), and 5G.

Keith Walsh, OT security and operations director at Armis, says the trouble with many installations within organisations is that each department tends to go solo on management and risk containment.

He cites the example of departments that may have managers over OT/ICS facilities, for instance: air conditioning, sanitation, telecommunications, and other functions. Server rooms and computers of all shapes and sizes may be managed by a separate IT department.

Outside a typical office, a process plant in the oil and gas, petrochemicals, and chemicals industries, or a power plant (nuclear, other renewable, or fossil), will yet have different field operations and maintenance managers managing various safety and other controllers. The expertise demanded by these fields tends to be disparate and so it would be difficult to converge all such manageable assets into a single department or system.

“For unmanaged devices, which may include OT and IoT, these may yet be another hurdle for organisations, since they may never have been defined as a security hazard, until recent times when 5G/LTE and broadband have permeated throughout every facet of an organisation.”

Keith Walsh

“So, it is safe to say, we can imagine the typical organisation may not have a complete security profile for all managed and unmanaged devices. Asset visibility is the first step in developing a security framework. You can’t secure what you can’t see,” he added.

As more devices in the homes connect to the internet, security and privacy concerns rise to new levels. The Palo Alto Networks’ The Connected Enterprise: IoT Security Report 2021 found that the problem has gotten worse with the rise of working from home. 81% of those who have IoT devices connected to their organisation’s network highlighted that the transition to remote working led to greater vulnerability from unsecured IoT devices.

“The bottom line is that while organisations are adopting best practices and implementing measures to limit network access, digital transformation is disrupting not only the way we work but the way we secure our ways of working,” explains Alex Nehmy, CTO of Industry 4.0 strategy for Asia Pacific & Japan at Palo Alto Networks.

He posits that safeguarding unmanaged and IoT devices continue to be an ongoing challenge. With most cyberattacks accessing corporate networks months before they are detected, ongoing monitoring and IoT device security should become a key focus area of a corporate IoT security strategy.

The real and present danger

The hacking events that we now remember including the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, meat packer JBS and the Triton malware attack against a Saudi petrochemical plant suggest that organisations will continue to be targeted as long as there are gains to be made.

Nehmy warns that most of today’s IoT security solutions provide limited visibility by using manually updated databases of known devices, require single-purpose sensors, lack consistent prevention and do not help with policy creation.

“They can only provide enforcement through integration, leaving cybersecurity teams to do the heavy lifting, blind to unknown devices, and hampering their efforts to scale operations, prioritise efforts or minimise risks,” he added.

Walsh further warns that the mature security processes that were born out of IT are now colliding with OT, as industry 4.0 becomes more pervasive. IoT devices also tend to be simplistic and lack sophisticated patching and firewalling capabilities.

“Looking ahead, Industry 5.0 is only going to increase the interaction between humans and machines to the point of necessitating real-world human safety protocols that go beyond current OT and IT security measures,” he continued.

The IT-OT convergence – who’s the boss?

Nehmy believes that the onus of IoT security rests on the shoulders of both operational technology (OT) and information technology (IT) teams and they need to work collaboratively to ensure IoT security is adequate.

Having an IoT security system that provides a single pane of glass to give these teams a consistent level of visibility, monitoring and enforcement across both IT and OT environments, also helps bring these culturally diverse teams together, regardless of the systems they’re securing.

When organisations have limited visibility of IoT and OT devices, it hampers their ability to begin securing them.

“You can’t secure what you can’t see. One of the best practices for integrated IT and OT security involves conducting continuous monitoring and analysis."

Alex Nehmy

"The key focus should be on implementing a real-time monitoring solution that continuously analyses the behaviour of your entire network,” explained Nehmy.

Additionally, IT and OT teams should work together to ensure the IoT attack surface is managed by enforcing segmentation between IoT devices, OT devices and business-critical IT systems.

Strategy to secure IoT

Asked to name one strategy to secure IoT, Armis’ Walsh suggests understanding and identifying the attack surface.

“Once we do that, we can then properly patch, segment, and monitor transactions and interdependencies of those devices. Mitigating risk all starts with understanding and identifying the attack surface of our critical assets,” he added.

IDC cautions that IoT can very easily become the weak link or entry point for attacks in any organisation, which is why IoT solutions need to be secure by design. Extending a zero trust framework to IoT deployments can enhance security and reduce risk, but it is an enterprise-wide strategy that requires a complete understanding of all IoT systems on the network.

Nehmy concurs adding that implementing Zero Trust for IoT environments is the best approach for IT and OT personnel to devise an IoT security strategy that enforces policies for the least privileged access control.

Building a business case for IoT security

IoT and OT devices usually make up more than 30% of devices within corporate networks, 57% of which are also susceptible to cyberattacks, as they are built without security in mind and contain existing vulnerabilities.

“The attack surface of IoT devices permeates across all environments of the enterprise. While organisations may not yet spend more in managing the security of all connected assets, the increasing attack surface needs to be addressed holistically,” warns Walsh.

The attacks against Colonial Pipeline and JBS may have occurred in the US, but Deloitte believes that critical infrastructure operators in Asia Pacific are increasingly being targeted by cyber espionage and sophisticated attacks with the potential for severe disruption to essential services such as energy and water supply.

As IoT use grows in importance to the daily operations of critical infrastructure, adequately securing IoT and OT devices becomes a compelling business case, posits Palo Alto Network’s Nehmy.

He suggests that a comprehensive IoT business case should involve visibility of all IoT and OT devices, ongoing monitoring to detect security breaches, analysis of device risk and also the ability to protect and segment these devices. Ideally, this should be provided in a single security platform for the lowest total cost of ownership.

He opines that the monetary, reputational, and physical security repercussions of an IoT-based cyberattack, make it imperative for organisations to invest in advanced security solutions.

“Just as vaccinations keep us safe from COVID-19, investment in proactive prevention measures will place organisations in a better position to combat the IoT cybercrime pandemic,” he concludes.

The post IoT security realities – worse than you think appeared first on FutureIoT.

One of the earliest examples of IoT was in the early 1980s and it involved a Coca-Cola machine that was located at Carnegie Mellon University. Programmers would connect through the Internet to the refrigerated appliance and check to see if there was a cold drink available before making the trip to purchase one.

Most discussions around the IoT will likely revolve around the hardware. This is understandable that most of the enterprise IoT technologies we’ve become familiar with are with simple devices that perform a few tasks. For example, monitor the temperature in a production line.

But as advances in communications converge with business demands for doing things faster, better, more safely and cheaper, even technologies like IoT are evolving to include features that in some cases incorporate intelligence, manageability, and more recently, security.

This growing sophistication in the demand for IoT and expectations of what it can do means that IoT discussion is no longer limited to hardware design but must, by default, include software considerations.

FutureIoT spoke to Joanne Wong, vice president for international markets at LogRhythm, for her take on how IoT software is evolving.

What is IoT software?

Joanne Wong: Anything from lamp posts and running shoes to fish tanks can now be connected to the Internet with the advent of inexpensive computer chips, sensors, and wireless networks, which enables them to collect and share data in real-time autonomously without human interference.

IoT software connects the computer chips, sensors and networks in the broader system together. It plays a crucial role in the data collection and communication process, as well as the management of the IoT application and device itself.

Take smart lamp posts for example. The Singapore government plans to roll out 110,000 lamp posts equipped with a network of wireless sensors and cameras that will help to detect and monitor changes in environmental conditions, and track vehicle speeds – beyond illuminating the streets.

In this case, the IoT software controls the systems such that imagery and traffic data collected from the sensors and cameras are communicated to the central management system in the cloud, which is then turned into actionable insights.

Looking back from pre-pandemic to this period (mid-August 2022), how have things changed when it comes to IoT software?

Joanne Wong: The IoT software market has grown significantly over the past few years, in tandem with the accelerating adoption of IoT solutions and devices. While the sector was briefly affected during the pandemic due to a pause in technology spending for certain sectors, it has since regained much of its initial momentum. IDC predicts IoT spending in Asia Pacific to reach US$437 billion by 2025.

Over the years, IoT solutions have become more powerful and efficient, thanks to advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), edge computing, automation and other emerging technologies. Machine learning algorithms, for example, can add predictive capabilities to IoT solutions.

For example, sensors attached to machines in the manufacturing sector can monitor the performance of the equipment and predict when failures and breakdowns will happen. Having access to such information early on allows for the repair or replacement of faulty parts, to prevent wide-scale operational disruptions.

On the other hand, edge computing technology makes IoT devices with onboard analytics capabilities possible. This brings computing as close as possible to the source of data, reducing network latency and relieving network congestion, thus allowing for quick delivery of insights to the end user. On top of that, as personal data no longer needs to leave the individual domain, a lot of data privacy and security concerns with IoT can now be mitigated.

IoT as a service (IoTaaS) offerings have also emerged as a new way for businesses to access IoT solutions. Vendors such as Microsoft are moving towards offering IoT platform management services, which allows businesses to leverage IoT software and infrastructure without having to invest heavily into building the network architecture hardware, purchasing expensive software, or hiring trained personnel to manage the process.

In the period of accelerating digital transformation, which areas of IoT software have gained importance?

Joanne Wong: IoT security has become crucial for organisations looking to successfully implement IoT solutions.  This is because digital transformation acceleration has led to an influx of devices coming online. With the exponential growth in the number of devices now connected to the internet, the attack surface has also gotten significantly larger.

Opportunistic cybercriminals now have more entry points – from insecure connections, and legacy devices to weak digital links – to take control of these IoT devices to spread malware or gain direct access into the network to obtain critical data.

For IoT devices, the risks are doubly high for two reasons. Firstly, IoT devices typically do not come with in-built security functions, which makes them an easy target for hackers. Secondly, IoT devices, especially those that are small or light, can be easily misplaced or stolen. Unauthorised users who have gained physical possession of the devices can easily access your network.

This is also why cybersecurity is now a huge area of focus for IoT devices and software. On the other hand, failure to secure IoT ecosystems could lead to eroding trust in their potential across the organisation, as well as wasted investment costs. 

More technology providers are now adopting the “security by design” approach to IoT hardware and software development, which looks at building security features right from the initial developmental stage.

Cybersecurity platform vendors too are adding specific security features to IoT data collection and storage functions, to safeguard sensitive data flowing between the IoT device and network from unauthorised access.

Which industry sectors in Asia are leading the charge in terms of IoT software adoption and development?

Joanne Wong: With the worldwide pandemic over the past two years, organisations in healthcare are understandably one of the most active areas of IoT development. According to Data Bridge Market Research, the IoT APAC healthcare market is predicted to grow with a CAGR of 30.55% between 2022 to 2029. This applies broadly to the rise in telemedicine adoption and narrowing down to connected specialised equipment, all while accommodating to recent lifestyle changes.

Medical professionals are now able to collect patient data and understand patient conditions, without the risk of large group interactions. Healthcare IoT equipment inherently addresses the areas of shortage in hospitals, where necessary patient care and attention are provided for those in dire need. Additionally, it accelerates and improves access to healthcare services, especially reaching remote areas, beyond the pandemic.

Supply chain management is another sector thriving from IoT adoption. Frost & Sullivan highlighted that almost 21% of logistics companies in Asia currently leverage IoT for their fleet management solutions and this number is only set to increase in the next few years.

Industrial IoT has been the driver for parallel growth in smart manufacturing which includes factory automation, GPS shipment tracking and machine-to-people communications. The ease of data collection and real-time data encourages calculated risk-taking, allowing organisations to maximise opportunities for growth and revenue — more data, and more cost savings. For instance, better forecasting of demand, ship and fleet tracking and better risk management.

What needs to happen for organisations in Asia for us to see greater integration of IoT software in industrial settings?

Joanne Wong: With new manufacturing and smart city initiatives underway, there are numerous opportunities for greater integration of IoT software and the development of horizontal capabilities across industrial settings. This includes predictive maintenance and connected operational intelligence in manufacturing, as well as security and surveillance for smart cities.

However, closing the gaps in IoT security will be key to maximising the potential of IoT across industries and areas of operation. With more devices now connected to the internet, greater interconnection can pose higher cybersecurity risks for these industries.

It is more important than ever that organisations maintain clear oversight across their entire digital supply chain, including their IoT endpoints, to ensure that there is constant monitoring and surveillance for potential threats.

Companies should seek to redefine security ownership within the organisation to improve the management of IoT devices. Currently, IoT security falls under both the security and operations function - which may lead to confusion on whose responsibility it falls under.

At the same time, companies should also ensure that the adoption of security solutions is also compatible with the business needs — adapting to network changes, and automatically detecting, predicting, and responding to real-time threats.

The post IoT software trends in 2023 appeared first on FutureIoT.

The second, and arguably more dramatic, are the nearly persistent cyberattacks against private businesses and the continued operation of critical infrastructure. Nearly all industries are unable to escape unscathed from these attacks.

IoT adoption in manufacturing

Specific to Asia’s manufacturing sector, IDC is projecting continued growth in the integration of IoT technologies into the region’s manufacturing sector.

IDC estimates that in 2020, US$83.4 billion was spent on IoT technology by manufacturers in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) with discrete manufacturing accounting for 60% of spend. Process manufacturing spent more than US$33 billion in the same year.

By 2025, IDC expects discrete manufacturers will send US$88.7 billion compared to US$51.9 billion among process manufacturers. The analyst says manufacturers can profit greatly from retrofitting smart sensors to old equipment because of the insights they can obtain about their equipment

FutureIoT touched base with Piyush Singh, senior market Analyst for IoT Insights, IDC Asia/Pacific to discuss how IoT is trending within the manufacturing sectors of Asia.

Manufacturers, whether in process or discrete, have used instrumentations to get feedback and provide some control over the production line. How can a manufacturer introduce IoT technology without disrupting the production line?

Piyush Singh: Industrial IoT uses a network of sensors to gather crucial production data, and cloud software to transform this data into insightful knowledge about how well industrial activities are run. The primary use case for expenditure was operations, followed by production asset management, maintenance, and field service.

Most of the manufacturers start with pilot testing by upgrading the existing legacy machines with the implementation of various hardware products. Additionally, it is true that replacing a plant entails a lengthy period of machine downtime.

In terms of time, this is frequently unsustainable. In this regard, a refit operation evaluation would be helpful. The most difficult barrier to a retrofitting effort is that a legacy system has machine tools from many manufacturing eras with various connection protocols.

Process control must be carried out manually by monitoring, sensing, estimating, and modifying the machine parameters due to the lack of sensors and actuators.

"Usually, in Asia, the retrofitting is completed in a phased manner wherein one production line is taken for the upgradation to avoid unnecessary downtime in production. Once the transformation of machines is completed in one production line, later the retrofitting of other machines will be considered."

Piyush Singh

Specific to manufacturers in Asia, do you see information security including cyber security, as a priority over production? How has the perception/acceptance/attitude towards security changed over the last five years?

Piyush Singh: The fourth industrial revolution, often known as Industry 4.0, is the logical outcome of the third revolution and is primarily focused on two key elements: the Internet of Things and Services (IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS).

In Asia, retrofitting is not only the key concept of factory automation. Cyber security, data security, and enhanced data privacy are all covered under one umbrella called industry 4.0.

With the growing demand for IoT in various sectors, the demand for robust cyber security is also the need of the hour. Spending on security solutions and services in Asia/Pacific is forecasted to exceed $31 billion in 2022, an increase of 15.5% from 2021 in which almost $2 billion in security spending would be under the discrete manufacturing section, according to IDC's latest Worldwide Security Spending Guide.

Despite headwinds such as looming global recession, geopolitical conflicts, and rising inflation, investments in hardware, software, and services related to cybersecurity are expected to reach US$ 57.6 billion in 2026, with a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 16.4% for the period of 2021-26.

China will continue to be the region's largest market, accounting for more than 40% of total Asia/Pacific* security spending in 2022, with a five-year CAGR of 21.2% during the forecast period. This clearly showcases that the demand for security infrastructure is increasing in the Asia Pacific manufacturing sector.

If you think of IoT integration in the manufacturing process as a timeline, what IoT technologies do you see being deployed over time and what other technologies do you anticipate will follow because of IoT?

Piyush Singh: Most of the downtime and accidents are caused by the wear and tear of machines in many manufacturing plants. By virtualizing the plant and averting high-risk operator occurrences, the retrofitting goal is to ensure predictive maintenance applications.

Remote monitoring and management system, digital connectivity, cloud storage and robotic process control are some of the IoT retrofitting trends seen in manufacturing processes. 

To identify and detect upcoming errors, Deep Learning algorithms and Digital Twin (DT) approaches is something which is being used and have the tendency to grow exponentially in future. Artificial neural networks (ANN) for detecting the tool wear in a CNC machine after retrofitting is a concept which is in great demand in many production plants.

The post The IoT horizon for Asia’s manufacturers beyond 2022 appeared first on FutureIoT.

“The rising ‘Asia for Asia’ approach sets the stage for the growth of supply chain networks in the region, particularly in Southeast Asia and India, and also highlights the critical factors that contribute towards the optimisation of these networks,” said Tim Foster, head of supply chain & logistics advisory, Asia-Pacific at Cushman & Wakefield.

So how to capture that future, FutureIoT spoke to Tim McCain, global business development, digital partner program at Rockwell Automation, for his thoughts on how to be smarter at navigating the new and evolving supply chain.

RECAP: Supply chain visibility has always been important to players in the supply chain. What was different during the COVID-19 pandemic? What has COVID-19 taught supply chain decision-makers?

Tim McCain: Many corporations who spent years establishing extended supply chains with offshore dependencies were disrupted due to COVID shutdowns.

The impact varied by region and industry but the sharp decline in consumer demand and resource availability in certain markets created a “ripple” similar to the supply chain concept of the “bullwhip” effect.

There was a combination of dramatic changes in consumer demand in specific industries and spot closures making nodes in the supply chain unavailable which made planning and forecasting difficult, to say the least.

We’ve seen preventative reactions take shape with organisations reshoring manufacturing and increasing critical inventory. It’s easier to buy more inventory than build new plants, but reshoring of manufacturing is occurring.

The lesson for supply chain decision-makers is that improved supply chain visibility means you have access to more real-time data that can be coupled with investments for enabling resiliency and greater agility to adapt to future disruptive events (ex. forecasting and demand planning tools utilising analytics).

Tim McCain

What is hindering the adoption of traceability technology and practices within the supply chain? What needs to happen for better visibility/control of elements of the supply chain?

Background: The Forrester commissioned the report, Increase Brand Loyalty and Generate ROI with Improved Traceability, revealed that almost half of companies surveyed lost up to 60% of sales income each year due to counterfeiting, while almost 9 out of 10 reported the ‘grey market’ as problematic to them. However, 45% feel that they are prevented from implementing practices that might help mitigate these elements through a lack of a clear path to ROI.

Tim McCain: (Citing the Forrester report) Historically, the catalyst for many organisations to invest was regulatory compliance. Compliance as a trigger leads to organisations seeking compliance at the lowest possible cost.

Many traceability systems are implemented to address a specific need and don’t offer the flexibility to address multiple use cases.

The investments to improve visibility will need to be justified by a combination of use cases that span organisational business functions.

Concerns on integration complexity and ROI to justify upfront non-recurring costs to implement mass serialization and end-to-end traceability are the root cause for organisations not investing faster.

What was also notable from the Forrester survey, while organisations were looking to make a business case to invest, many saw a negative impact on their topline due to counterfeit and grey market activities.

Seems as if a compelling financial justification to invest in serialization and traceability infrastructure could be made for deterring small percentages of the current counterfeit and grey market activities.

For true sustainability to be practised by participants in the supply chain, what needs to happen? What is the relationship between traceability and supply chain visibility?

Tim McCain: A combination of business environment factors such as regulatory evolution, industry standardisation, and organisational discipline will lead to sustainability practices.

New forms of regulation are coming. For instance, publicly traded companies along with the broader financial services industry will see more formalised guidance from the SEC on environmental impact and climate-related disclosures.

Companies shouldn’t wait for regulation because consumer expectations are evolving in parallel. Take as an example the Food & Beverage industry (in the US) where consumers prioritise information on ingredients today but are clearly becoming more ESG conscientious.

Improved transparency will support evolving consumer behaviour and enable supplier trust and brand loyalty. Industry associations like FMI are taking steps to help constituents assess overall transparency and identify specific areas for improvement.

Industry Standardisation on information format (ex. standard barcodes and QR codes) will help reduce the cost of adopting systems to enable visibility. GS1 digital link is an example that will force a certain degree of multi-party conformance but also guide individual organisations on a path to creating the necessary data-generating infrastructure that enables increased transparency.

In the months and years ahead, how should organisations prioritise supply chain strategies?

Tim McCain: We’ve used the terms traceability, visibility, and transparency. Let’s assume the following definitions to clarify where and how these terms apply to supply chain strategies:

Traceability is the means to provide provenance (history) of materials, work in progress, and finished goods along with the actual routes.

Visibility is the means to locate and subsequently plan, forecast and/or predict within the supply chain. This definition includes external entities that are both upstream (suppliers) and downstream (point of sale) of manufacturing.

Transparency means making specific information about the supply chain available to external stakeholders.

Given the dynamic macro business environment conditions, many organisations will see changes in their own supply chain maps (complete picture of all potential actors) or face changes in their role as a supplier to their customers and will need to make investments to ensure traceability and enable visibility.

Tim McCain

Traceability investments can be justified when use cases across multiple business functions are identified and addressed. Depending on the industry there is likely lost revenue to grey market and counterfeit activity that can be recovered.

The investments in traceability enable the data infrastructure to provide visibility inclusive of advanced analytics and (external) transparency.

Transparency will be necessary for supporting ESG-related objectives and regulatory obligations.

The post Strategies to achieving a sustainable supply chain appeared first on FutureIoT.

With maintenance and modernisation of existing equipment expected to exhibit significant growth over time, manufacturers are also focusing on value-added services.

Elevator maintenance, including elevator preventive maintenance, is one of the major tasks involved in elevator service. It involves ensuring that no accidents or breakdowns happen on elevators. Elevator maintenance helps avoid major replacements and it prolongs the life of elevators.

Another issue that has recently come to the fore (driven in part by climate change) is sustainable energy use. With elevators representing 2-7% of the total energy consumed in a building, there is significant scope for improvement regarding energy consumption.

The rise of IoT elevators

The global IoT elevator market is set to reach US$93.9 billion by the end of 2022-2032 with a CAGR of 13.4%, according to Fact.MR. IoT Elevators are proving to be more efficient than traditional elevators in comparison with next-generation elevators.

With a growth rate valued at US$18.4 Billion, in 2022 the hardware demand has boomed significantly in the past few years. Based on the data that is being collected from daily usage of elevators, artificial intelligence is currently being used to assist both operators and mechanical contractors in keeping up with their daily routines and finding ways to better manage the flow of elevator traffic and find ways to prevent problems before they occur.

Challenges ahead

The integration of third-party systems with elevators is expected to become more prevalent as technology develops. Construction companies are calling for efficient and safe technologies in the global elevator market.

Driving the growth is increased urbanisation, including demand for residential & commercial amenities, propping demand for IoT in elevators.

IoT to power innovations

Devices powered by IoT technology can manage big data streams and perform predictive maintenance in elevators.

Birgitta Van den Driessche, TK Elevator’s product and marketing director for APAC, says the pandemic, technology and sustainability have fuelled the innovations of the past few years. She highlights technologies like TWIN elevators operating in the same shaft and ropeless elevators that can move both vertically and horizontally.

When it comes to user expense, she noted that smart and connected elevators not only streamline maintenance but also effectively increase availability levels.

“Through newly developed human and system interfaces, elevators are getting more integrated into building operations. We expect innovations to continue as vertical mobility serves an ever-important role in reducing urban sprawl and improving accessibility, especially in emerging economies in APAC."

Birgitta Van den Driessche

How is elevator maintenance conducted?

Birgitta Van den Driessche: Elevator maintenance is of paramount importance to the safety of passengers, for the same reason it is highly regulated in most countries around the world. Maintenance checks are required to be conducted regularly by certified technicians to verify the integrity and efficiency of mechanical, electrical and safety devices, and to ensure elevator units operate safely and efficiently.

Given that these tend to be operated manually by passengers, how do you ensure minimal disruption to operations?

Birgitta Van den Driessche: Through connected controllers, elevators today work in synergy with advanced group scheduling and calling solutions. These systems optimise elevator dispatching to cater for the needs of different scenarios, including energy-saving, priority service and peak hours arrangement for specific zones/floors.

For example, in multi-car configurations like the TWIN, these systems are together able to increase service availability and optimise energy consumption by parking the unused car during non-peak hours. With the entire operation flow coordinated by digital systems, operations are optimised, and human disruptions can be reduced to a minimum.

How has IoT influenced the preventive/predictive maintenance of elevators?

Birgitta Van den Driessche: Elevator maintenance was performed on a “Break & Fix” basis, usage data of elevator components was not easily accessible.

Recent technological advancements gave major global players an unprecedented edge over smaller and local contenders - with the introduction of elevators connected through an IoT platform and monitored by a host of sensors, and the help of big data, operation insights of thousands of elevators uploaded to the cloud, property owners and managers are now able to integrate predictive maintenance into building operations workflow, and as aforementioned, enable more versatile elevator services.

Talk about the impact of data-driven building operations on the passenger experience.

Birgitta Van den Driessche: The integration of digital mobility solutions and data-driven building operations has changed how people travel within buildings, especially in today’s post-pandemic situation.

On one hand, digital solutions such as gesture, voice and mobile elevator calls enable smooth elevator rides without the need for a single physical touch, on the other hand, digital and centralised elevator dispatch systems shorten queues and wait times by optimising elevator availability according to access and usage data in specific sections of the building.

Real-time operation insights including fall and misuse detection and visual safety based on computer vision and AI technologies will also significantly enhance the safety performance of elevators and escalators.

Can you compare traditional and cloud-based elevator maintenance?

Birgitta Van den Driessche: Cloud-based maintenance is of game-changing importance when it comes to service improvement. In the past elevator maintenance was conducted mainly through visual inspection, technicians were often not able to accurately estimate the usage of elevator components. As a result, when elevators malfunctioned, downtimes were inevitable due to parts availability and time needed for the actual repair work.

With the new cloud-based maintenance approach, in addition to regular visual inspections conducted by certified technicians, we are now able to monitor the real-time operational status of the elevator and its various components, which enable us to perform predictive maintenance on connected elevator units.

Can you share the future development and benefits of building operation platforms?

Birgitta Van den Driessche: Buildings in the future will consist of numerous control systems, a greater scale of integration of these systems will be the way forward.

With next-generation elevators, access control, in-car infotainment, emergency-call, smart maintenance and monitoring solutions, central air conditioning, etc., all working together in synergy, will result in a building that allows tenants and even robots – a new type of elevator users travel seamlessly within a building that is more secure and consumes less energy.

Development of these technologies has matured in recent years, and they are readily available for deployment as new installations or retrofits.

Click on the PodChat player to listen to Van den Driessche’s account on how IoT is further accelerating the adoption of IoT-enabled elevators, and the benefits these bring to both operators and the public.

1. What is new about elevators (particularly since 2020)? – new in terms of features, rider expectations and operator preferences.
2. How is elevator maintenance conducted?
3. Given that elevators tend to be operated manually often by passengers, how do you ensure minimal disruption to operations?
4. Talk to us about the impact of data-driven building operations on passenger experience.
5. How has IoT influenced the preventive/predictive maintenance of elevators?
6. Can you compare traditional and cloud-based elevator maintenance?
7. Can you share future development and benefits of building operation platforms?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Future of connected mobility appeared first on FutureIoT.

The entry of insurtech has also opened new avenues for insurers to market products, in some cases, create totally new offerings in new locations, not possible with the conventional model for marketing insurance.

Concirrus CEO Andrew Yeoman acknowledged that the pandemic has challenged the insurance industry business model in Asia. He commented that COVID-19 has given the industry problems and opportunities.

"It's given us a problem because operating a business where you're we've been predominantly used to doing face to face work, and then trying to do that remotely has been challenging. And clearly, there's going to need to be some investment going forwards in some of that backend office and infrastructure. The very manual methods of perhaps processing policies have been challenged," he added.

IoT-led innovations in insurance

According to the IMARC Group report, IoT Insurance Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027, the global IoT insurance market reached a value of US$20.2 Billion in 2021. The Internet of Things (IoT) insurance refers to a technological solution that collects, transmits, and shares data of the client to insurance companies.

Yeoman acknowledges that IoT is creeping in everywhere. "Everything that we see in touch with seems to be monitored these days. What we're starting to slowly see is that the insurers are building products around that," he added.

"We're seeing it rising everywhere at the same time, both in personal lines and in commercial lines. And really the most exciting part of it is that it gives you some that hyper-personalised proposition so around how you work, how you're behaving and how you're driving."

The value proposition of IoT in insurance

IoT brings with it data not previously available to insurers. Yeoman commented that the data represents the behaviour, in the form of how, where, and when, of the asset. He cited the example of vehicular insurance. Where traditional insurance would mean that the insurer would only have a record of an incident during an insurance claim, embedded insurance describes a behaviour that is a far better indicator of risk than the static factors that have been used previously.

According to Yeoman, from the insurer's perspective, the data that they get from IoT devices will allow for disaggregation of risk. He posited that using data gathered by IoT devices, insurers can price their products and services to the risk profile of the insured.

"The secondary benefit that it also provides is the concept of nudge behaviour. I think that notion of those additional benefits changes our relationship with an insurer from just being somebody that's there, when things go wrong, to somebody that can help me live a healthier life," he added.

Supporting the operations of insurers

Beyond the embedding of IoT into insurance products, Yeoman says insurance companies make their living off managing the risks of the insured. He cited the example of insured vehicles – that under the traditional business model, the insurer has no awareness of where an insured vehicle is at any given time, whether it is on the road or parked somewhere, the road conditions and the driving habits or pattern of the driver.

He posited that the insurer would not know how many risks the insurance company is taking during the lifetime of the policy. IoT quantifies some of these risks and provides a granularity of risks down to the individual policy owner.

Importance of data

To realise that example of automotive insurance, it is important that data from IoT devices are collected and processed according to a pre-defined workflow.

To succeed in integrating IoT into the insurance business model, Yeoman says it is important to have a very clear understanding of what their business model is going to be, how that's going to scale, and how they can adopt such a business model.

He posited that insurers would need to be willing to experiment and be able to adapt to what works for them. "They need to see what's acceptable to their policyholders. And they need to do that quickly. I think the short, sharp, focused experience. What can we learn? We call it fail-fast," he commented.

Managing the unknown – IoT skills, experience, and expertise

Yeoman noted that insurers are used to dealing with data – much of it recorded on paper. With an IoT-led insurance model,

Clearly, if you go in with an IoT enabled proposition, you might take on a new supply chain, you might have to buy hardware, you might have to have connectivity issues in terms of SIM cards or other sorts of network connectivity. And you need a supply chain to then say, both procure those but then get those shipped out or installed with a customer or whichever. I think that in terms of the insurance expertise, depending on the particular business case, and the line of business that going into, clearly, it changes the need of an insurer, what skills they need in that supply chain. My one-sentence advice is, don't build that in-house, just partner with somebody who's an expert in that.

Click on the PodChat player to hear Yeoman's insights and recommendations around how the insurance industry can meet the evolving challenges using IoT.

1. How has the insurance industry in Asia evolved in the last five years?
2. It can be argued that IoT is still relatively new as applied in insurance. Can you cite one or two recent innovations around the use of IoT in insurance?
3. What is the value proposition of IoT in the provision of insurance products and services?
4. There are two aspects of IoT that need to be addressed in insurance: risk management and the other is around data privacy and protection.
   1. How are insurers using IoT to better manage their risks? (insight into behavioural analysis)
   1. In your observation, is the understanding of IoT technology, sufficiently mature around data privacy and protection?
5. How important is having a clear business model to benefit from IoT data? And how can businesses adopt such a model?
   1. What skills, expertise, and experience must an insurer have access to benefit from the use of IoT?
   1. When looking to tap IoT, what questions should leadership ask their CIO/CTO to ensure they are in the right direction and frame of mind?
6. What does Concirrus bring to the table?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Redefining insurance with IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

The March 2022 update of IoT Analytics’ Global IoT Enterprise Spending Dashboard, reveals the IoT market grew slightly slower than the 24% forecasted last year attributing this to factors such as a slower-than-anticipated overall economic recovery, a lack of chipsets, and disrupted supply chains.

North America was the fastest-growing region in 2021 (+24.1%), and process manufacturing was the fastest-growing segment (+25%).

The researcher forecasts connected IoT devices to reach 14.5 billion globally by the end of 2022. IoT Analytics noted the increasing importance of artificial intelligence in IoT projects. It posits that the infusion of AI into legacy applications and advances in AI hardware will boost the Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) – a US$102.2 billion market opportunity by 2026.

Editor's suggested reading: OREM to deploy AIoT at 82 solar farms in Japan

With connectivity a central tenet of IoT, FutureIoT spoke to Sanjiv Verma, vice president of RUCKUS Networks, APAC, Commscope, for his take on where things are headed for the technology in 2022 and beyond.

What are the top IoT trends we can expect to see in 2022?

Sanjiv Verma: IoT will continue to skyrocket, with ongoing strong business investments in IoT. Businesses are looking closely at how they can run their operations better – optimizing shipping, for example – and putting sensors in the right places can help with that effort.

AI and machine learning (ML) use cases combined with augmented reality (AR) will grow rapidly in 2022. Facebook announced a name change and is now orienting the whole company toward the AR-driven metaverse. This AR-driven metaverse will lead to the evolution of commercial use cases for everyday business functions like meetings, sales, marketing, and skills training.

The key purpose of IoT is to collect data. We need AI because as you collect more data you need AI to process that data- you can’t do it manually anymore (think of facial recognition or contact tracing).

Further developments in AI and machine learning will continue to evolve alongside the expanding metaverse, as more complex solutions are needed to make sense of increasing amounts of data derived from emerging applications

When it comes to enabling the IoT and smart things, everything comes back to data. If you think about all the tiny data points involved in something as simple as a door sensor (when is it open, when is it closed, is it locked or unlocked, who unlocked or locked it) and you multiply that by the number of sensor applications (temperature, occupancy, lighting, water usage, etc.), it’s all data that needs to be stored someplace and accessed by an application or user. The infrastructure that makes that work is all in the data centre, where single-mode fibre adoption has accelerated.

Could you share industry-leading use cases and key sectors that are set to benefit from IoT solutions in APAC?

Sanjiv Verma: Key industries where we have seen accelerated adoption of digitized solutions, especially driven by the pandemic, include healthcare, hospitality, and education.

In a physical hospital setting and in remote healthcare services, we are seeing IoT solutions speed up healthcare delivery and build efficiency. For instance, an IoT-based healthcare management system acts as a central platform to manage the registration of patients to assign them wards and beds. In addition, the use of IoT solutions aid hospitals in better allocating resources by monitoring visitors’ movements.

IoT projects: CUHK Medical Centre commits to smart tech in healthcare

When it comes to the hospitality sector, hotels and apartment owners can more easily enhance security and convenience for guests and property managers through remote key card management, energy management and other amenities to improve guest satisfaction and build safer experiences.

Hotels will increasingly adopt a broader range of connected sensors, lights, and devices to provide “smarter” facilities management. The management of such smart facilities could take place through a single integrated network platform, which can enable more precise control of essential protocols like guests’ experiences and staff operations that are also made possible by IoT solutions.

In the education sector, we are seeing smart buildings play an integral role in smart campuses and enhancing operational efficiencies. On- and off-campus networks, lecture theatres, digital classrooms and libraries are modernizing to provide automated services and real-time information by tapping on IoT solutions, allowing students and faculties to be more time- and resource-efficient.

What are some challenges of enterprise IoT adoption and how can we overcome these hurdles?

Sanjiv Verma: While Asia-Pacific continues to lead the world in demand for IoT solutions - the region is expected to account for 48% of global IoT spending by 2023 - many organisations still face a complex, fragmented ecosystem of connectivity standards and siloed devices and services, that often slowed or stalled IoT deployments that are essential to enabling proper integration of emerging technologies. 

For many verticals, siloed IoT deployment is still prevalent. Such a format offers limited opportunities for infrastructure interoperability and requires redundant network infrastructure, additional security apparatus and extensive integration services to work with enterprise partners across the value chain, who might also employ their own disparate IoT systems and networks.

Enterprise networks are becoming increasingly complex by the day, with numerous endpoint devices, new applications and network protocols involved. Successful enterprises adopting IoT will require a single, multi-standard cloud-based architecture that enables more granular control of both IoT and OT networks to improve efficiency.

This approach prevents companies from deploying unnecessary resources for specific devices, and aggregate and backhaul traffic. Instead, the provisioning, management, and securing of networks are simplified through convergence. Immediate and evolving requirements from increasing network density and applications can also be easily supported as well. 

The post What lies ahead for IoT in 2022 appeared first on FutureIoT.

Aquaculture or fish farming involves interventions in the rearing process to enhance production, such as regular stocking, feeding, and protection from predators.

Allied Market Research forecasts that the global aquaculture market size US$378 billion by 2027, registering a CAGR of 5.8%. Since 2019, Asia-Pacific has held a leading position in the global market and is expected to maintain this dominance in the future. 

Singapore has set an ambitious goal of producing 30% of its nutritional needs locally by 2030 in a bid to achieve food security. While ‘Agri tech’ may be looked upon as the answer to raising yields quickly, the aquaculture or aquafarming industry has been slower in its digital transformation. It continues to rely heavily on labour for simple operations such as fish feeding and water quality monitoring.

GK Tay, general manager for ISDN Group, notes that compared to other manufacturing sectors, which have embraced technologies to increase production and overcome space constraints, the aquaculture sector in Singapore has been slower in its digital transformation.

Hurdles to the modernisation of the aquaculture sector

According to Tay, one of the chief hurdles that the industry faces is the apparent skills gap. He acknowledges that local farmers are struggling to keep up with the pace of digital transformation and require upskilling or retraining to use existing or new technologies for fish farming confidently.

He also believes that faced with challenges, some beyond human control, some farmers may not be convinced and prepared to sink in funds to invest in technologies, as the return on investment is volatile.

“Digitization of the aquaculture industry requires collaboration between various experts, which can be challenging to coordinate,” he opines. “Farmers will have to extend communication with aquaculture experts, scientists, and even technology providers like us. Interdisciplinary collaboration is needed, which may be too much for farmers to handle – especially with the shortage of resources and bandwidth.”

Commercial adoption of new concepts

Singapore is not short of ideas on new ways to innovate the aquaculture sector. Singapore’s National Water Agency, PUB, issued the Global Innovation Challenge, aimed at realising ideas to transform into a Smart Utility of the future.

However, Tay reckons that for any concept to be adopted commercially, it must be sound and proven. He acknowledges that companies like ISDN Group, or other institutions, need to go out into the field and work closely with the farmer to understand their use cases and requirements. These concepts and solutions must be able to work in a real-world setting.

The other issue is affordability. Farming tends to be a very practical profession, with down-to-earth people, who are accustomed to simple living. Technology draws concerns around the practicality, cost and return of investment.

“We need to ensure that the solution is affordable, especially in the agriculture business, where margins aren't high,” says Tay.

He concedes that funding support is available from the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to help local farmers adopt technologies and innovation. However, the follow-on challenge is creating awareness of the availability of such funds and encouraging farmers to apply for them.

Not limited to aquaculture

Tay acknowledges that some of the technologies developed for aquaculture can be applied to other disciplines and industries. Technology is just an enabler.

He cites the example of concepts like IoT, Cloud, remote monitoring, artificial intelligence, and data analysis. These can be applied to other use cases by changing the parameters.

The overall aim remains the same - to improve productivity and drive operational performance. Hence, collaborations between partners like AVEVA, Stratus, and ISDN and institutes of higher learning such as Temasek Polytechnic are crucial in driving the adoption and awareness of these technologies across multi-industries,” he elaborates.

Angling for ESG

Aquaculture is seen by some as the answer to the call for sustainable production of aquatic products to meet the rising demand in Singapore, and the world, for seafood. The OECD forecasts that the ocean economy will grow at twice the rate of the mainstream economy by 2030.

With livestock farming under scrutiny for its environmental impact – reported by some to contribute up to 25% of total global carbon dioxide emissions, aquaculture may provide the answer to what some are saying is a dwindling supply of wild stocks against the backdrop of overfishing.

In a recent AVEVA survey of 850 global C-suite leaders, 92% of respondents listed sustainability as their company's top area of focus for the next three years. Furthermore, 89% of the respondents have committed to improving their business practices to tackle some of the climate changes.

Tay concedes that industrial business has a very adverse environmental impact, making sustainability a critical priority.

“To minimize the impact, industry leaders must have a strong understanding of the scope of the problem. Sustainable solutions may be a very global and complex problem and, if not solved today, may become even more detrimental for many generations to come."

GK Tay

“With technology, issues like productivity, efficiency, and affordability can be improved. Technology also enables businesses to track their progress and reduce production and chemical impact on the environment. Industry vendors will need to step up and chip in innovative ideas and solutions to minimize adverse environmental impact while maximizing their business potential,” he concludes.

Click on the podchat player and listen to Tay elaborate on the role of IoT in supporting a sustainable and safe digital-able aquaculture industry.

1. Describe the state of digital adoption in Singapore’s aquaculture sector.
   1. What are the immediate benefits of introducing technologies like IoT?
2. What are the top three hurdles in the digitization of the aquaculture business?
3. Looking at the concepts showcased at the Industrial Innovation Challenge, what needs to happen for the commercial adoption of these ideas?
4. Can the concepts and technologies developed be applied elsewhere?
   1. Who should drive it? How will be marketed to the right parties?
5. With ESG a growing priority, how do you see technology being applied to create sustainable practices?
6. What does ISDN Group bring to the table?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: How technology supports sustainable development appeared first on FutureIoT.

Industry 4.0 is the latest revolution in the manufacturing landscape fuelled by the integration of production machines, wireless connectivity, and sensors – all linked to a system platform ecosystem that oversees the whole production line process and executes decisions autonomously.

Smart manufacturing promises to transform businesses and achieve significant value by leveraging the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), cloud, and analytics solutions.

According to Simith Nambiar, practice lead, emerging tech APJ at Rackspace Technology, manufacturers in the region are asking how they can drive operational efficiencies within the factory by getting better insights from the data produced by the various machines, predicting machine failure, improving the quality of the products, reduce defects.

Nambiar claims that 95% of the data produced on the manufacturing floor today is unusable.

“There is a lot of value in unlocking this data from the factory floor as it provides the manufacturer with real-time actionable insights to reduce downtime, improve quality across the manufacturing line. Strong leadership and a clear vision are key to any digital transformation journey,” he continued.

How can organisations use connected products to build new revenue streams and enhance customer experience through real-time, cloud-powered intelligence?

Simith Nambiar: Device manufacturers are increasingly connecting their products, not only to provide value-added services to the customers but also to create new revenue streams and business models. Connecting a device to the internet requires experience. Device manufacturers have a skill shortage when it comes to cloud-native development as well as the security of the device.

You mentioned the proliferation of data and protocols on the production floor. As companies look to introduce IoT on the floor, how does data from IIoT empower manufacturers to gain insights from their fleet of distributed devices to enhance operations?

Simith Nambiar: For customers in both manufacturing and mining, where industrial IoT is widely being adopted, downtime within their factories of plants can lead to millions of dollars lost every year.

The issues customers want to tackle are to prevent failures, breakdowns, downtime, minimise risks. The first step in the journey towards a smarter factory or plant starts with the collection of data from factory floor equipment and the generation of key metrics which can lead to actionable insights.

This is known as the Data Liberation phase. The next phase is to look at data for advanced use cases like predictive maintenance and anomaly detection using machine learning.

How does the adoption of IIoT help Singapore achieve its Manufacturing 2030 strategy of growing Singapore's manufacturing sector by 50% of its current value?

Simith Nambiar: Singapore needs to develop its competitiveness through its ability to innovate quickly produce higher-value products by not lowering the costs of production or labour. Singapore will also need to ramp up its efforts to create better job opportunities locally and to create a highly-skilled workforce that can be used for advanced manufacturing use cases.

It can be done through the adoption of industrial IoT and cloud to automate, predict and innovate effectively to truly achieve industry 4.0.

Click on the PodChat player to listen to Nambiar’s take on how manufacturers can realise the promise of smart manufacturing with IoT.

1. What are some digital transformation challenges faced by manufacturers in 2022?
2. How can organisations use connected products to build new revenue streams and enhance customer experience through real-time, cloud-powered intelligence?
3. You mentioned the proliferation of data and protocols on the production floor. As companies look to introduce IoT on the floor, how does data from IIoT empower manufacturers to gain insights from their fleet of distributed devices to enhance operations?
4. How does the adoption of IIoT help Singapore achieve its Manufacturing 2030 strategy of growing Singapore's manufacturing sector by 50% of its current value?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Realizing the promise of smart manufacturing with IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

It is estimated that 1.5 billion IoT breaches occurred between January to June of 2021, most using the telnet remote access protocol, used by network admin to access and manage network devices remotely.

Kamal Brar, vice president and general manager, Asia-Pacific and Japan, Rubrik says the proliferation of unsecured (or less than enterprise-grade secure) IoT devices connected to the enterprise make them great entry points for ransomware and malware attacks.

“Depending on where we're talking about in terms of the IoT devices, the nature of the devices and the complexity of the ecosystem, it varies, but it's an obvious place for everyone to go look at, given the simplicity and the fact that it's so integral to our lifestyles,” he added.

Identity of Things

According to Brar, the identity of things relates to the verification or validation of a trusted device. Within an IoT environment, this ranges from a simple environment involving a single IoT device to a very complex one involving multiple IoT sensors working together to operate a large domain.

“The identity of things or identity of IoT refers to how we authenticate, verify and trust a device on the network, whether it is doing what it is designed to do, for example controlling a process in a manufacturing environment,” he elaborated.

He added that having that validation or the trust in that device is critical. It that sensor is compromised, for example, then it becomes difficult for that system to operate.”

He cited the Colonial Pipeline incident in 2021 where the billing system infrastructure was crippled by a ransomware attack. While the company could continue to pump gas, it was unable to bill customers forcing the company to shut down the operation until the ransom was paid.

How and where threat actors hijack IoT

According to Brar, there are three areas where an IoT-focused attack can occur.

One, the IoT device are forcibly encrypted and therefore the company is unable to control these devices.

The second is along the communication channel. A compromise can occur if the communication channels and/or protocols that the IoT device uses to communicate are hijacked, for example, a denial of service or spoofing of the network, then the company again loses access to the infrastructure.

The third is the hijacking of the data that the IoT captures. “If you're using credentials to connect between the sensors and a central, for example, a database, then you're potentially compromising the application security layer,” he explained.

Can zero-trust be applied to IoT?

At the core of the zero-trust principle is trust no one, always verify. This means that even if someone’s identity has been verified already, that credential is ignored when the user accesses the same application or data in the future. Zero-trust requires identity verification each time a request to access the network, data or application.

IDC acknowledges that IoT can very easily become the weak link or entry point for attacks in any organization – just ask the people at Colonial Pipeline, meatpacker JBS, even Verkade, a Silicon Valley-based security as a service provider.

IDC says extending a zero-trust framework to IoT deployments can enhance security and reduce risk, but it is an enterprise-wide strategy that requires a complete understanding of all IoT systems on the network.

Brar concurred adding that with zero trust, you are always in the process of reconfirming (validating identity and rights) – always!

He however cautioned that contextual information is necessary to ascertain the authenticity of identity.

“For example, if you're in multiple zones on how those IoT devices operate together, to provide an operational outcome, you want to understand the contextual information on what those devices are doing, to being able to have that outcome,” he explained.

He goes on to elaborate that: “If I'm having a three-phase deployment across my power generation, I want to understand exactly which parts or which zones of those devices are actually functional to do, what parts of that delivery of three phases, so I can really understand the blast radius, or the impact, potential impact that ought to have if I was compromised.”

The third element is around automation – specifically, how quickly to recover from a potential threat or exploit.

“If you think about the IoT devices, because the configuration management is large, and it's complex across the general environment, depending on how big it is. That's an area where many customers get it wrong,” laments Brar.

Applying behaviour analysis to IoT

Brar acknowledges that the approach to security varies from company to company. Some focus on the perimeter, others on application hardening data security.

He posits that from the behaviour standpoint, what you want to look at is end-to-end. Is there a way to capture how this device or how this potential workload or payload behaves from point of entry to potentially how it interacts with the application or how that information flows between all the systems and relevant network interfaces?

Click on the PodChat player to listen to the full dialogue with Brar and his recommendations for better securing IoT in the enterprise. 

• What makes IoT devices a valuable target for threat actors? 
• How does the Identity of Things play a role in protecting IoT devices? 
• How do threat actors exploit IoT devices through the Identity of Things? 
• What makes zero trust crucial for protecting IoT devices?
• How can behaviour analysis detect threats in IoT networks?
• What makes Rubrik an expert on IoT security?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Zeroing in on securing IoT in 2022 and beyond appeared first on FutureIoT.

Vishnu Andhare, a consultant with the Information Services Group (ISG), believes that IoT (IoT) digital twin technology will continue to mature rapidly because of the demand for this technology across many industries as well as the remote needs required by pandemic workforces.

With the integration of IoT into the enterprise comes the potential for cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Ian Lim, field chief security officer, Asia-Pacific at Palo Alto Networks, offered his perspective on where IoT is headed and how securing IoT needs to step up or catch up with IT security.

Major enterprise IoT trends in Asia for 2022

Ian Lim: We see private 5G gaining popularity as people capitalise on its low-latency, high-bandwidth capability. Organisations will be looking into overlaying a private 5G network to facilitate their future use cases.

Another major IoT trend will be digital twins, which is the concept of having a virtual version of a physical object. This creates the need for better connectivity with 5G technology so that any physical changes can be synced in the virtual model in a responsive and near real-time manner.

State of IoT Security in Asia

Ian Lim: The latest IoT security survey from Palo Alto Networks found that nearly all (96%) respondents reported their organisation’s IoT security needs improvement. Part of the reason is due to lack of visibility at scale because IoT falls in the grey area between security teams and operation teams. Organisations need to define their security ownership for better management and visibility over IoT devices.

Another challenge is the knowledge gap between security tools and IoT technology. For example, there are still very few tools that can interpret 5G traffic, so the tools themselves are not ready to protect an organisation from IoT attacks.

IoT use case in Asia where security needs to be addressed early on

Ian Lim: The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) has been leveraged heavily during the pandemic and is likely to stay. Handling IoMT devices means dealing with a patient's private data and physical health, so there can be severe ramifications if IoT data is compromised.

The entire lifecycle of IoMT architecture needs to have embedded security to ensure it is secure by default. The IoMT network should also be segmented and secured with visibility, monitoring and response.

Left out in securing enterprise IoT

Ian Lim: People should be aware that many IoT devices are not secure by design. According to another IoT report by Palo Alto Networks, over 50% of IoT devices are vulnerable to medium- or high-severity attacks, making them low-hanging fruits for attackers.

The next aspect is visibility. Many organisations often don’t know all the devices that are plugged into and lack understanding of any attacks targeting them and how they can remediate the attacks.

The third question is the tug and pull of “who owns securing IoT”. Organisations should start defining IoT security ownership and promote collaboration between security teams and operation teams. Security teams will be responsible for defining strong security standards, while operation teams will need to comply with these standards and provide feedback on what works and doesn’t.

IT-Ops working together

Ian Lim: These teams should align around four common goals: visibility, context, control, and response.

Organisations need a toolset that can automatically scan all IoT devices for visibility. Then, they need the context of what the device is by understanding its functions and vulnerabilities. Machine learning can help to build knowledge of the ecosystem at large. Next is control – organisations need to identify if a device is segmented and under a specific protocol. These rules lower the probability of attacks as access is limited. Lastly, response – systems that can automatically respond to threats gives us the ability to orchestrate a response swiftly.

Key trends in IoT governance

Ian Lim: Within Asia, we are looking at regulating IT manufacturers. We want to be able to see more devices that are secure by design, hopefully using government regulations. There’s also another area where we hope to see actions from governments, which is the architecture and infrastructure these IoT devices live on.

Key trends in Persona-based IoT

Ian Lim: Some general examples include Alexa, Siri and Google Home. Persona-based IoT is use case-based as it fits in some cases and not in others. When you align a persona with an IoT device, it’s much easier for people to understand and associate the IoT device.

Key trends in sustainability initiatives around IoT

Ian Lim: We need to be conscious about how we use energy, maintain our environment, and treat waste. Because of the proliferation of IoT, billions of devices are going to come online. We need to have a very strong strategy around sustainability because of its big numbers.

Key trends in IoT-as-a-service

Ian Lim: Much like how anything can be provided as a service nowadays, we may have companies that capitalise on their understanding of a device at scale in future. Take security robots as an example, instead of having every single organisation know how to manage those robots, it makes more sense for them to outsource the management process to an IoT-as-a-service provider. However, there are also IoT devices that are very specific to manufacturing plants and factories and will require specific in-house knowledge for managing them.

Click on the PodChat player to hear Lim share his perspective on how to improve the security of IoT.

1. What are the major enterprise IoT trends in Asia in 2022?
2. Please describe the state of IoT Security in Asia in 2022.
3. Can you cite one or two emerging IoT applications/use cases in Asia in 2022 where security needs to be addressed early on?
4. What often gets left out in securing enterprise IoT?
5. How should CIOs, the CISO and the IT team work with operations to improve the overall security of the entire operation?
6. Coming into 2022, what are the key trends to expect on the following topics:
   a. IoT governance
   b. Persona-based IoT
   c. Sustainable initiatives
   d. IoT-as-a-services

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Securing the enterprise IoT in 2022 appeared first on FutureIoT.

Each ‘accident’ would equate to downtime for the entire production line which would, in turn, lead to delays in delivering the final product to customers. You can imagine the behind-closed-door meetings trying to figure what happened and how to avoid similar incidents in the future.

The true cost of downtime

Alain Dupuis, VP Industrial Development at UnaBiz acknowledged that nothing is ever simple when it comes to estimating the cost of downtime.

“It varies greatly, from a minor annoyance to catastrophic proportion. What is difficult to evaluate is the rippling effect of one downtime over a whole process. Sometimes a small downtime can have severe consequences down the line,” he elaborated.

Those were the days when rudimentary controls were the prevailing technology, and any automation would be prehistoric by today’s standards.

Persistent downtime

Advances in IoT and industrial automation have evolved to the point that today there is a potential to significantly improve efficiency and safety through predictive maintenance.

However, Dupuis pointed out that very few aspects are currently addressed by technology.

“It is still a long way before we have implemented across it the board. There is a major cost involved to cover all the aspects and despite the best advancements in technology AI cannot do everything so it will never be 100% foolproof,” he added.

Understanding the AI equation

Given all the technology innovations, particularly the injection of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology into the production facility, for example, why do downtimes still exist?

For Dupuis, the most important action item is developing a proper digital model of a business operation through the interaction of all the processes involved.

“Then run AI through this model fed by real-time information from IoT nodes to detect bottlenecks early and balance the load between processes to remove potential showstoppers and streamline the operations. After this, use the AI to work on improving the processes themselves,” he continued.

He cautioned that one of the issues with AI is that it needs examples of failures to define what success is. For example, in predictive maintenance for a water pump, the AI needs to know what are the signals that say that the pump will break.

“Not many businesses will want or can afford to break something just to make their AI work faster and better. So, the implementation of AI in most cases can be a long process before reaching its effectiveness,” he opined.

To AI or not to AI

The quest to modernize a production line is not as simple as introducing new software. Any changes will incur costs such as a planned downtime while the new technology is being introduced to the process and the people that need time to learn to use the technology.

Dupuis highlights the very first challenge – complexity!

This is the paradox of modernization: the more you try to simplify the process, the more sophisticated the technology needs to make it happen.

“For AI to work you need a lot of things to be put into place. AI is kind of the last thing you will add when you have already a strong data collection system only when a massive amount of data is collected over time, can insights be drawn, and Machine Learning and AI come in.

“For this, you need IoT to be implemented at a massive scale. Then, you need it to relate to the enterprise IT system. This requires a lot of dedication and know-how which often companies do not have internally and with little external consultancy available for help,” he added.

Dupuis raised the second thing is cost. “All this complexity requires a heavy investment, in capital and human resources. The third aspect is linked to the second, a lack of confidence regarding the return on investment. AI is still a very new thing, and it is often difficult to measure the potential benefits,” he said matter-of-factly.

Questions to ask

Because everything involves an investment – whether it is time or resources – there should be sufficient understanding about what is involved and how it will impact people, processes and the business.

Dupuis agreed that people need to be honest with themselves in looking at the major pain points that affect running their business. He suggested going about this along with a comprehensive risk analysis.

“What needs to be put forward are those with either high recurring occurrences and/or with potential major destructive effects. Then focus on the top pain point and risk and start with this,” he continued.

He explained that this will limit the expenses and maximize the ROI. Only then to approach this effort using both Agile and Design Thinking methodologies.

“Do not look at it as a one-off effort but as a continuous work where improvements will be made along the way through refinement of the model and with the integration of new services as you will be answering more pain points and risks along the way,” he continued.

According to Dupuis, the question they need to ask themselves is: ‘Are we ready and willing to commit to digital transformation?’

“When it comes to selecting their service providers, they should avoid vendors pushing ready-made "universal" solutions even if they look like good deals at first glance. They want to choose a service provider that is listening to them and offering a tailored service because they know that every business is different. Never forget that this is going to be a very long-term work relationship,” he concluded.

The post AI-based maintenance – keeping production moving appeared first on FutureIoT.

Operational Technology is less understood and only with the adoption of IoT, and more importantly, the attacks on infrastructure critical systems have the issue of securing OT become a point of contention starting with those is responsible for IT-OT or OT-IT converged systems.

The implication of convergence to business

Richard Farrell, Eaton Asia-Pacific director for Cloud, Data and Digitalization, is quick to remind us of what constitutes information technology (IT) comprise of servers, storage, switches, routers, and software.

He goes to remind us of that operational technology as what is typically associated with facilities or commercial buildings, power generators, chillers, lighting systems, as well as SCADA software systems.

Is it convergence or integration?

Most discussions involving both IT and OT tend to use the term convergence. So, when FutureCIO asked Farrell for his opinion, he acknowledged that ‘integration’ is not something he is asked on the subject. He conceded that convergence has become a buzz term, losing its meaning in the process.

For Farrell, the discussion is more than just the technology itself. He believed that it is about bringing the two, IT and OT, together. It is also about the people that have traditionally been associated with each technology.

“To make that convergence is to bring these people together for governance and cultural purpose to have a common purpose. The integration for me is probably more on the technical side of things. How do we integrate our IT and OT systems? How do we integrate those and how do we converge teams to work together?” he opined.

Influence of 5G on IT-OT

At a compound annual growth rate of over 46%, Farrell says 5G is one of those technologies that are ‘smashing the IT and OT worlds together’. He opined that 5G is an enabler of the growth of IoT.

“Think about what the Internet of Things is. It's a bunch of sensors that are gathering data and transporting that data to the internet. It is transporting back and forth, whether it be in the storage, back to the sensors, lots of lots of information, you know, coming in. The transport mechanism is 5G. And because this 5G is super quick, that's going to transport even more masses of data,” he continued.

He is quick to remind that the growth is not exclusive, not strictly IT or OT or IoT or Industrial Internet of Things – as both benefits from the connectivity that 5G enables.

“You are going to find that a lot of the information that is used in IT systems is going to be used to operate more efficiently, the Operational Technology systems. And vice versa, all that data we're getting through the Internet of Things, and 5G being an enabler, is going to send all the information back to IT networks works as well,” he elaborated.

He believes these things are going to be smashed together, but it's going to be IoT and 5G that are rapidly, rapidly growing in the region, which is going to be the enabler for this.

Holistic IT-OT cybersecurity programme

Asked for his recommendation on best practices for a holistic IT-OT cybersecurity programme, Farrell suggests a better approach is cybersecurity lifecycle service. It is not about fixing the problem only once, and it is fixed forever.

“We strongly advocate having a lifecycle service, meaning regularly assessing and auditing physical and virtual networks,” he added. He was emphasized that network is one network as IT and OT are interconnected today.

“If you do an assessment, you can do asset management checks –checking what is physically and virtually connected to your network. It is having somebody who knows how to do this, comes out, sniffs around your network, walks around your facilities, and with the help of the local IT and OT teams map out all those devices virtually and physically that are connected,” he elaborated.

You don't know what you don't know!

He also advocated thinking like a customer.

“The last thing you want to do is suddenly start to think you are having an attack or denial of service attack, and you have no idea what device is being affected, or where it is originating from. So, the simple thing first - know what's connected to your network, physically and virtually,” he reiterated.

“What does a customer want? Customers want everything as a service. They want everything to be cloud-based. They want it to be accessible 24/7. They want to have zero security risks when they do it, and they want to know who is accessing the data, and they want to know what to do with that data,” he continued.

Assume that the customer can see the data, will it help them make facilities operate more efficiently? How does this attach back into the IT world?

“The reason we say everything as a service is because at the end of the day, anything as a service is going to live in the cloud, and it's going to have security vulnerabilities, right? If we look at just one, just something in isolation on the OT network, or something in isolation on the IT network, we're not looking at everything. So, look at everything as a service in there, and how that affects the organisation,” he explained.

Lastly, he believes that best practice is about people and psychology.

“It is a mixture of convergence and integration. You want one team that is working together for one goal. Whether you have operational people sitting in your IT team, or IT people sitting in your operations team, whichever way it may be – you have got to have the right governance in place,” he explained.

Having the right culture – of ‘us’ and not ‘them’ in place will be important in this IT-OT connected world.

“As these technologies integrate more, and they converge more, as well, there is probably not going to be an IT person. There is probably not going to be an operations person. They are just going to be the network security people in general,” he concluded.

Click on the PodChats to listen to Farrell offer his expertise and opinion on IT-OT convergence.

1. What is IT-OT convergence? What are the implications for businesses?
2. Should it be considered IT-OT convergence or IT-OT integration?
3. How has the growing adoption of 5G and IoT technologies led to the convergence (integration) of IT and OT systems?
4. How should these be connected to the IT systems be secured?
5. Please name 3 best practices for a holistic IT/OT cybersecurity programme?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Securing IT-OT convergence appeared first on FutureIoT.

The paper claims that Smart Destinations require this smart management as well as the integration of the stakeholders’ value-chain throughout the entire process. In this process, IoT has a crucial role in enhancing the experiences of tourists, managing the destination more efficiently, and offering a channel of information exchange.

Sanjiv Verma, vice president, Ruckus Networks, APAC from CommScope, acknowledged that personalised guest experience remains at the top of the must-achieve for guests. That said, following the prolonged, there is a greater focus on sustainability.

“From the hotel properties side, they are looking into how they can improve the operational efficiencies when they're delivering these services,” he opined. At the same time, there is pressure on these businesses to improve asset utilisation, so they have a better return on capital.

According to Verma, IoT devices are used to improve facilities management by deploying sensors to regulate conditions such as temperature and air quality in tooms. “If somebody left the door open in the balcony, rather than the AC running, (sensors) can turn the AC off automatically so that there is much better conservation of energy,” he suggested.

He conceded that one of the biggest challenges here is the integration of operational technologies (OT) with information technology (IT) – so that you have a single network where you can optimise your cost and efficiency, he continued.

In addition, IoT can also be used to ensure both the security of guests and staff.

He suggested that if a guest room is accidentally left open, sensors can inform hotel management of such and assign staff to check out what has happened and take appropriate actions.

Verma is quick to remind that with more connected devices the more complex the ecosystem becomes, and the more important cybersecurity becomes.’

“Any kind of connected devices poses the same risk as IoT devices will. Those that can be leveraged to make sure that when guests are in the hotel, their information is protected, their payments through the card system are protected and things like phishing attacks can be protected. A lot of this stuff is treated in the same way as an enterprise network. We need to make sure that those tools are in place and that the customer can be protected from all these attacks,” he suggested.

Improving IT-OT connectivity

Verma commented that the reality is that businesses maintain multiple networks that operate in silos. He acknowledged that some hotels are working to improve efficiencies by merging networks.

The (merger) process starts with a consolidation of network protocols with the intent of merging the OT and IT on a single platform.

“There is software like “SmartCell Insights” which are labelled, which can give you a common dashboard and will be able to provide all the visibility from various IoT devices that allows you to manage them from the control centre,” he elaborated.

Click on the PodChat player and listen to Verma go into details about how the hospitality industry, one segment of the Tourism and Travel industries, can take advantage of IoT to move into the digital economy.

1. How will the hospitality industry shift in the next few years in a technology perspective in terms of streamlining processes and ensure hotels operate more efficiently?
2. Beyond the current IoT implementations in hotels, what are the other ways hotels can leverage IoT to increase efficiency level in building maintenance and what are the potential challenges they might face?
3. With hotels adopting more advance security systems (for entire property and individual guestrooms), how do we ensure that they will not be bypassed by a third person?
4. With travel slowly restarting, what can hotels implement to boost travellers’ confidence within the property, while at the same time allow hotels to ensure safe distancing and have sufficient health & safety protocols in place?
5. You mentioned the need for OT to work with IT for better network efficiency. How do we bridge the divide between IT and OT to maximise value for the business and experience for customers?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: How IoT brings the hospitality industry to the digital economy appeared first on FutureIoT.

When Kevin Ashton first coined the term “Internet of Things” back in 1999, his primary intent was for IoT’s use in retail operations. Today, IoT applications have gone beyond retail and into industrial and commercial use.

Companies and industries are looking at carbon footprint reduction activities as a mainstream initiative that forms a significant part of their operations and their businesses.

In a report published by Ericsson, the use of IoT has the potential for reducing emissions by as much as 63.5 gigatons by the year 2030, should all industrial sectors participate. IoT is destined to be an enabler that will help industries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and increase their energy efficiency.

FutureIoT spoke to Mehal Shah, Global Business Head, TCS Clever Energy, on his perspective on the integration of IoT technology to improve energy management and energy emission as a result.

Click on the PodChat player and listen to Mehal offer a candid look at the drivers for zero emissions and the role of IoT in realizing these aspirations.

1. Why the increased interest in carbon neutrality and improved emission management?
2. For an effective use of IoT to attain zero carbon goals or better emission management:
   1. What KPIs (milestones) should be put in place?
   1. Who should comprise the team to oversee the planning, execute and management?
3. What are the challenges that organizations will face as they plan and execute the above?
4. Can management monetize carbon neutrality and emission management initiatives? (can you cite example)
5. What are your expectations around carbon neutrality and emission management going forward (keep IoT in the frame)?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Using IoT to make the world a greener place appeared first on FutureIoT.

According to Gemalto, another worrying stat, 48% of businesses admit that they cannot detect IoT security breaches on their network. Nearly half of the companies that use IoT can’t identify when their network is compromised. As more businesses invest in IoT technology, we can only hope that this number decreases.

According to Pieter Danhieux, the co-founder and CEO of Secure Code Warrior, an average building will have air conditioning, automated doors, surveillance cameras – many running on IoT systems. In the agriculture business, tractors, measuring devices and rainwater stations also run IoT.

“In homes today, you will find IoT in Christmas lights, door locks, etc. IoT has infiltrated both enterprise and our personal lives, which is a good thing because it allows us to do many, many great things. But it could also be a very scary thing,” he commented.

State of security in IoT devices

Danhieux opined that when manufacturers build IoT devices they don’t think that these things would be exploited. He argued that manufacturers are under pressure to build these devices at the lowest possible cost and deployed them quickly.

“People don’t think about the potential threats we could face with some of these IoT devices, whether it is hardware or IoT software development kits (SDKs). The vulnerability could be in how the IoT communicates from within the network,” he added.

His point was that it's a very complex environment. “I think, and not many people, when they are building those devices are thinking about all the different problems that can go wrong, around IoT security,” he continued.

In the IoT manufacturing space, everything needs to be minimal. This may mean a lack of processing power to do proper cryptography. “Those are the trade-offs that manufacturers make. Some cannot do remote updates, remote patching of firmware vulnerabilities. It is stock firmware that never changes even though it [may have] weaknesses in it,” Danhieux elaborated.

Buyer beware

At the personal level, there is increasing awareness and concern about device insecurity. Danhieux believes the same should apply to enterprises. He noted that very often the IoT network is separated from the IP network and managed by a different group.

He warned that IoT can still be used as a launchpad for attacks. He cited the Mirai botnet that exploited vulnerabilities on software development kits of some 83 million IoT devices.

“I do think both from an enterprise, we should ask the right questions to the manufacturers. I think from a personal life perspective, as well, we should make sure that manufacturers of IoT devices, that there is a level of responsibility they take around building secure devices, rather than just building a device and getting it out there,” he opined.

Key considerations for revisiting security for infrastructure

Danhieux recommends scanning and testing networks for vulnerabilities. This includes all devices connected to the network, regardless of age.

The next step in the process is determining whether it makes sense to build layers of defences into the infrastructure. Can device manufacturers update the firmware of these devices? He recalled that some of these devices could be 20 to 30 years old.

He recalled that 20 years ago, enterprises were dealing with web application securities. He now sees those same vulnerabilities appear in IoT devices today. Things like remote command injections and buffer overflows are well-known problems but are now appearing in the IoT world.

Skills gap

Danhieux warned that looking for a security expert that knows IoT may be a problem. It is a very specialist role, and there are very few firms around the world that focus on IoT security, including at the network, data, and software layers.

He acknowledged the skills can be developed in-house.

“Developers can be taught to write securely at the data and software layer. Network security architects and security engineers can be tasked with assessing the network component. You might find somebody that can work with physical devices to assess the physical side,” he continued.

“But to find it all in one person inside an enterprise. I think it's almost impossible. That's probably a security expert. You need to hire for that. You can kind of split them up in the different layers of your organization.”

Pieter Danhieux

Ownership of IoT security

Danheiux acknowledged that ownership of IoT security remains a philosophical issue. Internet Protocol (IP) security people normally do not care about the security of buildings.

“However, at the end of the day, if it is a threat to your business, if it can damage your enterprise, if you could damage your reputation, does it matter which C level person in the company takes ownership of it? He queried.

He opined that at the end of the day, it is a business risk. It doesn’t matter which C letter is responsible. Not covering it [security] is the big problem, he concluded.

Click on the PodChat player and hear Danhieux talk about the state of IoT security in Asia.

1. Let’s frame our discussion first: where can we find IoT technologies in a typical enterprise in Asia?
2. What are prevailing misconceptions about IoT security?
3. From your perspective, should leaders be concerned about IoT security?
4. Where should senior leadership begin the discussion of IoT security?
5. What should be the key considerations for revisiting the security of their IoT infrastructure?
6. What about the skills/know-how around IoT security? Do we hire or outsource?
7. What preconceived ideas should leaders set aside when discussing IoT security?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: State of IoT Security appeared first on FutureIoT.

In the movie “Sleepless in Seattle” Jay (Rob Reiner) asked: “What do they call it when everything intersects?” To which, Sam (Tom Hanks) responded without so much as a thought: “The Bermuda Triangle.”

For decades we’ve been shown the possibilities of humans working together with robots. Since the 1970s, humans have been deploying robots to help at work. In the 2017 article, Automation, Robotics and the Factory of the Future, McKinsey partner, Jonathan Tilley opined that in the next five to ten years, however, we expect a more fundamental change in the kinds of tasks for which robots become both technically and economically viable (Exhibit 2). Here are some examples.

Exhibit 2

Source: McKinsey

The next evolution of robotics – the human equation

“Fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic is increasing demand for robotics in warehouses and distribution centres,” said Dwight Klappich, vice president analyst with the Gartner Supply Chain practice.

A collaborative robot, or cobot, is a type of robot intended to physically interact with humans in a shared workspace.

Should employees fear the entry of cobots into the workforce?

James McKew, regional director Asia-Pacific at Universal Robots, believes that cobots are not a threat to human labour, they help to enhance the quality of production and the ability for humans and robots to collaborate.

How do we address the lingering fear that robots will replace human workers?

According to McKew, it is natural for people to fear robots since many have seen robots replacing humans. But the vision that Universal Robots was founded around is ‘Empowering People’ and shifting from ‘people working like robots’ to ‘people working with robots.’

“The purpose is to guide people who are capable of managing production processes and get them to show how robots do the dull, dusty, monotonous and non-creative aspects of production processes.”

As human workers are worried about job security during this uncertain time, what steps can be taken to assure them that cobots will not replace them?

One of the earliest visible impact of the pandemic is the closure of factories and operations. McKey argues that the beauty of what cobots can do in the current pandemic situation is to allow factories to get back to production.

“We talk about the situation where migrant workers are not allowed entry to Singapore. In this case, cobots provide a unique opportunity to get factories back into production,” he added.

He explained that cobots allow the production workers to start mastering robotics and training cobots to do the dull and monotonous jobs that talented and dexterous humans should not be doing.

With the deployment of cobots, what kind of new jobs will be created?

McKew sees robot cell operators taking the place of human-machine operators.

“For instance, 10 machines can be tended by several robots and the person who put the parts in and out of the machine initially, is now the person who is managing all those cobots.”

“They program them, optimise them, and determine if there are more creative ways that the cobots can be used to enhance production output,” he continued.

Is it safe for human workers to work alongside cobots?

McKew believes that a key differentiator between a cobot and a robot is just that – the ability to work alongside humans.

“Cobots are designed to be human-friendly, they have systems onboard that can detect humans and do not have to be caged.

“Cobots will not hurt humans whereas industrial robots may. They are easy to use, easy to program and lightweight. In fact, even operators with limited programming skills can become cobot programmers,” he explained.

How do you see human-cobot collaboration evolving?

According to McKew, Universal Robots is on a journey to shift humans who are working like robots to humans mastering robots themselves.

The opportunities are immense for countries to resume production. The pandemic has taught countries that strategically sourcing away all production is not actually very strategic.

“Cobots along with talented manufacturing workers provide companies with massive opportunities for efficient reshoring in the post-pandemic world,” he concluded.

Future trends

ABI Research cautioned that onlookers should not think of collaborative robotics as a replacement for industrial robots, but as a parallel technology development that will eventually converge.

Innovations like advanced machine vision, improved localization, haptic sensors, and superior mechatronics are all allowing cobots to become faster without neglecting safety. Strategic advances in 5G, cloud robotics, and edge-enabled AI will make the performance of multiple collaborative systems superior.

“This will gradually allow for the development of cobots that have the advantages of industrial robotic arms, while retaining the benefits of current collaborative systems, including ease of use, ROI, re-programmability, low footprint, and flexibility,” concluded Rian Whitton, senior analyst at ABI Research.

The post Collaborative Robots: help or threat? appeared first on FutureIoT.

Gartner says organizations implementing IoT are increasingly focusing on the business outcomes of the technology. IoT initiatives are no longer driven by the sole purpose of internal operational improvement.

The bad news is that this expanding universe of applications of IoT in industrial, government, consumer and commercial is drawing the interest of cybercriminals recognising a burgeoning opportunity.

From the Mirai Botnet (aka Dyn Attack) of October 2016 to the discovery of hackable cardiac devices at St. Jude Medicals in 2019 to the hacking of a Bluetooth speaker that allowed the criminals to eavesdrop on a CFO’s private conversation, the threat is real, and it is now.

The why of IoT security

Beng Hai Sim, head of Technical Sales at ESET, Asia Pacific, defines IoT security as the act of securing the IoT device and the network it is connected to.

“The interconnection of IoT poses a significant challenge for organisations due to the serious security risks posed by unmonitored and unsecured devices connected to the network. The need to think about security on a daily basis has never been greater, especially given that the number of internet-connected devices is expected to grow at an exponential rate,” he added.

Bots: the who/what of IoT security

Sim said IoT botnets are a type of malware that commonly targets IoT devices. He explained that IoT devices that have been compromised by bots are frequently used as communication channels to other compromised devices in the network known as botnets. Unpatched vulnerabilities may also exist in routers to which the IoT devices are connected.

Citing ESET telemetry, Sim revealed that ESET scanned nearly 200,000 routers during the first four months of 2021 and discovered that over 2,200 of them had at least one known vulnerability. The most common type of router attack is distributed denial of service (DDoS).

DDoS attacks affect 70% of organisations polled on a monthly basis.

IoT security starts here

Echoing a security industry theme, Sim says cybersecurity is a shared responsibility.

From an IoT security perspective, he says the CISO has the responsibility to educate employees on cybersecurity awareness training.

Beyond regular training and continuous awareness, he suggests that when purchasing IoT devices, organisations should first select a well-known, dependable IoT device provider who is likely to be around in the long term. This ensures that the manufacturers will be able to provide patches and fixes to the IoT devices in the future in a timely manner.

“It is crucial that the IoT devices that they have selected are secure by design, with security being a key goal at all stages of product development and deployment,” he added.

The reality of IoT security

Sim acknowledges that not everything can be secured immediately!

“Given that there are so many IoT devices out there, it is unrealistic to consider the security design of every single IoT device, but businesses can look at cybersecurity infrastructure and techniques to reduce risk,” he opined.

He recommended adopting the Zero Trust security model requiring all users, both inside and outside of an organisation's network, to be authenticated, authorised and continuously validated for security, configuration and posture before being granted or maintaining access to application and data.

He also suggested network segmentation as a useful approach to isolating IoT devices from other network systems.

“A simple analogy I’d use is the current pandemic situation, where we enforce social distancing to minimise the spread of the Coronavirus,” he continued.

According to Gartner, utilities will be one of the highest users of IoT endpoints, totalling 1.37 billion endpoints in 2020.

An expanding universe of applications

“Electricity smart metering, both residential and commercial will boost the adoption of IoT among utilities,” said Peter Middleton, senior research director at Gartner. “Physical security, where building intruder detection and indoor surveillance use cases will drive volume, will be the second-largest user of IoT endpoints in 2020.”

Building automation, driven by connected lighting devices, will be the segment with the largest growth rate in 2020 (42%), followed by automotive and healthcare, which are forecast to grow 31% and 29% in 2020, respectively.

In healthcare, chronic condition monitoring will drive the most IoT endpoints, while in automotive, cars with embedded IoT connectivity will be supplemented by a range of add-on devices to accomplish specific tasks, such as fleet management.

Click on the PodChat player and listen to Sim describe the why and some options for securing the Internet of Things.

1. Define security as it relates to the Internet of Things?
2. What some of the most common vulnerabilities in IoT devices found in enterprises?
3. Why is it important for organisations to pay attention to securing IoT devices?
4. Who is responsible for securing IoT devices in an enterprise?
5. What should organisations do to secure their IoT devices?
6. Is it realistic to think that we can secure all the 50 billion IoT devices connected out there?
7. It’s been said that remote work has accelerated IoT further. What is your advice to organisations today as regards securing known devices and protecting against the unsecured unknown?
8. What should enterprises look for when it comes to security solutions to address IoT devices in the network?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Securing the Internet of Things appeared first on FutureIoT.

McKinsey notes that as IoT become easier to implement, it will open the door for wider adoption by enterprises spanning industry, business focus and even the size of the organisation.

IDC forecasts IoT investments to grow at 13.6% per year through 2022.

To be clear, IoT is not limited to smart devices such as wearables and smartphones. IoT can be found in climate control, traffic systems, medical practice and even in education. At issue is given the disparity in the device use and the extent to which these connected devices have intelligence built into them, how do you keep the enterprise secure?

Vulnerabilities that come with IoT

The case of a major bank heist in Asia of a few years back was brought about by the discovery by cybercriminals of an old router in the bank’s datacentre. In that instance, the router – an IoT device – had unpatched firmware which made it vulnerable to hacking. And that was what happened. But Jonathan Jackson, director of engineering, APAC at Blackberry, is more worried about another element that more current generations of IoT technology can do, and are doing in some use cases, and that is the capturing and storing of data.

That IoT devices store data is not a new or novel thing. Our smart devices, phones, watches, headsets and earpieces, are all IoT devices and many store data. Jackson says it is the storing of data and information which has an impact on consumers with regards to their data, and obviously, their privacy.

IoT and consumer IoT devices have found a place in our home network. This has, according to Jackson, effectively become a big problem for enterprises during the COVID situation where everybody is working from home.

“It now means that the home is becoming a new kind of makeshift enterprise. And that is a big challenge for enterprises, who are struggling with an expanding threat footprint, trying to protect data and devices, and assets and people.”

According to Jackson, this has the spillover effect of an acceleration in threat actor activities.

“They (threat actors) have now got multiple avenues for an attack at their disposal. Previously, everything was protected by an enterprise in a powerful set of security controls and measures. But suddenly that has been eroded and taken away overnight because now everybody is suddenly accessing corporate information and accessing data on an unsecured potential home network. And that is a big problem for a lot of companies out there today,” he surmised.

What’s with the Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme

The Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) has launched the Cybersecurity Labelling Scheme (CLS) for consumer smart devices, as part of efforts to improve Internet of Things (IoT) security, raise overall cyber hygiene levels and better secure Singapore's cyberspace.

Under the scheme, smart devices will be rated according to their levels of cybersecurity provisions. This will enable consumers to identify products with better cybersecurity provisions and make informed decisions. The scheme hopes to become an incentive, in and of itself, for device manufacturers to develop more secure products, even as they respond to shorter time-to-market cycles.

According to Jackson, Singapore’s CLS is along the lines of other frameworks such as in the UK. He lauds the effort and says it will give consumers insight into the potential protection and the security controls that are provided. It will also identify which manufacturers are taking security seriously.

“We know that IoT devices are usually created with – from a consumer perspective – to be functional, capable, very productive devices – just get things done with slick UI and design. Often security is not even thought about. If it is, it needs to be bolted on right at the end. And that is a big challenge. Initiatives, like CLS, are going to help to address consumer confidence in IoT devices that are coming into our homes and enterprises,” he commented.

IoT in the WFH – a CIO/CISO concern

Jackson noted that in Australia, homes typically have different smart devices connected to a flat network. With people now working from home, that same home network now has access to corporate data.

One technique that may be deployed in WFH environments is micro-segmentation – a technique used in data centres to create logically distinct security segments down to individual workload levels and define security controls and security services for each unique segment.

Here Jackson brings the idea of zero trust – making sure access to data and networks is limited to only authorised devices, and that those devices go through the authentication process each time a request is made.

Highlighted by the FBI as an IoT best practice, Jackson acknowledged that implementing zero trust is a big challenge for organisations today, especially in this COVID-19 world that we are currently living in.

He warned that threat actors are actively looking for opportunities with the least resistance, and unfortunately, some IoT devices present unsecured open opportunities to the internet – a way to backdoor into a home network that has corporate data on it. The Mirai botnet attack is an example of a threat.

Cyber hygiene – real of hoax

Asked whether people understand the idea behind cyber hygiene, Jackson skirted the query instead commenting that people should understand the data and privacy implications of the information that they are sharing. They should also understand the vulnerabilities that exist on unpatched systems, on unmanaged devices where there are no security controls, he added.

He alluded to the digital detox which involves a review of cyber hygiene and cybersecurity practices.

“It is taking stock of what has access to what information, where is your data being stored, how it is being encrypted, who has access to information and what will happen if an organisation or device or system or cloud environment is breached,” he explained.

For him, it comes back to zero trust.

IoT responsibilities

Jackson says IoT device manufacturers must take the security aspect of the devices they make seriously. These devices now store information, they have data traversing the cloud with data stored somewhere. Manufacturers must look at a security-first approach to software engineering, what Jackson calls industry SDLC (software development life cycle) – a set of measures to make sure that security is built into the products they are delivering from the start and is not bolted on afterwards.

For CIOs (and CISOs), they need to have the assurance that the devices that are being used by the consumers in their home or even in the enterprise, must meet a minimum standard set of security capability and requirements to ensure that corporate data is secured at all times.

“And that is a big challenge today for organizations. But things like this initiative from Singapore with the labelling scheme is a great start to be able to bring security front of mind to both manufacturers of IoT devices as well as organizations and consumers who are utilising these devices today,” he concluded.

Click on the podchat player to listen to Jackson as he candidly discusses some of these vulnerabilities and ways around protecting both edge and core.

• Let’s start off with what does BlackBerry have to do with IoT?
• What vulnerabilities are we seeing with consumer IoT devices and what kind of spillover effects could this have in a work-from-home world?
• What is your take on the Singapore governments Cybersecurity labelling Scheme?
• How does the scheme help in tackling the problem of hacking and cybersecurity in the IoT ecosystem?
• How do you see CLS contributing to the overall cyber hygiene levels of end users?

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: Securing edge, core and everything in between appeared first on FutureIoT.

If you consider that things are working ok, businesses continue to move forward, why indeed change.

The reality, he continued, is that businesses have been disrupted. Customers want better experience. Things need to happen in real-time.

The good news is that organisations are not short on data to help them transact business and do analysis.

The bad news is that the data does not move as fast as the business, and customers, need it to be to meet the paradigm of instant expectation.

He proposed that to unlock its value, data needs to be set in motion as event streams. “As information flows you are able to do interesting things,” he suggested. Citing analysts like Gartner, he commented that the value of data, including events and information, diminishes over time.

“Decisions made closer at the time the data is created have the highest value,” he explained.

The imperative to set data in motion becomes even pronounced in the world of Internet of Things. Devices and sensors are increasingly being adopted into enterprise processes to capture data at the point of creation to enable faster and more accurate information gathering and decision-making.

He cited the case of a supply chain that as it becomes digitized, expectations are for the cost will go down, the business to become more agile and customer experience to improve.

Click the video link here to watch Puri’s full presentation at the APACIoT vSummit.

The post APACIoT vSummit 2020: Creating better customer experience with Enterprise IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

During the COVID-19 crisis, body temperature checks are routinely done in confined public places such as malls, restaurants, markets, factories and offices. The most common places to measure body temperature are the mouth, ear, armpit and rectum.

People hoist their palms or put their foreheads to a scanner for quick reading. But just how accurate is this approach remains a bone of contention. And given how the body’s temperature can change within the day during the onset of an infection, is there a better way to monitor one’s body temperature and be apprised of the changes?

While hearable technology has mostly been associated with auditory applications, other applications including connecting to smart assistants and providing health status are moving mainstream. One company, Hong Kong-based Well Being Digital (WBD101) is using multiple light sources, including infrared, to capture biometric data and convert it to usable information.

According to Kow Ping, executive director and co-founder at WBD101, which makes his company’s approach different are its patented application of multiple sensors.

“When applied at the ear, this technology results in the world’s smallest and most accurate bio-sensing earbuds,” he added.

Research firm, MarketWatch, noted that healthcare applications accounted for the largest share in 2017.  The evolution of technology allows people to measure heart rates and other parameters such as body temperature, blood pressure, pulse oximetry, electrocardiogram (ECG), electroencephalogram signals, and others using various smart hearable devices available in the market.

Companies in this market also started offering new capabilities in hearables to the elderly and other patients. These hearable devices also help manage specific health conditions and disease states.

Ping acknowledged that WBD101 is itself undergoing clinical trials of some of its products in the region, including non-invasive diabetic sensing. It is also continuing R&D efforts to finetune its technology around blood pressure and cholesterol sensing.

Click on the PodChat player above to listen to Ping as he shares his views and understanding of the wearable and hearable technologies and marketplace.

1. Let’s start off with a 30-second elevator pitch of who is Well Being Digital?
2. In your view, how has COVID-19 impacted the wearable industry?
3. Specific to hearable technology, what are the current innovations around it?
4. Are there any industrial or commercial (not to be confused with the consumer) use cases for hearables today?
5. Beyond these (#2/#3) applications/use cases, what can we look forward to in terms of ideas being considered in R&D labs?
6. As a business, what remains a major challenge for hearable tech companies to get traction across a broader marketplace?
7. What are your expectations for the hearable marketplace in 2021 and beyond?

ResearchAndMarkets forecasts the global hearable market to grow at a CAGR of 11.7% from 2020-2025. The report noted that a hearable is “a remote in-ear computational earpiece. Basically, you have a smaller scale PC that fits in your ear trench and uses remote innovation to supplement and improve your listening knowledge. Numerous hearables will likewise include extra components, for example, heart rate observing.”

Ping commented that consumer awareness remains a key challenge for the industry. WBD101 itself partners with other brands like JBL, Philips, TCL and Hera Leto One, to incorporate its technologies into consumer products.

Sensors in wristbands and earbuds just collect biodata. What you do with this data is where the value is.

“The wristband doesn’t tell you what to do next. Do you speed up or slow down? Should you rest because your blood pressure is going up? We are going beyond just recording those biometric data, we are working on AI to analyse this data and advise you on what to do next,” he elaborated.

The post PodChats for FutureIoT: WBD101 and hearable trends in 2021 appeared first on FutureIoT.

As the world turns to greet 2021, Forrester warns of big network connectivity chaos ahead. At the same time, it sees the Internet of Things (IoT) as helping companies and employees transition to a smart working environment as they return to the office – even if we still don’t know when a full return to the office becomes real.

In this episode of FutureIoT, we speak to Justin Chiah, senior director, South East Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong/Macau at Aruba for his views on IoT in the workplace of the future.

Smarter, safer workplace

Justin Chiah: The two goals that I talked about – improving efficiency and creating the right experiences are critical. There are a plethora of new IoT devices coming out particularly in the manufacturing space.

Conditional monitoring and predictive maintenance are two critical functions. Typically, when you look at the lifecycle of production floor equipment, you don’t really find problems at the start of the lifecycle of that equipment. What happens is that when the equipment depreciates, problems will only start to appear.

What if there is a way for smart sensors to understand equipment deterioration only as and when it is needed, and you apply the resources accordingly. Therefore, you create a lot more efficient approach to that – so that is a concept that is prevailing across how IoT can help in the workspaces.

Challenges for integrating IoT with IT

Justin Chiah: Operational technology (OT) remains as a domain of the OT team so to speak. What has changed is because we want to make it addressable – an IT addressable factor to it.

There is an issue in the handover – there is a need for any IT systems, networks, in particular, to really not create two bifurcated networks – one that allows for a network that is intelligent enough, secure enough so that we can bring in IoT networks as part of our day-to-day functioning of IT systems. That’s critical.

If you look at IoT, one of the greatest issues or concerns for a lot of people is the attack surface area. Because IoT typically was never designed for security in mind. It is always designed in a sense to collect data. And sometimes, what that means is that the onus in making sure that the devices are secured on the IT side of the network layer.

Questions C-suites must address with IoT integration

Justin Chiah: If you look at IoT, there are a lot of productivity benefits if we are talking about efficiency and creating better experiences. One that needs to be done is called a reassessment. How can you have the right framework and paradigm to deal with the reassessment better? That means a couple of things: First, these are complications and the load they have on the IT teams.

Second, is the concern around security: “How do IoT devices come in?” Because you've heard many unfortunate headline-grabbing exposes that come about from a wrongly provisioned or ill-intended IoT device that was compromised.

Third, the portion is that IoT is supposed to bring about a lot of new changes on productivity, but it also should be incorporated in an improved workflow for the IT teams as well. The concern around or the ability to automate some of the more menial tasks to help IT teams who need to administer the IoT devices in the workplace to really focus on the outcomes rather than the menial day-to-day groundwork.

During the PodChats for FutureIoT dialogue, Chiah shares his opinion on the following key issues:

1. In the context of IoT, what is Aruba all about? (edge to cloud, intelligent edge)
2. How do you make the workplace smarter while saving operational costs?
3. What are the challenges faced by IT as organisations look to put a structure in the use of IoT in the workplace?
4. What would be the top 3 questions leadership need to ask before deciding to install IoT in the workplace?
5. COVID-19 – how do you implement processes that would protect the health and safety of employees while protecting the privacy of staff?
6. What are the essentials/tools that they should be focusing on and how do these intersect with IoT?
7. What are the other innovations we can expect as organizations embrace hybrid workplace?

Click on the podchat player above to listen to his responses in full.

The post Podchats for FutureIoT: IoT and the workplace of the future appeared first on FutureIoT.

At the show, the spokesperson commented that in the future Bridgestone does not want to be a tyre company but a solutions company. He acknowledged that Bridgestone is proactive and more digital solutions, focusing on extending the mobility of vehicles, increasing the efficiency of a fleet, as well as vehicle safety by making tyres smarter.

Asia is home to 60% of the world’s population. With or without the effects of COVID-19, there is a need for effective mobility.

COVID-19 may have stalled Asia’s economies, but as China has shown, governments and industries will find a way to kickstart economies – the world moves on.

Bridgestone Corporation is a Japanese multinational auto and truck parts manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan.

FutureIoT spoke to Yoshikazu Shida, chief executive officer & chief operations officer, Bridgestone Asia Pacific, on the direction the automotive industry is taking as it positions itself to come of the current pandemic-crisis and return to normalcy.

Briefly describe the current scenario of the APAC automotive tyre market.

Yoshikazu Shida: The region’s automotive tyre industry is currently defined by three overarching trends - changing consumer preferences and habits, incorporation of technology solutions such as Internet of Things (IoT) and AI, as well as the unprecedented impact of COVID-19.

Asia-Pacific has experienced rapid economic growth and urbanization leading to shifting consumer needs and preferences. With the burgeoning middle class, we are seeing higher rates of vehicle ownership across the region.

Consumers are also largely demanding more environmentally friendly products as climate change becomes a key focus, and this has translated into the automotive industry as well. Governments in Southeast Asia are pushing for EV initiatives now more than ever as a more energy-efficient and cost-effective transportation mode.

Increased usage of IoT and AI technologies has also brought about the evolution of Connected, Autonomous, Shared, and Electric (CASE) vehicles to Asia-Pacific. Autonomous cars are expected to grow to 24 million units in the region by 2024.

This movement towards autonomous operations has a significant impact on the tyre industry, as the tyres manufactured for these vehicles will need to be equipped with enhanced performance, technologies such as sensors, smart diagnostics and advanced safety systems.

At a global level, CASE has been a key priority for the Bridgestone Group, and we have continuously been developing new innovations and offerings to meet consumer’s evolving needs in this area.

Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has also taken its toll on the Asia Pacific economy, impacting local businesses and households. There are also the implications on the supply chain, manufacturing and business operations, should a second or third wave of infections take control.

As such, we expect the decreased output and shrinking spending power to have some impact on the automotive sector as well. However, despite these impending concerns, we’re hopeful that countries such as Singapore, Taiwan and China have had some success in containing the virus. China's auto market also recently took the lead in the global recovery, with positive month-on-month growth for four consecutive months since bottoming in March.

Can you describe what digital transformation is to Bridgestone?

Yoshikazu Shida: As the automotive industry is evolving towards CASE and Mobility as a Service (MaaS), Bridgestone is accelerating its digital transformation journey through the use of innovative technologies and a Group-wide value chain.

Our recent Mid-Long Term Business strategy signalled the start of a new chapter, positioning 2020 as “Third Foundation” or “Bridgestone 3.0”, which marks the ongoing transformation and evolution of our offering beyond tyres and diversified products to include advanced mobility and solutions.

Bridgestone 3.0 has been guided by the principle that there can be “no value creation without digital transformation (DX)”. We are transforming our business operations to focus on solutions and integrating innovative technologies to meet the needs and expectations of the next generation of drivers.

As part of this, we continue to develop our solutions business through our unique platform of Bridgestone Tire and Diversified Products as a Solution (Bridgestone T&DPaaS). The strategy is a combination of products and services such as Bridgestone’s Global Service Network and digital technologies. Most recently, we have also launched a new tagline “Solutions for your journey” to signal the company’s evolution towards being a global leader in Sustainable Mobility and Advanced Solutions.

An example of Bridgestone’s foray into digital solutions is our first-of-its-kind type of tyre sensor, called the Smart Strain Sensor. The Smart Strain Sensor technology incorporates the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to help measure the strain that occurs when a tyre makes contact with the road while in motion.

The Smart Strain Sensor can record data even at low speeds, which makes it an important differentiator for autonomous vehicles which are expected to operate at lower speeds for enhanced passenger and pedestrian safety.

We’re leveraging our solutions business to improve resource productivity by combining the real and digital worlds to deliver integrated products, services and service networks that utilize tyre and mobility data.

To weather the storm and navigate the road to recovery, the industry needs to adopt a long-term strategic view and adapt to the new normal. That can mean assessing the role of digital tools in maintaining customer engagement in the wake of social distancing or investing in innovative mobility solutions to drive resilience and maintain business continuity in a disrupted industry.

What existing technologies have been crucial to executing this digital transformation?

Yoshikazu Shida: Bridgestone’s passion for innovation drives us to continually push the boundaries of what is possible and develop real and digital solutions to co-create new value and solve the problems of today, and tomorrow.

We have focused on leveraging data-based solutions that make fleet operations more effective and efficient. For example, driven by our acquisition of TomTom Telematics last year, IoT has created a tremendous business opportunity for Bridgestone’s fleet sector customers.

Renamed Webfleet Solutions, the acquisition will support Bridgestone in gaining valuable vehicle and tyre operating insights from an 860,000-vehicle strong user base communicating with 200 million data points.

These insights will support our fleet sector customers by helping them maximise fleet performance and minimize costs, all while ensuring sustainable and efficient mobility through digital intelligence drawn from tyre and mobility data. This can help contribute to increased vehicle uptime and extended tyre lifespan.

As a Bridgestone CEO for China and Asia-Pacific, what remains your biggest challenge in the region you oversee?

Yoshikazu Shida: The China and Asia-Pacific region has always been an important and key growth-market for the Bridgestone Group.

In this region, we supply our products across more than 20 countries. Bridgestone’s globalization begun in the Asia Pacific region, specifically in Singapore when the first overseas plant was established in 1965.

The Bridgestone brand has since grown from strength to strength, and today we are a leader in terms of market share and brand awareness in most of the countries in Asia-Pacific. The region is home to two of our leading R&D centres, which produce ground-breaking tyre solutions for our customers.

We currently employ over 20,000 employees across 35 offices to facilitate this large and growing market. While we continue to invest in the region, the biggest challenge we face is effectively managing its diversity.

China and the Asia Pacific is a heterogeneous region, with each market presenting different levels of economic and infrastructural development, regulatory frameworks and customers with varying needs.

It is critical that our teams on the ground demonstrate a deep and nuanced understanding of our customers across different cultures and business operations. Beginning with our first overseas plant in Singapore in 1965, we have cultivated strong relationships and have intimate knowledge of our customers’ business.

This enables us to support their growth ambitions, anticipate their needs and understand their challenges.

How has COVID-19 impacted your supply chain and distribution business in 2020?

Yoshikazu Shida: The impact of COVID-19 on our supply chain has been significant across all aspects of the value chain. First and foremost, because safety is our top-most priority, we took necessary precautionary measures to ensure the health and safety of all our employees.

Through rigorous management procedures and the collective efforts of our teammates - from manufacturing through to logistics and retail – we were able to adapt to the circumstances and manage the situation effectively.

One of the challenges that we faced was ensuring the continuity of supply and making sure we had sufficient inventory (or alternative sources) in case certain suppliers would be forced to stop their operations as a result of COVID-19.

Considering the drop in demand was rather sudden, we had to adjust supplies and lock in orders for raw materials a few months in advance than we typically would. Besides rescheduling deliveries, we also employed creative practices to store the increase in direct material inventory across our existing warehouse, minimizing and optimizing cost expenditure in the process.

Another obstacle that we had to face was a few instances of temporary port closures, where we incurred additional demurrage and detention charges as we could not always turn round our containers fast enough.

However, due to our strong existing relationships with the ocean freight carriers and visibility of our supply chain, we were able to make necessary decisions to balance supply and demand and minimize the financial impact.

We quickly learnt that agility in times of crisis is key to our success. Thus, we increased the frequency of our Integrated Business Planning (IBP) process and incorporated flexibility in plans. For instance, we took advantage of the reduced demand and brought-forward plant maintenances by a few months, ensuring that we would be ready when volume returned to normal.

That said, we were already primed to manage such crises as a result of our regional manufacturing and supply strategy, which was implemented many years ago. With this know-how, we were able to continue to operate efficiently and did not lose a single order due to COVID-19 related supply issues.

What do you see are evolving opportunities for Bridgestone? What are the emerging technologies Bridgestone is looking to deploy to capture these opportunities?

Yoshikazu Shida: As a global leader in the tyre industry, Bridgestone is ahead of the curve in developing products and solutions that cater to the ongoing transformation of the automotive industry.

Electric Vehicles (EV) adoption is expected to contribute 58% – over half – of new passenger car sales post-pandemic and amount to 31% of the global car fleet by 2040 according to research from Bloomberg’s NEF.

That will translate into a shift in tyres, which will need to be structurally reinforced to cope with this additional load caused by battery packs in EVweb

while maintaining low rolling resistance to maximize fuel efficiency.

With the rise of EV-driven tyre demand and the increasing requirement for companies to integrate sustainability across all aspects of their operation, there are many evolving opportunities for Bridgestone as a sustainable solutions company.

For example, we collaborated with our long-term partner Volkswagen to bring ground-breaking lightweight tyre technology to their new all-electric ID.3 vehicle.

The environmentally friendly ENLITEN Technology enables tyres to have a super low rolling resistance to help conserve battery power. Battery power is also conserved by the fact that tyres with ENLITEN Technology are lighter, requiring up to 2kg less raw materials to be created.

These factors deliver significant environmental benefits – perfect for a vehicle created with sustainability in front of mind.

We also see significant opportunity to develop advanced solutions in the mining sector to meet our customer needs and deliver social value.

Our revolutionary MasterCore off-the-road (OTR) tyres are engineered for ultra-high durability with a performance that can be customized to various mine sites and operations.

In June 2020, we also acquired iTrack – a provider of tyre management solutions for the off-the-road vehicle market. iTrack's tyre pressure monitoring system captures accurate, real-time tyre data and live vehicle location-tracking information. The acquisition strengthens our complete solutions portfolio for mining customers around the world. As a global solutions provider, we are focused on creating new value for our customers by delivering tyre and mobility-related data that enhance their operations.

As the tyre market continues to evolve, the industry must adapt to disruption and changing consumer behaviour – or run the risk of being left behind. We are always looking for ways to implement cutting-edge technologies to promote innovation through business model development and across the value chain.

The post How Bridgestone is innovating smarter mobility appeared first on FutureIoT.

When you consider that some devices like smart TVs, fridges, and air conditioners are now connected to the internet, IoT security cannot continue to be an afterthought.

The risks are real

In 2019, incidents, threats and vulnerability disclosures outside of traditional enterprise IT systems increased and pushed leading organizations to rethink security across the cyber and physical worlds. Emerging threats such as ransomware attacks on business processes, potential siegeware attacks on building management systems, GPS spoofing and continuing OT/IOT system vulnerabilities straddle the cyber-physical world. Organizations primarily focused on information-security-centric efforts are not equipped to deal with the effect of security failures on physical safety.

To what extend should organisations worry about IoT security (or insecurity) and can one continue to ignore what is right in front of them?

Sean Duca, vice president and regional chief security officer, Japan & Asia Pacific with Palo Alto Networks, commented: “After all, it’s a device connected to the internet, runs software and more than likely was not able to be securely updated, had rudimentary authentication (default username and password) which in this day and age, makes for a perfect target for cybercriminals.”

The risk of continued ignorance is that we have a plethora of devices which are connected to the internet which can easily be compromised for nefarious activities. As we become more dependent on these devices and the networks they sit on, they can be used to prevent us from using our own systems and access what is needed.

Asked whether IoT insecurity is driven by ignorance or avoidance, Duca sees it more of the latter.

“The least path to resistance has been an approach used by many before. IoT security is important as we have just crossed the point of 8 billion connected devices in 2019 and it is expected we will have 41 billion connected devices in 2027, now is the time we need to make change occur as the problem will be a lot harder with an exponential increase in the number of devices,” stressed Duca.

The key starting point is to have visibility.

“If an enterprise cannot see what is connected to their network, they will not be able to do something about it. It starts with visibility as it will allow you to then be informed to segment what is critical from devices and systems which may comprise an organisation’s risk posture,” concluded Duca.

Recap

Earlier, FutureIoT cover the issues in an earlier post. Below is a recap of the issues as published on "Cybersecurity risks loom over medical wearables and kitchen appliances"

Tanner Johnson, senior cybersecurity analyst at Omdia, said traditional networks are ill-equipped to handle the surge in adoption of IoT devices.

“Device behaviour baselines need to be established to allow for new recommended policies to help stop malicious activity. For instance, it would raise a flag if a connected thermostat started transmitting gigabytes of data to an unfamiliar site,” said Johnson.

Survey findings

In a new report commissioned by Palo Alto Networks revealed that heart monitors, kettles and exercise bikes and other connected devices are found to be regularly connecting to corporate networks in Hong Kong.

Overwhelmingly, 91% of Hong Kong respondents report a rise in the number of IoT devices connecting to their networks over the last year. One red flag emerged: 31% of respondents said they need to make a lot of improvements to the way they approach IoT security, and 37% said that a complete overhaul is needed, amounting to more than two-thirds of those polled.

“Devices that employees innocently bring onto an organization's network are often not built with security in mind, and can be easy gateways to a company’s most important information and systems,” said Wickie Fung, managing director, Hong Kong and Macau at Palo Alto Networks. “To address that threat, security teams need to be able to spot new devices, assess their risk, determine their normal behaviours and quickly apply security policies.”

One in five of those surveyed reported that they have not segmented IoT devices onto separate networks – a fundamental practice for building safe, smart networks. Only 21% reported following best practices of using micro-segmentation to contain IoT devices in their own tightly controlled security zones.

The post Gaping holes in IoT challenging security teams appeared first on FutureIoT.

It can be argued that the proliferation of protocols – BLE, LoRa, LTE-M, NB-IoT, SigFox, and ZigBee to name a few or the lack of one unifying standard, has limited the wider applications of the technology.

With the arrival of 5G, this may be yet another impetus to accelerate greater use of IoT – if a solution can be found that doesn’t require new capital investment to replace legacy IoT sensors and devices while taking advantage of new generations.

One answer may be in the form of IoT-as-a-Service (IoTaaS). FutureIoT spoked to Kwee Tong Heng, vice president of Engineering and Customer Solutions at SPTel, to look at the operational merits of IoTaaS.

Could you tell us briefly what SPTel is about?

Kwee Tong Heng: SPTel is Singapore’s alternative data fibre network that offers true network diversity. It delivers a business class digital network that is ultra-low latency resilient and secure. As an enabler of business digitalisation, it provides a network that supports the rapid deployment of IoT applications and edge computing to drive smart city initiatives.

How do you connect IoT and digital transformation, what do they have in common?

Kwee Tong Heng: IoT is one of the most impactful digital transformation technologies which helps to connect the digital and the physical worlds. Instrumented devices are capable of gathering massive amounts of data, which provide business leaders with the knowledge they require concerning the surrounding physical environment.

If I were to oversimplify, can you describe an enterprise set up where IoT is being used in support of a business’ digital transformation effort?

Kwee Tong Heng: Here are four ways how IoT can digitally transform businesses:

1. Improve processes – IoT can support digital audit trails for improved accountability and accuracy of tracking, for example, warehouse inventory.
2. Enables Predictive Maintenance – Smart IoT devices for instance for lift monitoring can collect critical data like vibration and temperature. Analytics is done on our IoT platform for predictive maintenance and corrective actions.
3. Reducing costs and human error – IoT can help organisations reduce expenditure on resources and reallocate manpower for more strategic roles. Also, IoT technologies like automation can replace mundane tasks in smart facilities that are prone to human error.
4. Unlock new revenue streams and increase productivity – IoT enables organisations in sectors such as smart retail to create new revenue streams for business growth. Also, automation can help increase productivity by reducing downtime.

To manage it, there are so many different IoT devices available, from sensors on a production floor to devices that capture new data. Can you combine all of those things into one single solution without too much difficulty?

Kwee Tong Heng: It will be a protocol-agnostic platform, to address the challenges of using many different IoT sensors and protocols. The more sensors that you can onboard to the platform, the better the data interaction, and the value of the outcomes.

In Asia itself, IoT-as-a-Service only started to pick up in the last few years. To a certain extent, how prevalent is the awareness regarding IoT-as-a-Service?

Kwee Tong Heng: Organisations that are not utilising IoT-as-a-Service need to do the site acquisition, plant and maintain the antennas, buy servers – this involves a high overhead which is not cost-effective. IoT-as-a-Service changes the cost model of adopting and implementing IoT, making it feasible and cost-effective for organisations to implement even simple IoT applications.

If a business is already using IoT, how easy or difficult would it be to move the setup to as a service model?

Kwee Tong Heng: The intention of the as-a-Service model is to take over the heavy lifting. All the business service providers or system integrators need to do is to bring their devices and onboard the applications to our platform. For deployment on multiple sites, this as-a-Service model lets you subscribe for the complete set of resources through our cloud platform, including compute power at the edge, which runs on a pay-per-use subscription basis.

This lowers the overall device cost and delivers cost efficiencies especially for multi-site use cases.

One of the challenges of managing IoT is the lack of a single, unifying standard. How is being handled in a IoT-as-a-Service model?

Kwee Tong Heng: The platform itself can translate some of these protocols. If organisations require proprietary protocols, a simple application can be used to translate them for incorporation into the data collector.

For a business who wants to leverage IoT-as-a-Service model, what should they need to do to accelerate the adoption and deployment while reaping the benefits of the cost efficiencies and the reliability of the service as and when it is fully deployed?

Kwee Tong Heng: We help many IoT providers with their adoption and deployment process. They come to us to onboard their sensors. Our engineers help them do this, typically within a few days.

Next, they onboard the application to the platform, which is an open-standard based Kubernetes platform. Once these two steps are done, they are ready to roll. If there is a site where they need to deploy, we will work with them on the connectivity.

You spoke about IoT being agnostic, from a business standpoint if I am the CFO of a manufacturing organisation which supply chain is already connected to business partner and suppliers. What is the financial cost or model to look at to evaluate if IoT as a service that businesses would benefit from?

Kwee Tong Heng: Organisations often find that to upgrade their current platform to support new technology, for example, a video analytics application, they would need to invest in new hardware and software.

IoT-as-a-Service platform provides this convenience. We can even re-use existing cameras and run the software at the edge cloud to transform the camera into a powerful facial recognition application. It becomes a scalable platform where organisations can always change the application on our edge cloud to solve new problems.

Beyond the awareness issues that the service currently faces, what are the things you or SPTel believes will be needed to further drive adoption of IoT-as-a-Service in the market as we continue in this current situation?

Kwee Tong Heng: We are seeing more applications that require low latency and edge computing resources. Take for example the use of IoT-as-a-Service for video analytics.

Focused on video analytics and Smart Facilities Management, OneBerry Technologies needed to enhance its video surveillance cameras with analytics. One option was to use analytics embedded IP cameras, which would be up to four times more expensive than basic IP cameras.

SPTel solved OneBerry’s problem by using the edge computing capabilities of our IoT platform to layer analytics on top of current video surveillance footage, without replacing the cameras. They can do this across many sites, across our different edge cloud locations. There is also no capital cost incurred as they can continue to use their existing cameras.

What about the competitive landscape, is competition good for IoT-as-a-Service?

Kwee Tong Heng: I think the market has always been looking for a cost-effective model to roll out IoT and to accelerate smart nation initiatives. We believe we are the only one in Singapore with the IoT-as-a-Service proposition with edge cloud.

That is why we see a lot of interest among players who are finding this a very exciting model that reduces the total cost of ownership. Coupled with the software-defined capability of our IT network, it becomes very scalable and easy for them to onboard applications.

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According to Omdia, the global smart city AI software market is set to soar to US$4.9 billion in 2025, up from $673.8 million in 2019.

Wireless data communications standards are enabling smart city applications to move into the online realm, where they can capitalize on the latest AI innovations. The growing capabilities of AI are enabling data and insights collected through IoT networks to be monitored, analysed and acted upon.

Keith Kirkpatrick, principal analyst for AI at Omdia, noted the smart city use cases are defined by the collection, management and usage of data.

“However, until recently, connecting disparate components and systems together to work in concert has been challenging due to the lack of connectivity solutions that are fast, cost-effective, low latency and ubiquitous in coverage. These challenges now are being overcome by leveraging advances in AI and connectivity,” he continued.

The arrival of 4G and 5G wireless data technologies are making it easier to collect and manage data, promoting the migration of smart city AI software to the online realm. AI allows data to be analysed more deeply than ever before.

The technology can identify patterns or anomalies within that data, which then can be employed for tasks that allow machines to mimic what humans might consider being intelligence.

Using the power of AI, smart city systems can create municipal systems and services that not only operate more efficiently but also provide significant benefits to workers and visitors.

These benefits can come in many forms, including reduced crime, cleaner air, more orderly traffic flow and more efficient government services.

Leveraging AI for video surveillance

One example of how smart cities are leveraging AI is in the video surveillance realm.

When hosting public events, some cities are beginning to use video cameras that are mated to AI-based video analytics technology. The goal is to have AI algorithms scan the video and look for behavioural or situational anomalies that could indicate that a terrorist act or other outbreaks of violence may be about to occur.

Cities are increasingly employing cloud-based AI systems that can search footage from most closed-circuit TV (CCTV) systems, allowing the platform and technology to be applied to existing camera infrastructure.

Video surveillance can be combined with AI-based object detection to perform tasks including learning patterns in an area; detecting faces, gender, heights and moods; reading license plates; and identifying anomalies or potential threats, such as unattended packages.

As the use of surveillance cameras has exploded, AI-based video analytics now represent the only way to extract value in the form of insights, patterns, and action from the plethora of video data generated by smart cities.

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Statista noted that penetration is at a low 8.0% in 2020, hitting 18.8% by 2024, with the US accounting for 77.3% of the global market in 2020.

A common fixture in upcoming smart home deployments is a home security system – a set of integrated systems connecting the home Wi-Fi network to the internet allowing the homeowner to monitor and control security devices using a smartphone and an app.

It is this connection to the internet that presents both an opportunity as well as threat. Consider that a typical entry-level smart home would include door and window sensors, surveillance camera with motion detector, and a hub that communicates with these devices using one or more wireless protocols such as Wi-Fi, Z-Wave, ZigBee, or a proprietary mesh network.

MarketWatch says the Asia-Pacific home security systems market will grow at a CAGR of 13.36% during the forecast period of 2018-2025. It attributes this growth to the fast-growing adoption of all types of home security and safety systems across the region.

SAM Seamless Network is partnering with BitDefender to target ISPs to offer complete enterprise-grade security on all devices both in and out of the home, against all attacks such as phishing, and malware, and across all smart devices connected to the network.

One of the first use cases of this partnership with Telenet, a European ISP offering IoT security to its customers. The solution combines SAM’s network, IoT, device security fingerprinting and PC security protection together with BitDefender’s end-point protection.

“We have seen a rapid increase in attacks on home devices this last year and with 5G on the near horizon, we expect them to rise even more in 2020,” said Sivan Rauscher, CEO and co-founder of SAM Seamless Network.

She noted that the introduction of IoTs to the home network potentially introduces a new revenue stream for ISPs. “For example, selling smart IoT devices direct to consumers, offering services such as IoT security and privacy and branching more into physical security with suites of security services grouped together,” she opined.

Rauscher noted that the opportunity can go further spilling into smart cars, as well as the use of smart wearable devices.

Liberty Global, which own brands like Virgin Media, Telenet and UPC, plans to integrate SAM’s solution in its routers to secure every connection point even outside the home. The service will be available to all Liberty Global’s customers by 2021.

Market research firm Parks Associates 71% of US broadband households that own smart devices are concerned about cybersecurity. It further estimates that 25% of those who do not own smart home devices are also concerned about privacy and security, which prevents them from buying smart devices.

“As households adopt more smart home devices, owners rely more and more on a router/gateway with strong security software to prevent unauthorized access and protect their privacy. One-third of households with 1-4 smart home devices have adopted this method, increasing to 50% of households once they adopt 10 or more devices,” said Lindsay Gafford, Research Analyst, Parks Associates.

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“If we all wait for the law to catch up we’d never get anything done,” she opined.

She also suggests that “businesses can take a proactive strategy by trying to understand what regulators and the public would be concerned, where the laws might go, and where the regulator's might intervene if they think there is an issue.”

Click here to read the full article: IoT innovation outpaces regulation for now

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Figure 1: Top priority technology investments in 2019

According to Brian Solis, principal analyst, Altimeter – a prophet company, there is growing acknowledgement of the importance of human factors in digital transformation. Still, “most transformation efforts continue to focus on modernizing customer touchpoints (54%) and enabling infrastructure (45%).

It is not difficult to fathom the level of interest around the Internet of Things (IoT), particularly as consumers have embraced mobile technology long before they started reading of IoT – what Solis refers to the enabling infrastructure.

For enterprises, IoT is important in their customer engagement strategy, but it is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) that will enable the business to bring together the ecosystem more cost-effectively and efficiently.

As enterprises learn to understand and master the data (big data) deluge that digital transformation brings to the company, the discovery also has the potential to help it in the one area that keeps leadership awake – security.

As data breaches become a subject of discussion in the executive suite, it is important that enterprises to use the opportunity to glean customer insight but also the state of security readiness/vulnerability of the operation even as they embrace technologies like IoT and IIoT.

Does digital transformation strengthen or weaken an enterprise’s security posture?

FutureIoT raised this question to Haiyan Song, senior vice president, Security Markets at Splunk, in recognition of the growing adoption of IoT to engage with customers and IIoT to better improve operational efficiencies and increase the visibility of the supply chain.

“It can be both. It depends on how you approach it. Digital transformation brings a lot more data to the organization. If you take the right strategy and have a very strong data foundation, you can leverage the data to do better detection, and enable faster response,” she opined.

She cautioned that not embracing the data chaos that digital transformation brings, can overwhelm the organization, and unnecessarily expose the company to vulnerabilities as a result of the data deluge.

In this exclusive interview, she openly discusses a number of key concerns organisations have with regards to IoT/IIoT. Click on the video below as she covers a number of key concerns senior business and technology leaders with FutureIoT/FutureCIO as roundtables and forums.

Does digital transformation strengthen or weaken a company’s security posture?

What is different about transformational security strategy (in contrast to a traditional security strategy)?

What is data chaos and how do we use it to improve our security posture?

In a converged [IoT and IIoT] future, who should be responsible for security?

Altimeter recommends that any transformational initiative go beyond what many executives seem to be obsessed with today – customer experience – and instead encompass the transformation of core operational foundations so enterprises can compete and innovate more efficiently.

Among respondents to the Altimeter study, the long-term transformation strategy (49%) involves the development of an agile IT infrastructure and technologies with increased flexibility, manageability and security.

First published on FutureIoT

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FutureIoT spoke to Tim Sherwood, vice president – Business Development, Mobility & IoT Solutions, at Tata Communications to understand the technical and operational hurdles that CSPs must overcome as they grapple with the business [aka revenue] potential of IoT with the launch of commercial 5G services.

What is the connection between Internet of Things and 5G? Is IoT’s future success tied to the success and growth of 5G?

Ovum has identified 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) as the two trends in Asia to watch out for in 2019. These technologies are increasingly proving to be the key pillars that will drive operational and cost efficiencies through enterprise digitisation.

While the development of 5G for IoT is still in the nascent stages, there is a huge potential for IoT to scale even ahead of that. This is the phase where a shift is being seen from exploring PoCs to active commercialisation of IoT projects. Use cases across verticals that are resulting in significant RoI for the customers are drawing more customers and IoT players in the game.

Bain & Company predicts the IoT market will more than double to $520 billion by 2021, and the majority of these associated IoT deployments will be done on networks in place today such that IoT growth can be achieved ahead of 5G network build-outs and roaming agreements.

However, 5G will enable further expansion of IoT adoption, namely around managing heterogeneous access network capabilities, enabling higher bandwidth consumption use cases like V2X and Augmented Reality (AR) and turning connected devices from “data collectors” to intelligent edge actors.

As billions of smart devices go online over the next several years, 5G networks will become instrumental in transmitting massive amounts of new data. 5G will provide faster speed, lower latency, improved bandwidth and more flexibility as it has the capacity to support a wider range of devices, sensors, and wearables than any previous generation.

This enables 5G, unlike 4G, to expand beyond desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets to encompass the revolution of sensors, low-cost transmitters and cloud-based IoT. Along with artificial intelligence (AI) and edge computing, 5G wireless technology will be at the heart of augmenting the IoT revolution.

It will play a major role in the development of Industry 4.0 i.e. smart city applications, smart industrial software, powering connected cars, smart homes and buildings. Seamless mobility, improved bandwidth, negligible latency, and reliability of mobile broadband will help 5G in making revolutionary IoT projects implementable with ease.

NB-IoT is already deployed in some applications, can it co-exist with non-cellular IoT (LoRa, Sigfox)?

The rapidly growing IoT market has enough opportunities for all forms of cellular (NB-IoT, LTE-M, future 5G networks) and non-cellular networks (LoRa and Sigfox) to coexist. Both the networks need to amalgamate in order to have an interoperable platform, which is critical to realise the true potential of IoT. This allows enterprises to choose from any number of connectivity options as per their project requirements.

There are advantages and disadvantages for each – while non-cellular IoT offers good value for private, low power, low bandwidth and low-cost solutions, cellular IoT provides scale and greater reach through roaming agreements enabling multinational and multi-operator deployments.

In either case, the key to success for IoT solution providers is to remove the challenges associated with different connectivity technologies and network options in order to provide a common overlay platform to manage IoT connected devices. This will then serve as a foundation for the IoT service provider to move up the value chain and offer vertical solutions.

For 2019, what do you see will be emerging drivers of IoT?

Asia has undoubtedly been the world’s largest manufacturing hub and now with the influx of advanced technologies like IoT, the manufacturing landscape in the region is changing.

With connected sensors increasingly finding applicability across industries, especially manufacturing in the automotive industry and consumer and industrial appliances, the Asia Pacific region is scaling up its IoT adoption to fortify its strength in this space. This paradigm shift in the manufacturing sector, with the help of IoT, is fuelling the rapid progress of Industry 4.0 in the region.

Over and above the private players, Asia-Pacific governments are also extending support to promote the adoption of IoT across major use case areas such as smart manufacturing, smart cities, transportation, and retail, amongst others. As per the latest forecast from IDC, the IoT spending in Asia-Pacific is expected to reach USD 398.6 billion by 2023, setting the path for Asia Pacific to become the leading market in the IoT landscape.

Other critical emerging drivers impacting IoT will indisputably be 5G and AI. Although niche and in the early stages, newer technologies like edge computing and blockchain will also be key in driving IoT adoption.

The enhanced speed and flexible connectivity of 5G networks will drive fundamental change and create entirely new approaches to businesses and business models.

While 4G revolutionised the smartphone experience, 5G will have an even bigger impact on other smart consumer commodities – such as autonomous vehicles and its impact on our lifestyle.

As IoT technology is becoming more prevalent, the challenge of protecting sensitive customer data has become increasingly complex. A recent Gartner report indicates that worldwide IoT security spending will more than double to $3.1 billion by 2021.

With the IoT’s rapid expansion, social, legal and ethical issues come to the limelight and will have to be addressed. The introduction of new data regulations, such as the EU’s GDPR will have a significant impact in 2019.

The responsibility will lie on businesses to control and monitor the data their devices generate and to eliminate any vulnerabilities that may lead to data leakage. Government and regulatory agencies will establish stringent rules on data creation, collection, storage, transfer, use and deletion of information related to IoT projects.

Beyond purely sensors and devices, what major areas of innovation can we expect in 2019 that will accelerate or impact the direction of IoT adoption in Asia?

Findings from a recent survey by Zebra Technologies revealed that the entire Asia-Pacific region was identified as the world leader in IoT adoption, as 22% of the companies were recognised as ‘intelligent enterprises’ – up from a mere 2% in 2017.

Asia-Pacific is also best positioned to create a cost-effective technology infrastructure to support industrial and consumer IoT deployments as it has access to abundant cost-efficient software and hardware sourced locally or from neighbouring countries like China and India.

5G networks, with their high speed, improved bandwidths and negligible latency properties will also aim to provide the necessary infrastructure for IoT to scale.

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The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) claims that 16 countries around the world account for 90% of industrial robot usage. The IFR claims that China, along, accounts for 39% of all industrial robots as of 2018. That figure will balloon to 45% by 2021. The next company to use robots, arguably started it ahead of China early on, is Japan with 11%. The US falls even further behind at 7%.

Developing markets like Brazil, India, Mexico, Thailand and Vietnam, collectively account for just 5%.

So, what’s holding up factories from making use of robots?

You’d think its concern about the cost of these machines hitting the factory. Yes, arguably this could be a factor, but other reasons are more human in nature – people are concerned about losing changes. For factory operators, a lack of experience and expertise in designing, integrating machines on the production floor raise the spectre of failed deployments.

Ready or not?

FutureIoT spoke to Singapore startup, Botsync to find out why Emerging Asia’s factories just aren’t as gung ho into the factory robot/automation as we’d like to think.

The startup’s co-founder, Rahul Nambiar, says labour costs – salaries and benefits aren’t as expensive [to business owners] as we thought they’d. He argues that salaries or wages in Emerging Asia aren’t sufficiently high enough today. He is certain, however, that would change in the future. He just isn’t sure how soon that will come.

Deploying robots

“What companies are doing is deploying robotic solutions in phases – an approach he recommends as it will help factory owners and operators appreciate the benefits of automatons while giving time for factory employees to be retrained for other higher-value operations,” he adds.

Nambiar suggests six months to one year as the sweet spot in trialling the technology on the factory floor. “It's far easier to introduce robots when people are accustomed to their presence on the floor,” he concludes.

The promise

Robots have been used in things like welding, painting, as well as assembly, packaging and labelling, palletizing, product inspection and testing.

Most of us are aware that robots are used in automotive assembly plants for brands like General Motors and Toyota. But the auto industry doesn’t hold the exclusive in the use of robots. Footwear and apparel brand Adidas built “Speedfactory” – its robotic manufacturing plant in Germany purpose-built to eliminate the six-week shipping time for products made in Asia and destined for Europe.

Popular consumer electronics retailer, Best Buy, uses Chloe, a vending machine that takes in orders from the store front and delivers the desired product to the customer on the shop floor in 30 seconds or less.

Botsync’s Nambiar talks about robots as used in material handling.

The future of robots

What differentiates the new generation of robotics today is its smarts. “The early application of robotics made use of rule-based algorithms to define a task,” said Nambiar. He conceded that this approach means very limited use for the robots.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning give robots the ability to adapt to changes in the condition, making autonomous decisions. “Depending on the design or application, robots will certainly improve operational efficiency, and with use of technologies like sensors and IoT, reduce machine downtime and wastage,” concludes Nambiar.

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This is bad because it has “profound ramifications for the governance of emerging technologies.”

He reckons is fuels debate over technological governance because “it forces governments to rethink their approach to the regulation of many sectors and technologies.”

Academics like Yale University bioethicist Wendell Wallach, author of A Dangerous Master: How to Keep Technology from Slipping Beyond Our Control, worry that the “pace of change has been kicked into overdrive, making it more difficult than ever for traditional legal schemes and regulatory mechanisms to stay relevant.”

In Asia, Anne Petterd (photo right), principal at Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow, is less concerned about this pacing problem. She says this lag has not stopped businesses from operating, going ahead with innovation.

“If we all wait for the law to catch up we’d never get anything done,” she opined.

She also suggests that “businesses can take a proactive strategy by trying to understand what regulators and the public would be concerned, where the laws might go, and where the regulator's might intervene if they think there is an issue.”

In this exclusive with FutureIoT, she points to the direction of data, as created by the Internet of Things devices and sensors – how these are created, used, and the oversight that needs to happen to protect consumer data.

The law review article entitled, “Soft Law for Hard Problems: The Governance of Emerging Technologies in an Uncertain Future,” authors Jennifer Skees, Ryan Hagemann, and Thierer discuss how “soft law” mechanisms—multi-stakeholder processes, industry best practices and standards, workshops, agency guidance, and more—can help fill the governance gap as the pacing problem accelerates.

“Many agencies are already tapping soft law tools to help guide the development of new technologies such as driverless cars, drones, the Internet of Things, mobile medical applications, artificial intelligence, and others. In fact, we argue that soft law has already become the dominant form of technological governance for emerging tech in the US,” according to the paper.

The OECD paper, Regulatory Reform and Innovation, cautions that the regulatory process must take into account the effects of regulation on innovation as well as the implications of technical change for the rationale and design of regulation. The regulation/innovation interface is mutual and dynamic; an understanding of this interface is crucial to regulatory reform efforts.

The paper is not totally discarding the importance of regulatory oversight, suggesting instead, that careful consideration be placed on benefits be weighed in the debate.

Discarding the over-imaginative suggestions of The Terminator movie franchise, the PwC blog post, 2030 series: What if innovation rules the world?, opined that “automation and ‘thinking machines’ are replacing human tasks, changing the skills that organisations are looking for in their people.

It draws the reader to imagine a Red World future where innovation rules and few rules exist to impede innovation’s progress. With speed and agility as essential drivers, it postulates the rise of specialism with employers “built from individual blocks of skills, experience and networks.”

In this future, organisations will use technology, the supply chain and intellectual property, rather than human effort and physical assets, to generate value.

Welcome to the Rise of the Machines! Is Elon Musk right to be concerned about artificial intelligence?

We’ll cover that in another story. Stay tuned.

For now, Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow’s Petterd, it is important for businesses to put themselves in the shoes of regulators and consumers, to communicate how data is being used. This will help them in the future as regulations are formed.

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But even during its earliest evolutions, IoT devices and sensors have been used to track and monitor everything from equipment to products, to humans. [your smartphone is an IoT device remember?]

One of the earliest applications of Internet of Things (IoT) is in manufacturing – process and discrete – where IoT connected devices and sensors are used to monitor or track activities within the supply chain – in real-time and near real-time.

In an article on Geospatial World, Matthew Zenus, Global Vice President, Database and Data Management Solution Go-To-Market, SAP described the data produced by these IoT devices as one-dimensional. He opined that it is the combination of IoT data with geospatial analytics, business data, and operational data, that “reveals hidden patterns and relationships that go to delivering better business outcomes.”

He was, of course, alluding to one of the early applications of IoT – positioning sensors that allow for the exact tracking of objects by providing absolute (geographical positioning system or GPS data) or relative displacement information.

With that in mind, FutureIoT spoke with Geospock CEO Richard Baker for his take on this geospatial data and the technologies that bring IoT data to the next level.

How far advanced are governments in the use of geospatial data and or technology towards the planning and design or the actual management of smart cities?

Richard Baker: I would say that many cities around the world have got traditional GIS tools that they are using for terrain and geography planning. However, the actual use of sensor data and spatial analytics from sensor data is just emerging.

What are the reasons for this?

Richard Baker: Firstly, we probably had the last ten years, if you like, of IoT technologies emerging and actually getting deployed, probably we’re really only seeing the acceleration of IoT in smart cities from connected SIMs on mobile operators only in the last 5-7 years.

The world is dealing with the physical connection side predominantly over those years. It’s only in the last couple of years that connectivity is producing such huge amounts of new metadata that the analytics of that data has become more relevant.

There are over 20,000 smart city projects around the world today – mostly driven by local or central governments. Most share a common problem – a lack of talent, skill and understanding of how to manipulate and manage spatial data.

Many governments will have a GIS team to deal with maps and terrain, but actually queuing data science on location and spatial data is a new field.

In some cases, it’s also a lack of a data strategy, a lack of data scientists in local authorities. So, these emerging fields are my impression of the cities that we interact with.

Can you share some use cases in Asia?

Richard Baker: What we tend to see fundamentally is that many cities are taking an infrastructure first approach to digitising. This includes smart street lighting, smart dustbins, and climate weather sensors.

The next step would be dealing with mobility and the congestion that is building up particularly in dense cities. The ability to track and monitor vehicular traffic will allow urban planners to spatially plan the city better.

As a business what remains the biggest challenge for IoT vendors like GeoSpock?

Richard Baker:  I think our largest challenge is fundamentally to move away from the technology discussion, and really very much work with businesses and governments around the world on the use cases and the problem statements.

Part of that transition is very much being focused on the outcomes that we’re all trying to achieve in the transformation of the logistics market, or the transformations of smart cities, or in the rise of moving from connected vehicles to fully autonomous vehicles. I think the language is already changing.

Most government and business leaders are already beginning to focus on what are the benefits to citizens, what are the benefits to businesses themselves, and ultimately what are those use cases that really this connected physical internet market really brings to us all.

That leads us into a conversation around how many of those governments and how many of those enterprises really do have data first strategies that account for location analytics, location insights, as part of their design blueprint.

I think location has become one of the most important metadata tags for both public sector and private sector companies, and ultimately designing that in to be part of the everyday model is perhaps the interim challenge to make sure that the data officer has that as part of the roadmap.

How will smart cities evolve in the coming decade?

Richard Baker:  We think that is going to ultimately bring about in the next 5-7 years a new era of private and public sector collaboration.

I think if we can think about a city running an operating system and ultimately service application providers having universal access to the infrastructure, I think that becomes a very significant innovation playground. There’s a lot of services that can be optimised and new innovation developed that can help society in a significant way.

For the first in many times, I think certainly when it comes to the environmental monitoring and the journey towards getting on top of climate change, problems in big metropolitan cities, quite frankly if you’re not measuring it you can’t do anything about it.

And I think IoT connectivity, particularly climate weather sensors, we’re entering a new era of “weather of things”. When you’re thinking about the weather of things, every device is ultimately an input signal to the type of environment that you’re able to monitor. And if you’re able to really start to extract the value of those things then you can start to instruct change to reduce emissions and start to address climate change, if you like, at a root cause. We’re very motivated by that.

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Land mobile radio networks have provided these qualities for some time and will continue to do so. Now public safety agencies are looking for a combination of voice communication, video and software solutions to manage their daily work.

New and emerging technologies including the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have transformed many industries and markets and are now being more broadly adopted by the public safety sector.

So what say you that there is growing awareness and interest around IoT and public safety?

At this moment in time, IoT and safety-at-the-edge are two things that are hard to imagine being in the same sentence.

Andrew Sinclair, Corporate Vice President, Software Enterprise, Motorola Solutions, says technologies that help to deliver the right information to the right person at the right time are vital to public safety.

“When paired with other data sources and powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, IoT data can provide valuable insights to help law enforcement personnel make better and more informed decisions. This enables faster response both in the field and in command centres, enabling organisations to take greater control while working faster, smarter and more safely,” said Sinclair.

Integrating IoT to secure smart cities

Sinclair noted that developed economies in the Asia-Pacific including Singapore and Malaysia are investing in technologies to capture, filter and analyse the data that flows throughout their cities. While the initial use cases for these data sets have typically been for urban planning and design, the next opportunity is to take the data that flows through a smart city and use it to create a safer city.

He suggested using IoT to capture data sources that surround an intelligent lamp post and use those to protect communities and support first responders in their daily work. Sensors to detect weather conditions, the availability of parking spots and CCTV footage are all examples of data sources that can be valuable to public safety organisations.

At the 5th Annual 2019 Smart City Asia/Pacific Awards, IDC recognised several government organisations in the region including the Suzhou Wujiang Public Security Bureau and the Checkpoint Authority of Singapore for their Smart City projects in the area of public safety. However, it was the Integrated Emergency Data Platform – An AIoT Application in All-Hazards Early Warning and Decision Supporting System by New Taipei City Government (Taiwan) that won the Top Smart City Project for Public Safety – Disaster Response/Emergency Management category.

Money matters

Budgets will remain the perennial concern for most governments looking smart city efforts.

Sinclair argues that there is no fixed economic analysis to determine what the appropriate investment levels should be. “Cities should start by analysing the data resources they already hold today and considering how those can bring incremental gains to safety and productivity. Our experience shows that starting here enables more capabilities and data sources to be added over time,” he opined.

5G is coming

Asked how he sees 5G impacting the delivery of public safety solutions that use IoT, Sinclair said 5G will provide an opportunity to build upon the existing tools that public safety agencies use today.

The immediate impacts of 5G are around bandwidth and connectivity. Greater bandwidth enables greater distribution of large scale data including video feeds. Greater coverage and connectivity also support this and enables more to be managed and distributed from more places. That data could include body-worn camera footage, sensor information from a smart building, citizen-generated data and more.

Lower latency can also enable the greater uptake of advanced technologies in the future. This includes VR and AR applications which can support critical roles in public safety, for example presenting multiple visual data sources to a fire incident commander.

The post IoT to power safety at the edge appeared first on FutureIoT.

The good news is that consumers are already showing the path of least resistance through social media and smart devices. But not everyone will find the path to the customer’s wallet that easy. In fact, rising customer expectations are moving the tipping of return on customer experience.

Figure 1: What people value most in their customer experience

Source: Future of Customer Experience, PwC 2019

The solution may come in different sizes, shapes and formats but share a common persona.

Forrester says customer expectations for high-quality touches are expanding beyond the mobile and web realms. “Internet-of-things (IoT) technology offers new capabilities to sense and control physical products and real-world experiences. So, CIOs and customer experience (CX) pros need each other's help to weave relevant context and control available from IoT sources into customer journeys,” said the analyst.

Through 2028, Gartner expects a steady increase in the embedding of sensors, storage, compute and advanced AI capabilities in edge (or smart) devices. In general, intelligence will move toward the edge in a variety of endpoint devices, from industrial devices to screens to smartphones to automobile power generators.

Uli Braun, chief technology officer at Atos, says IoT enables digital transformation but not in the conventional method typically associated with traditional technologies such as computing devices or enterprise software.

“It is close to what the business outcome is going to be. It is not a backend system. It is more at the front end of what a customer, an industry or a business is doing. It has a direct impact on the product is making or to the consumer who is coming it,” said Braun.

Watch the full video to understand how IoT is impacting IT operations, and what the CIO and/or CTO needs to do to take advantage of the technology.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

The post How IoT powers digital transformation appeared first on FutureIoT.

In the movie, Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard, internet-based terrorist and former U.S. Department of Defense, decides to take down America by crippling its commercial and industrial infrastructure hacking into the very computers that manage these systems.

The tools used for the hacking in the movie are NMAP or Network Mapper, a network port scanner and service detector offering stealth SYN scan, ping sweep, FTP bounce, UDP scan, operating system discovery. It also happens to be a free and open-source utility.

While some argue that the hacking, in the movie, was too easy, the scenario is still plausible and we hear of this often enough as in the case of Triton or Trisis which targeted older versions of Schneider Electric’s Triconex Safety Instrumented System (SIS) controllers.

FutureIoT spoke to Chakradhar Jonagam, Head Software Architect, Biqmind, to discuss among other things how organisations continue to struggle with security industrial infrastructure.

As operators and governments push the 5G story out, it remains just a matter of time before we see more cyberattacks against state and industrial infrastructure. The question is – what should enterprises and regulators be doing today?

RELATED: 5G is gonna wreck your security setup with IoT

What are the business applications of industrial IoT in Asia-Pacific?

Chakradhar Jonagam: With 85% of Asia Pacific organisations still in the early stages of cloud maturity, many have yet to unlock the real business value of cloud computing. Industrial IoT will find plenty of applications in bridging legacy technology onto the cloud, which still forms the backbone for many global MNCs across APAC.

This is where the adoption of a single framework by different industry stakeholders will ease their integration into the common cloud ecosystem regardless of markets or locations, without the need to rebuild all of their existing infrastructures.

Another common business application for industrial IoT is the ability to not just help organisations scale their operations across geography, but also by solutions – both hardware and software. Operating from a single framework also means that the adopted solutions must have a uniformed approach to dealing with data, especially when collecting from a variety of data sources like sensors, equipment or machines.

Edge computing again becomes a critical piece to the puzzle, in which data is collected across different sources, sites and devices must be interpreted similarly by different parties on the cloud. Along with other internal business and operational data, organisations can also potentially establish predictive models that will enable them to identify issues even before they arise by running remote diagnostics.

How will 5G impact IoT rollouts?

Chakradhar Jonagam: 5G data speed can operate 20 times faster and connect 1,000 times more devices than its 4G counterparts. This enables more devices to interact more efficiently with IoT networks. In addition to enhancing the mobile experience for consumers such as virtual reality content-streaming services, this increased speed and capacity is also a boon for a variety of industrial applications that require constant connectivity with no downtime.

For instance, in the context of the oil and gas industry, the harsh operating environments of oil rigs result in inconsistent connectivity to operational touchpoints. As such, the process in which operators collect data on output is often done so manually through every sensor scattered across the oil rigs.

With 5G networks, oil rig operators can leverage edge computing for visibility on its output, automating the collection of data in real-time to a centralised database where data can be processed, analysed and leveraged for more informed business actions. In the event of critical errors at the edge like gas leaks, seamless IoT connectivity is crucial for quick problem identification so more time can be allocated to addressing the issue.

A combination of edge and IoT will also bring automation that can improve working conditions in hazardous environments by providing better visibility of the environment.

What is the current state of security for IoT [or lack of it]?

Chakradhar Jonagam: Cybersecurity used to be an afterthought with the assumption that all devices are isolated, and therefore, not connected to the internet. However, as the number of IoT-connected devices is estimated to reach over 75 billion by 2025, they are starting to garner widespread attention from cybercriminals and law enforcers alike. Consumers and businesses are becoming more susceptible to security breaches than ever before, potentially giving hackers access to security cameras, factory operations and even medical devices.

Moving forward, we expect to see a lot more focus on addressing IoT vulnerabilities, as many of these devices are directly used by end-users in one way or another. Some common measures that will be enforced further include mandatory password changes as well as mutually authenticated protocols across multiple devices.

How do you effectively measure the impact of industrial IoT?

Chakradhar Jonagam: With multiple data points and systems, it is easy for organisations to get caught up in an ‘analysis paralysis’.

Whether it is to deliver top-line objectives or reduce bottom-line costs, there are three key pillars that organisations should consider. Firstly, measuring traditional time to production against accelerated time to value is a good gauge to how much more quickly organisations are able to perform a task with the deployment of cloud-native solutions.

The second measure is the cost savings generated from using fewer resources, time and infrastructure. Lastly, measuring productivity by determining the amount of repetitive work that has been automated, allows organisations to focus more on enterprise efforts.

The post Hacking infrastructure made easy with IIoT and 5G appeared first on FutureIoT.

Granted, in areas like IT (internet technology) and OT (operational technology), where standard groups have long operated, standards are well developed and adopted, but at the same time, the standards and frameworks for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and IoT are still being worked on.

Ongoing challenges

Huei Sin Ee, Vice President And General Manager of General Electronics Measurement Solutions at Keysight Technologies noted that one of the biggest challenges of developing IIoT standards is ensuring the interoperability of different IoT devices across a diverse set of applications and different kinds of communication networks.

She added that another for implementation is integrating legacy devices and applications with new devices and technologies since older systems weren’t originally designed to communicate with other applications or systems.

Despite these challenges, many industrial customers are still keen to implement the IIoT since the potential benefits of this technology—such as automation and actionable business intelligence for the factory floor—is evident.

Standard bodies like Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), Object Management Group (OMG), and OneM2M are working together to set the standards and frameworks for machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and IoT.

There have even been discussions about making the IoT standard an open standard, to expand the innovation, leverage from existing skillsets and integrate with new technology on the manufacturing floor.

“Whether or not that happens in the future, the real challenge for modern manufacturers will remain on how to connect existing systems to the IoT while also preparing for future expansions,” Ee commented.

Impact of 5G on IoT

These days there’s a great deal of hype around 5G. While it certainly can’t be everything to everyone, there are a few distinct capabilities it offers, not the least of which is massive IoT for billions of devices and ultra-low latency and increased reliability for mission-critical IoT applications.

“These capabilities make it ideal for everything from industrial automation and smart grids to Healthcare IoT. But the impact of 5G on IoT goes beyond just connecting devices to the IoT. Thanks to 5G’s high density, low cost and long-range, it will also expand the scope of IoT devices, improve their ability to operate efficiently, and accelerate their adoption,” added Keysight’s Ee.

Additionally, 5G represents a fundamental shift in communication network architectures. And as such, it will expand the already pivotal role of cellular connectivity in the deployment of IoT applications.

According to Ee: “There are various ways in which a 5G mobile network can support the deployment of advanced IoT applications. With a high network speed of about 10-20 Gbps, for example, 5G enables fast transmission of massive amounts of data between connected IoT devices and allows for new capabilities and features that make use of that data."

Business applications of Industrial IoT in Asia-Pacific

While many around the world are still assessing how best to implement the IIoT in the most effective, reliable and secure manner possible, several countries in Asia-Pacific are leading the way, having already developed and built out their IIoT capability.

She cited the example of China with the rapid development of its manufacturing sector. “With so much competition, some players have pursued the IIoT as a means to gain much-needed efficiency and a leg up on competitors. The increasing sophistication of China’s manufacturing sector has led to the need for more technologically astute logistics providers and will eventually lead to the rise in its e-commerce industry. Several key players have already implemented a fully automated warehouse that ensures products are shipped from warehouse to recipient with a high level of efficiency,” said Keysight’s Ee.

Singapore is another country in Asia-Pacific that is embracing digital and IIoT technologies as a means of improving the lives of its citizens. Named the “Smart City of 2018” at last year’s Smart City Expo World Congress, Singapore is widely recognized for its projects in urban innovation and transformation industry. The government has played a vital role in developing solutions, from dynamic public bus routing algorithms to predictive analytics for water pipe leaks.

The IoT and IIoT promise incredible improvements in everything from enterprise productivity to increased wellbeing of populations in smart cities. Yet, despite its potential, the adoption rate is still slow for many countries in Asia-Pacific and around the world.

Ee concluded that while plenty of organizations acknowledge and appreciate the potential benefits of the IIoT, many are still in the midst of assessing how best to implement it in the most effective and secure manner.

“Others are waiting for full 5G deployment and standards to ensure they can leverage the IIoT to its fullest potential and with the least amount of risk.”

The post The long road to unified IoT standards appeared first on FutureIoT.

Hearable technology is most often associated with earphones used primarily for entertainment and communications. But beyond better sound acoustics, noise cancelling technology and microphone technology, the real innovation may lie in applications like health.

IDC says the proliferation of watches, ear-worn devices, wristbands will drive the broad category to 279 million devices by end of 2023, with an estimated compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.9%. The analyst pegs year-on-year growth at 15.3% with 2019 expecting to see 198.5 million units shipped.

Ramon Llamas, IDC research director for wearables says the healthcare and enterprise sectors are two major drivers for the growth in wearables, including hearables.

He cites benefits like the ability to constantly collect patient data and provide them with the ability to self-monitor. In the enterprise, wearables help employees to communicate and work more efficiently.

FutureIoT spoke to Kow Ping, Director and Founder of Hong Kong startup, Well Being Digital (WBD) spoke about the challenges of being in the hearable space. Despite the challenges, he felt very comfortable in the opportunities presented by the market, and the innovations the company is introducing to consumers and business partners.

The post Hearable market challenges in 2019 appeared first on FutureIoT.

Outside of the glitz and glamour that come with the transformation, however, is another form of metamorphosis behind the scenes. One of the biggest changes to retailing in the past couple of decades has been the emphasis on volume and the lost of the engagement that was part of the neighbourhood store.

Hopes are that this lost art of engagement can be rekindled through technology. And retailers are right to be hopeful.

FutureIoT spoke to Professor Reetika Gupta, Associate Professor, Marketing Department, Global BBA Associate Academic Director, ESSEC Business School Asia Pacific, to talk among other things how technologies like Internet of Things (IoT) is making it possible to rekindle the neighbour shopping experience.

What key trends are impacting the adoption of IoT in the Retail industry in Singapore?

Reetika Gupta: The first would be the significant manpower crunch. Singapore, in particular, is emphasising productivity gains and is looking to reduce the flow of lower-skilled, foreign workers. Because of this, we anticipate that automation in retailing will continue to be a key trend, for example, automated checkout counters.

Another key trend is the rate at which online retail is being adopted. The e-commerce market in Singapore has been expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7%, according to WorldPay’s 2018 Global Payments Report, and big operators such as Lazada/Redmart and Qoo10 are gaining traction. For success, IoT has to provide visitors to physical stores with greater personalized shopping experiences, similar to what online retailers are achieving.

How will regulation (or lack of it) drive adoption of IoT?

Reetika Gupta: Data protection and privacy, including the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) regulation, will influence IoT practices. PDPA in Singapore requires organizations collecting personal data (such as biometrics or fingerprint scanning, or facial profiles collected by cameras) to first gain explicit consent from consumers. 

Accordingly, adoption of technology must be accompanied with relevant business processes to ensure that such consent is collected. Moreover, PDPA requires organizations to ensure appropriate protection and care for such data – through the use of appropriate security technologies (such as access control and encryption).

As IoT becomes deeply embedded in retail stores, store operators will thus also have to implement technologies and best-practices to protect the data, such as having the additional infrastructure to anonymize it, establish policies to regularly delete data, and enabling options to opt-out.

Cite any common misconception of the IoT as it relates to the retail industry?

Reetika Gupta: There is the misconception that ‘mobile marketing’ solely implies the use of mobile applications, such as via social media, to deliver ads and promotions to consumers. However, there is so much more that one can do with mobile devices.

We have early examples such as location-aware alerts within stores and customizing the content of public digital displays based on proximity sensing of mobile devices as seen at Changi Airport. IoT will be the key to deeper personalisation, one example being delivering promotions based on real-time user behaviour in stores. Without such personalization, it will be difficult for physical retail to survive.

Cite one best practice around the use or deployment of the IoT in the retail industry?

Reetika Gupta: A great example of IoT in practice, is Changi Airport’s use of beacon technology. The key idea behind this is how beacons are deployed not just in retail, but also at check-in counters and other places around the airport. They give proximity-based notifications of things such as products (in stores), food offerings (in food courts) and alerts (based on plane schedules).

We’re also seeing growing attention around the use of video analytics and AI in stores, or automated item recognition and no checkout-required shopping. This has gained a lot of attention in the United States with the launch of Amazon Go’s cashierless convenience stores in Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, and most recently in New York City.

In 2019, how do you see this IoT being used in the retail industry?

In 2019, proximity-based in-store advertising/notifications will be a big global trend. The use of push notifications to alert consumers about relevant nearby products will gain traction as retailers have developed more sophisticated backend Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, and so are better able to track and build profiles of consumers based on their past online/offline purchases. Retailers are also now rapidly building mobile-first apps to engage directly with their customers. In addition, the “beacon market” in APAC is also taking off and is expected to grow rapidly.

Another use of IoT will be in creating greater ‘experiential stores’, where stores are not just about shopping, but about delivering experiences using Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). For example, Sephora’s connected store concept uses iPads or connected mirrors to visually project the items’ looks onto customers’ own faces. This is a great way to enrich the in-store customer experience enabling the customer to have more fulfilling store visits where they can make more informed and immediate purchases.

IoT has been around since the term was coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999, said to be following his “witnessing of the challenges of inventory, logistics and supply chain management challenges in retail.”

Will IoT change the game for retailers at the GSS: Experience Singapore event? Only time will tell.

The post Transforming the Singapore retail Experience appeared first on FutureIoT.

Yes, financial institutions are one of the top spenders when it comes to technology but often the technologies being adopted have already proven themselves in other industry verticals and, more importantly, have received the blessings of the local regulator as well as global industry bodies.

Case in point, public cloud has been in use by consumers (in the 1990s) and some industries like retail (as early as 2002) but in mature markets like Hong Kong, only a few banks have agreed to start including cloud in their IT strategy.

The rise of Fintechs may have changed the thinking of financial institutions as to what emerging technologies should be included in the product roadmap.

“Faced with thinning margins and subdued economic outlook, there is a pressing need for banks to enhance performance, simplify operating models and re-engineer legacy technologies, while still ensuring cost management and regulatory compliance. Thus banks need to seek more cost-efficient technology-enabled regulatory and compliance solutions,” said Chris Lim, partner at Ernst & Young Advisory based out of Singapore.

In an exclusive interview with FutureIoT, Lim openly discusses the challenges and opportunities financial institutions must face as they evaluate and adopt IoT as part of their business strategy.

According to the Deloitte Center for Financial Services research, there are near- and long-term opportunities for the financial services industry to see the benefits from IoT.

Jim Eckenrode, managing director of the Deloitte Center for Financial Services, said: “But the IoT may be as broadly transformational to the financial services industry as the Internet itself, and leaders should make an effort to recognize the opportunities and challenges it presents for the financial sector as well as for industries with which FSIs work closely.”

The post Impact of evolving regulation on IoT in financial services appeared first on FutureIoT.

For Keating, the ability to engage with her fans, her audience, directly can be as important, if not more important, than receiving monetary compensation for her work. And she is not alone in this view. The financial services industry has started to accept the premise that the only way they will emerge unscathed by the onslaught of digital disruption is by harnessing the power of data.

The use of technology to disrupt traditional financial services, and in the process introduce new players in the market, has caused incumbent financial institutions to investigate emerging technologies like advanced analytics, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and more recently, the Internet of Things or IoT.

Some of the early use cases are in wearables, payments, blockchain-based smart contracts, using beacons to create smart banking experiences, home banking, and chatbots.

But as Chris Lim, partner, advisory – risk & regulatory at EY, caution in the rush to identify and mine innovative ways of using IoT in banking and insurance, vendors are responding with solutions that are not built with an appreciation for how regulations have evolved to safeguard both customers and the financial institutions that serve them.

To date, IoT is being used in product planning and management, to help in creating tailored marketing for the customer of one, is being used to deliver so-called proactive service, and the growing popularity of wearables is making its way into retail banking and insurance.

Lack of standards: the number one problem of IoT

As with all emerging technologies and free market society, everyone hopes that their approach becomes the standard.

IDC predicts that by 2020 50% of IT networks will transition from having excess capacity for handling the additional IoT devices, to being network constrained with nearly 10% of sites being overwhelmed. Within a year, 40% of IoT-created data will be stored, processed, analyzed, and acted upon close to, or at the edge of the network, predicts the analyst.

But to get to this future, the world will need to come to the understanding that standards must be applied to reduce risk while providing viable economic returns to everyone.

In a press release, M2M Alliance chairman, Dr. Andreas Fink said: “Uniform standards and appropriate certificates would eliminate the greatest weak points from the outset. “If we want to ensure that insufficiently protected hardware cannot become a mass phenomenon, the industrial, research and political sectors need to sit down and work together on solutions.”

Security: the other number one problem of IoT

In a similar vein, financial institutions are wrestling with defining use cases for IoT. The Smart Payment Association (SPA) paper, IoT Payments: addressing the protection problem, raises several concerns about the security of mobile payments. It refers to a Symantec claim that “the number of malicious attacks on IoT-enabled devices grew some 600% between 2016/17.”

IoT is certainly a large and growing target, and with personal data ‘gold’ on offer for successful hackers, there’s every reason to assume attacks will continue to grow in volume, ferocity, and sophistication.

But just because risks abound shouldn’t stop the industry, and the rest of the ecosystem, from stopping to develop and evolve the technology. The SPA points out that where payment is concerned the opportunities are many. The SPA believes that the industry should push ahead, but to “do so with caution and a better understanding of how to protect these internet-connected devices to minimize the risk of attack and fraud.”

What to do now

In the short term, such security standards and mandatory certificates may cause growth in the IoT sector to be somewhat slower than predicted by Gartner and other studies at the moment. However, in the long term, secure solutions should contribute to its popularity and thereby encourage further growth.

Lim offers this advice: “Focus back on the fundamentals and then in the back of that overlay what exactly you use cases and then you're probably in good hands.”

The post Why financial services are now jumping on IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

The ebook describes the IoT platform, IoT stack, advancements in IoT, IoT ecosystem and the technologies underway around IoT. It also presents current challenges for the technology as well as a list (not exhaustive) of vendors offering IoT products and platforms.

Download the ebook here.

The post IoT 2018: statistics, use cases and trends appeared first on FutureIoT.

This International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) White Paper provides an outlook on what the next big step in IoT – the development of smart and secure IoT platforms – could involve. These platforms offer significant improvements in capabilities in the field of security and bridge the gaps between different existing IoT platforms, which usually consist of “legacy” systems that have not been designed for IoT purposes.

IEC concludes by formulating recommendations both of a general nature as well as specifically addressed to the IEC and its committees. The principal recommendations proposed for the IEC include:

• Taking the lead in establishing an IoT standardization ecosystem environment with IEC exercising a key role.
• Assigning tasks to the ISO/IEC JTC 1 leadership concerning key IoT standardization activities.
• Working more closely with government entities to increase their level of participation and to identify the related requirements and concerns to be addressed by IEC deliverables.

Download the whitepaper here.

The post IoT 2020: Smart and secure IoT platform appeared first on FutureIoT.

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The consultancy says a key to unlocking pent-up demand lies in IoT vendors addressing barriers to adoption, providing more targeted solutions, and easing integration concerns.

“Our survey found that vendors are aligned with customers’ concerns about some barriers, such as security, returns on investment, but less so on others – notably integration, interoperability and data portability,” Ann Bosche, a partner in Bain & Company’s Global Technology Practice and an IoT expert.

“Based on our experience with previous technology cycles, the key to addressing these concerns lies in focusing on fewer industries in order to learn what customers really want and need to ease adoption,” she added.

Bain highlights three areas holding back Industrial IoT adoption: security, integration with existing technology, and uncertain returns on investment.

On a positive note, Bain also lists out three universal themes for IoT vendors: Focus on getting a few industries and use cases right; offer end-to-end solutions to ease adoption; prepare to scale by removing barriers to adoption.

Michael Schallehn, a partner in Bain's Technology practice, shares the three things executives should consider when deciding how to expand into the industrial IoT sector.

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The post Bain: The real battleground in IoT appeared first on FutureIoT.

The report also revealed that an increase of even one dropped connection per shift could translate into almost $1,400 in annual productivity loss costs. Mobile analytics solutions can help organizations mitigate these losses, preemptively address disruption, and significantly improve productivity.

VDC’s research states that analytics organizations have long been aware of the need to leverage mobile and cloud technologies to drive operational efficiencies and achieve more intimate and engaging customer interactions. However, managing mobile deployments at scale comes with its own set of challenges.

“With managed and unmanaged devices, multiple cellular networks, and a growing reliance on consumer, business, and custom-developed mobile apps, it is difficult to understand and measure performance, gain visibility, and apply analytics,” said Eric Klein, Director of Enterprise Mobility and Connected Devices at VDC. “Understanding the realities of issues like network availability, application performance, and data consumption are critical to maximizing the benefits of your mobile investments.”

Organizations with business or mission-critical deployments have been early adopters of mobile analytics solutions, which are essential for organizations that cannot tolerate downtime.

VDC’s research suggests a tremendous amount of telemetry data pertaining to network and device health, as well as web and mobile application usage; the ability to proactively manage mobile assets and address potential points of conflict or disruptions can not only improve productivity but can also lead to a more engaged and happier workforce.

The benefits of these solutions include traffic optimization, prioritization of applications and network access, and visibility into performance metrics. “Start by determining how well your business-critical applications are performing and identify where the demand for bandwidth lies, both physically and in terms of traffic types,” added Klein.

The post VDC Research: Mobile usage driving analytics adoption appeared first on FutureIoT.

David Schubmehl, research director, Cognitive/Artificial Intelligence Systems at IDC, observed that the AI market continues to grow at a rapid pace.

"Vendors looking to take advantage of AI, deep learning and machine learning need to move quickly to gain a foothold in this emergent market. IDC is already seeing that organizations using these technologies to drive innovation are benefitting in terms of revenue, profit, and overall leadership in their respective industries and segments," he commented.

Software will be both the largest and fastest growing technology category throughout the forecast, representing around 40% of all cognitive/AI spending with a five-year CAGR of 43.1%.

Not surprisingly the two areas of focus for these investments are conversational AI applications (e.g., personal assistants and chatbots) and deep learning and machine learning applications (employed in a wide range of use cases).

Hardware (servers and storage) will be the second largest area of spending until late in the forecast, when it will be overtaken by spending on related IT and business services.

Both categories will experience strong growth over the forecast (30.6% and 36.4% CAGRs, respectively) despite growing slower than the overall market.

The cognitive/AI use cases that will see the largest spending totals in 2018 are automated customer service agents ($2.9 billion), automated threat intelligence and prevention systems ($1.9 billion), sales process recommendation and automation ($1.7 billion) and automated preventive maintenance ($1.7 billion).

The use cases that will see the fastest investment growth over the 2017-2022 forecast are pharmaceutical research and discovery (46.8% CAGR), expert shopping advisors & product recommendations (46.5% CAGR), digital assistants for enterprise knowledge workers (45.1% CAGR), and intelligent processing automation (43.6% CAGR).

"Worldwide Cognitive/Artificial Intelligence Systems spend has moved beyond the early adopters to mainstream industry-wide use case implementation," said Marianne Daquila, research manager Customer Insights & Analysis at IDC.

"Early adopters in banking, retail and manufacturing have successfully leveraged cognitive/AI systems as part of their digital transformation strategies. These strategies have helped companies personalize their relationship with customers, thwart fraudulent losses, and keep factories running. Increasingly, we are seeing more local governments keeping people safe with cognitive/AI systems. There is no doubt that the predicted double-digit year-over-year growth will be driven by even more decision makers, across all industries, who do not want to be left behind," she concluded.

Banking and retail will be the two industries making the largest investments in cognitive/AI systems in 2018 with each industry expected to spend more than $4.0 billion this year. Banking will devote more than half of its spending to automated threat intelligence and prevention systems and fraud analysis and investigation while retail will focus on automated customer service agents and expert shopping advisors & product recommendations.

Beyond banking and retail, discrete manufacturing, healthcare providers, and process manufacturing will also make considerable investments in cognitive/AI systems this year. The industries that are expected to experience the fastest growth on cognitive/AI spending are personal and consumer services (44.5% CAGR) and federal/central government (43.5% CAGR). Retail will move into the top position by the end of the forecast with a five-year CAGR of 40.7%.

On a geographic basis, the United States will deliver more than 60% of all spending on cognitive/AI systems throughout the forecast, led by the retail and banking industries. Western Europe will be the second largest region, led by banking and retail. China will be the third largest region for cognitive/AI spending with several industries, including state/local government, vying for the top position. The strongest spending growth over the five-year forecast will be in Japan (62.4% CAGR) and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan and China) (52.3% CAGR). China will also experience strong spending growth throughout the forecast (43.8% CAGR).

The post Global spending on cognitive and AI to reach $77.6 billion in 2022 appeared first on FutureIoT.