Fredric Paul
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Fredric Paul
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Gimmicky IoT devices detract from IoT’s real potential
Making fun of silly implementations of the Internet of Things (IoT) is easier than shooting fish in a barrel. No matter how ridiculous the last IoT device may seem, there’s always something even more outré in the works.That’s fine — up to a point. It doesn’t necessarily hurt for IoT to enter people’s lives in friendly, non-threatening, non-mission-critical applications. Ideally, that can make IoT seem approachable instead of creepy, mildly useful instead of invasive.Also on Network World: Forget the CES hype, IoT is all about industry But there’s a limit to this approach. The endless parade of pointless IoT gimmicks threatens to trivialize the technology, leading consumers (and business people) to dismiss the IoT as the realm of smart toothbrushes and smart hairbrushes and smart refrigerators — and internet-connected toilets.To read this article in full, please click here
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IoT and the law of unintended consequences
You’ve probably already heard about the latest Internet of Things (IoT) security fiasco — coverage has gone far beyond the tech press into the mainstream TV news. In case you haven’t been paying attention, though, here’s the elevator pitch version:Fitness network Strava publishes a global heatmap of where users are running and working out using its services, and folks just figured out that the map includes information that could reveal the locations of military forces working out in sensitive and sometimes secret locations. One expert worried that “tracking the timing of movements on bases could provide valuable information on patrol routes or where specific personnel are deployed.”To read this article in full, please click here
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IoT and the law of unintended consequences
You’ve probably already heard about the latest Internet of Things (IoT) security fiasco — coverage has gone far beyond the tech press into the mainstream TV news. In case you haven’t been paying attention, though, here’s the elevator pitch version:Fitness network Strava publishes a global heatmap of where users are running and working out using its services, and folks just figured out that the map includes information that could reveal the locations of military forces working out in sensitive and sometimes secret locations. One expert worried that “tracking the timing of movements on bases could provide valuable information on patrol routes or where specific personnel are deployed.”To read this article in full, please click here
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When IoT met blockchain
At first glance, they may not seem like they have anything to do with each other. But when technology trends as hot as the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain are involved, you can bet that lots of smart, ambitious people are working overtime to find ways to leverage both at the same time.Read also: AI and IoT: Like peanut butter and chocolate? The biggest connection, naturally, revolves around security issues. Many companies and pundits see blockchain as a powerful way to bring scalable, decentralized security and trust to IoT devices, applications and platforms, which are similarly distributed and decentralized.To read this article in full, please click here
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Is the world ready for instant IoT?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is everywhere these days, a status cemented by IoT technology’s star turn at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month.Notably, that’s true even as many enterprises struggle to develop workable IoT devices and applications as they deal with multiple incompatible platforms, operating systems and standards. Making things even harder, many IoT systems need to work in harsh, remote, space-constrained and low-power environments. Those are just some of the reasons why IoT development often takes six months to a year and costs hundreds of thousands of dollars—especially for global markets.To read this article in full, please click here
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Forget the CES hype, IoT is all about industry
This week the gadget industry descends up on Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES). And as in the previous few years, 2018’s CES is chock-full of smart devices of every stripe. Some seem very cool, others unutterably silly, and a tiny percentage might be actually useful. A few will find market success, and many more will never actually hit the market at all.In addition to all the new product previews, this year’s CES is full of summits, seminars, presentations and other sessions devoted to helping consumer products companies make, sell, deploy and monetize everything from smart cars and smart homes to smart cities.To read this article in full, please click here
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Can IoT help make the enterprise more secure?
It’s no secret that the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) presents massive new security challenges. Heck, I’ve written about the issue here more than once. But one company claims that enterprise IoT also shows promise for addressing key security issues.Also on Network World: Is the U.S. finally about to take IoT security seriously? and The time to deal with IoT security is now Tim Lang, CTO at BI and data analytics firm MicroStrategy, notes that 70 percent of security breaches come from the inside, and he says Enterprise Internet of Things (EIoT) can help enterprises “monitor and prevent these breaches before they happen.” To read this article in full, please click here
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Can IoT help make the enterprise more secure?
It’s no secret that the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT) presents massive new security challenges. Heck, I’ve written about the issue here more than once. But one company claims that enterprise IoT also shows promise for addressing key security issues.Also on Network World: Is the U.S. finally about to take IoT security seriously? and The time to deal with IoT security is now Tim Lang, CTO at BI and data analytics firm MicroStrategy, notes that 70 percent of security breaches come from the inside, and he says Enterprise Internet of Things (EIoT) can help enterprises “monitor and prevent these breaches before they happen.” To read this article in full, please click here
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The time to deal with IoT security is now
In most cases, I try to turn a skeptical eye on hyperbole. So when a cybersecurity expert tells me that IoT security is a “ticking time bomb,” my initial reaction is not to worry about an upcoming “security apocalypse.”But I am already worried about security in the Internet of Things. So, I took the opportunity to ask Srini Vemula, global product management leader and security expert at SenecaGlobal, what’s really at risk as we hurtle toward 2020 and an estimated 20.4 billion connected devices.To read this article in full, please click here
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The time to deal with IoT security is now
In most cases, I try to turn a skeptical eye on hyperbole. So when a cybersecurity expert tells me that IoT security is a “ticking time bomb,” my initial reaction is not to worry about an upcoming “security apocalypse.”But I am already worried about security in the Internet of Things. So, I took the opportunity to ask Srini Vemula, global product management leader and security expert at SenecaGlobal, what’s really at risk as we hurtle toward 2020 and an estimated 20.4 billion connected devices.To read this article in full, please click here
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IoT and the cloud: A match made in Seattle?
The recent AWS re:Invent conference in Las Vegas was all about the cloud, but another hot technology also played a leading role: the Internet of Things. In multiple keynotes, top Amazon Web Services (AWS) executives, including CEO Andy Jassy and CTO Werner Vogels, went out of their way to extol the virtues of IoT. The company also used the occasion to announce a slew of new IoT-related products.AWS’ IoT strategy Jassy spent time on IoT during the closing of his massive keynote speech (to be honest, though, he focused on just about everything at one point or another during his epic 2.5-hour presentation). But Jassy also addressed IoT during his relatively short segment of the earlier AWS Partner Summit keynote with Terry Wise, AWS Vice President of Global Alliances, Ecosystem and Channels. And Vogels talked IoT during his own keynote address.To read this article in full, please click here
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Large enterprises abandon data centers for the cloud
Sure, it was a cloud computing conference, and maybe the goal remains a bit unrealistic, but at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas last week, the number of enterprises expressing a wish to stop running their own data centers was too big ignore.Even old-line enterprises companies said they weren’t content to create a foothold in the cloud and stay with a hybrid cloud environment, though that’s the situation many currently find themselves in. No, many are looking to exit the data center business entirely, just as soon as they can manage it.Also on Network World: How a giant like GE found a home in the cloud And from the size and quality of the companies signing on to this stretch goal — think PG&E, Expedia, and to some extent even Goldman Sachs — it seemed clear that they represent only the tip of the iceberg.To read this article in full, please click here
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Large enterprises abandon data centers for the cloud
Sure, it was a cloud computing conference, and maybe the goal remains a bit unrealistic, but at AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas last week, the number of enterprises expressing a wish to stop running their own data centers was too big ignore.Even old-line enterprises companies said they weren’t content to create a foothold in the cloud and stay with a hybrid cloud environment, though that’s the situation many currently find themselves in. No, many are looking to exit the data center business entirely, just as soon as they can manage it.Also on Network World: How a giant like GE found a home in the cloud And from the size and quality of the companies signing on to this stretch goal — think PG&E, Expedia, and to some extent even Goldman Sachs — it seemed clear that they represent only the tip of the iceberg.To read this article in full, please click here
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Why hybrid cloud will turn out to be a transition strategy
As the cloud world gears up for this week’s big AWS re:Invent 2017 cloud computing conference in Las Vegas, it seems like a good time to take look at the future of hybrid cloud.Defined as a computing architecture that — in one way or another — incorporates elements of both the public cloud and private on-premise data centers, hybrid cloud is currently having a moment. As vendors such as Microsoft, Google, and Cisco scramble to offer specific hybrid-cloud solutions, many observers are calling hybrid cloud the best of both worlds, offering the scalability and flexibility of the public cloud along with the security and control associated with on-premise infrastructures. All that has helped the hybrid market grow very quickly.To read this article in full, please click here
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Why hybrid cloud will turn out to be a transition strategy
As the cloud world gears up for this week’s big AWS re:Invent 2017 cloud computing conference in Las Vegas, it seems like a good time to take look at the future of hybrid cloud.Defined as a computing architecture that — in one way or another — incorporates elements of both the public cloud and private on-premise data centers, hybrid cloud is currently having a moment. As vendors such as Microsoft, Google, and Cisco scramble to offer specific hybrid-cloud solutions, many observers are calling hybrid cloud the best of both worlds, offering the scalability and flexibility of the public cloud along with the security and control associated with on-premise infrastructures. All that has helped the hybrid market grow very quickly.To read this article in full, please click here
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Will the end of net neutrality crush the Internet of Things?
It was hardly a surprise, but this week Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai made it all but official: He announced a plan to scrap Obama-era net neutrality rules.Since Republicans hold a 3-2 edge at the FCC, Pai’s plan is virtually certain to pass — despite lobbying efforts and court challenges from just about every internet constituency apart from big internet service providers (ISPs). "The Restoring Internet Freedom Order," as it’s cynically called, will very likely upend the current rules classifying internet service as a public utility and prohibiting carriers from slowing or blocking certain types of traffic.To read this article in full, please click here
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What happens when an IoT implementation goes bad?
When talking about the Internet of Things, it’s important to remember that the “internet” part is just as critical as the “things.” That my sound cryptic, but it can have dramatic real-world implications, as demonstrated by the failure last week of one-time Kickstarter darling Emberlight.INSIDER: 5 ways to prepare for Internet of Things security threats The company had raised $300,000 back in 2014 to fund development of its smart light socket designed to work with ordinary bulbs. But on November 16, Emberlight notified customers it was going out of business due to competition from larger competitors and imitators selling similar devices for a quarter of the price.To read this article in full, please click here
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Forrester predicts what’s next for IoT
What’s in store for the Internet of Things (IoT) in 2018? That’s the question on many people’s minds in the fast-growing IoT industry. One set of answers can be found in a new report from Forrester, called Predictions 2018: IoT Moves From Experimentation To Business Scale. According to Forrester and published reports last week, that journey means many things, but apart from the usual superheated speculation about IoT’s incredible growth and increasing impact, here’s what I think is most interesting. To read this article in full, please click here
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Forrester predicts what’s next for IoT
What’s in store for the Internet of Things (IoT) in 2018? That’s the question on many people’s minds in the fast-growing IoT industry. One set of answers can be found in a new report from Forrester, called Predictions 2018: IoT Moves From Experimentation To Business Scale. According to Forrester and published reports last week, that journey means many things, but apart from the usual superheated speculation about IoT’s incredible growth and increasing impact, here’s what I think is most interesting. To read this article in full, please click here
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Is the U.S. finally about to take IoT security seriously?
Does IoT stand for “internet of threats”? One senator says it might soon, and warned that the internet of things could “pose a direct threat to economic prosperity, privacy and our nation’s security.”Indeed, security issues plaguing IoT devices have long been a concern, and last week congressional Democrats introduced a bill designed to help mitigate what are seen as widespread vulnerabilities. But while the effort is noble and may help raise awareness of the issues, there are lots of reasons why the Cyber Shield Act of 2017 won’t end up doing much to actually solve the problem.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here