IoT Devices To Surpass Global Population This Year: Gartner

Security and privacy are critical issues facing enterprises in the world of Internet of Things [IoT]. If we have to go by a recent Gartner report, 8.4 billion connected things will be in use worldwide in 2017, up 31 percent from 2016, and will reach 20.4 billion by 2020. Total spending on endpoints and services will reach almost $2 trillion in 2017. The most interesting thing to note here is, the number of IoT devices will exceed the total global population which now stands at 7.5 billion.
 
This is certainly a cause of concern for businesses that are on pace to employ 3.1 billion connected things in 2017, said Gartner. In addition to smart meters, applications tailored to specific industry verticals (including manufacturing field devices, process sensors for electrical generating plants and real-time location devices for healthcare) will drive the use of connected things among businesses through 2017, with 1.6 billion units deployed. However, from 2018 onwards, cross-industry devices, such as those targeted at smart buildings (including LED lighting, HVAC and physical security systems) will take the lead as connectivity is driven into higher-volume, lower cost devices.
 
In 2020, cross-industry devices will reach 4.4 billion units, while vertical-specific devices will amount to 3.2 billion units. As Peter Middleton, research director at Gartner said smart electric meters and commercial security cameras will be most in use by businesses," said Peter Middleton, research director at Gartner.
 
The fundamental security weakness of the Internet of Things is that it increases the number of devices behind your network’s firewall. Because there are so many devices that can be hacked, that means that hackers can accomplish more. At this point therefore, one needs to think about what a hacker could do with a device if he can break through its security.
 
Gartner, Inc. forecasts that regionally, Greater China, North America and Western Europe are driving the use of connected things and the three regions together will represent 67 percent of the overall IoT installed base in 2017.
 
Consumer Applications to Represent 63 Percent of Total IoT Applications this year, said Gartner. While consumers purchase more devices, businesses spend more. In 2017, in terms of hardware spending, the use of connected things among businesses will drive $964 billion. Consumer applications will amount to $725 billion in 2017. By 2020, hardware spending from both segments will reach almost $3 trillion.
 
"IoT services are central to the rise in IoT devices," said Denise Rueb, research director at Gartner. Total IoT services spending (professional, consumer and connectivity services) is on pace to reach $273 billion in 2017.
 
"Services are dominated by the professional IoT-operational technology category in which providers assist businesses in designing, implementing and operating IoT systems," added Ms. Rueb. "However, connectivity services and consumer services will grow at a faster pace. Consumer IoT services are newer and growing off a small base. Similarly, connectivity services are growing robustly as costs drop, and new applications emerge."

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