What is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT)?

The industrial internet of things, IoT used in industries cover huge area for commercial and digital business. Enough discussions already exist on how consumer-level Internet of Things applications will impact lives in the future. Smart homes, smart appliances, smart cars, and smart cities have already begun to transfer data with each other reflecting the integration with technologies of the consumer version.

The revolution instigated by the wave of Internet of Things covers not only the smartphones and the homes but also industries. The application of the Internet of Things has started to begin on an industrial basis covering areas like mining, aerospace, manufacturing, etc. in ways we can hardly imagine.

Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) incorporates technologies like big data, data mining, and machine learning which harnesses the sensor data for the machine to machine for communication. Besides this, the IIoT provides business industries with the smooth administration and data analysis (Detailed information).

The techniques that have existed in the industrial sector for years to make automatic. The smart technology holds significant potential in quality control, maintaining sustainable practices, tracing supply chain, and increasing the overall efficiency of the system.

Leading protagonists

The Industrial Internet of Things extracts data from millions of tiny sensors which communicates through the internet. Proper manipulation of these data in real-time creates desired output which will result in efficiencies on an insane scale. This process will help in generation of 10-15 trillion dollars increase in GDP over the next two decades on a global level as estimated by GE.

Who has been leading the trend? Old guards of Industrial technology companies like IBM, GE, Cisco have been leading the herd. With Industrial Internet of Things bein incorporated as a core basis for the business in the future.

These pioneers have invested a massive amount of money and labor in making the Industrial Internet a successful campaign. The startup companies have also dived in this pool by developing platforms, sensors, and structures to extract information from the flood of data.

Can the present scenario in the companies handle the Industrial Internet of Things?

The transition of the current situation in industries to useful Industrial Internet of Things is a massive challenge because Industrial Internet sounds perfect, simple, and set in theory. Capturing and integrating various types of data requires an efficient way to turn the humongous amount of data into focused discernment.

A survey carried out by Bit Stew Systems in top IT companies resulted in only 30% of companies are currently adopting the Industrial Internet of Things. Whereas, the rest of the other companies are still in the planning phase. The survey also identified the opportunities unlocked and the potential barriers to adopting the Industrial Internet.

Opportunities for Industrial Internet of Things(IIOT)

• Almost all the senior executives in the IT companies have regarded efficiency optimization as the top benefit of implementing IIOT.
• Improved operating costs and up-time, better performance management, and knowledge transfer in the organization are the other benefits.
• Most of the executives believed that data modeling and mapping would prove more beneficial for the IIOT platform than other features.
• IIoT improves up-time in large scale organization.

Barriers to Adopting Industrial Internet of Things(IIOT)

• Data collection is challenging as well as analysis.
• Not having the right skill and expertise in the subject matter is also a problem.
• Struggle with conventional analytical tools and database management is a more significant problem.
• Proper data management strategy is still unclear in IIOT

Industrial Data: A complicated mess?

Why are industrial data messy? It’s a simple fact that these data cannot be integrated that easily because they come from a variety of sources and different platforms. In addition to this, the complexity of these vast amounts of data coming in varying frequencies will be a nightmare for any early adopter. Before data integration and instantaneous analysis of the data begin on an industrial level, it’s hard to see what Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) holds.

Thus, these issues that circumscribe data must be solved at first if we want to enter a fully connected world. Only after the problems are solved, we will be able to see the true potential of business-level Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT).

The start-up Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) companies, divided into the following main categories:

1. Manufacturing and Supply Chain companies.

The companies that use connected appliances and objects for enhancing data collection fall in manufacturing and supply chain scenario. Some of the companies under this category are Cargo-sense, whose connected black box detects the movements of the containers while shipping. Rethink Robotics and Momentum Machines, the companies that manufacture robots, and RoboCV that makes warehouse robots.

2. Industrial Internet of Things cybersecurity.

The startups that focus on the considerable task of securing the connected devices from a cyberattack fall in this category. Cyber attacks are already a huge problem and imagining how this problem will grow when there are billions of devices connected. Among several startups, Bastille is a company that is showing great potential in maintaining cybersecurity.

3. Transportation and Fleet companies.

The startup companies falling under this category are determined to change the landscape of fleets of connected vehicles. For example, companies like Telogis and Green road are using telematics data for developing platforms that can track the fleets.

Metromile is another company that is changing the insurance of the fleet. The uses of connected hardware to divide the insurance by mileage proportionally, deployed for insuring Uber drivers.

4. Utilities and Smart Grid companies.

Companies under this category are developing techniques for distributing water, gas, and electricity more efficiently and providing a market to utility companies. Companies like Trilliant, BluPillar, and Tendril provide smart meter based solutions for various utilities. These also offer ways to proper management, usage, and reporting of services to large enterprises.

5. Companies Developing Network Infrastructures and Sensors.

These startup companies are developing the networks and manufacturing sensors to strengthen the Industrial Internet of Things as a rigid system. Companies like DorsaVi and Samsara are developing the industrial level sensors for various applications that include machines, industrial wearables, energy, and fleet management. SigFox is another company that focuses on developing wireless networks for the Industrial Internet of Things.

6. Cloud Platform companies.

Cloud Platform companies allow other IoT and IIoT companies to manage their networks of connected devices. TempoIQ and Meshify are examples of some of the companies involved here. However, their sole purpose based on providing a managed network to business industries using IIoT.

7. Machine Learning SaaS and Big Data Analytics.

Machine learning Software as a Service (SaaS) companies and Big Data Analytics allows other companies to find business insights. The derived data helps in predictive analysis, such as the time when the machine will be needing maintenance.

Companies like C3 Energy, Maana, and Uptake fall under this category. Most importantly these companies analyze data and support in decision making for the companies.

8. Extraction and Heavy Industry.

Companies under this category develop sensor platforms, used in extreme working condition like on mining, oil/gas, and construction industries. Groundsensing for locating oil wells, Aptomar for spill safety, and Tachyus for extracting oil and gas – all these companies make sensor networks for the production of oil and gas. Skycatch, another company that employs Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for capturing data for construction areas in 3D.

9. Wearables manufacturer Companies.

These companies develop smart wearables most provided with sensors and related software for collecting information about the user. These data can cover wide fields of fitness, health, and environment sectors. Wearable Intelligence, APX Labs, Theatro are some of the companies which produce excellent wearables. Companies like Apple, Samsung, and Google have all entered the market of wearables.

Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT): Market size

Approximately 94 Billion dollars in 2014, the market size of IIoT will reach above 151 Billion dollars by 2020. The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is also expected to increase to 8.03% between the year 2015 and 2020. The forecast of the market size may vary from categories to categories. Different papers and different analysts have given different values to the market size.

Why is it so difficult to pick a definite number?  The field itself is new; millions of devices connected through IIoT increases day by day. Industrial Internet of Things, so vast that it is difficult to model the market and market size.

Consider the modeling of the market size of Smart home appliances. One difficulty – Each year, hundreds of organizations link to this field, and the trend is always on the rise. The next problem is – What defines Smart home appliances? The area itself is a vast one, and there is always a new possibility of a new smart device evolving in the coming days. Hence market analysis is challenging as of now. How about some figures about IIoT? Well, it certainly will be in trillions of dollars in the coming decade.

According to GE Digital, by 2025 Industrial Internet of Things deliver up to 11.1 Trillion dollars on an annual basis. And Business to Business solutions would cover around 70 percent of this monetary value. GE also predicts that there will be a significant rise in the investment in Industrial Internet of things. It is expected to reach an amount of over 60 Trillion dollars during the next 15 years.

Market size by Region

The market of Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) is maximum in North America. About 51% of the total market size is in North America. The next big size is in around Europe where the volume is around 32%. The Asia Pacific holds about 12% of the total market size. Remaining 5% of the market is in the rest of the world. From the above data that America is the most significant player in the Industrial Internet, followed by European countries.

Market size by Industries

The highest market value at stake is that of Manufacturing industries which cover around 27% of the total volume. Retail trade covers about 11% of the size whereas Information service and Finance and insurance each cover around 9%. Different kind of industries involved in IIOT, besides some of the industries are the most significant shareholders in the market.

Out of the total market worth of 14.4 Trillion dollars, manufacturing industries covers around 3.9 Trillion dollars. However retail trade, information service, finance, and insurance and other sectors include 1.6, 1.3, 1.3, 6.3 Trillion dollars respectively.

Over 50 billion devices, interconnected via the internet work for IIoT. This statement reflects how big the market will be. Industrial revenues will reach new heights after IIoT comes into implementation. It is a huge opportunity for other companies to plunge into the market now for increased benefits in the future.