The Internet of Things is about connecting things: sensors, fridges, robots and cars. The growth in numbers of the IoT devices is driven on one hand by the reduction of cost for simple connectivity, but also by the increase in needs for flexibility and by more powerful wireless connectivity.
In the first direction the cost of classic M2M connectivity has long been slowing down the IoT market, but some technologies with very low battery consumption, long term market stability and prices of 10 Euros for 10 years finally emerge as solutions that allow also “non-important” sensors and devices to become part of the internet of everything and to do more IoT.
In the other direction, 5G allows a reliability and latency that enables machines and data to become wireless that was previously bound to stay cabled. 5G networks in their different flavours represents the other extreme of IoT connectivity that is also growing strongly and seeing an increase in factory flexibility and cloud deployments fulfilling the needs of market and technology for new IoT.
IoT is expanding in all directions: cheaper, simpler, greener as well as stronger, “own-er” and faster.