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IoT spending is set to hit record heights over the next four years.
In IoT news this week, Vodafone became the first Irish telecoms operator to introduce dedicated internet of things SIM cards to the consumer market.
The V-Sim cards will come as standard with consumer products sold by Vodafone with IoT capabilities.
Customers can use a handy V by Vodafone smartphone app to get an overview of all IoT-enabled products registered to their account.
Launch products include mobile security cameras and briefcase trackers.
IoT spending set to soar
A comprehensive study carried out by consulting firm Bain & Co shows the IoT budgets of large companies will balloon to an annual total of $520bn over the next four years.
This forecast is much higher than an initial prediction from a previous report in 2016, which said the figure would be around $450m by 2020.
While this report shows companies are eager to use devices such as factory sensors and video surveillance gear, the number one concern of customers is still security. 42pc said the risk of hacker infiltration made them anxious about IoT adoption.
Arm buys data management company for new IoT SaaS platform
British chipmaking giant Arm has bought Treasure Data and will use its technology to create a new SaaS product for end-to-end IoT management, the Arm Pelion IoT platform.
The platform will offer data and device management and will be used on public and private clouds, on-premises and in hybrid environments.
Does the internet of things need safety grades?
Anxiety around the security of IoT devices is a constant presence, regardless of the innovative potential of the technology.
Activist Cory Doctorow told Motherboard that a security and privacy grading system could put a lot of these worries to bed: “Until now, reviewers have primarily focused on how smart gadgets work, but not how they fail: it’s like reviewing cars but only by testing the accelerator, and not the brakes.”
Consumer Reports announced last year it would begin working on an open-source standard with some collaborators to help make IoT devices safer. The group has already implemented the idea in its review of mobile payment platforms.
China Mobile sees spike in NB-IoT interest
China Mobile is one of the leaders in the NB-IoT space and it has revealed it now supports more than 384m overall IoT connections, up from 151m in June of 2017.
According to Light Reading, the network is also building out a nationwide NB-IoT network which will be complete by the end of 2018. The huge boost in connections could increase adoption rates around the world by helping to reduce the cost of chipsets.
