Metering.com 16 NOVEMBER 2017
A new report from Navigant Research has determined that global revenue for IIoT devices will total more than $1 trillion between 2017 and 2027.
The report, which examines the IIoT market, providing global forecasts, segmented by region and sector, through 2027, predicts the cumulative revenue across IIoT devices, software and services.
According to a company release, IIoT, part of the overall IoT megatrend, provides businesses of all shapes and sizes the opportunity to leverage technology platforms that can drive growth, lower costs, improve margins, and develop new revenue streams. Through enhanced predictive and preventive maintenance capabilities, IIoT platforms enable more efficient use of energy as the software makes intelligent adjustments regarding energy consumption, while data from sensors yields enhanced insights on optimised equipment maintenance.
“We are starting to see more and more companies across the spectrum adopt IIoT strategies, deploying hardware and software platforms to help lower operational spend, and to serve as a competitive differentiator that can help them sell products and services at lower costs,” says Neil Strother, principal research analyst with Navigant Research.
“IIoT technologies also support a broad digital transformation initiative within a business, enabling it to offer customers enhanced services and improved experiences.”
The report authors believe that despite IIoT solutions initially appearing overwhelming to managers unsure how to harness the array of hardware, software, and service choices, companies are starting to see their investments translate into real benefits.
The report, Industrial Internet of Things, examines the emerging global IIoT market and provides practical guidelines regarding how companies can implement IIoT hardware, software, and services. The study analyzes the key market drivers and inhibitors, technologies, and regulatory frameworks related to IIoT. Global market forecasts, segmented by region and sector, extend through 2027.
The report also examines regional IIoT trends, select vendor solutions, and IIoT case studies in eight industry sectors.
IIoT devices and industry collaboration
Earlier this year ABB and IBM announced their collaboration on artificial intelligence solutions for the industrial sector.
The collaboration between the two companies will bring together “ABB’s industry technology ability with IBM Watson Internet of Things cognitive capabilities to unlock new value for customers in utilities, industry and transport and infrastructure.”
Customers in these sectors are expected to benefit from ABB’s domain knowledge and portfolio of digital solutions combined with IBM’s expertise in artificial intelligence and machine-learning and different industry verticals.
Wireless IIoT devices
Adoption of wireless sensor network (WSN) technologies is driving growth for the industrial Internet of Things, according to a recently published report by global IoT market research firm ON World.
“Today’s WSN and associated cloud technologies provide the key elements for the industrial IoT: multi-year battery-powered wireless nodes, IP addressability, field bus tunnelling and cloud-based provisioning and management systems,” says Mareca Hatler, ON World’s research director.
In an interview with Metering & Smart Energy International, Hatler explained that short range wireless sensor networks are primarily low power wireless technologies that operate in unlicensed frequency bands. The foundational technologies come from WLAN/PAN technologies such as WiFi and Bluetooth but are tuned for ultra-low power operation for sensors, actuators and other “smart object” Internet of Things applications. The most widely used standard here is IEEE 802.15.4, ratified in 2003, that is the physical layer for WirelessHART, ISA100, ZigBee, JupiterMesh and Wi-SUN. Some of these technologies have ranges of up to several miles but are typically used in transmissions of under one mile (most commonly <30 meters in a mesh network). ON World’s research indicates that while short range wireless mesh technologies will make up the majority of the market over the next five years, adoption of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technologies such as LoRa, Sigfox, LTE-M1 and NB1 will increase even faster.