The Internet of Things:Turning ordinary things into extraordinary business outcomes
The Internet of Things (IoT)—billions of devices connected and communicating with each other and with businesses—promises dramatic enhancements in efficiency, opportunities for new products and business models, and the potential for greater customer intimacy.
This brochure will help you see how your business might apply the IoT technology to create innovative new offerings, increase business efficiency, enhance decision making and reduce risk. We’ll show you why Hewlett Packard Enterprise is the partner you need to help you turn the potential of IoT into positive business outcomes.
What is the Internet of Things?
The Internet of Things is a network of physical devices with embedded technology that can communicate their status, operation, location, and environment. The key elements of IoT are:
- Devices—that collect and communicate data and actuators that can act upon the data
- Data—information collected by devices that enables monitoring, automation, and analysis
- Connectivity—to move data to where it can best be acted upon by other devices or people and analyzed for predictive insights
Analysts predict tens of billions of sensors will be installed within the next five years. Simple applications use sensors to detect and report movement, temperature, or utility consumption and perform other basic monitoring tasks. More robust applications can perform real-time monitoring and response. Advanced systems might enable interaction among devices, so they can dynamically adjust to changing conditions. Data can be analyzed at the sensor, network edge, data center, or in the cloud. And the data can drive a range of applications from simple status to predictive models that provide new insights.
Apply IoT to your business
IoT solutions can connect you to customers, business operations, and the environment to a degree never before realized. Here are some things IoT could do for your business.
Enable innovative new offerings
IoT technology can turn products into services and sales transactions into subscriptions. For example, HPE Instant Ink service integrates sensors into printer ink cartridges to automatically resupply ink when customers run low.
Increase business efficiency
Connected sensors and actuators provide data that can reduce waste and adjust operations to changing conditions. Labor-intensive monitoring and meter reading can be delegated to Internet-connected smart meters. In the energy industry, for example, operators use data from in-pipeline sensors and aerial surveys—integrated with operational databases—to increase the efficiency and safety of employees and the community.
Enhance decision making
IoT solutions can provide the data to make data-driven decisions based on what’s really happening. Product developers can design smart, connected products that report exactly which features their users are using and how. Utilization and wear data for assets lets managers determine where they should be deployed for best return and when they should be retired and replaced. Manufacturers can measure process yields and reject rates and make corrections quickly.
Manage and reduce risk
Sensors can monitor environmental factors and alert facilities and operations managers when unsafe conditions develop. They can spot security threats and speed response. And they can monitor compliance regulations to protect companies from non-compliance.
The elements of an IoT solution
While similar applications have been possible, IoT leverages convergence of low-cost sensors, Internet connectivity, analytics, compute platforms, security and applications, that can now be scaled and interconnected in new ways. A successful IoT solution requires all of the following elements:
Ubiquitous, reliable, secure connectivity
IoT must be underpinned by reliable, secure network connectivity, location-based services analytics, and flexible gateways. Connectivity must support both legacy and new infrastructure including cellular, wired, and Wi-Fi networks. They also need location-based services and gateways to extract contextual information to accelerate decision making.
End-to-end, proactive, defense-in-depth security
Data must be protected from theft, modification, and exploitation from creation, in transit, at rest, and while in use. Developers must ensure code is free of vulnerabilities that could be exploited. Security surveillance systems must monitor all elements of IoT services to detect & block breaches in real-time to enable rapid remediation.
Contextual, insightful, at-scale data
IoT technology can produce data in volumes that defy traditional storage and processing techniques. It requires new approaches to extract the business insight it hides. Data from things is one of the major factors driving the new technology and analytics approaches of big data.
Distributed, deep, edge-to-the-cloud compute
To store and process data in the volumes produced by IoT, especially in real-time applications, processing must be distributed between the data center and where the data is generated. IoT developers must find the right balance of cloud, core, and edge computing to enable each IoT solution.
Advise, transform, integrate, operate, and managed services
Successful IoT implementations require a wide-reaching strategy to achieve results. All facets of the organization should be assessed, from technical to business, people and processes.
Open, extensive, partner-driven ecosystem
IoT solutions depend on the availability of innovative, secure, analytics-based applications that across many industries. Many applications will be enabled by open technology platforms designed to get applications to the market quickly, to enable integration between applications, managed with standard deployment and administration tools. This requires an ecosystem enabled by standards, tools, and support from major technology providers like HPE.
*Source: HPE Business White paper