This week the Dell team is attending IoT World in San Francisco where we will be presenting in a session titled Fast and Safe: Technology Choices in IoT. The session will cover the integration of OT and IT, analytics from the edge to the cloud and security in a connected world. This show comes at an important time in the development of IoT as people work to make the right choices at a number of technology cross roads. I wrote this blog for IoT World as a way to address some of the challenges at hand.
Internet of Things (IoT) mania is at its zenith, yet many among us are living lives of quiet desperation as they wonder about their next IoT steps. While I say this with a wink, it’s not far from the truth. Executives wonder if they’ll miss the timing of IoT and be overtaken by competitors. CIOs stare out the window and contemplate who will own IoT. Security teams have lots of questions and everyone wonders about standards, privacy and how to make sense of the data. And the IoT vendors? They are like zombies crawling through the windows trying to sell expensive, proprietary and limited versions of IoT. If any of these scenarios sound familiar, take heart, it’s not as bad as it seems.
In midst of uncertainty we can find peace by taking a pragmatic approach to IoT. We encourage our customers to start small with what they have in place and build on it towards measurable success. It makes eminent sense, yet people we meet tell us of the pressures they face to go “all in” with costly, overly ambitious plans. Pragmatism allows customers to remain focused on the overall business goals of their IoT program rather than being driven by serving a system.
Success and analytics are part of the same conversation in modern business. Analytics-driven action provides the real business value and architecting for its success must be a central part of any IoT program. Considering this facet of IoT includes looking for a rich ecosystem of analytics, data management and infrastructure solutions that can work seamlessly with what you have in place and scale with your confidence and ambitions.
Security is part of every technology related discussion today and IoT is no exception. We counsel or customers to build in security at every stage of development. We find that in the rush to IoT, many are setting aside security as a minor detail to be sorted out later. This approach is bound to cause headaches later and the worry and hand-wringing is not worth the temporary procrastination. Developers should look for partners who understand every aspect of security from the device to the cloud and can consult across every point in the security landscape.
In choosing a partner for IoT implementations, look for those who have multiple ways of bringing your project to fruition. Make sure they are able to handle analytics at the edge of the network as well as the cloud and datacenter. By choosing a well-rounded partner that can span all of these areas you ensure that the choices you have extend beyond what the vendor is selling to what the best solution is for your business.
IoT is at the height of its hype cycle and will continue to shape shift as the future comes into focus. Dell has been here before, from the emergence of the datacenter to the explosion of the cloud. We know that while things are changing much remains remarkably familiar. And, we can help you architect your IoT plan, mapping out the ideal infrastructure that lets you start small, build fast and connect what matters.
Let’s keep the focus on what we can do today and our goals. Let’s keep calm and carry on with IoT.
