IoT Evolution World Week in Review: Cisco, Google, Black Hat USA

On IoT Evolution World this week, Google is again trying to revolutionize the industry, one of the big brains at Cisco give us some insight into how to make the most of Edge computing, ultra-thin sandwich structures are giving us microdrones, and finally, the first ever survey of Black Hat USA attendees reveals that enterprises need to start making IT decisions based upon their experts’ opinions.

First up, Black Hat USA. The “2015 Black Hat Attendee Survey: Time to Rethink Enterprise IT Security” asked almost 500 top-tier past attendees of the event what threats they see as most dangerous, both now and in a few years, and broadly returned the result that most sophisticated security professionals say enterprise security priorities don’t address those threats appropriately. In the IoT, the survey found that 7 percent of respondents say IoT security constitutes a top priority for their organization right now, and 6 percent spend more of their time on IoT every day. Worrying, however, is that only 3 percent report that IoT consumes the largest portion of their security budget.

Over in the droning world, UAVs have gotten much smaller thanks to some amazing new technology. Researchers at HRL Laboratories, owned by Boeing and GM, are chasing this tiny dream with a newly developed self-propagating photopolymer waveguide process that it is using to create ultra-thin sandwich structures that could provide a platform for micro-UAVs. Traditional methods of making sandwich structures do not scale down to the thickness and densities need for micro-drones. Drone on, you crazy diamonds.

Google has extended its IoT strategy with a new product that is called Eddystone. It can be adopted into any Bluetooth-equipped device, so each light bulb, thermostat, smart socket or smart finder that uses Bluetooth can leverage this communication method and be used to gather various data such as location, temperature and humidity.

Finally, we featured a guest column from Jim McHugh, VP, UCS and data center solutions marketing, Cisco. He gave some insight into how he, and Cisco, see the Edge of computing and what it can do. He wrote that the insights from edge devices can be applied not only in marketing and manufacturing, but to human resources, legal, sales, product management, finance and customer support. In short, the possible uses of edge analytics are limited only by imagination, and now is the time to begin evaluating the business cases and what it will take to implement them.

Visit us on IoT Evolution World for all the IoT news, my friends. Remember to register for the IoT Evolution Expo while the early bird discounts are still in effect. Only a little early bird time left. Also, please get in touch with us when you have stories. As always, if you have questions, comments, input or abuse, please send it to our editorial director, Ken Briodagh at [email protected] or on Twitter @KenBriodagh.