Cisco seems dead set on making itself the dominant force in the IoT, looking to capitalize on its own often-cited prediction that 50 billion devices and objects will be connected to the Internet by 2020.
On June 29, the connectivity giant made another big step toward connecting the more than 99 percent of physical things that remain unconnected to the IoT with an announcement of the Cisco IoT System. This six-pillar plan is designed to address the complexity of digitization with an infrastructure that can manage large scale systems of diverse endpoints and platforms, and the enormous data flow that will result.
The six technology elements or ‘pillars’ that Cisco deems critical to IoT adoption and success, when combined together into an architecture, will help reduce the complexities of digitization, the company said in its announcement. Cisco also announced 15 new IoT products to address these pillars.
“The Cisco IoT System provides a comprehensive set of IoT technologies and products that simplify and accelerate the deployment of infrastructure for the Internet of Things,” said Kip Compton, VP/GM, IoT Systems and Software Group, Cisco. “This unique systems approach delivers a framework that makes it possible to deploy, accelerate and innovate with IoT.”
Image via Shutterstock The six pillars of the Cisco IoT System are:
Network Connectivity: This includes purpose-built routing, switching, and wireless products that will have to be available in form factors that will be usable in any conditions.
Fog Computing: Fog is a distributed computing infrastructure for the IoT that improves computing capability and enables customers to analyze and manage data locally. Cisco predicted that 40 percent of IoT-created data will be processed in the fog by 2018.
Security: Cyber and physical security have to be handled together to deliver operational benefits and increase the protection of both physical and digital assets, Cisco said.
Data Analytics: The new system is built with an infrastructure designed to implement intelligent analytics and harness actionable data for customers.
Management and Automation: Field operators need an easy, user-friendly management system, loaded with enhanced security, control and support for multiple siloed functions. With that kind of capability, it becomes possible to manage the rapidly increasing volume of endpoints and applications needed in the IoT.
Application Enablement Platform: This includes a set of APIs for industries and cities, ecosystem partners and third-party vendors to use to design, develop and deploy their own applications.
To enable these six pillars to come into effect, the company also announced 15 new IoT-specific products.
“IoT is a significant opportunity but one that needs interoperability and scale to fulfill industry predictions of billions of connected devices,” said Doug Davis, SVP and general manager, Internet of Things Group, Intel. “The IoT pillars serve as a strong foundation for companies to build IoT solutions that can be seamlessly interconnected and achieve the scale that delivers value promised through IoT.”
Cisco is always a juggernaut in any industry it sets its sights upon, and this time it looks to be no different. Keep the smart money on the proven option.
