Internet de las cosas: sus tendencias y desafíos

The Internet of Things, or IoT, has become a common topic in today’s society. Since its origin in the 1980s, interconnected devices have changed our lives in unimaginable ways. However, while its growth has been significant, fully integrating IoT devices into our daily lives comes with its challenges. In this post, I’ll discuss some trends that will take IoT integration to the next level, but also some obstacles to overcome.

Tendencies

Hands-free

Today, the most common way to use IoT and electronic devices is through touch. However, the ability to do so with our voice is revolutionizing the way consumers and technology interact. Voice is having a huge impact on our daily lives and will continue to become more significant as technology advances. We recently saw the launch of Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home devices. With devices like Siri, Cortana, and Assistant being used outside of tablets and smartphones, it will only be a matter of time before users control their IoT devices with their voice. This has even started to become popular in cars, as Nissan has incorporated Cortana into its dashboard interface. Using our hands could become a thing of the past!

Big Data and Machine Learning

Fundamentally, Big Data and IoT are interrelated. Both are powerful trends that are revolutionizing the way consumers and businesses operate. However, the value of IoT for large technology companies lies not only in the hardware, but also in the enormous amount of data these devices produce. Data is becoming the “new fuel,” and IoT devices increase the amount of data companies have on their customers, making these devices incredibly valuable. Companies will begin to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze vast amounts of data, allowing them to offer much more personalized products with devices that will eventually learn and adapt to how we use them. Integration with AI will allow companies to analyze data and learn, through automated devices, the new ways customers interact with their devices.

Challenges

Security and trust

With the increase in connected devices and those that will be connected in the future, one of the most pressing issues for IoT to be a success is device security and reliability. A recent Gartner report predicted there will be 8.4 billion connected “things” in 2017 and nearly 20 billion by 2020. This is an enormous number of devices that, if breached, could expose critical data for many users (even worse when considering connected hospitals and cities under construction). If we take hospitals as an example, an attack on their network would seriously impact their patients. The more we trust and depend on technology, the more secure it should be. And our homes? The right security platforms like McAfee Smart Home Software will ensure your home doesn’t suffer cyberattacks.

Multiple Devices

As we mentioned before, the exponential growth of IoT means that more and more devices will be using the same network, which in turn will put enormous strain on our networks. An overloaded network can cause the connection to drop, and that’s something most businesses and consumers would like to avoid. How many times have you had your internet or Wi-Fi connection go down for a few seconds? This isn’t unusual in homes and doesn’t usually have such negative consequences, but imagine if that happened in a business! It would be catastrophic. Seamless integration is essential for successful IoT use.