The Internet of Things (IoT) will fundamentally change all industries, from agriculture to transportation to healthcare. In the next few decades, nearly everything in our world will become connected.
But with that increased connectivity comes several concerns. For example, the IoT will generate immense amounts of data, which will put pressure on the Internet and force us to come up with more efficient ways to transmit and store this data.
Perhaps chief among these concerns are the infrastructure considerations as other sectors grow thanks to the IoT.
Below, we've outlined the future of IoT infrastructure management, along with some IoT infrastructure companies that are leading the way.
As the population continues to move toward cities in the coming years, municipalities will have to deal with increasing population pressures. To handle this, they will more frequently connect their public infrastructure in order to more efficiently run their cities and improve quality of life for residents. And cities have already started implementing some of these strategies.
Connected surveillance cameras, for example, help police departments keep an eye on areas with high crime rates. Connected traffic lights help cities ease congestion in high-traffic areas. And connected streetlights allow cities to keep their energy costs down.
BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, expects municipalities around the world to increase their spending on IoT systems from $36 billion in 2014 to $133 billion in 2019. Furthermore, this investment will generate tremendous returns for these municipalities and create $241 billion in economic value for these cities by 2019.
Cloud computing, usually just called "the cloud," involves delivering data, applications, photos, videos, and more over the Internet to data centers. The Internet of Things, meanwhile, is the term for the connection of devices (other than the standard ones such as computers and smartphones) to the Internet. Automobiles, kitchen appliances, and even heart monitors could all be connected through the IoT. And as the Internet of Things explodes in the next few years, more types of devices will join that list.
Cloud computing and the IoT both serve to increase efficiency in our everyday tasks, and the two have a complimentary relationship. The IoT generates massive amounts of data, and Cloud computing provides a pathway for that data to travel to its destination.
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