Network Communications News (NCN) October 2017 | Page 40
WIRELESS NETWORKS
How a standardised
ecosystem can help drive
widespread growth for IoT
Phil Beecher, chairman of the Wi-SUN Alliance, provides a vision of the future.
A
ccording to industry
analyst firm Gartner,
Internet of Things (IoT)
endpoints will grow
32.9% up until 2020,
by which time the installed base
will have reached 20.4 billion units.
The firm also predicts spending on
endpoints and services will reach
almost $2 trillion this year.
With a market experiencing
such a growth surge, it is
imperative for any organisation
thinking about implementing
an IoT initiative, to give careful
consideration to their chosen
network wireless technology. This
decision will ultimately define
performance, longevity, reliability,
interoperability and scalability for
many years to come.
Interoperability will be a key
component in driving the growth
of IoT and creating a standardised
ecosystem, whereby devices can
communicate and developers
can work together. As a result,
this will almost cer tainly lead to
even more product options and
features suppor ted by stronger
pricing competition.
Smart city applications are
still in their infancy, and there
will be many new developments
and applications in the near
future. Like the internet, IoT
networks should be built on a
set of standard protocols and
structured to provide the flexibility
to support this growing range of
applications, as well as provide
highly resilient connectivity. IoT
networks additionally need to be
fault tolerant, while providing the
capacity to deal with very large
numbers of devices.
40 | October 2017
In order to support multi-service
networks, it makes sense for a
local authority or municipality to
use the same communications
infrastructure to control a wide
variety of applications, such as
street lighting, traffic management
systems and smart parking, as well
as applications as yet unknown. A
single communications infrastructure
not only avoids the replication of
network equipment, but also enables
new and smart functionality where
different applications can interact
and share data.
Among the new and more
diverse applications becoming
available, there are an increasing
number that require low latency
and localised processing. This
need for distributed control,
together with low latency and the
need for resilient, fault tolerant
networks, demonstrate the value
of peer to peer mesh networks.
One of the major benefits of
being a network owner or operator
in a standardised IoT ecosystem is
that there is no need to be locked
into a single vendor. Solutions built
on open standards, supported
by a certification program for
interoperability, provide the network
operator with a choice of vendors,
competitive pricing and the
confidence of a continuity of supply.
Set to develop a multitude of
towns and cities, with the goal
of enhancing the lives of us as
consumers, businesses and other
organisations. There are many
unknowns of course, but one thing is
certain; those cities and towns that
implement their IoT initiatives on an
ecosystem using open standards
are far more likely to succeed and
grow than those who do not.
More information: wi-sun.org
The Wi-SUN Alliance works
to promote standards-
based interoperable wireless
communication products for
Smart Ubiquitous Networks,
Smart Cities and IoT
applications. Since 19 97, Phil
Beecher, chairman, Wi-SUN
Alliance, has played a key
role in the development of
communications standards
including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi,
IETF, IEEE and cellular.