IoT connected devices to triple by 2021: Research

New data from Juniper Research has found that the number of connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices, sensors and actuators will reach over 46 billion in 2021. This 200 per cent increase, from 2016, will be driven in large part by a reduction in the unit costs of hardware. Juniper forecasts that it will average close to the ‘magic’ $1 throughout the period.

Juniper’s latest research, ‘The Internet of Things: Consumer, Industrial & Public Services 2016-2021′, found that industrial and public services will post the highest growth over the forecast period, averaging over 24 per cent annually.

However, the research cautioned that both providers and end-users will face tremendous challenges when considering IoT deployments at scale.

Juniper predicted that, without changes in attitude from some service providers, getting an IoT project off the ground would be too difficult for non tech-savvy customers. It noted that initiatives such as Exosite’s IoT Alliance (a large partner network) and Rubicon Labs’ flexible business models (pricing according to the value of the data in question) would be fundamental in driving market traction forward.

Additionally, the research found that the security threat landscape is widening. IoT DDoS (distributed denial-of-service) ‘botnet’ attacks have become infamous in 2016, although in the medium-term, personal data theft, corporate data theft and physical asset damage will be the primary goals for IoT hackers.

The whitepaper, IoT—Internet of Transformation, is available to download from the Juniper website together with further details of the full research.

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