When IoT meets 5G: The data integration challenge

Businesses are already exploiting real-time information from the Internet of Things (IoT). As 5G comes on stream, says Patrick Callaghan, enterprise architect, strategic business advisor, DataStax, the volume of data from billions of IoT devices will explode. Those building an architecture fit to integrate the data – flexibly and at speed – will gain a competitive advantage.

An estimated 20 billion ‘things’ will be connected to the internet by 2020, according to Gartner, all spewing out unprecedented volumes of data. At the same time, 5G roll-outs will ramp up from 2020 to 2022, leading to more data being created. The question is: what will organisations do with all that data?

To build effective modern applications, businesses need data not just from their IoT devices but from other sources both within and outside their organisation. The challenge will be to build an architecture that can integrate all these sources of data together in a way that is fit for the 5G data explosion. This architecture will need to be fast and flexible enough to adapt to new use cases as they emerge.

Challenges of growing IoT use cases

Gartner predicts 5G mobile data networks could support up to one million sensors per square kilometre. This level of connectivity will create two types of demand on the data architecture of organisations that want to improve operations, increase efficiency and better serve their customers.

First, some data will require an immediate response at the edge: deployments for robotics and automation fall into this class. Second, real-time analytics will determine any necessary short-term response when a set of conditions are met. A good supply chain example might be automatically and proactively contacting a customer if their order has the potential to be delayed. At the same time, these data sets will be collated and stored for more long-term analysis.

To cope with this deluge of data, computing models have shifted. Few organisations want to build out and manage their own data centres to the scale required; instead, they will rely on public cloud providers and use either hybrid or multi-cloud deployments.

Challenge of integrating with traditional applications

This move to multi-cloud is why companies should not consider their IoT data strategy in isolation. To benefit from IoT data, organisations will need to integrate this with other data sources, from traditional applications, such as enterprise resource management systems or supply chain management software through to new cloud services or SaaS applications.

Patrick Callaghan

These applications can be installed and run in multiple different places. Some applications tend to remain on-premise simply because the cost of moving them – and unpicking all the layers of integration and customisation – is too high.

Alongside supporting multiple different applications, it is not only where data is that is important, but the speed at which IoT applications generate data – and require a response – is also critical. Automated factories that require decision-making in near real-time cannot afford to rely on sluggish remote data sources to provide a result. With the speed of 5G, this connection between services should be able to cope with more complex situations and use cases.

Challenge of building hybrid applications that make use of IoT

If an organisation cannot move or replicate data across its architecture quickly and reliably enough, it will struggle to create the hybrid application model necessary to exploit IoT data in combination with other data sources. While it may be necessary to work from multiple copies of application data, because of the distributed nature of applications, keeping all copies up to date instantaneously is the challenge businesses face if they are to get the most from IoT data.

The long-term benefits of creating a hybrid cloud database that replicates data in real-time are that it offers new use cases for data previously buried within ageing applications.

The aim here is to provide interoperability that would otherwise not be possible due to data silos and functions being spread across multiple cloud providers or locations. Adopting a distributed computing model – where all data is replicated to multiple locations independently – can help applications run more effectively, as the data sets can be stored and processed closer to where the workload exists.

Equally, taking a multi-model approach – where the same data sets can be handled and used in different ways depending on the business requirement and how the data will be used – can help here. For example, looking at an operational data set for short-term analytics will meet some goals, but other data models may be needed as well. Search and analytics are simple use cases for those data sets, but other data models can also be used, such as graph analytics. By looking at different approaches to integrating and using this data, more use cases can be met.

Adopting a hybrid cloud database solution will, in the short term, prepare businesses for the massive increase in data capacity required by IoT. It will also help integrate data into applications closer to users and to customers through cloud deployments. In the longer term, its ability to duplicate data in real time will help manage migration to new cloud-based applications over time without affecting customer experience or application performance.

Although the mass roll-out of 5G is still a couple of years off, 2019 presents an opportunity to start planning the design and technologies that will make an enterprise data architecture fit for the future for a significantly more connected world.

Businesses that prepare for 5G and data growth in advance will see a competitive advantage, as they can more easily scale up to meet the demands of the organisation. With more data available, supporting scalability, availability and distributed computing will be essential to making these applications successful.

The author is Patrick Callaghan, Enterprise Architect, strategic business advisor, DataStax

Comment on this article below or via Twitter: @IoTNow_OR @jcIoTnow

RECENT ARTICLES

Surrey leads new £8 million FORT centre for advancing secure networks

Posted on: March 18, 2024

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) announced that Surrey’s 5G/6G Innovation Centre will lead a new £8 million Centre for Doctoral Training in Future Open Secure Networks (FORT). 

Read more

Protecting assets with LTE, NTN & 5G LPWA

Posted on: March 15, 2024

In this compelling piece, part of the Key Industry Insights Series, Analyst Robin Duke-Woolley of Beecham Research and Kevin Guan of Fibocom, explain how LTE Cat 4/1/1bis/M, NTN and 5G LPWA are working to change the game for protecting goods and supply chains with total, global coverage asset tracking for reduced losses and improved operations

Read more
FEATURED IoT STORIES

What is IoT? A Beginner’s Guide

Posted on: April 5, 2023

What is IoT? IoT, or the Internet of Things, refers to the connection of everyday objects, or “things,” to the internet, allowing them to collect, transmit, and share data. This interconnected network of devices transforms previously “dumb” objects, such as toasters or security cameras, into smart devices that can interact with each other and their

Read more

The IoT Adoption Boom – Everything You Need to Know

Posted on: September 28, 2022

In an age when we seem to go through technology boom after technology boom, it’s hard to imagine one sticking out. However, IoT adoption, or the Internet of Things adoption, is leading the charge to dominate the next decade’s discussion around business IT. Below, we’ll discuss the current boom, what’s driving it, where it’s going,

Read more

9 IoT applications that will change everything

Posted on: September 1, 2021

Whether you are a future-minded CEO, tech-driven CEO or IT leader, you’ve come across the term IoT before. It’s often used alongside superlatives regarding how it will revolutionize the way you work, play, and live. But is it just another buzzword, or is it the as-promised technological holy grail? The truth is that Internet of

Read more

Which IoT Platform 2021? IoT Now Enterprise Buyers’ Guide

Posted on: August 30, 2021

There are several different parts in a complete IoT solution, all of which must work together to get the result needed, write IoT Now Enterprise Buyers’ Guide – Which IoT Platform 2021? authors Robin Duke-Woolley, the CEO and Bill Ingle, a senior analyst, at Beecham Research. Figure 1 shows these parts and, although not all

Read more

CAT-M1 vs NB-IoT – examining the real differences

Posted on: June 21, 2021

As industry players look to provide the next generation of IoT connectivity, two different standards have emerged under release 13 of 3GPP – CAT-M1 and NB-IoT.

Read more

IoT and home automation: What does the future hold?

Posted on: June 10, 2020

Once a dream, home automation using iot is slowly but steadily becoming a part of daily lives around the world. In fact, it is believed that the global market for smart home automation will reach $40 billion by 2020.

Read more

5 challenges still facing the Internet of Things

Posted on: June 3, 2020

The Internet of Things (IoT) has quickly become a huge part of how people live, communicate and do business. All around the world, web-enabled devices are turning our world into a more switched-on place to live.

Read more