3 Questions to ask when building a smarter IoT

Last updated: 09 February 2016

Last week, we talked about how Gemalto and West Safety Services work together to provide hassle-free, efficient public safety services using IoT. So now, let’s answer some of the key questions that came up in our joint webinar, Building a Smarter Internet of Things.

  1. What exactly is the difference between M2M and IoT?

While these two terms are often used interchangeably, they refer to two very different concepts. West Safety Services does a great job of explaining the difference. Machine to Machine (M2M) encompasses all devices and sensors that communicate with each other. Internet of Things (IoT) refers to the network upon which they communicate.

Remember last week’s traffic example? In this case, the sensors in the road, traffic cameras and vehicles are components of M2M; they are machines talking to machines. But they are all part of the greater network of IoT, creating the ability to communicate valuable information.

  1. How soon will we really have a connected world?

Sooner than you think. Eleven major US cities are already developing or implementing smart city initiatives, and the market itself is supposed to grow to over $1 trillion by 2020. The White House’s smart cities initiative is also a huge driving force, and over 60 cities around the country are jumping on the bandwagon and putting the development of an IoT infrastructure at the top of their to do list for 2016.

3. How important is security in the IoT?

As the hype around IoT grows and as more and more infrastructure is built, security guidelines are popping out of the woodwork as more and more IoT infrastructure is built. The Federal Trade Commission recently released a report recommending that all connected devices be designed with security as the priority to reduce risk. Chairwoman Edith Ramirez said, “The only way for the Internet of Things to reach its full potential for innovation is with the trust of American consumers.” Luckily, Gemalto can work with service providers and manufacturers to secure a device from the edge to the core.

To learn more about the future of IoT, you can watch the entire webinar here.

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