Key Facts on IoT( Internet of Things ) in India : Future of Digital India

Thanks for having a nice engaging session last evening on my latest blog on connected devices - The Internet of things  A connected World : 50 Billion Devices USD 300 market by 2020
  and we covered its  global landscape , here I am narrowing it down to have a precise discussion on  what's happening in India .

Since its quite a rich topic we will touch here some key facts like :

The internet of things is now growing exponentially and is reaching different verticals and industries. India is one of the countries where a lot of innovation is happening around IoT across different verticals and technologies. The IoT ecosystem in India is mainly driven by 3 players: 

Government

There is a lot of scope for IoT in India and Government has rightly recognised it and working towards it. The government has taken initiative and framed a draft policy to fulfil a vision of developing a connected, secure and a smart system based on our country’s needs. Government’s objective is to create an IoT industry in India of USD 15 billion by 2020.

Major aspects of a smart city being focused by the Government are:

Industries

Statistics shows about one-fifth of manufacturing companies are using IoT to increase production and reduce costs. Automobile industries are another major adopters aiming to feature-rich, safer and cost effective products and services. They contribute 17% share as adopters.

Start-ups

These are silently disrupting and innovating thereby breaking and creating newer realms each day within the IoT space.

Eg – IoTBlr which is based out of Bangalore and has been instrumental in driving the IoT ecosystem in India. It is the 2^nd largest IoT-focused meet-up community across the world and helps organize different talk, workshops, Hackathons, DIY sessions etc. to help spread knowledge and awareness about IoT.

Companies where IOT is present in India

1. Intel– It is at the top of the ladder in the production of low-power chips to connect IoT devices.
2. Volkswagen- It has added an SAP system that keeps track of their parts’ entire supply pipeline to help them track where items are located at all times.
3. MediaTek:  MediaTek has launched LinkIT ONE development platform which helps design and prototype IoT devices and wearables. They have been working greatly in nurturing and mentoring a lot of start-ups as well.
4. Hero MotoCorp- The largest two-wheeler company in the cosuntry, with the help of IoT keeps tabs of vehicles available in different locations so that the dealer can be kept informed all the time.
5. Hindustan Petroleum- By using IoT, it automates processes and creates real-time insights into the business. It has installed sensors in field units to capture information such as temperature, pressure etc.
6. Apollo Hospitals– It has envisioned IoT will transform Health care and are exploring IoT in disease management. SUGAR is their diabetes management initiative which enables constant monitoring of the specific blood sugar levels using IoT enabled technology and transform them to personal health record system. It is also looking at IoT in effective inpatient care, post-discharge care and overall preventive health and wellness.
7. Cisco– It is investing in the IoT space by building large teams and localized products.
8. Bharti Infratel– It is using IoT for management and live monitoring of its passive infrastructure like tower, fuel management, energy distribution, monitoring and surveillance on the site etc.
9. TVS Motor – It uses IoT for process automation, process quality control and traceability in shop floor, pollution control and monitoring, measurement of water flow and power consumption.
10. IBM- It is investing heavily in enterprise application infrastructure and databases for connected devices. It is also promoting its cloud-based platform IBM Blue-mix heavily amongst the developers.

Business Model of an IOT Company

Opportunities & Challenges

The opportunities IoT offers are tremendous and quite exciting. Given the rate of new innovative product launches, investment being made and the future potential where everything is connected seamlessly by use of inexpensive sensors, and cloud-based data storage capabilities, technology is no longer the inhibiting factor when it comes to disrupting the current industries.

This rapid advancement comes with its own risks and challenges that will need to be addressed very quickly, by companies that wish to take advantage of IoT. The most significant challenges to be overcome would be Privacy, Data Security, technical challenges like creating standards & protocols, ensuring low power consumption, Infrastructure challenges like creating large amounts of cloud based distributed computing with high performance & multi fold network bandwidth that would be required to sustain the growth.

The implications of IoT are far-reaching with disruption to many established industries and there are many hurdles to overcome but it’s an interesting space full of promise.

  
Major challenges:

Conclusion

·         Technology providers should begin to inventory and share best security practices, perhaps by establishing a global security commons. They should participate in the development of technology test-beds to demonstrate how solutions from different organizations can work together. And they need to focus on brownfield innovation to support existing equipment in the field, and raise the market awareness on successful use cases and implementations.

·         Technology adopters should first reorient their overall business strategy to take full advantage of the latest developments in the Industrial Internet. They also need to identify their new ecosystem partners, and determine whether they should join a partner’s platforms or develop their own. Companies that still are new to the Industrial Internet should identify one or two relevant pathfinder applications that can be piloted within the next six months to create necessary momentum and learning.

·         Public policy-makers must re-examine and update their data protection and liability policies to streamline trans-border data flow. They also need to revisit the current regulations on such industries as utilities and healthcare to encourage investment and the adoption of new digital processes.

·         In emerging markets, governments will need to increase investment in digital infrastructure (e.g. embedded sensors, broadband connectivity) to take advantage of the leapfrogging potential of the Industrial Internet in accelerating regional economic development. And policy-makers need to learn more about societal and policy implications of the Industrial Internet, and function as role models in advocating and supporting high-potential applications such as smart cities.

All stakeholders need to work together in three important areas. Industries, governments and academia need to collaborate on long-term R&D to solve fundamental technology challenges related to security, interoperability and management of systemic risks. They need to conduct joint lighthouse projects to demonstrate the real benefits and raise the profile of the Industrial Internet among the general public. They also need to implement new training programmes, and provide policy incentives to employers and workers to encourage risk-killing for high-demand job categories.

So trust you had a nice reading retreat here on this , now its your turn to provide your feedback and comments to make the session more engaging and meaningful .

you can check my below blogs as well :

1. A connected World : 50 Billion Devices USD 300 market by 2020 
2. Instant Messenger Demystified 
3. i-Way & Highway still a hop away - WiFi Monetization
4. 4G LTE Aarchitecture - QuickBite

Thanks - connect me on my twitter handle - @AshutoshNow and my gmail - AKxmails@gmail.com.
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