Fifty billion connected devices will generate more than 35 billion petabytes of data, says Pentaho's Paul Scholey
Volvo to use the Internet of Things so that by 2020 no one will be killed in their cars (if Volvo's still going by then)
Internet connected devices - the so-called Internet of Things - will increase seven-fold from around just seven billion in 2008 to more than 50 billion in 2020.
In the process, more than 35 billion petabytes of data will be generated.
"I know of an organisation that is putting sensors in cows. They are dong that to help identify when cows are pregnant or ill... a cow generates about 200MB of data a year," said Pentaho regional vice president, EMEA, Paul Scholey. "You can analyse that to keep the cows healthy and to improve their yields."
Speaking today in a Computing Web Seminar entitled Making new connections: First steps with the Internet of Things, Scholey went on to describe the ways in which an avalanche of data will be generated by connected devices, which will need to either be processed on the fly - such as in a self-driving car - or via a hub powered by a Hadoop or NoSQL database for less immediate requirements.
"Trains these days can generate 25GB of data every day. If you analyse that data, you can better understand the engines, power consumption, understand when the doors are opened on each of the carriages; you can optimise the journey for the passengers.
"Planes, according to Virgin Atlantic, generate half-a-terabyte of data with each flight over the Atlantic... there's huge volumes of data being created and the question is, how do you deal with this tidal wave of data?" said Scholey.
In self-driving cars, the possibilities go further than simply driving the car and making sure it does not crash into the vehicle in front, he added: "A connected car can tell the car behind it and the car behind that one that it is doing an emergency stop."
Car company Volvo, for example, has stated that by 2020, they no longer want anyone to be killed in their cars, he added. "They will have a fleet of 100 or so Volvos driving around Gothenbourg soon with sensors in order to be able to fine-tune that platform."
In buildings, he continued, sensors with long battery lives will be embedded into the fabric of new-builds that can provide information about the stresses and strains on joints, or moisture penetration or build-up.
What it also means is that even ordinary companies - such as in construction - could be shaken up as business models change to take account of the data that can be generated by the Internet of Things, and the way in which it can be analysed and used.
"If you have manufacturing plants with built-in sensors, you can do predictive maintenance and identifying when issues need to be addressed. That means business models will change to become more service-oriented as opposed to traditional supply-led provision of a machine to a plant along with a maintenance contract.
"I know of jet engine manufacturers that are looking at 'thrust as a service', so you would contract to buy an engine from them and be billed based on the amount of thrust you used that engine for, and the numbers of hours that it flies," said Scholey.
If you missed the web seminar, it will be available shortly to view on the Computing website. Please check back soon for details.
You may also like: