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Dashboard’s commentary on “4 Major Technical Challenges Facing IoT Developers”

Sitepoint recently published an article highlighting the biggest technical challenges IoT is facing. The challenges have been broken down into four groups: security, privacy, connectivity and compatibility/longevity. The article discusses what form these challenges might take, and gives insight to what the industry may do to avoid them.

The concerns regarding security find hacking to be the most prominent threat. It is unlikely that the security holes will be addressed in time to prevent possible firewall breaches. This is a particularly important factor, as IoT technology could have significant impact on health and everyday life. Security isn’t always the manufacturers’ main goal either, when instead they prefer competitive advantage in speed.

In terms of privacy, the data collected could be very sensitive. Devices such as web diaries and camera monitors contain personal information about their users, and could cause serious damage if exposed. Once again this highlights just how important IoT security is.

Connectivity in itself isn’t a problem – it is more about what will happen, when an enormous amount of devices connect to the same server. The number used to be in hundreds, but in the future it could be closer to billions. Cloud servers that could actually support this huge amount of data would need heavy investment, as current ones would not be enough. Alternatively, devices could have M2M (machine to machine) connectivity, which means data would not be stored in a cloud service at all.

Finally, as many different connection technologies (WiFi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, etc.) keep developing, competition between them grows. Many devices using multiple different channels will most likely require additional hardware and software. There is no schedule for when this would be developed, but it would certainly be after the devices themselves. This would slow down technological innovation, as devices would not necessarily be able to interact.

There is also some concern regarding the longevity. As IoT appliances such as smart fridges and TVs would remain in use for much longer than standard phones or tablets, the supporting technologies should reflect this timespan. The networks would need to withstand time and change, regardless of manufacturer servicing.

Dashboard Limited agrees with these challenges, and finds them an essential aspect of IoT. We have already noticed and addressed these problems in our research and data analysis. We are monitoring the industry for the latest solutions to each problem, seeking out the ones most likely to break through to the surface. It is crucial to stay up to date in an environment where a change could happen rapidly, which is what Dashboard is currently focussing on. Providing customers with the current trends and successful but emerging technologies, we are sure to be consistent and reliable with the services we deliver.

For more information about how we can help in this dynamic and evolving area, please contact our team on 020 7183 5360 or visit www.dashboard.net