IoT

From refrigerators and trash receptacles to assembly line components like robots, anything and everything is now communicating through the Internet. The Internet of Things (IoT) creates a high volume of demand on web connectivity, and software-defined WAN (SD-WAN) is the key to supporting it all.

The Shift

Since the early ages of the Internet, users have been the common end point. As business models have evolved and so many unusual objects have become Smart, devices are now the new common end point. As device connections approach the billions and trillions, cities and companies must look at their Internet infrastructure from sensors and gateways to the cloud. A hybrid of Internet services consisting of both public and private connections will need to be used to support IoT devices. SD-WAN will aid in managing the complexity of this hybridized network in an automated way.

Reliability

The IoT must leverage both the LAN and WAN of an enterprise, and both sides must be strong and dependable. From wired and wireless local network connections to the larger world of WAN devices, each must be able to flawlessly communicate. Private networks become unrealistic when considering the vastness of the IoT device population, giving SD-WAN the perfect opportunity to save the day.

Complicated redundancies, efficient routing of traffic, and overcoming faulty connections are much more manageable through software automation. This means more reliable connectivity as the strengths of software and hardware are united. Using multiple WAN links helps the system find an alternate route if the original suffers a blip at any point. Everything from hardware to access management can be controlled from the cloud.

Simplicity

It’s easy to imagine the technical nightmare that would exist if each IoT device had to be managed separately. Thankfully, software-defined technologies like SD-WAN have come along. Hardware is now expected to function through the cloud and be managed via centrally operated software tools. Only through such simplification of hardware could the IoT have become such a phenomenon.

Simplicity should be the mindset when configuring Internet services for mass numbers of devices. SD-WAN applies simplicity at a network level to provide reliable and cost-effective connectivity, even for enormous networks. The use of virtualization hooks IoT sensors with entry routes and gateways to eliminate the need to constantly reconfigure the system each time a device or service is added.

The IoT is a technological marvel, but it requires a powerful support solution from device sensor to gateway and beyond. SD-WAN is that solution.

The Internet and ever-emerging technologies have created the omnipresence of data around the world, and maybe even the universe, as people and machines can now communicate with each other from the earth to the moon and vice versa. The management and storage of overwhelming Big Data has become a challenge for both IT developers and end users. IT scientists saw a logical solution: cloud computing.

Why should businesses depend on the cloud for the management of the massive data at their disposal? What important technology trends must they consider to achieve a competitive edge?

Mobility is encompassing the world

International Data Corporation (IDC), a premier global market intelligence firm, forecasts that the world’s mobile worker sector will reach a 1.3 billion population in 2015 or account for more than 37 percent of the total global workforce.

With mobility trends transcending geographic and cultural boundaries, the need for an effective cloud strategy is even more crucial for businesses. On the one hand, mobile workers prefer to perform their tasks on the road or from remote locations at the point of need using their own devices. On the other hand, enterprises want to be always connected to their workforce and organization.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is creating data, data, and more data

In a recent article, Cisco CEO John Chambers called the IoT “the most fundamental change” among current technology trends and considers it “the second generation of the Internet.” With Big Data becoming increasingly pervasive, the IT world is seeing the emergence of IoT solutions in new generation cloud platforms.

There is an interesting relationship between the IoT and cloud computing with the ability to connect living and non-living “things.” For instance, sensors that can be operated remotely can be installed such things as refrigerators, television sets, thermostats, cars, cows, and trees to make them function more intelligently.

The social web is connecting the dots faster

Tweeting, liking, tagging, linking, friending, messaging, or simply viewing are just a few of the social media activities that are adding to the explosion of Big Data. Many users are not even aware that Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Skype, YouTube, and e-mail are all essentially connected to the cloud.

The social web and cloud resources can be integrated into enterprise networks for improved business collaboration. A sales team may be better able to work together to achieve sales goals using social networking technologies, while accessing important data and support from enterprise data centers.

Big Data analytics allow for more informed choices and decisions

The potential in Big Data is not in its bigness, but in its ability to identify and solve business problems and open new opportunities. With the proper analytics tools, businesses can have answers to why customers are leaving, what products customers are likely to buy, or what the value of a “like” or a “tweet” is.

Big Data is only as good as the actionable knowledge and insights businesses derive from them. Cloud-based analytics helps unleash the hidden promise of untouched data in jumbled traditional databases. It enables organizations to process large volumes of data to determine which data is relevant and can be used to drive better business decisions.

It is, thus, clear that Big Data and cloud computing are taking on a convergent path. More and more modern businesses are realizing that the limitlessness of structured and unstructured data is influencing the way they do business. They also know that Big Data will remain to be useless data if business decision makers do not use it properly and quickly.

How SD-WAN Makes the IoT Possible

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