2.1.1.5 Challenges
A number of potential challenges may stand in the way of the IoT vision – particularly in the areas of security; privacy; interoperability and standards; legal, regulatory, and rights issues; and the inclusion of emerging economies [IntSoc 2015a]. As concluded in this report, there is a need to address IoT challenges and maximize its benefits while reducing its risks.
From a broader perspective, the IoT can be perceived as a vision with technological and societal implications [ITU‐T 2012]. While such extreme interconnection will bring unprecedented convenience and economy, there are many challenges in terms of security and privacy risks that require novel approaches to ensure its safe and ethical use [Roman 2011]. Due to the complex nature of connected devices, their integration with other services, and the general insensitivity of hardware engineers to security issues, security is a technical and a cultural problem that regulators have little power to directly enforce. To make matters worse, even though the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recognizes the problem, it can do little to protect consumers as the IoT grows [Clearfield 2013].
While IoT technology can benefit several stakeholders, if the proper technology standards and policies are not in place, the backlash could easily stifle innovation [Palermo 2014].
Over the next 10–15 years, the IoT is likely to develop fast and shape a newer information society and knowledge economy, but the direction and pace with which developments will occur are difficult to forecast [Santucci 2010]. In order to reap the full benefits of such a technological disruption, resolutions are recommended to address these challenges in Europe [Santucci 2011]:
Mobilize a critical mass of research and innovation effort for the creation of new products, processes, and services.
Develop a new definition of privacy for a changed world.
Protect the different building blocks of the IoT, considering how these blocks will work together and what kind of interoperable security mechanisms must be created, and to assure a certain level of security during the cooperation among IoT multiple actors, especially human beings, machines, and objects.
Develop ethics for the IoT by promoting an important dialogue between computer scientists and the broader public and by bridging the digital divide between those with access to technology and those without.
Another challenge is the big data trend. The IoT connects everything with everyone in an integrated global network. People, machines, natural resources, production lines, logistics networks, consumption habits, recycling flows, and virtually every other aspect of economic and social life will be linked via sensors and software to the IoT platform, continually feeding big data to every node – businesses, homes, vehicles – moment to moment, in real time. Big data, in turn, will be processed with advanced analytics, transformed into predictive algorithms, and programmed into automated systems to improve thermodynamic efficiencies, dramatically increase productivity, and reduce the marginal cost of producing and delivering a full range of goods and services to near zero across the entire economy.
Another concern regarding IoT technologies pertains to the environmental impacts of the manufacture, use, and eventual disposal of all these semiconductor‐rich devices. Modern electronics are replete with a wide variety of heavy metals and rare earth metals, as well as highly toxic synthetic chemicals. This makes them extremely difficult to recycle properly. Electronic components are often simply incinerated or dumped in regular landfills, thereby polluting soil, groundwater, surface water, and air.
However, the next evolutionary stage of the IoT is touted by the IoE technology.
2.1.2 Internet of Everything (IoE)
The Internet of Everything is a technology concept that sees previously unconnected objects and processes converging with the ones that are digital first by their nature. This all‐encompassing convergence of physical and digital domains is set to disrupt individual organizations and entire industries like nothing before [ABI Research 2015b]. ABI Research defines the IoE market as a combination of the IoT, Internet of Digital, and Internet of Humans. Value at stake drives in the connection of everything.
Figure 2.3 represents an infographic of IoE components and subcomponents as perceived by the markets a few years ago. According to [ABI Research 2015b], the market is expected to grow more than 40 billion devices on the IoE by 2020.
Figure 2.3 Infographic of Internet of Everything.
Source: [ABI Research 2015a]. Printed based on courtesy of ABI Research Internet of Everything Market.
According to ABI Research market tracker of 2019 for IoE, the forecast for 2023 is that IoT will represent 54% of IoE, a higher percentage than Internet of Digital evaluated at 43%.
Figure 2.4 shows a chart representing the ABI Research market forecast of IoE for 2023 year, where:
Internet of Digital includes PCs and digital home and mobile devices.
Internet of Humans includes wearable computing.
IoT includes utilities and industrial IoT, smart cities and buildings, retail advertising and supply chain, connected car, and smart home.
Figure 2.4 ABI Research Market Forecast for Internet of Everything.
Source: Based on courtesy of ABI Research Internet of Everything Market Tracker, 2019.
Figure 2.5 shows the overall concept of IoE, a networked connection of people, processes, data, and things. Examples of things include devices, cars, generators, and washing machines. In the context of IoE, cybersecurity is moving away from the traditional centralized view to a decentralized approach whereby security happens as close as possible to the endpoint. Specifically, in IoE, identity must extend beyond conventional identity. However, creating a unified identity that addresses users in both physical world and virtual world is still a challenge.
Figure 2.5 Internet of Everything connected in a large distributed network.
On one hand, the IoE is being enabled by advancements with standardized, ultra‐low‐power wireless technologies (see Figure 2.6). The likes of Bluetooth and ZigBee have proven instrumental in driving sensor and node implementations, while Wi‐Fi technology and cellular connectivity serve as a backbone for transferring the collected data to the cloud.
Figure 2.6 A perspective of the Wi‐Fi Internet of Everything – core attributes.