Author: Anthony M. Smith

Gaming

After launching the GeForce GTX 1080, 1070, and 1060 (with a rumored 1050 in the works), Nvidia India has announced the country’s inaugural GeForce Cup, an e-sports tournament featuring Overwatch. Though Overwatch is probably our favorite game of the year so far, it is still a surprising pick, given its creator Blizzard has pretty much forgotten about India despite having a distributor in the country.

The reason for this choice emerged in a chat Gadgets 360 had with Vamsi Krishna, Head – Consumer Marketing, South Asia, Nvidia. He let slip some interesting snippets on gamers in the country and what the graphics card giant is up to, aside from pushing out new hardware.

Nvidia

“Internally, a lot of folks have asked me this question as well. And the crowd in India is more for CS and Dota, and even the kind of e-sports teams that are popular in India are for these games, so why choose Overwatch?” says Krishna. “The title has a significant uptake in global markets. This is one title that we strongly believe has an amazing gameplay experience that most gamers in India are deprived of experiencing.”

“It also meets a great platform where gamers can get the best gameplay experience,” he adds. “That’s the reason we chose Overwatch. What we also chose was to enable the premium cafes for Nvidia with Overwatch, so they also encourage people who are coming to the cafes with this new game.”

For the GeForce Cup, Nvidia resorted to third-party suppliers for Overwatch PC codes, Krishna says. With Blizzard not bringing in the game officially or offering any support, it makes us wonder if the company is too early to the e-sports bubble – while lucrative internationally, it has yet to hit similar heights in the country.

“The way the Indian e-sports scenario is, most of the global publishers don’t think there’s a sufficient size for e-sports in India, but we have a sufficient size,” claims Krishna. “It’s a matter of fact, and it’s time before they realize we have a sufficient crowd, and they come one by one officially to India.”

“And that’s the step Nvidia is taking to build the crowd in India,” he adds. “Eventually, you’ll have support from publishers formally in India.””

Unlike other recent e-sports events that have taken place online, cyber cafes will play a crucial role in the GeForce Cup. But are they still relevant? According to Nvidia, very much so, likening their effect on adopting video gaming in the nation similar to China or South Korea.

“It’s actually not cyber cafes; it’s gaming cafes,” he says. “They are very relevant in India. If gaming has to grow in India, gaming cafes play a significant role in this particular growth. What we believe is India and China when we compare, these are the two countries that are very similar in terms of society.”

“China is way ahead of India in the perspective of the gaming category,” he adds. “China has around 145,000 gaming centers and close to 60 million gamers.” India is nowhere close, but Krishna’s hoping that Nvidia can change this by working with cybercafes and getting them to convert to gaming cafes when Internet connectivity is getting cheaper and more accessible anyway.

“We believe there are 12 to 15 million PC and console gamers in India, and we only have 300 to 350 decent gaming centers in India for this crowd,” says Krishna. “There is a significant opportunity for gaming vendors in India, and that’s the reason why Nvidia is putting a lot of effort in terms of helping these cafe owners to understand best business practices and to allow more gamers to get encouraged to get into gaming cafes.” Nvidia’s cafe program – which guides and rates cafes according to their gaming readiness – helps in this.

“We’re looking at close to 150 cafes in the last five months, and out of 150 cafes, we’re close to 29 certified cafes,” he says. “All these 29 cafes have made significant changes or investments to their cafes to meet the certification standards. If you go to a platinum-rated cafe, you will find a minimum of GTX 960 and above, and that’s a platform where gamers can get a good gaming experience.”

“While we certify cafes, we also help them with initiatives like the GeForce Cup that takes place in platinum-rated cafes to start with, and with season one, we’re doing with eight of these,” he explains. “There will be a significant footfall in these cafes. There will be a new set of gamers to play new genres creating incremental revenue sources for these cafes.”

For Nvidia, the upside to this is getting to sell more cards without reaching the consumer market. A cybercafe is likely to buy more GeForce GTXes in a single order than most consumers would in their entire lifetime, several times over. “This is a long-term strategy for Nvidia. It’s never a quick strategy for us,” Krishna says. “Nvidia is one of the key gaming brands in India whose actually seriously investing in gaming cafe category.”

“Our audience is an active mix of everything [lapsed, active, and soon to be gamers]. Of 25 million who have an active interest in video games, around 10 to 15 million of them have platforms physically present with them,” he adds. “When we look at the number of people showing active interest in video games and related interests, we close to 25 to 30 million people who are active on Facebook. That’s a big number. We’re only talking about connecting two to three million people, but the opportunity is a lot more than what we’re reaching right now.”

The term “platform,” we’re told, refers to both PCs and consoles. Of which, PCs are “significantly dominant,” according to Krishna. Drilling down further, he tells us that only one to one and a half million people have “decent” platforms to play at resolutions of 1080p and above. But this isn’t a reflection of the interest in the category, he insists.

“While the balance nine-plus million people do have a PC but no good platforms. They consume a lot of data. If we announce any game titles or talk about any games that release in the market, they go active on social and consume the content,” Krishna explains. “They check out what’s happening around the world; they follow and post. The balance shows an active interest, and that’s untapped potential that will eventually get into the fold.” One method used to tap into this segment, Krishna tells us, is its live stream of marquee events such as the GeForce 1070 and 1080 launch in Bengaluru.

“On that day, we reached close to two million gamers. Close to 200,000 video views on that day alone,” he says. “If you look at the demographics of gamers, 50 percent are in the demographic of 18 to 24 and are predominantly male, and these guys are one of the most socially active audiences in the world today.”

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“One thing that we struggle with within India is the broadband. Today if you have – this is a hypothetical assumption from my personal perspective – high-speed broadband connections to 20 cities,” Krishna adds. “Say 100 million high-speed broadband connections. I don’t see why India will not have 20 to 30 million gamers playing on the best platforms. That is the reason why there is a significant deficit in the growth of PC gaming.”

And it isn’t just the top 20 cities either. In addition to the GeForce Cup, the company is bringing its GamerConnect event – where consumers can check out the latest games on Nvidia hardware to tier-II cities such as Mangalore and Jaipur.

“It’s a growing gamer community, and most gamers in tier-II haven’t got exposed to the brand directly. Tier-II cities are also very well connected today. The kind of response we get in tier-II cities is a lot more encouraging these days,” he says, adding that the spending power is on par with bigger cities. GamerConnect appears to be a way for the company to let customers – existing or otherwise – of its presence.

While Krishna’s focus is squarely on evangelizing gaming, we had to ask of the company’s plans for the GeForce GTX 1050 – the alleged budget GPU successor to last year’s GTX 950.

“I can’t comment on that. There is no announcement of any other products from the Pascal architecture perspective,” he says. “The only products we are formally announced in India are 1080, 1070, and 1060 in two formats – 6GB and 3GB. Having said that, Nvidia constantly apprises the market scenarios and product gaps – as and when there is a right time or opportunity, we will talk about those accordingly.”

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Gaming

GURGAON: After nine weeks of frenzied competition, the finale is at hand. On Sunday, Gurgaon and gaming come together in what promises to be a battle between smart wits and smarter minds.

The ‘Dew Arena’ gaming championship claims to be the biggest such in India, and numbers bear that out. The organizers, NODWIN Gaming – the main players in the gaming segment in India – had set out to reach 30,000 participants. In the end, a whopping 70,000 took part. That’s proof enough that India has a robust community of gamers.

Lord of the arcade

Gathering in the city for the final leg will be 100 of India’s best gamers, with teams flying in from Chennai, Bangalore, and Mumbai. And on Sunday, 40 elite gamers will be slugging it out for a funky accolade (having their name on a bottle of a popular fizzy drink) and a prize pool totaling Rs 10 lakhs.

In the ‘Dew Arena,’ contenders squared off on personal computers, consoles, and mobile phones. Of these, the ‘mobile’ game allowed gaming enthusiasts the opportunity to play in the ‘arena’ from any place (and at any time).

Akshat Rathee, MD of NODWIN Gaming (gaming partner of ‘Dew Arena’), says it’s no longer considered “weird” to be a gamer. This is, he says, gaming’s time. “We’ve been adamant in saying that gaming is here. It’s just something that’s been under the radar – we didn’t realize it has grown into a subculture of entertainment and youth,” Rather told TOI.
“You’ll not find anyone in India under the age of 25 who’s not played a game, whether it be ‘Candy Crush’ or ‘Temple Run,’ or ‘FIFA’ on the console – these are words that have become part of the lexicon now,” claims Rather.

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Gaming, he adds, is far from being a nerdy pursuit, and plenty of multi-tasking and stamina is required. “These are people whose fingers move faster than you can see – they’re not the fat boy in the basement with big glasses!
“These are guys whose left fingers are on the keyboard doing one thing, whose right hand is on a mouse doing something else, and whose eyes are not blinking for at least three-and-a-half minutes in a row to make sure he doesn’t miss a second of anything.”

Also, on the finale day, there’s a chance for visitors to take part in a ‘cosplay’ (that’s costume play for the uninitiated), where people dress up as characters from comics, video games, or those Japanese staples, manga, and anime. It’s time for this subculture to take the limelight.

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Gaming

Taiwan-based computer hardware company ASUS and Republic of Gamers (ROG) launched two new gaming laptops equipped with the latest Nvidia Pascal GeForce GTX10 series graphic card in India. The laptops ASUS ROG GL502VS and G752VS are priced at Rs 1,81,990 and Rs 2,47,990, respectively.

Asus rog laptop

“The Nvidia GeForce GTX 10 series graphics cards provide exceptional performance and energy efficiency to give gamers incredible VR-gaming experiences,” the company said in a statement. The GTX 10 series graphics cards come with Nvidia’s G-SYNC technology – designed to reduce stutter and lag. They also eliminate visual tearing for fast game visuals.

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ROG GL502 comes with a sixth-generation Intel i7 processor clocked at 2.70 GHz. It comes with a VR Ready NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 GPU. GL502 comes with 32GB of DDR4 RAM. The laptop features a 15-inch display that allows for 178-degree viewing angles. The laptop uses a Hyper Cool Duo-Copper cooling system to keep the CPU, and GPU cool independently. It also comes with USB Type-C ports for up to 10Gbps data transfer speeds. The laptop weighs 2.3Kgs.
ROG G752VS comes with the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 GPU, Windows 10 Pro, 6th generation Intel Skylake unlocked Core i7 processor, and up to 64GB overclocked DDR4 RAM. The laptop features a 17-inch Full-HD display. The laptop also comes with a 512GB SSD along with a 1TB HDD.

The laptops are available at leading stores along with Asus exclusive outlets.

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Gaming

The Indian Games Expo (IGX 2016) made its way to India last Saturday, but more importantly, so did PlayStation VR. With all this hype surrounding VR and hearing tales of it being the best thing to happen since sliced bread, we just had to check out. Luckily for us, Sony brought the PSVR to India and demoed it at IGX.

Let’s start with the headset itself. Looking at the spec sheet, it’s easy to dismiss the PSVR as the budget alternative to the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, and it is exactly that, but it has surprising potential.

Unlike the Rift and the Vive, which are festooned with sensors and require fancy tracking cameras to function, the PSVR uses simple LEDs and the PS Camera to track orientation. If you’re familiar with TrackIR, the PSVR uses a similar system.

PlayStation VR headset

The tracking wasn’t as fluid as I’ve experienced on the Vive or the Rift, but it was more than enough for the kind of games on offer. Tracking aside, my second concern with the PSVR was the screen resolution. The Rift and the Vive both use 2K screens, and even then, images aren’t very sharp. If you’ve ever tried Google Cardboard with a Full HD screen, you’ll have noticed severe pixelation. The PSVR uses a Full HD screen.

Interestingly, I saw no pixelation whatsoever, which was a pleasant surprise. Sony did say that the PSVR uses three subpixels per rendered pixel vs. the two subpixels per pixel on the Rift and the Vive. In effect, this means that Sony’s PSVR is actually rendering a denser image than the Rift and the Vive, making for a perceivably better VR experience.
Sadly, the PS4 itself doesn’t seem to be able to do that amazing headset justice.

Oculus and HTC recommend a pretty beefy system for handling VR. In comparison, the PS4’s graphics capabilities are very tame. In VR, that performance difference is very apparent.

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We tried many games on the PSVR: Drive Club, Batman VR, and Resident Evil 7. In all those games, the one factor that stood out was the low resolution of the game. Jaggies and low-res textures were everywhere. It was so bad, in fact, that it felt like we were watching something like a 360p video on a 1080p screen.

Barring resolution, the experience was pleasant enough. We did have controller and tracking issues in Batman and Resident Evil, but those issues were more down to set up issues than PSVR issues. We couldn’t try the Move controllers in-game because they weren’t properly set up at the demo time.

I only spent a total of 20 minutes at most with the PSVR, but those 20 minutes convinced me of two things. The first is that Sony’s done a better job with games and with the headset than either Oculus or HTC. The second is that the PS4 is the wrong console for VR. I hope the PS4 Pro manages to render higher resolution VR gaming because it would be a shame to waste PSVR on just the PS4.

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Gaming

“Gooooaaaal by Messi,” screamed the commentator as we entered India’s gaming extravaganza ‘IGX Gaming Expo.’, which was recently held at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai. With a boom in technology, a whole new generation of gamers is emerging. At IGX, serious gamers participated in competitive tournaments for the newest video games, such as FIFA 17 (released in September), WWE 2K17 (released on October 11), and PES (Pro Evolution Soccer) 2017 (rival to FIFA).

Game

Other new games like Mortal Kombat XL, Injustice II, Watch Dogs 2, Star Wars, Mafia III, Tomb Raider, W2K17, etc., were introduced. Games were available for a hands-on gaming experience. “I just play a few games, and I am not a gamer, but I really loved the Mortal Kombat XL game,” said one of the guests at the expo.

But what really drew the crowd was the Play Station section, which launched the Play Station Virtual Reality. The serpentine queue to try the VR headset spoke volumes about how gaming enthusiasts are growing in numbers in India.

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Roosh, an Indian start-up founded in 2013, has made mobile game development its passion by launching games for Android and IOS. Ogre Head Studio brought an Indian flavor to gaming through ‘Asura,’ a game inspired by Indian mythology. The presence of tech giants like Alienware and Asus, computer hardware distributors like Acro engineering made for a wholesome technological experience.

Superman, Wonder woman, Flash, Ironman, Pikachu, or Goku, you name any cult character, their T-shirts, mugs, and other souvenirs were available for sale, much to the delight of gamers.

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Computer

Trigger For Larger Things To Come?

BACKGROUND

In posterity, June 2016 will be remembered for one of the major global event risks materializing – a British referendum to exit the European Union (EU). This result was unexpected by most quarters of the market, and there was an immediate negative reaction seemingly driven by sentiments. Since then, developments have been more in line with broader market consensus as policymakers have expressed their willingness to extend full support to the economy. In fact, the Bank of England has already loosened its monetary policy and will probably do more in the coming days to avoid any unnecessary collateral damage. The UK government could also go in for a more pragmatic fiscal policy given that the growth of the economy will likely take a hit.

 

Markets have remained broadly stable and have reacted on expected lines with adequate capital making its way towards safe-haven assets. The initial reaction in the markets was of shock and resulted in steep declines in the equity markets and strengthening of the USD. However, since then, levels of risk aversion have reduced, and equity markets worldwide have done well, along with a rise in the price of most sovereign bonds. The biggest negative effect has been felt on the currency markets as the GBP has fallen by around 11% versus the USD. While not completely unanticipated, this does show the investors’ concern over the future of the UK markets.

Still, the true ramifications of BREXIT will take months, if not years, to become apparent. While several possibilities can play out in the coming months, it is important to take a step back and gauge the impact on the Indian economy through its linkages with the UK and the broader EU economy.

A LOOK AT TRADE

The UK and the EU are both important trading partners for India, and both are committed to enhancing their trade flows shortly. According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce, UK-India bilateral trade was valued at USD 14.02 billion in FY16. The EU-India trade (including the UK) was valued at USD 88.56 billion in FY16. Further, exports to the UK and the EU were worth USD 8.83 billion and USD 44.62 billion, while imports were worth USD 5.19 billion and USD 43.94 billion.

Trade between UK-India and EU-India is an area of focus as all parties are striving to increase trade. In fact, trade deals and negotiations were being discussed even before the referendum took place.

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The UK used to be India’s third-biggest trading partner 15 years ago; today, it is its 12th1. Also, the UK is one of seven countries with which India has a trade surplus. Negotiations with the EU are currently being held regarding Free Trade Agreements (FTAs)2, which will likely boost bilateral trade between nations.

India’s imports from the UK are largely dominated by precious metals and stones, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances, iron and steel, and electrical equipment. At the same time, exports to the UK are led by apparel and clothing accessories, boilers, machinery, and mechanical appliances, precious metals, and vehicles.

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Internet

Technology is revolutionizing the way that many companies do business. From cutting the costs of supply chains to improving how automation fuels different aspects of your marketing campaigns, technology is helping many companies of all sizes better spend their time, money, and staff resources. Thanks to advancements in technology, you have various exciting ways to improve your business cost-effectively, opening the door to new possibilities and markets for your business.

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Perhaps no business area has been more positively impacted than the role machine learning is beginning to play in data analysis. Data is already powering many enterprises, and with advancements in predictive analytics (not to mention prescriptive analytics), there are various ways that data analysis can benefit from machine learning.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence have become powerful tools for improving how big data can provide important insights in real-time. Analytics platforms that can use predictive models are likely to continue rising in popularity because these tools help business leaders manage predictions big and small. Read on to learn more about how predictive analytics is changing the game and how it can help your brand grow in the coming years.

What exactly is predictive analytics?

Especially in the world of data, it’s easy to get bogged down in how something works. That’s especially true with more complicated concepts, of which predictive analytics tools certainly fit the bill when you get into machine learning and predictive models.

That said, answering the question, “What is predictive analytics?” is much simpler than you’d think. In layperson’s terms, predictive analytics involves more accurately forecasting future events, trends, and outcomes based on historical data. By leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence, predictive analytics can rapidly go through multiple decision trees to help you better understand the possibility of certain things happening.

Traditional data analytics is limited in the insights it can offer you about your business. For example, you may be able to report back on what happened and infer why it happened. Still, it’s hard to make better decisions when your current data and statistical models aren’t better at predicting possible consumer behaviors regarding business intelligence.

Predictive analytics goes beyond these limitations by using past data and outcomes to enable you to figure out what may happen and determine through the predictive analytics process and prescriptive analytics what is ideal for your business to have occurred in the future too.

How can you best leverage predictive analytics for your company’s brand and growth?

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Now that you know what predictive analytics is, you probably want to know how to utilize it to your company’s advantage. When it comes to using predictive analytics data modeling to come up with actionable insights and an accurate forecast, you can leverage predictive analytics in your existing business process. However, one of the most common times you’ll be looking to the real-time insights predictive analytics tools provide is when determining whether you want to create additional products.

Using predictive analytics, it’s possible to more accurately forecast consumer demand and how customers may respond to your marketing campaigns, which can help you engineer a particular set of conditions and maximize your revenue in the process. It’s also worth noting that you can avoid making costly errors by using predictive analytics, which, especially during COVID-19 and the coronavirus pandemic, can be significant to sustaining and even boosting your brand’s growth in the long term.

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In March of this year, we had reported that due increase in automation in the IT sector, the top 5 IT firms recruited 24% fewer employees in 2015. What we didn’t anticipate was the ripple effect of the automation phenomenon in an important sector – education.

As per the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), enrollment and intake for mechanical engineering have gradually overtaken demand for computer science engineering in India, which has been going on for the last 4 years. This means that technical education in India is witnessing a massive transformation from IT to the non-IT field, which can have some serious effects on the job market in India.

As the demand for IT courses in engineering is gradually decreasing, job offers from mechanical disciplines are steadily increasing.

Mechanical Computers Engineering Courses

Mechanical Vs. Computer Science Engineering

As per AICTE data, 5,34,199 students enrolled for mechanical engineering in 2013-14, compared to 3,23,697 enrollments for computer science in the same year.

This is the highest gap witnessed by AICTE vis-a-vis mechanical and computer science courses in engineering. In fact, between 2012-13 to 2015-16, the intake of mechanical engineering students has gone up by 2 lakh all over the nation.

Interestingly, as the number of students in mechanical engineering has increased, job offers have subsequently increased as well. In 2012-13, a total of 95,000 job offers was given to mechanical engineering graduates, which swelled to 1,39,162 for the 2015-16 academic session.

Why Is Computer Science Demand Decreasing?

In April, we reported that factory jobs are back in demand due to the increased focus on Make in India, which encourages more manufacturing inside India rather than importing.

This can be a small reason, which came into effect last year.

However, the main reason seems simple demand and supply rule: There are more IT professionals in India than the demand, shifting the base of technical education in India.

A senior official from the HRD Ministry said, “The IT industry was booming sometime back, and more and more students were pursuing computer science, but now the industry is saturated. There is more supply than demand for IT professionals in the industry, which is why students are moving towards other fields of engineering..”

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For example, he said that if 100 people are required to create software, only three must maintain it, thereby squashing demand for IT experts.

Besides, automation is also seen as a major influence in shifting the demand for IT experts. Automation, robotics, and technology can potentially kill 5.1 million jobs worldwide by 2020, and World Bank has just confirmed this fact. The jobs that are being automated at a fast pace now belong to the IT sector; although mechanical jobs can also get affected, the rate is slower.

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Internet

Having a background in statistics, or at least a passing knowledge, is incredibly important when dealing with statistical data so you can separate the useful information from outliers. It takes a lot of effort to gather useful data, and even when you’ve collected some, it cannot be easy to extract the meaning of that data. One should also be wary of forged statistics, faulty surveys, mishandled studies, and your consumer base’s desires if you are in product development. If you would like to learn more about how to interpret data using a statistical technique like analysis of variance, here is some info you might find helpful.

analysis of variance,” requires at least a little explanation. A variance is a statistical quality of any particular data set that measures the distance you can expect to find between data points. In other words, a data set with low variance will have proportionally many more data points closer to that set’s average measurement than a set with high variance. You must decide on a null and alternative hypothesis to conduct this analysis. A Null Hypothesis, in this case, describes an outcome where there is effectively no difference between the groups or mean values you are testing. If the Null Hypothesis is false, then your Alternative Hypothesis will be correct because there will be a significant measurable difference between groups. If you plan on doing this analysis, you should also brush up on your math skills if you haven’t done so lately, as you will need to be familiar with concepts like summations and averages.

How Is ANOVA Used in Data Science 9

What It Means

Conducting a statistical analysis like an analysis of variance is an application of math to the real world, and you will ultimately have to contextualize your results. That being said, a skilled statistician may provide more info depending on your needs. Observations about your data based on whether or not your ANOVA was one-way or two-way can help you determine whether or not the relationship between your data sets is ideal and which variables are correlated with each other. ANOVA can also help you determine when there is a sampling error in your data set, which could help make future data collection more efficient overall.

How ANOVA Is Helpful

Different tools are useful for other jobs. ANOVA, in particular, is used when you want to determine how other one average sample is from another. Once you run an ANOVA, you need to look at your data in the context of the problem you are trying to solve to get actionable information. If you are conducting a study on the effectiveness of a treatment, you can determine if one group’s results are statistically different from the others. If your Null Hypothesis is correct, your work will be easier in the short term since you won’t need to put work into determining how one sample is statistically different from another. However, regardless of which hypotheses are correct, you should still have useful information to report after finishing your ANOVA.

ANOVA isn’t a universal solution, but if you need to analyze several sets of data about each other, statistical analysis is, in many cases, more useful than just trying to intuit a solution. Statistical analysis is free of human error that might otherwise exist if done correctly. Knowing how to read and interpret your data properly is also important to onlookers, many of whom are rather skeptical of established statistics, so building objective and trustworthy analyses for your findings is a must.

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You’ve likely heard of the phrase “The Internet of Things,” but that doesn’t mean you know exactly what it means. So, what is the Internet of Things or IoT? The IoT refers to all physical computing devices connected to the internet. Responsive widgets such as wearables, motion sensors, and industrial machinery can collect and share data worldwide. The widespread availability of computer chips and wireless networks makes connecting anything literally to the IoT possible. Connecting devices and adding sensors creates digitally intelligent devices that communicate real-time data without human intervention.

Any physical device can be turned into an IoT device so long as it can connect to the internet and communicate information. Homeowners are increasingly adopting smart home technology that allows them to control everything from thermostats, light bulbs, and smart speakers to kitchen appliances such as coffee makers and ovens using their smartphones.

IoT usually refers to physical devices that people don’t expect to have an internet connection or function without human intervention. Computers and smartphones don’t count as IoT devices, but a smart object such as a watch or fitness band does count.

What capabilities are needed to implement the IoT?

Connecting IoT applications doesn’t come without some common challenges. Connecting IoT applications doesn’t come without some common challenges. Despite the overwhelming availability of endpoints and technologies, many businesses struggle with data integration, interoperability, master data, security, and analytics. IoT systems give companies new skills that help integrate disparate data sources, methods, people, and sensors.

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IoT security is essential to the deployment of IoT technology. Any business adopting IoT technology needs cybersecurity, data integration, analytics, network, communications, a data management system, device management, and app development. IoT platforms provide tailored digital solutions that connect, manage, and secure IoT devices while delivering big data analytics. It’s challenging to integrate IoT data to see scalable business insights, and at the rate that IoT technologies are evolving, there’s a vulnerability in protocols and standards.

Connecting billions of devices involves billions of data points that must be secured. The drawback to the IoT is its expanded attack surface, so IoT security and privacy are of utmost importance. Exploiting one vulnerability is all it takes for a hacker to compromise a lot of data. Connected devices also rely on users’ personal information, such as phone numbers and social media accounts, which hackers can access. Like any application responsible for large amounts of data and sensitive information, critical infrastructure such as cybersecurity must be in place before implementing the IoT.

living and working smarter. The more consumers and businesses realize the potential of connected devices, the more IoT will integrate into everyday life. Companies get real-time insights into their systems’ performance and can automate processes and reduce costs. When companies monitor workflows, they can see where to improve worker productivity and cost-efficiency, adapt business models, and make better decisions that generate higher revenue. An IoT ecosystem helps businesses rethink business approaches and improve business strategies.

real-world IoT applications are endless, from consumer and enterprise IoT to manufacturing and industrial IoT (IIoT). Smart home applications such as smart refrigerators and smart thermostats reduce energy use and save on monthly utilities. Wearable devices equipped with sensors transmit data messages to medical professionals and improve public safety by helping emergency workers locate victims or track the vital signs of workers on-site.

Hospitals use IoT systems to manage pharmaceuticals and medical tools inventory and can better monitor patients. IoT sensors and deployments in smart cities ease traffic congestion, reduce energy use, monitor environmental issues, and improve sanitation.

The Internet of Things is growing rapidly, and more and more consumers realize the benefits of using IoT devices and applications. The IoT allows consumers to live and work smarter, from home security systems and smartwatches to IoT for industrial settings.

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