The evolution of IoT (Internet of Things) has now become a mainstream technology as people become more comfortable with voice-devices and software automation. Discover some of the latest evolutions in this space to take this technology to the next level.
Statistics
- IoT spending is set to reach $1 trillion this year with worldwide spending having increased year-over-year by at least $40B since 2018. (FinleyUSA)
- There are approximately 13.15B connected IoT devices around the globe.
- IoT devices are expected to grow by over 3x reaching 25.4B by 2030. (Finance Online)
- IoT devices surpassed non-IoT devices in 2020 with 75% of all devices forecasted to be IoT by 2030. (IoT Analytics)
- There are more than 400 active IoT platforms in existence.
- Video entertainment is the biggest spending category in IoT. (IDC)
Latest IoT Tech
Wireless Power
IoT takes different forms in different settings. I’ll cover smart homes, smart businesses and smart cities. But first, let’s look at a few developments that cover all three. First, we have wireless power. This is not just putting your phone on a wireless charger but sending power up to 36 meters so you can just charge the phone in your pocket as you walk around. Ossia, PowerCast, Energous, and other companies have been developing this for some time and I’ve covered them in past reports. Last March, however, the U.S. government removed the one-meter power distance limit for some wireless products. This has enabled several new wireless power use cases. Ossia makes power transmitting panels that fit in a dropped acoustic tile ceiling. PowerCast has a little device called “Ubiquity” that looks like a smart speaker and costs about $30 US. Devices can add Ubiquity wireless power support for $5 US in parts.
By J. Clarke Stevens, Shaw*
Matter
There was Matter all over the floor at CES. And by Matter, I mean the new IoT interoperability and security standard developed by Amazon, Apple and Google (and hundreds of other companies). Getting the three hyperscalers (large-scale data centers) to agree on a single solution is the thing that has elevated Matter over similar efforts in the past. They came out with their first official standard last fall and started certifying products. There were several products on the floor, but many were advertised to support Matter and be available in 2023. Matter will allow devices from one vendor to be controlled by devices from another vendor. It will also require the devices to implement strong security allowing vendors to create products that only need to support one standard. This reduces the cost for the manufacturer and lowers cost and inconvenience for the consumer. There will be bumps in the road as this technology is released, but it can be a game changer for the IoT industry.
By J. Clarke Stevens, Shaw*
Wi-Fi 7
If you’ve been keeping track of your Wi-Fi level, you may know that Wi- Fi 6 just started showing up in products. I hope you didn’t buy a lot of Wi-Fi 6 because Wi-Fi 7 stuff will be available in the first quarter of 2023. TP-Link will start selling a Wi-Fi 7 gateway that can communicate at 33 Gbps. Assuming a 4K video stream uses 50 Mbps, that’s 660 simultaneous 4K video streams. Of course, if you’re streaming those from a service that isn’t inside your house and you have a 1 Gbps data service (you probably don’t), that gets cut down to only 20 simultaneous 4K video streams. Even if you only have Wi-Fi 6, your data rate is likely okay, unless you have a lot more kids than I do.
By J. Clarke Stevens, Shaw*
Reports
* Please note that any opinions, views, commentary or recommendations about these technologies related to the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and/or any products or services participating in the CES made by Clarke Stevens are his alone and do not represent opinions, views, commentary, recommendations of Shaw Communications Inc., its affiliates or its management (collectively, “Shaw”) about the CES and Shaw does not approve, recommend and endorse of any of the products or services participating in the CES.
