Although Internet of Things (IoT) has gained a lot of attention lately, its development and implementation isn’t up to the mark so far. Internet of Things refers to a network of interrelated computing devices, digital and mechanical machines, people or entities having unique identifiers that can exchange data over a network, without the requirement of human to computer or human to human interaction. The potential applications of IoT is promising but its infrastructure requirement is something that needs more focus and advancement. The concept, in fact, requires more investment, funding and consumer interest to deliver desirable and quick solutions. Despite of much hype of the idea, there are a number of shortcomings making its implementation a big deal. There are some major infrastructure challenges in IoT development which needs to be addressed carefully.

Access Technologies

IoT relies on connecting devices and transmitting data for which excellent access technologies are must. The Telco company AT&T is already gearing up to become the leading network provider to connect devices for establishing IoT. It has also collaborated with a number of service providers in different verticals for the certification and approval of devices to be used in IoT. Major telecommunication companies are also investing or are planning to make handsome investments in the IoT infrastructure. Demos have been released to provide a better idea of IoT applications.

Security

In the present time, cyber space infrastructure security is a major concern which drastically impacts the credibility of IoT solutions. A major hurdle for IoT development could be the data privacy of personal devices connected to the network as well as the potential data misuse. For the successful implementation of the concept, people must be assured about the safety of their data. Advanced security systems in devices as well as storage platforms are required. Some of the companies, like Cisco, are working in this field for providing robust security models.

Platform

Device platform is another major challenge in the IoT infrastructure. IoT aims to connect different devices with each other and this requires smooth interoperability, cloud services, IP networking, security, device management and application layer. A perfect functioning and coordination among these elements is must for high level IOT Application Development. It is also essential that all the components contribute towards creating secured IoT applications.

Cloud Solutions

IoT leads to the generation of huge amount of data, originating from diverse devices. Such huge amount of crucial data is required to be stored securely so that they can be accessed anytime for any operation. There are companies which are already leading the IoT development by providing robust cloud solutions. Some of prominent ones include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Oracle Cloud. Companies are scaling up their existing cloud solutions to support IoT infrastructure.

Analytics

Most of the cloud solution providers in the industry focus on big data which requires high performance analytics. Although some of the companies also offer comprehensive data analytics, others need data analysis packages. There are large integrated vendors as well as smaller ones which offer specific analytic modules such as data mining, predictive analysis, forecasting, streaming analytics and others.

Several companies are competing against each other to expand their services and support IoT infrastructure. However, it is yet to be seen how all the services collaborate to develop robust IoT solutions for serving different industrial sectors.