IoT's powerful promises

How big is the Internet of Things (IoT) market? According to a Gartner report, by 2020 connected devices across all technologies will reach 20.6B. The early adopters of this technology can be found in agriculture, utilities, and cities, but the applications are seemingly endless and extend into homes and even wearable devices. In a similar manner that the Internet has changed our lives, so too will its extension into many "things" that connect and extract pertinent data to improve our personal and professional existence.

Interjecting smarts into muted devices will require new methods of connectivity.

5G  is capable of taking over a wide variety of wireless applications, from low speed through multi-gigabit data feeds. To make this happen, new radio frequency bands will be utilized to deliver the service. This, in turn, will require a new physical infrastructure that has different characteristics from preceding generations of wireless hardware. The antennas will be smaller and capable of electronically controlled beam steering. In addition, transmission ranges will be shorter, so distributed antenna systems coupled with an increasing number of microcells, picocells, and femtocells (smaller cell sites) will be required. These new cell sites will be found on street lamps, utility poles and across rooftops throughout city landscapes.

With 5G holding such a disruptive but positive influence on our lives, it's interesting to note that its rollout can mainly be found in pockets around the globe. At the midpoint of 2019, South Korea and China were leading the way globally in 5G services with an estimated tens of thousands of sites currently in operation.

The Lure of IoT

The lure of new IoT revenue-generated services is too big to ignore for carriers, and the prospect of an enhanced existence vis-a-vis smart devices is too great for consumers to stop envisioning. Soon there will be a whole host of IoT sensors in place, delivering sustainable data feeds that will yield more efficient services and a safer quality of life. The IoT sensors will take the form of cameras, gunshot detectors, parking spaces, air, and water quality monitors as well as food trucks, thermostats and even commercially-based and home-use refrigerators.

Not to be outdone by the government or civilian sector, there will also be an industrial revolution. Dubbed as the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), this revolution that will see a heavy investment in the automation of Manufacturing Extension Systems (MES) with IoT-enabled technologies. PwC's Internet of Things keynote presentation from 2018 places predictive maintenance of assets and products, MES, and integrated end-to-end supply chain planning at the top of their implementation of new technologies list.

IoT Power at the Edge

To carry all this IoT information, new edge-based networks will have to be developed in order to support these applications. IHS Markit believes edge-base use cases for IoT will be a powerful catalyst for growth and underscores this statement by predicting the install base of IoT devices to reach 73B in 2025.

These billions of dispersed IoT devices will require many ancillary support systems, having remotely managed, intelligent power to run both the IoT devices and the systems with which they interface. Because these edge networks are widely dispersed, it's important to emphasize the use of remotely managed power systems. Companies are stepping up to the plate with
intelligent PDU power options in the form of switched rack PDUs (Power Distribution Units) that have onboard communications which are capable of remotely monitoring power consumption, scheduling outlet power on and off, shedding load to maximize uptime when on battery/UPS, and implementing shutdowns whenever a temperature threshold is exceeded. This additional level of remote visibility and power monitoring capabilities will become crucial because getting a trained technician out to these remote areas is costly and time-consuming. In some cases, there will be a sense of urgency applied to edge network power troubleshooting because a traffic light outage will take precedence over an offline parking meter.

Conclusion

The prospect of a "smarter" life holds too much promise to ignore. Carriers will soon cut through all the red tape to free up the needed spectrum for IoT services and the mobile phone manufacturers will reply in kind with affordable 5G enabled mobile devices. When this happens, there will be transparent but monumental advances in healthcare and agricultural services as well as advances brought forth by smart cities and smart homes.

Behind the scenes will be a new micro IT infrastructure that will serve as a conduit for data flow and applications. Unlike the traditional data centers where IT administrators can simply walk the server aisles to upgrade and troubleshoot, the edge network will be tucked into the remote corners of distant cell towers, rooftops, and Main Street intersections. Because of this, the devices that power the IoT revolution must also incorporate the element of "smarts" to ensure uninterrupted services. Sending an IT administrator to every corner of the Internet of Things will become cost-prohibitive and inevitably this charge will be passed along to the application consumers. To avoid this power distribution on the edge, intelligent rack mount PDUs must be deployed within edge networks to enable the remote monitoring needed to avoid IoT system failures.

Photo Credit: Chesky/Shutterstock

Marc Cram is Director of New Market Development for Server Technology (@ServerTechInc), a brand of Legrand (@Legrand). Marc is driven by a passion to deliver a positive power experience for the data center owner / operator. Marc brings engineering, production, purchasing, marketing, sales, and quality expertise from the automotive, PC, semiconductor and data center industries together to give STI customers an unequalled level of support and guidance through the journey of PDU product definition, selection, and implementation. Marc earned a BSEE from Rice University, and has over 30 years of experience in the field of electronics.