The Internet of Things: Smart Infrastructure

The Internet of Things market has taken off spectacularly in a short space of time. 

Most of the advancements have to do with the semiconductor industry and how drastically prices have been cut for bandwidth, processing power, and sensors.  On the end market side, IoT owes its life to the smartphone market, and how smartphones have become a personal gateway for the majority of people on the planet.  And to ensure those phones can connect to the cloud, Wi-Fi access has become ubiquitous and inexpensive.  Lastly, IPv6 is live, enabling 3.4 x 10^38 addresses, meaning everything can have its own unique IP address. 

The future is now.  The next problem becomes how and where do we implement all this new technology?  And why should we?

For many new technologies, for example 3DTV or Augmented Reality, the technology often seems gimicky and may not improve the lifestyle of the average user.  But the IoT is not a fad like some other technologies; it is a new way of life.  IoT provides new building technologies, new services (like assisted living), improved manufacturing and supply chains, and better resource usage like smart electric grids. 

The semiconductor and communications industries are the keystones to the future of IoT.

Several key industries will drive growth in this segment.  Lighting will reach 1.3 billion units by 2020, gateways will have a 50% CAGR from 2013 – 2020, and the total sensor market will reach over 35 billion units by 2018. 

This report discusses current and future trends in the IoT environment, and will take a closer look at commercial IoT trends to further understand where semiconductor investments should be made.