The Internet of Things (IoT) has got the entire world excited. A connected ecosystem is throwing up interesting opportunities. Possibly, this is the first time non-living things can communicate with us and with each other. Kind of a fairy tale come true! No wonder then that it heads the Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Emerging technologies. Even at the recently concluded CeBIT 2015 and Hannover Messe in Germany, IoT took center stage.
In the IoT ecosystem, devices communicate with each other or with other networked applications through the internet. That communication entails the transfer of data. For instance, a connected car can do interesting things for their owners. It can share data with other applications or devices in the household thereby alerting devices for specific actions. For example, the air conditioner can be triggered to a specific temperature when the car is some miles within the house radius. A similar array of devices and the resultant data that emerges throws up umpteen Big Data opportunities in this space.
Now, this kind of volume, velocity and variety of data generated by IoT will trigger the demand for data storage and management platforms such as Apache Hadoop. Using this data, we can also identify patterns which can improve the efficiency of these devices and aid in areas such as energy management.
This Big Data comes in two different forms: at rest and in motion. Both these types contain structured and unstructured data. The data at rest can be warehoused till you analyze it. The data in motion needs more real-time processing capabilities and should be handled differently with data processing services.
In a recent Forbes article, the author stresses on the importance of setting up Big Data teams. In the same vein, it is important for companies to give their Big Data teams a robust data ecosystem which will enable them to leverage both types of data forms. Data exploration can reveal interesting patterns and insights which can lead to better business strategy.
This kind of data environment will become even more important in the larger context of the IoT era. Companies which will star priming their business for IoT will be the leaders when the wave really kicks in. Till that time, keep mining your data. You never know when your eureka moment will come!
