What is IIoT? The Industrial Internet of Things Primer
Five-plus years after the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) burst into corporate consciousness – and the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) was launched – much has been discussed and written about this powerful new era of connected, intelligent machines and devices. Thanks to the collaborative efforts of IIC members, solid groundwork has been made on recommendations on the IIoT reference architecture, IIoT security, IIoT connectivity framework and more. Still, much of the information on IIoT is scattered across the digital landscape. This blog takes a consolidated look the ‘what,’ ‘why,’ ‘how,’ and ‘where’ of the IIoT.
The Internet has transformed how people communicate, what they do and how they work together. Now, the same transformation is underway for industries. For the past few years, systems developers have focused on interconnecting sensors, edge nodes and analytics to build smart systems, transforming operations into significant productivity environments. These connected systems make up what is called the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
IIoT is disruptive, affecting industries from manufacturing to healthcare, energy to transportation. Not only is the pace of change accelerating, but so too are the technological leaps. In the next few years, engineers in every industry will find a way to leverage the new capabilities generated by connecting machines and processes with more powerful compute and analytics capabilities.
The Industrial Internet Consortium defines IIoT systems as: The internet of things, machines, computers and people, enabling intelligent industrial operations using advanced data analytics for transformational business outcomes.
In more common terms, IIoT refers to the interrelated, automated use of machines, devices and sensors that run industrial applications. With a strong focus on big data and machine learning, the IIoT enables industries and enterprises to increase efficiency and reliability in their operations, with reduced reliance on human-to-machine interactions. It also enables new business models or revenue sources from useful data that is collected and shared.
For a more in-depth introduction to IIoT, please access the white papers and technical papers located in the IIC Resource hub. Another good introduction is the e-book.
The term “Internet of Things” first surfaced in a presentation by Kevin Ashton, co-founder of MIT’s Auto-ID Lab, to Proctor & Gamble in 1999. Initial work in IoT was focused on home-based consumer applications. Remember the hype generated by the earliest , letting you know that it was out of eggs?
IoT is a superset of all connected applications (consumer and industrial). It is typically used to describe connected applications in consumer markets such as wearables, temperature control, home security systems, shopping, travel planning applications and more. IoT has disrupted industries from entertainment to travel, shopping to personal healthcare, and has an estimated market size is in the hundreds of billions of dollars, according to various market analysts. The rapid growth is a result of the push-pull of market forces, as the consumer demand for the convenience and services of smart, connected applications is matched by corporate interest in collecting and leveraging that same data into new growth opportunities.
IIoT – industrial IoT – is a subset of IoT and focuses specifically on industrial applications such as transportation, manufacturing, healthcare, energy and agriculture. Notably, IIoT has different technical requirements given its increased level of complexity, interoperability and security needs. The same technology that monitors your personal fitness device is entirely different – and must be entirely different – from the systems needed to run advanced industrial applications such as autonomous air taxis or remote robotic surgery.
