Is The Internet of Things Mainstream?

We all hear the quotes – the Internet of Things, Industrial Automation (basically anything with an Internet connection) is going to be MASSIVE.  Accounting for trillions of dollars and billions of devices in just a few years.  The IoT will dominate our lives – from safer buildings and cars to medicine and critical infrastructure…

But is it mainstream or just a dream?

As we have been developing our product, we have noticed some interesting facts about the IoT.  First it is highly-fragmented – dozens of different protocols for communications, a plethora of isolated security tools for specific needs that do not work together.  No centralized ability to administrate IoT systems and nothing that appears to scale.

In other words – a complete disaster from an Enterprise IT perspective.

And let’s face it – without the large companies on board, the IoT is never going to account for much – other than hype.

We have heard other facts – such as the one stating that over half of the IoT solutions that will be here by 2020 have yet to be built.  While very exciting, it again points to an early adoption cycle dominated by hopeful visionaries as opposed to a market sector being accepted by mainstream customers.

On the flip side, things are not so simple and there are clearly plans underway to upgrade older infrastructure, make cities smarter and there is a large amount of movement in general in the IoT world.  Then again, a quick look at some of the mainstays – finance, government/military and healthcare – reveals nominal traction at best.

So, again, is IoT mainstream and, if not, are these “2020 predictions” valid?

Bear is hoping things are true and we think our IoT management system will enable all the features that enterprise IT requires for the IoT.  We are early stage, however, and unless there is the fastest adoption in the history of IT (which, by the way, fits right into all of those IoT predictions), there is no way we are ushering in all of the IoT into the mainstream in the next couple of years.

So what do you think – is the IoT mainstream?  Does it matter?