MAKING THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS

AI AND 5G ARE DRIVING THE ADOPTION OF ENTERPRISE IoT, BUT CHALLENGES REMAIN.

The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of the Internet of Things, which has been one of the most hyped technologies for many years. With vendors offering fully integrated applications and platforms, IoT spurs many exciting use cases in different industries.

According to Gartner, enterprises implementing IoT are increasingly focusing on the business outcomes of the technology, and IoT initiatives are no longer driven by the sole purpose of internal operational improvement. Instead, the research firm says IT and business stakeholders must work together to align IoT projects with business objectives for improving revenue and customer experience.

What is next for IoT technology?

“In 2022, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine learning (ML) applications will continue to feed into IoT technology. We’ll see increased use cases for “AIoT”, the Artificial Intelligence of Things, where ML will enhance data analytics and decision-making for data generated by IoT across a wide range of applications. IoT will also increasingly be found in the supply chain process. As global supply chains become more complex, IoT technologies will be used in asset and inventory management, as well as helping to track products at every step of the way. Additionally, with widespread deployment of 5G, industrial IoT will also surge, as the reduced latency and quicker speeds will help to connect a large number of machines and devices efficiently,” says Hani Khalaf, Field CTO – IoT and Digital Cities, META, at Dell Technologies

The increased focus on the rollout of 5G across the region has undoubtedly been a key enabler for the widespread implementation of IoT devices and in supporting data processing for IoT networks.

As 5G adoption grows, IoT is set to take up an increasingly significant role in digitally transforming major

Hani Khalaf

industries around the world, says Lucky La Riccia, Vice President and Head of Digital Services at Ericsson Middle East and Africa. “In industries such as Oil & Gas and manufacturing, IoT can enhance efficiencies in areas of proactive asset maintenance and process automation but also significantly improve worker safety, ensuring the continuity of the industry. Allowing real-time data transfer and diagnostics, we will see IoT offering the means required for enabling flagship 5G uses cases in environmental monitoring and autonomous driving. With more businesses adopting IoT-powered datadriven solutions, it can edge us ever closer to achieving a sustainable social and economic environment,” he says.

Nicole Reineke, Vice President of Innovation, Iron Mountain, says we can expect continued growth in IoT implementations as more enterprises and the public sector use IoT to help make more informed decisions, improve operational efficiency, or otherwise drive business value. It’s not just about using new or fun technology. IoT works in synergy with other technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and edge computing to enable insights and near real-time automation. This, in turn, helps organisations drive innovation and achieve their full potential.

“As we consider the expansion of drones and autonomous vehicles, both of which extend sensor and data collection capabilities, we see a proliferation of IoT data bringing new levels of geospatial awareness and data-driven decision making. However, the growth in IoT devices brings about increased security threats and cybercrimes, so we will also see a growing focus on ensuring IoT networks

Lucky La Riccia

WITH NEW EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES LIKE 5G, AI AND IOT, WE CAN LIKELY ACHIEVE EVEN MORE REDUCTIONS IF WE IMPLEMENT THEM CORRECTLY. ALLOWING REAL-TIME DATA TRANSFERS OVER NUMEROUS CONNECTED DEVICES, IOT ENABLES OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES AND HELPS CUT ENERGY COSTS, SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCING OUR IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT.

Nicole Reineke

and devices are not vulnerable to cyberattacks,” she adds.

Though the technology is maturing rapidly, security concerns linger around IoT implementation. So how can enterprises simplify IoT deployments and address security concerns?

“As technology adoption surged in recent years, cyber threats have increased, necessitating a greater focus on cybersecurity. Therefore, it is unsurprising that the global IoT security market is projected to grow to $18.6 billion in 2022 (Statista). As far as security is concerned, efficiency revolves largely around compliance with standards such as GDPR. Most IoT devices and cloud-based solutions are subject to third-part tests and verifications before they’re certified as secure. In fact, bestin-class IoT devices accompany data encryption and code signing, besides the recurring prompts to incorporate strong authentication mechanisms — all irrespective of configurations. When such IoT practices are institutionalised, deployments tend to become simplified,” says Sanjeevv Bhatia, Chairman of SB Group and CEO of Netix Controls. Reineke from Iron Mountain says the great news is that security and privacy awareness has dramatically increased as governance and laws have become commonplace for personal data. Consumers are also increasingly aware of concerns about IoT security and make informed choices about

Sanjeevv Bhatia

protecting both devices and data. Healthcare providers have to ensure security and privacy for connected devices such as defibrillators, heart monitors, and pacemakers. Manufacturers, who traditionally have kept factory sensors and equipment disconnected from the Internet–and often from the company intranet–are demanding security from their infrastructure and network providers. “As these entities become more connected, they need to adopt Zero Trust architecture, implement a robust cybersecurity strategy, and deploy devices, infrastructure, and software with built-in security,” she says.

Feras Juma, IOT & Integration Solutions Manager – Software AG, adds that the first and foremost important step is to understand that an IoT solution is a combination of different components, a consortium of different stakeholders that should work hand in hand to deliver the end-to-end solution. The consortium can consist of device providers, network connectivity providers, and platform providers.

IoT and sustainability

Besides driving digital transformation, IoT is also enabling many companies to create a more environment-friendly and sustainable world.

By 2030, the global population will grow by nearly a billion people. With this growth, our economy will put pressure on planetary boundaries and social systems like never before. Therefore, it is crucial to embed sustainability and ethical practices into the core part of organisations. One way of doing that is through IoT technologies, which can be implemented in numerous ways across industries, says Khalaf from Dell.

“One key important application for organisations, is using IoT to reduce energy consumption by optimising systems’ efficiencies through sensor data. IoT can also be used for smart water management, where the usage and quality of water resources and associated equipment, like pipes and pumps, are monitored and controlled. Air quality monitoring through IoT can also be used to detect leaks for industrial plants in far or remote locations. IoT applications, where data is collected by smart agriculture sensors, can also help with smart farming, for which yields are optimised, waste is reduced, and resources, such as water and fertilizers, are used efficiently,” he adds.

La Riccia from Ericsson agrees that digital technologies such as IoT solutions have the potential to accelerate the reduction of global emissions by up to 15 percent by 2030. With new emerging technologies like 5G, AI and IoT, we can likely achieve even more reductions if we implement them correctly. Allowing real-time data transfers over numerous connected devices, IoT enables operational efficiencies and helps cut energy costs, significantly reducing our impact on the environment. In the automotive industry, for example, the synergies that result from collectively and systematically integrating transportation and communication networks—such as telematics, smart city analytics, and traffic management solutions—can quickly lead to efficiencies that reduce emissions, he says.

“When it comes to sustainability, heavy industries face growing pressure and stricter industry and financial regulations to bring about a change and provide visibility to current emissions. We believe there’s an enormous impact and value in using technology to help asset-heavy industries become more sustainable. IoT is one of the key enablers to make this transformation a reality by offering powerful tools that extract insights and identify opportunities from the billions of data points collected across a company’s infrastructure,” says by Susan Peterson Sturm, Chief Information and Security Officer, Cognite

Through IoT, we envision an industrial world where real-time data and modeling will enable a proactive approach to sustainability, transforming how companies predict, monitor, and curtail activities that have a high environmental impact or are carbon intensive, she sums up.

Feras Juma Susan Peterson Sturm

ETHERNET SPEED RACE

CINDY RYBORZ, MARKETING MANAGER DATA CENTER EMEA AT CORNING OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS, ON WHY WE NEED TO THINK ABOUT 800G NOW.

Demand for bandwidth is on the rise, and the reasons are numerous: home offices, streaming offerings for games, music and movies, and data-intensive applications such as ML and AI in industry and the medical sector are just a few examples. These developments pose challenges for data center operators - of hyperscale as well as enterprise and colocation data centers - because in addition to increased capacity requirements, they must also ensure ever lower latencies while meeting climate targets.

One way to do this is to make more efficient use of existing switch architectures (High Radix ASICS). For example, 32-port switches offer up to 12,800 Gb/s bandwidth (32 x 400G), and versions for 800G transmissions of up to 25,600 Gb/s are also available. These high-speed ports can be easily divided into smaller bandwidths. This enables more energy-efficient operation while increasing the packing or port density (32 x 400G = 128 x 100G).

The need to support low latency, high availability and very high bandwidth applications will continue to grow in the future. The question is not whether data center operators need to upgrade to meet the increasing demand for bandwidth, but when and how. Operators should be prepared and adapt their network design now. After all, with a flexible infrastructure, it is possible to upgrade from 100 to 400 to 800G, for example, with surprisingly few changes.

Network design is becoming increasingly complex

However, higher data rates also increase the complexity of solutions and offerings. As mentioned at the beginning, it is not necessarily a matter of fully utilizing 800G for each port, but of supporting the bandwidth requirements of the end devices. Examples of this are Spine-Leaf connections with 4 x 200G or Leaf-Server connections with 400G ports, operated as 8 x 50G ports, which at the same time makes the network more energy efficient. To achieve this, a variety of solutions exist, as well as new transceiver interfaces.

LC duplex and MPO/MTP® connectors (12/24 fibers) are the well-known interfaces for transmission speeds of 10, 40 and 100G. For higher data rates such as 400G and 800G and beyond, additional connector faces such as MDC, SN and CS (Very-SmallForm-Factor connectors), as well as MTP/ MPO connectors with 16 fibers in a row have been introduced.

For network operators, it is a challenge to keep track and choose the right technology and network components for their needs. Requirements for increasing bandwidths in network expansions also often conflict with a lack of space for additional areas or costs incurred as a result. Network equipment suppliers are therefore constantly working on new solutions to enable more density in the same space and to keep the network design scalable and at the same time as simple as possible.

Port breakout applications for more sustainability

In addition to better utilisation of the highspeed ports and the associated port density, port breakout applications can also positively influence the power consumption of the network components and transceivers.

The power consumption of a 100G duplex transceiver for a QSFP-DD is about 4.5 watts, while a 400G parallel optical transceiver operated in breakout mode as 4 ports with 100G each consumes only 3 watts per port. This equates to savings of up to 30 percent, notwithstanding the additional savings in air conditioning and switch chassis power consumption and their contribution to space savings.

Effects on the network infrastructure

Scalable use of the backbone or trunk cabling is given when the lowest common multiple serves as the basis. For duplex applications, this would classically correspond to “Factor 4”, i.e. base-8 cabling, on the basis of which -R4 or -R8 transceiver models can be mapped. This type of cabling thus supports both current technologies and future developments.

In addition to the selection of a granular, scalable backbone, it is also important to plan sufficient fiber reserves for future upgrades or to implement expansions with the least possible change effort. With sufficient fiber reserve planned, network adjustments can be implemented by replacing a few components: For example, an upgrade from 10G to 40/100G or 400/800G can be implemented by replacing MPO/MTP to LC modules and LC duplex patch cables with MTP adapter panels and MTP patch cables without making any changes to the backbone (fiber plant).

Modular fiber housings also allow a mix of different technologies and the integration of new mating faces (very-small-form-factor connectors) with a few simple steps. Options for mapping are also available today: 8-, 12-, 24- and 36-fiber modules. The use of bendinsensitive fiber also helps make the cabling infrastructure durable, reliable and fail-safe.

Being prepared pays off

Data rates of 400 or 800G are still a long way off for most enterprise data center operators, but bandwidth demand is growing - and fast. Sales of 400G and 800G transceivers are already on the rise. So it pays to be prepared, rather than having to upgrade later under time pressure. Data center operators can make their facilities ready for 400G and 800G now, with just a few changes, to be optimally prepared for the future. Of course, this also applies to Fibre Channel applications.