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Big Data and Technology: The Internet of 50 billion things in Eight Years Time
At the 2012 Oracle/Java One show, Oracle President Mark Hurd talked about Big Data challenges associated with machine data. Today already 9 billion devices are attached to the Internet. A 2011 study by Ericsson estimated that by 2020 that number will grow to more than 50 billion devices. Hurd picked up on that number and asked what it would take to grow another 40 billion devices over the next eight years.
A key driving force to the explosion in numbers of connectable devices is that by 2020 100 billion computer processers capable of communication will have cumulatively shipped. Areas that will have large number of devices include:
- There will be more than 3 billion subscribers who have at least 5-10 devices that are capable of connecting to the internet
- 1.5 billion vehicles, not counting railways or metro
- 3 billion utility meters, such as electric, water and gas
These numbers may even be a bit conservative. Consider Ericsson’s estimate of 3 billion internet users by 2020. Internet World Stats already estimates that the internet has 2.4 billion users globally, or roughly about one third of the world’s total population. Today’s 5 billion mobile subscribers are likely to become all or mostly smartphone subscribers in eight years time. Gartner is estimating that 1.2 billion smartphones and tablets will be sold in 2013 alone.
While the Ericsson report lists utility meters, as examples of machine to machines (M2M) systems that are being brought on line, there are many other applications that are made possible by device connectivity. Dennis Lottero, M2M Advisor analyst, told InformationWeek that “Machine-to-machine is beyond what people think of just monitoring a Coca-Cola machine to see if it’s full or not. The impacts are significant and will be far-reaching throughout almost all industries.”
A report from Canaccord Genuity, for example, describes how smart buildings will soon better integrate security, maintenance, electric and water systems for more efficient management. Similarly, in the Health Care sector, Machina Research estimates that 726 million M2M medical devices will be on line by 2020.
