Compass Intelligence has released its latest report on “Sensors in M2M & IoT: A Global Analysis for Growth Opportunities and Solutions” and here is a quick summary of what they say:
- Today the market is estimated at $5.2 billion and is expected to rise to $15.7 billion in 2019
- Currently, automotive and smart home solutions are the largest markets for sensors
- With falling prices in sensors and increasing number of M2M and IoT connections, wireless sensors will have a bigger share in the market
- Emerging opportunities include geological mapping, precision agriculture and medical
- GE, Honeywell, Emerson, etc. will continue to dominate but niche players will also emerge
Other research firms are reporting an exponential growth in M2M and IoT devices too. According to ZDNet, IDC expects more than 28 billion IoT devices to be installed by 2020. Gartner has a slightly more conservative outlook but still estimates 4.9 billion connections in 2015 and 25 billion connected devices by 2020.
As the market for wireless sensors grows, so will the conversation around security of the devices and the information they collect. There are already a lot of discussions around the security of the power grid and how vulnerable it is to hackers, but there are also concerns around the “smaller” systems. Here are some recent stories that have popped up on my news feed lately:
- According to IT security firm Trend Micro, many Internet-facing gas station pumps are vulnerable to hacks
- The U.S. FDA has been holding public workshops/webinars and issuing recommendations to medical device manufacturers on cybersecurity management
- Synack, a subscription Security-as-as-Service (SaaS) startup, tested 16 products for the home and found that they were able to root almost every device in less than 20 minutes. Issues included weak password policies, open ports, built-in backdoors, and lack of encryption
There will be continued focus in this area. The White House recently announced aproposed legislation to promote greater information sharing between the government and the private sector, and the creation of the Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center. President Obama has also signed a new executive order to promote even more information sharing about cyber threats, both within the private sector and between government and the private sector.
I wonder how big the market is for security of sensors in M2M & IoT? What do you think?…
Anu Sood, Director of Channel Marketing at ORBCOMM, has nearly two decades of expertise in the telecommunications, software development, and satellite industries.
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