A year ago at CES 2017, the proverbial Internet of Things looked full of promise, but also fairly immature.

Many top electronics, home appliance and industrial equipment vendors had only begun fleshing out their IoT offerings, proprietary solutions were often needed to control devices and seeing devices from different vendors play nice with each other was quite rare.

This time around at CES 2018, one could find pretty comprehensive home IoT product lines from the likes of Samsung (SSNLF) , LG, Panasonic, Huawei and Haier. There were also a slew of intriguing and reasonably-priced consumer IoT solutions from startups. Examples include water-monitoring devices for tracking usage and detecting leaks; tiny health sensors that can be integrated with fitness bands and track everything from blood pressure to stress levels; and bikes and scooters with built-in navigation and smart speaker function.

Source: Internet of Things Finally Shows Signs of Becoming a Mass Market | TheStreet

The Internet of Things (IoT) is heralded as a foundational technology for breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, robotics and other potentially broadly applicable advances. But for frontline decision makers—the executives charged with implementing the IoT in their company—it can sometimes feel impossible to separate the facts from the hype. It can be even more daunting to discern the practical steps required to get started with IoT in their business.

Source: Business Is Embracing Internet Of Things As Most Important Technology, Says New Study | Forbes

In a statement, Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company and a pillar of its economy, denied the attack took place: “Saudi Aramco corporate and plants networks were not part of any cyber security attack or breach.”

Source: Cyberattack Targets Safety System at Saudi Aramco – Foreign Policy

We are heading into an era which embraces the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial Intelligence (AI), and machine learning (MI) that have immensely overturned the tech world. With particular reference to IoT, it has profoundly impacted global commerce and lifestyle.

If this existing pace remains consistent, then it wouldn’t be onerous to predict the trends that we might witness in the upcoming year.

According to the predictions by Forecast, IoT is just into its beginning phases and will expand to an overwhelming volume of 75 billion devices till 2025. However, there are a few expected trends that may stun the customers and corporations all around the globe.

Source: Internet of Things In Healthcare – What to Expect in 2018 | Tripwire

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With the number of connected devices set to top 11 billion – and that’s not including computers and phones – in 2018, Internet of Things will clearly continue to be a hot topic.

I had the chance to speak to Bret Greenstein, VP of IBM’s Watson IoT Consumer Business, who highlighted four key trends. Interestingly three of those trends were around convergence with other distinct yet highly correlated technologies. This underlines the principle that data is the fundamental ingredient of digital transformation. The technologies predicted to make big waves in the coming year – including IoT, artificial intelligence, blockchain and edge – are all methods of collecting, analyzing and storing information.

Source: The Internet Of Things (IOT) Will Be Massive In 2018: Here Are The 4 Predictions From IBM | Forbes

Cybersecurity can cause organizational migraines. In 2016, breaches cost businesses nearly $4 billion and exposed an average of 24,000 records per incident. In 2017, the number of breaches is anticipated to rise by 36%. The constant drumbeat of threats and attacks is becoming so mainstream that businesses are expected to invest more than $93 billion in cyber defenses by 2018. Even Congress is acting more quickly to pass laws that will — hopefully — improve the situation.

Despite increased spending and innovation in the cybersecurity market, there is every indication that the situation will only worsen. The number of unmanaged devices being introduced onto networks daily is increasing by orders of magnitude, with Gartner predicting there will be 20 billion in use by 2020. Traditional security solutions will not be effective in addressing these devices or in protecting them from hackers, which should be a red flag, as attacks on IoT devices were up 280% in the first part of 2017. In fact, Gartner anticipates a third of all attacks will target shadow IT and IoT by 2020.

Source: The Internet of Things Is Going to Change Everything About Cybersecurity | HBR

The numbers in Gartner’s 2017 Internet of Things market forecast — which predicted that by the end of the year there would be 8.4 billion connected things in use worldwide, with businesses accounting for 3.1 billion of them — suggest that the market is humming along. Businesses are on track to spend $964 billion this year on IoT hardware and another $273 billion on services.

However, a recent IoT survey from Cisco Systems indicates that businesses looking to profit from the connected future face significant hurdles. As Cisco notes in a statement, “The survey results show that, while most consumers believe IoT services deliver significant value for them, very few understand or trust how their IoT data is being managed and used.”

Connecting large amounts of devices to the internet is not the only way businesses should measure success in the IoT realm, the survey suggests. Consumer sentiment plays a big role as well, and that’s where the IoT market is facing a conundrum. Consumers are aware of IoT and feel that it brings value to their lives, but they do not trust it. Cisco terms this the “value/trust paradox.”

Source: How Businesses Can Solve the Internet of Things’ ‘Value/Trust Paradox’ | BizTech

Cybersecurity can cause organizational migraines. In 2016, breaches cost businesses nearly $4 billion and exposed an average of 24,000 records per incident. In 2017, the number of breaches is anticipated to rise by 36%. The constant drumbeat of threats and attacks is becoming so mainstream that businesses are expected to invest more than $93 billion in cyber defenses by 2018. Even Congress is acting more quickly to pass laws that will — hopefully — improve the situation.

Source: The Internet of Things Is Going to Change Everything About Cybersecurity | Harvard Business Review

In the past few years, developments in technology have brought us closer to the hyper-connected world that futurologists imagined in the 1950s. Self-driving cars, computers that can converse in real-time and hyperloop transportation are among the developments that will shape our future beyond what we thought possible.

Of all the major trends, the Internet-of-Things (IoT) is making the most visible and immediate impact and will be worth $270 bln by 2020. Connected devices, homes and vehicles are just around the corner, and as anyone with experience in the technology industry knows, this means a lot of second-order complexity will have to be solved. Economies, platforms and payment systems will have to be integrated.

Source: Securing the Internet-of-Things with Blockchain | Cointelegraph

Earlier this May I wrote that, following a year where the internet of things found the mainstream, 2017 would be the year for IoT acceptance, appetite and evolution. Key trends highlighted in the article, like security, strategic partnering and public sector uptake, were all central to the Internet of Things World 2017 agenda; three themes covered by FBI CISO Arlette Hart (among others) in her keynote panel session and subsequent interview.

Source: IoT data and AI will define the next generation of business | IoT Agenda