Expect a higher return on technology.

We do not make hardware. We do, however, understand how to integrate all manner of switches, sensors, servers, and other pieces that don’t necessarily begin with an “S” to make them work well together. By using commercially-available off-the-rack parts (even if they’re rack-mounted), efficiencies are maintained from both an installation and maintenance perspective. In other words, they’re much more budget-friendly. But when custom hardware is needed, we work with our partners to design it and make sure it seamlessly integrates with the rest of your solution.

IoT connectivity is the term that defines the connection between all the points in an IoT solution, which typically include sensors, actuators, gateways, routers, applications, platforms and other systems. It usually refers to different types of network solutions based on their power consumption, range and bandwidth consumption. As you might expect, there’s no one connectivity technology that’s right for every application. That’s why use a variety of technologies, sometimes even within a single solution.

A critical element of IoT is transporting packets of valuable data from devices to the application environment. Network connections are base-level requirements, with different protocols for implementing data transfers in the application layer. There are so many of these that it’s hard to list them all. Of course, there are dominant protocols that serve well in many areas, but like any engineering decision, picking the right ones for the right purposes can often be the difference between success and failure.

No, the machines are not taking over. Yet. Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science which focuses on the use of data and algorithms to imitate the way that humans learn, gradually improving its accuracy. When people use the term “AI” today, they are almost always really talking about machine learning. Is it the right solution for every problem? No. But there are definitely places where it really shines.

Obviously, your IoT solution needs to be secure, but when most people think of “secure,” they may not be considering everything that must be kept safe. Device security is essential, but in a typical IoT solution, security must extend far beyond that. End-to-end security is part of our DNA, so we don’t really know how to think about an insecure solution.