Bandwidth has a major impact on IIoT technology and your IoT network – it’s one of four requirements that have enabled IIoT applications to flourish.
Panduit’s white paper, “The Ubiquity of Bandwidth” discusses four reasons IIoT is trending now and how bandwidth plays an integral role in IT/OT data gathering and analytics.
Why is IIoT Happening Now?
What has occurred to propel the IIoT into one of the most popular concepts in IT/OT?
1. Smartphone/Tablet — The widespread adoption of smartphones and tablets has made us comfortable with small devices that provide information and interact with us.
2. The Internet — The Internet, or more specifically, the World Wide Web, is an intricate part of our lives; it is no longer a novelty. We have become accustomed to having our devices access vast amounts of data or upload our personal data to the cloud.
3. Cost — The cost of computing and communications has dropped to a level that makes IoT affordable.
4. Bandwidth — We are used to the increasing speeds of our communication networks but there is another aspect of communications-bandwidth is everywhere.
The Ubiquity of Bandwidth
At the dawn of the computer era, there was only one way to connect devices: wires. Times have changed.
Today, network connections can take many forms: DSL, cable TV plant (FTTx, cable modem), wired Ethernet, Fibre Channel, or Industrial Ethernet for the factory floor.
More impressive is the number of ways to connect wirelessly including Bluetooth, LTE, 5G, satellite, ZigBee, and Wi-Fi.
We now take these connections for granted. Today’s smartphone seamlessly switches between the cellular data network and Wi-Fi.
A decade ago, it would have been unthinkable to see passengers on a commuter train passing the time by streaming their favorite TV program to their hand-held device.
Another aspect of today’s communications links is that they are always on— ever-present. Having to wait for the dial-up modems to train themselves and synchronize is ancient history.
Bandwidth is everywhere. It is this ubiquity of bandwidth that is a necessary component for making the IoT possible.
To learn more about how bandwidth affects your IIoT network, download Panduit’s “The Ubiquity of Bandwidth” white paper – or subscribe to our blog to access all the papers in our IoT “101” white paper series.
