By Sean Bryson – The Internet of Things promises to reshape much of how we live and work today, whether we’re changing the temperature of a thermostat at home or waiting at an IoT-enabled traffic light. Connected sensors and the data they generate promise a set of experiences that were largely the stuff of science fiction a decade ago.

Between 2016 and 2021, IoT edge network spending is predicted to grow 30% to reach $2.1 billion, according to IDC, a research firm.

Internet of Things– (IoT)-enabled provide rich insights into the health, performance or status of a given device and the device’s surrounding environment. Data insights can automate changes and make environments work more efficiently.

When IoT data is gathered from multiple devices, it can help predict failure and prevent costly maintenance issues, improving worker safety, reducing revenue loss due to product defects, even saving lives. Most IoT systems require cloud computing to unlock the capabilities of the platform, including rapid scale, high-volume data storage, and machine learning to identify critical patterns in the data. Read more: