I believe that IoT value is in the data it generates, which should eventually eclipse the value of the devices themselves. For example, if of 1% of the value of your shopping in a fridge is paid to the fridge vendor by a supermarket chain to obtain analytics on your subsequent use of your groceries (what do you consume first, or what goes off and gets thrown away), then within a year the profit from selling you the fridge is less than the value of your data. People may be willing to share some data openly, other data anonymously, and other data not at all. A consumer may be happy to share how much broccoli they consume, but not how much cider – they may not want that data making its way to their health insurance provider.

At the moment the collection and storage of data is centralized, and users have to either be ignorant of this, or they have to trust the centralized custodians, or they won’t want to play ball. And GDPR and the recent data scandals are actively changing that.

There are many parties involved in the gathering and reporting of data, and in particular, the edge participants: device manufacturers, users, analytics/data consumers, may prefer a decentralized solution. Currently, devices can have end-to-end encryption (e.g. through TLS or SSL) for control of the devices or for known “private communication” – when you want to be the only person messing with your lighting or reviewing your home security system. On the other hand, some systems transfer your data to the central cloud IoT operator for subsequent monetization – hopefully reducing your personal costs or bringing some other benefit.

I envisage future systems allowing a much finer level of control, with cloud IoT operators acting mainly as traffic police – ensuring the system runs properly, but not interfering with choice of vehicle or destination. Some of the cloud IoT operators may not be happy with that, but combined pressure from users wanting to limit the use their data is put to, and edge participants on the system wanting their fair share of the value means that those operators ahead of the game will see the future and take the right steps to future-proof their current solution by having a progressive development plan.

Blockchain, and in particular our Chainfrog IoT components are going to be a crucial part of such a plan. Contact us if you’re intrigued and want to know more.