The Internet of Things (IoT) has set the IT world on fire with innovative technologies and astonishing growth levels. With this growth comes an incredible amount of data being collected which will accelerate in coming years. An IBM Marketing Cloud study claims 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone…growing at 2.5 quintillion bytes of data a day.  At this rate, it won’t be long before we overwhelm data centers and burden the electrical grid that powers and cools them.

To meet the needs of this exponential growth in data with more and more smart-connected sensors and assets being deployed daily, innovations in machine-to-machine (M2M) and IoT networks are necessary to alleviate the costly inefficiencies of data handling centrally in the cloud. IoT networks of the future must embrace a decentralized architecture where processing of raw data begins at the network edge.

The Opportunity for Intelligence at the Edge

Enterprises now recognize that the ever-increasing flow of data must be managed more efficiently in order to optimize information use, reduce costs, and improve business performance.

1. Backhauling data – often over cellular networks – which increases operating costs
2. Processing raw, often-proprietary, industrial fieldbus data into formats that can be exchanged more efficiently by Internet-based platforms
3. Storing data, which can be not only costly but also requires an access mechanism in order to generate actions and automate business processes (for example, upon what conditions does one accept delivery of a shipment of frozen goods or perform a truck roll to deliver or inspect an asset)

Whether virtualized or physically located in an enterprises data center, ongoing operating expenses are generally billed by data flow in and/or out of the cloud. They could also be billed upon the number of cores or racks of equipment purchased to perform all these calculations and store the results. Often, raw data being sent upstream has little or no value, minute changes in temperature or humidity. Processing and storing this raw data for a period of time to ultimately delete it, having never been used in a meaningful business process, is costly and wasteful. Securely transferring only actionable data and exceptions to the cloud becomes paramount to business success when capturing and immediately sifting information at the network edge.  Moreover, it enables certain actions to be taken in situ, reducing latency for mission-critical, real-time applications.

As artificial intelligence and machine learning matures, more and more decision making can and should reside at the edge, requiring increased processing power and logic to be built into edge devices. Finally, the ever-changing data security landscape requires adequate processing overhead to execute security algorithms, store and encrypt keys, authenticate messages, scan updates, etc., in order to protect critical infrastructure.

To act on this data with timely and informed business decisions, intelligent data management systems at the edge of the network are critical. Utilizing efficient data management at the edge of the network eliminates the need for time consuming data back-hauls and the parsing required to prepare data for business decisions.

The MultiTech Approach

MultiTech provides solutions that solve the complex problem of data management by delivering best-in-class products that assist in decentralizing IoT architecture by collecting and interpreting data at the network edge.

Advanced solutions from MultiTech employ distributed intelligence to deliver critical data processing and facilitate immediate business decisions. With the capability of analyzing data in real time, MultiTech enables you to make use of data when it is most important. By collecting only the necessary data, MultiTech is able to filter the most meaningful information for a significant reduction in data processing and storage costs.

In addition to its industry-leading performance, MultiTech solutions are flexible enough to manage out-of-band devices. On top of that, software upgrades and system maintenance are performed quickly and remotely to maximize system uptime and reliability.

For a growing number of businesses, data collection has surpassed data processing. The opportunities missed by underpowered or nonexistent data management systems at the network edge can have substantial business consequences. From U.S.-based manufacturing facilities, MultiTech delivers the industry’s leading data management products to deliver high performance and intelligent data processing. It’s no wonder you can find more than 25 million MultiTech products in service around the world today! Learn more about our intelligent edge infrastructure by visiting us online at MultiTech.com.