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Pillar: No-Code OSS

IoT Impact On Communications Service Providers

IoT is here to stay. And while the world focuses on devices, we need to consider how IoT impacts communications service providers. And, what should CSPs do about it?

By Lee Stevens

TL;DR

IoT is here to stay. And while the world focuses on devices, we need to consider how IoT impacts communications service providers. And, what should CSPs do about it?

Key takeaways

  • IoT has gone mainstream – there are even Kickstarter campaigns selling BlueTooth-linked frying pans.
  • Perhaps Cisco’s John Chambers was not exaggerating when he said that everything was going to be connected to everything else.
  • But from everything we are hearing, everyone – including Chambers – is focusing on the devices.
IoT has gone mainstream – there are even Kickstarter campaigns selling BlueTooth-linked frying pans.

Perhaps Cisco’s John Chambers was not exaggerating when he said that everything was going to be connected to everything else. And while we might still not fully embrace loT gadgets taking over our kitchen, the Pantelligent IoT-linked frying pan actually supports Chambers’s assertion that a new technology tsunami is about to sweep across the world.

But from everything we are hearing, everyone – including Chambers – is focusing on the devices. It seems many people are just assuming that the broadband networks that must do the actual linking will be ready.

Will Broadband Networks be Ready for IoT?

To answer that question, we must first know what kind of demand IoT is going to place on our networks and what we need to do to get ready for that demand.

Serendipitously, a few hours after John Chambers’s interview on CNBC, I presented a scheduled webinar to the members of SCTE on this exact topic.

In “The Impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) on Cable”, I presented the result of our ongoing effort to understand, analyze, and then forecast the IoT impact on communications service providers.

While this presentation was focused on the MSO part of the Internet, the impact analysis and recommendations hold as well for traditional telcos, mobile carriers, and hybrid communications providers:

  1. IoT is already here and is growing, but it has been hidden by the increase in video traffic.
  2. IoT traffic will not only grow, it will also dramatically change the current asymmetry of Internet traffic at the edge of the network.
  3. At the same time, Internet access will shift from a convenience to a life-line essential service.
  4. As a result, the public and private sectors will demand higher levels of reliability, most likely approaching “five 9s.”
  5. If MSOs and CSPs do not find a way to inject real value into the IoT communications links, they will face overwhelming legal and competitive pressures to become commodity service providers… and will see their revenue margins shrink accordingly.
CSPs cannot stop the IoT tidal wave, nor is it safe to ignore it. The only viable option is to surf it.

If you would like to learn more and have access to the SCTE LiveLearning Archives, you can watch the recorded webinar there or email me and I’ll send you a copy.

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