Latest from ITPro in Internet-of-things

New industry-backed IoT security standards aim to improve device safety

Steve Ranger — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 14:30:57 +0000

New IoT security standards could make it easier to choose devices that are hardened against some of the most common vulnerabilities.

IoT covers pretty much any physical device which can be connected to a digital network. IoT devices like digital locks, smart speakers, home surveillance systems, and routers are increasingly common, but have frequently been flagged as at-risk to threat actors.

That poor security can create risks for the users of these devices, such as the wrong people being able to access their security webcam, and can risk opening a backdoor into their network.

IoT security flaws also can create problems for the wider world, such as when vulnerable routers were enrolled into a botnet, which was then used in a Russian espionage campaign. In a recent survey, 50% of IT leaders said they thought IoT was the weakest point of their security.

Now, the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) has published the first version of its IoT Device Security Specification, which it hopes will create a single IoT cyber security standard and certification program.

That should give manufacturers an easy way to show that their devices comply with multiple international regulations and standards – and hopefully help consumers and businesses alike make better choices.

The CSA’s Product Security Working Group has consolidated the requirements from three sets of IoT cyber security regulations in the US, Singapore, and Europe into a single program so device makers can comply with international requirements. The alliance has already signed a mutual recognition arrangement with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

What is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)?

The 32-page specification includes dozens of specific device security provisions.

Manufacturers must demonstrate compliance with those provisions by supplying evidence to an authorized test lab. If they pass, manufacturers will be able to use the ‘Product Security Verified’ badge on their packaging. a printed URL, hyperlink, or QR code on the badge gives consumers access to more information about the device’s security features.

The CSA said that nearly 200 member companies including Amazon, Arm, Google, Schneider Electric, and Signify (who make Philips Hue and the WiZ smart lights ) have pooled their expertise to work on the IoT Device Security Specification 1.0

The specification includes a set of technical requirements but also broader expectations around updates and privacy. It requires that each device has a unique identity and that passwords must also be unique to each device and cannot be reset to a universal factory default.

Devices are required to have protections against brute force authentication attacks – a common way of breaching IoT devices right now.

RELATED WEBINAR

(Image credit: Cloudflare)

Keep control over your digital environment

All sensitive data stored on the IoT device must be stored in a manner consistent with security best practices, the specs said. IoT devices also have to support software updates and devices should check for available updates at least once after they are set up and periodically after that, with ‘timely’ security updates provided during the duration of support.

The rules also require device makers to detail the expected device lifespan and the expected cyber security costs for end users. They also need to spell out the capabilities of the IoT device, including its external sensing capabilities, how data is created and handled, and its network access and requirements.

Similarly, hardware manufacturers will need to provide information about what personal data (and what telemetry data) is being processed, how it is being used, by whom, and for what purposes.

Manufacturers also need to establish a vulnerability disclosure process for their devices, which includes a way of reporting issues.

IoT security has been a long-running cause for concern

While some of these steps might seem like the very basics of cyber security, they have often been ignored by IoT device makers in the past. The new specification comes just as governments are paying more attention to the potential security risks in IoT devices.

Earlier this month, the US government launched its own voluntary cyber security labeling program for wireless consumer devices including home security cameras, internet-connected appliances, fitness trackers, garage door openers, and baby monitors.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) quoted figures suggesting there were more than 1.5 billion attacks against IoT devices in the first six months of 2021 – and that there are likely to be more than 25 billion connected IoT devices in operation by 2030.

The UK’s consumer connectable product security regime will come into effect on 29 April 2024, with companies selling devices in the UK required to be compliant from that date. That means being compliant with the ETSI EN 303 645 European standard.

What is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)?

Drew Turney — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 12:52:40 +0000

As the vast web of internet-connected devices known as the Internet of Things (IoT) has grown, so too has the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). Whereas IoT can refer to consumer devices or non-business-critical hardware, IIoT is used to describe the use of sensors to measure and automate machinery across an industrial environment such as a manufacturing plant.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

IoT security strategy: An arms race for businesses

You often hear the IIoT mentioned alongside terms like smart manufacturing or industry 4.0, but it can more accurately be thought of as the operating system that runs them. In essence, the IIoT is the digital infrastructure that lets manufacturing/industrial tools share and report on their use in a meaningful way.

The IoT has been something of a dry run for the IIoT. The underlying code is the same in principle, but the difference within the multimillion-dollar domain of manufacturing and industry is the types of tools that connect, the volume of information they produce, and the need to secure and interrogate them far more deeply than we do with consumer-facing tech.

The IIoT continues to grow, at pace. Although the number of internet-connected people is always growing, there are only eight billion of us. By the end of 2024, there will be approximately 207 billion IoT devices worldwide, per an October 2023 report by Forbes. A large slice of that pie will be occupied by IIoT networks and devices, with the global IIoT market forecast to hit $525.2 billion (£410.4 billion) by 2028 per Statista figures.

How IIoT forms the backbone of smart industry

The IIoT is already deeply entrenched in industries like energy, mining, manufacturing, transport, and healthcare. Like any other data system, from your mobile phone to a rocket launch, it all boils down to digital inputs and outputs, with the examples as varied as the users.

On the factory floor, this could mean keeping track of products as they are assembled, or the status of autonomous robots as they navigate the environment. For example, a packing robot could tell the network when a gripper is vibrating or coming loose, letting you stop production for just long enough to replace it rather than shutting down and incurring a long (and costly) delay after a catastrophic failure.

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) plays a crucial role in modern automated manufacturing environments. (Image credit: Getty Images)

But the IIoT extends further than just manufacturing environments. Green energy businesses operating fleets of wind turbines use IIoT sensors to report on their operating efficiency, alerting operators when repairs are needed and giving turbine-by-turbine insights into operation. This is especially crucial for the oversight and ongoing maintenance of offshore wind farms, which can be made up of hundreds of turbines more than 50 miles offshore.

IIoT sensors can also provide live updates on factors outside your industrial environment, such as the arrival of a fleet of delivery trucks. This lets businesses improve routes and optimize supply chains.

How does IIoT work?

All of the benefits of the IIoT are possible thanks to sensors hooked up to every aspect of a physical workflow. Each tool in the process can record and report on inputs, outputs, location, temperature, wear and tear, and countless other measurements. The sensors take their readings and transmit them in a common language across a network, just like your laptop sends information throughout circuits using the common language of the Windows, macOS, or Linux operating systems.

The data is transmitted across a network, anything from a dedicated wired LAN environment to a public (hopefully encrypted) 5G signal. Businesses are increasingly pairing IIoT devices with a private 5G network for improved latency and pairing cloud-linked sensors with those capable of edge computing. The software then takes over, collecting and synthesizing the information into a workable form that gives you the overall insight you're looking for – think of an analytics suite calculating the performance of your entire online presence from your website to social media.

RELATED WEBINAR

(Image credit: Cloudflare)

Discover how Ted Baker delivers unparalleled e-commerce experiences while protecting itself against cyber threats

Data can be fed directly into other systems or presented to a user for holistic oversight. The interface layer presents the results to the user, such as through a browser portal on a PC screen or in an interactive format embedded within a business' own software platform. In the most recent systems, it may even be accessible via a chatbot or AI copilot.

The IIoT takes a snapshot of any or all parts of your operation, letting you identify and zero in on individual components or tools that could be performing better, so your process overall benefits from higher speed, more efficiency, better productivity, more robust safety, or any number of other metrics.

The future of the IIoT across sectors

As the IIoT becomes more widespread, it's generating practices, procedures, and processes that are making it more innovative and enhancing systems across the tech sector.

As interest in green data centers and energy efficiency grows, the IIoT also has a large part to play. Sensors can be used to measure the temperature within data centers, track data center availability, or identify the most demanding workloads. IIoT sensors will be a core factor in helping tech leaders measure sustainability performance.

Firms that create a digital twin, a 3D virtual representation of a building, power plant, factory floor, etc, can inform this simulation in real time using live data from IIoT sensors. The digital twin gives you vastly expanded powers to improve. Whether it's concepting and testing workflow changes before you deploy them or simulating a change in location or inputs, a digital twin gives you a virtual build of your business to play with endlessly for little more than the requisite compute cost.

Another is the hyper-connected world of the cloud. As cloud networks become more widespread and robust across industries, IIoT information from one company or actor can connect with datasets of countless customers, suppliers, and partners for everyone's benefit.

In just one example, sales information from way downstream that reports on how many customers are buying your product can be fed back to the factory floor, automatically increasing or decreasing the speed of production to suit so you don't run out of stock or end up with expensive warehouses full of it.

More people have more insight into industrial procedures than ever before, which will let us build things better, more safely, and more sustainably on a collective basis.

Such vastly expanded datasets will also be the natural home of AI technologies. Big data is so named because the datasets involved are too vast for humans to synthesize and process. Sifting through IIoT data about (for instance) the carbon emissions of the global automotive manufacturing industry to find ways to build better will be where machine learning (ML) algorithms and big data analytics shine.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

What is deep tech?

The industrial world is full of internet-connected things and as the years go on it relies on data as much as any of its more tangible parts. The IIoT will play a pivotal role in the sector’s future and help businesses optimize processes to an increasing degree.

Glasgow eyes goal of becoming Europe’s leading IoT city with launch of new innovation hub

Emma Woollacott — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 10:59:21 +0000

Glasgow City Council and the Smart Things Accelerator Centre (STAC) aim to position the city as one of Europe’s leading locations for IoT innovation through the launch of a new hub.

The public-private partnership, underpinned by £2.5 million in funding, will support the launch of a 250-desk facility named "thebeyond" at SkyPark, Finnieston.

The cash includes £257,000 of government grant funding through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, part of the government’s Levelling Up agenda.

Research into drones, robotics, artificial intelligence, IoT, nanotech, and cleantech will be conducted at the site once completed, and up to 100 companies are expected to be up and running by the end of 2024.

The initiative is supported by industry executives from leading organisations including Dyson, Plexus, Meta, Blackberry, Motorola, and Volvo Cars.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

New cleantech hub planned for County Antrim UK small businesses plan to ramp up tech investment in 2024 Google and the University of Cambridge deal looks to pioneer responsible AI research

Paul Wilson, CEO, and co-founder of STAC said the new innovation hub will help foster innovation across a variety of fields and position Glasgow as one of the leading cities for smart things innovation.

"Glasgow can be a powerhouse in the key technologies that will enhance life and industry for the next decades," he said.

"As we build the leading tech cluster around STAC's thebeyond we will gain a reputation and attract international investment. That's the goal, ambitious and realisable. We believe thebeyond will be Europe's largest smart things and IoT space."

RELATED RESOURCE

(Image credit: SecurityScorecard)

Empower your business and stay ahead of potential threats

DOWNLOAD NOW

Ricky Bell, deputy leader of Glasgow City Council, echoed Wilson’s comments, underlining the huge potential of Glasgow’s burgeoning tech sector and its ability to compete on an international scale.

"This collaboration will help Glasgow become a leading technology-driven city, with our services and buildings powered by homegrown innovation to the benefit of everyone who lives, works and studies here," he said.

"We will empower Glasgow’s startups to hone their technologies here and then compete internationally, enhancing our position on the global tech stage and bringing a great number of new jobs and careers in this sector."

Glasgow tech infrastructure efforts

Glasgow already has three 'innovation districts': Glasgow City Innovation District (GCID), Glasgow Riverside Innovation District (GRID) and the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District (AMIDS).

(Image credit: getty)

Collaboration culture is powering Scottish tech

Each of these provides tech startups and enterprises access to a range of accelerator programmes aimed at supporting innovation, product and talent development, and revenue growth.

Meanwhile, Glasgow City Council recently gave permission for Bruntwood Sci Tech to revamp the city's Met Tower to create a large-scale dedicated digital and tech hub.

The £60 million project will provide over 200,000 sq ft of space for the city’s startups, scaleups and larger businesses, with specialist support from Bruntwood SciTech’s innovation services team.

Scottish satellite firm wins major IoT network contract

Emma Woollacott — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 13:45:01 +0000

Spire Global, a Glasgow-based space services firm, has signed a deal to build and operate six satellites for IoT provider Lacuna Space.

The deal - which the companies say could be expanded to dozens more satellites - is aimed at enhancing Lacuna Space's IoT network, which offers global connections for sectors such as agriculture, maritime, logistics, and environmental monitoring.

Lacuna Space said the move will improve the scalability and reliability of services such as global weather intelligence, ship and plane movement monitoring, and spoofing and jamming detection.

"These services are transformational in enabling new applications across a wide variety of industries and solving some of the biggest challenges facing humanity today," said general manager of space services at Spire Frank Frulio.

"With Spire Space Services, we have streamlined the process to architect, build, launch and operate satellites reliably, and at a much lower cost than it would typically require new space companies to build infrastructure in space, allowing revolutionary technologies, like Lacuna’s IoT network, to reach the market faster."

Spire Global deal could be extended

Under the agreement, Spire will initially build and launch six satellites carrying Lacuna Space’s payload and antenna, with Lacuna Space operating the payloads and receiving encrypted data at its Harwell headquarters.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The battle for space broadband dominance is heating up Why the Space Force wants white hats to attack a satellite The IT Pro Podcast: Bringing space tech down to earth

Spire will handle end-to-end management and customers can deploy a constellation, hosted payload, or a software application using the Glasgow firm’s infrastructure.

The satellites feature Lacuna’s new ultra-high density Gentoo satellite gateway. These gateways work in conjunction with Lacuna’s ground scheduling network, enabling adaptive, regional, fine-frequency algorithms developed using AI from years of satellite-based spectrum scans.

"This contract is a very important step in Lacuna’s progression into commercial operations, and represents over five years of intensive development work to refine the concept and achieve the scalability and reliability required to provide a global commercial service," says Rob Spurrett, CEO and co-founder of Lacuna Space.

RELATED RESOURCE

(Image credit: Zscaler )

Read this in-depth analysis of device activity and IoT malware trends

DOWNLOAD NOW

According to a report from the UK Space Industry, Scotland's space industry grew by almost £40 million in 2020-2021, with 183 organizations operating in the area, accounting for more than 8,500 jobs.

The total UK space industry income grew by 5.1% in real terms to £17.5 billion – the second fastest annual growth in the last seven years, outpacing the global industry average.

There are currently five launch facilities under construction or at an advanced stage of planning in Scotland.

This includes:

SaxaVord Spaceport in Unst in Shetland
Space Hub Sutherland at A' Mhòine
Spaceport 1 in the Outer Hebrides
Prestwick Spaceport in Ayrshire
Spaceport Machrihanish in Argyll

SaxaVord Spaceport in Unst in Shetland; Space Hub Sutherland at A' Mhòine; Spaceport 1 in the Outer Hebrides; Prestwick Spaceport in Ayrshire and Spaceport Machrihanish in Argyll.

This latest deal cements Glasgow's position as something of a leader in the satellite business, according to Craig Brown, investment director at the UK Space Agency.

"Glasgow produces more satellites than anywhere else in Europe, and this contract between Spire Global and Lacuna Space is a fantastic example of how the UK’s strong heritage in space manufacturing is accelerating our progress towards global connectivity and new commercial applications for telecommunications," he said.

"This collaboration will unlock opportunities for businesses, using satellites to transfer data and information between millions of sensors on the ground that make up IoT, with the potential to scale up further. I’m looking forward to watching the constellation come to life."

What is the Internet of Behaviors (IoB)?

Steve Cassidy — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 07:00:00 +0000

When you see a phrase like the Internet of Behaviors (IoB), it immediately draws connotations with the similar sounding Internet of Things (IoT). Fear not, though, because IoB isn’t a network in its own right. Rather, it’s a targeted business tool that piggybacks on existing IoT networks.

Reimagining Edinburgh with cutting-edge smart city projects

With the advent of IoT and a flood of internet-facing devices hitting the market, organizations have been excited to take advantage of these entirely new avenues for data collection. Whether it’s using IoT networks in smart cities, such as projects happening in UK cities like Leeds or Edinburgh, or retail giants using sensors to assess customer behavior, the potential for IoT has been widely hyped. But only by applying the principles of IoB can organizations truly understand why customers make purchasing decisions.

What is the Internet of Behaviors (IoB)?

RELATED RESOURCE

(Image credit: Okta)

Why Customer Identity?

Learn how a renewed focus on Customer Identity can unlock innovation and inspire new capabilities

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE

IoB is a field of research that vies to understand how people use technology to make purchasing decisions. It combines IoT – the idea of using smart sensors and appliances to collect data – with behavioral science and edge analytics. This blend illuminates the ways in which your customers reach buying decisions.

These platforms aggregate and analyze data generated from many different sources – including online activity as well as physical sensors. IoB systems analyze behavior to seek patterns that marketers and sales staff can then use to influence behavior in the future. Marketers can utilize IoB to monetize vast volumes of data that are collected, and under-used, by the many sensors deployed as part of a wider IoT network.

Is IoB ethical?

The principles of IoB might be interpreted as nudging customers towards profitable behaviors. While data-driven behavioral science must be handed with care, this particular mash-up of economics, psychology, statistics, and technology is actually quite respectful of the customer. Rather than trying to manipulate people’s desires, or push them into behaving in a particular way, it’s more about collecting and analyzing low-level information to come up with an offering that better matches their needs.

The future of AI in advertising and media

It’s understandable if you’re suspicious of any type of customer targeting, of course. It’s impossible to surf the web nowadays without being pestered with unwanted promotions and customized clickbait. Social media sites tend to exploit data to bring out the worst in human nature too. But an anonymized overview of typical customer behavior can help you tailor your offering and boost revenues without compromising anyone’s privacy.

How do IoB systems collect and use data?

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that valuable data has to be complex or expensive to obtain. There’s a huge variety of IoT devices out there that are perfectly simple and cheap enough for anyone to deploy at will – and when I say simple, I mean as basic as a pressure pad or a door sensor to track people coming in and out of your cake shop.

Depending on the nature of your business, there may be a huge amount of priceless information already sitting in your web server logs, telling you when people visit your website, where they’re located, and so forth. The magic isn’t in the technology, but in the patterns of behavior that emerges once you sit down with your collected data and work out what it’s really telling you.

What’s the difference between IoB and big data?

Big data isn’t too far apart from IoB. But as the name implies, big-data approaches tend to work best with very large data repositories, unearthing connections that a human eye might miss because they’re lost in the mass of data – or because they involve data points that seem, at first glance, wholly unconnected.

IoB conversely benefits from an expert eye, because a human can intentionally collect and correlate a small selection of data points to draw specific inferences. Beyond just being a large spreadsheet, though, IoB also incorporates edge analytics. This is where technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) come into their own. For example, imagine a CCTV camera that can identify faces and track whether someone entering your shop is a new or returning customer. It’s not a particularly difficult feat for a contemporary AI engine, and it adds a whole new dimension of meaning to all your other collected data.

Don’t expect too much, though. While smart technologies can greatly increase the speed and range of data capture for your IoB analyses, this isn’t a field where a black box can do all the work for you. Some parts of the ideal, theoretical behavioral analysis toolbox are still a good few years into the future.

The seven types of power problems

dale.walker@futurenet.com (ITPro) — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 09:35:58 +0000

Our reliance on technology is dependent on the ongoing supply of electricity, with commercial power usually made available via the national grid. As we continue to digitally transform our lives, both at work and at home, this intelligent technology needs power that is free of interruption.

This whitepaper discusses the most common power disturbances and how they can impact businesses both financially and operationally, and the initial steps to take when dealing with power loss.

Download now to learn:

What power disturbances can do to critical equipment
How to safeguard your infrastructure
and How to effectively communicate about power within your organisation

Provided by

Verizon ends 3G support in US, finalises nationwide shutdown

Rory Bathgate — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 12:38:36 +0000

Verizon has officially decommissioned its 3G code-division multiple access (CDMA) networks, becoming the last major US telco to do so.

Verizon announced that as of 31 December 2022, its 3G CDMA network was no longer functional, in line with moves made by other US mobile network operators (MNOs) such as AT&T which ended its 3G support in February 2022.

The move essentially ends 3G access across the country. A single smaller operator, UScellular, originally committed to shutting its network down without a specified timeframe but later clarified that it also ended its 3G service on New Year's Eve.

Businesses using devices only capable of accessing 3G networks, such as older models of mobile phones, tablets, or diagnostic machinery will no longer have network access. This applies even to emergency calls, and numbers registered to accounts that have not migrated to more advanced networks by February will be disconnected.

Many businesses that still use 3G devices have worked with Verizon to create migration plans that will enable them to quickly switch to 4G and 5G-capable equipment.

Plans had been in place since 2016 to wind down the network, and Verizon notified customers about the change well in advance. As a result, the company reports that less than 1% of its customers still access the 3G network.

Network shutdowns of this kind, referred to as the ‘sunset’ by MNOs, have been planned by MNOs for a long time. Sunsets have allowed MNOs to focus on advanced network services such as 5G, cut maintenance costs for older networks, and to reuse frequencies previously reserved for 2G and 3G services.

“Initially, we announced we would close down our 3G network in 2019,” stated the telecoms giant in a blog post.

“However, we extended our shut off date to the end of 2022 in order to care for our customers and give them every effort to minimise disruptions to their service as they moved to newer and more advanced technologies.

Winners of £28 million fund for Open RAN tech announced by UK government What is 6G and how far are we from rollout? Preparing for the 3G sunset: What your business should expect

“That outreach included proactively communicating through billing messages, digital and traditional outreach and even sending some customers updated devices proactively.”

2G has already been discontinued by the major US MNOs. AT&T ended support for its own 2G network in 2017, Verizon 2G was phased out in 2020, and T-Mobile started its own 2G sunset in December 2022.

3G services around the world

For services in the UK, Ofcom has published an outline for shutting down 3G services, including the provisionary dates that each UK MNO is aiming to cease their individual services. Vodafone is aiming to sunset all 3G services in the country by the end of 2023, while EE and Three are targeting early and late 2024 respectively.

RELATED RESOURCE

Technology Ecosystem benchmark report

The evolution of the IT industry

FREE DOWNLOAD

In December 2021 the UK government confirmed that UK MNOs will cease 2G services by 2033 at the latest, though it is likely that some will choose to shut down 2G networks prior to this absolute deadline.

Network availability across the EU is a mixed picture, with some countries ahead of the US and UK on sunset targets. Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands have all discontinued 3G access, and regulatory intelligence provider Cullen International has claimed MNOs in 22 EU countries plan to, or have already, switched off their legacy networks.

Many EU countries are aiming for a 2025 shutdown of 2G services, which could impact internet of things (IoT) devices that currently rely on the technology to send and receive data such as first-generation smart meters.

India’s Airtel sunset 3G in 2020, and plans to do the same for its 2G network by the end of 2023. Japan sunset 2G as far back as 2012, though is only aiming to discontinue its 3G networks by 2026.

The future of wholesale distribution

itpro@futurenet.com (ITPro) — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 15:41:15 +0000

The wholesale distribution industry is seeing new challenges as a result of digital transformation, with customers able to purchase goods across channels, and demand cheaper, personalised products. It means switching suppliers is easier than ever, so wholesale distributors need to build better, more value-added experiences for customers.

This whitepaper looks at how wholesalers can adopt servitization, providing value-added services and solutions alongside their products, to meet changing customer demands, and how businesses can digitally connect with customers and partners through technology including IoT and 3D design.

Download now to learn more about distributor challenges and how a multi-pronged approach can result in a greater ROI.

Provided by

Build innovation, intelligence and sustainability into your industrial processes, with the cloud

itpro@futurenet.com (ITPro) — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 14:02:38 +0000

The industry roadmap towards ‘4.0’ is in progress. The potential of connected machines, devices and processes is clear, and AWS, with its partners, are building the IoT sensors, cloud services, and applications to improve quality, reduce costs & predict maintenance needs, whilst building more sustainable operations.

The digital transformation of these industrial and manufacturing processes offers many opportunities, but how can you accelerate your transition, embrace change, while maximising your investment in on-premise machines, devices and tooling?

We invite you to watch AWS and industry leaders for a review of what is possible; Hear from your peers on their innovations and ideas, and learn about the role of technology in enabling your future opportunity.

This free on-demand webinar covers key topics including:

Analyst review on Manufacturing & Industrials current transformation & outlook
Keynote on Technology led transformation
Business Leaders Panel: Driving Innovation, Transformation, and Sustainability in the cloud
Fireside chats discussing: Engineering & Design in the Cloud, Smart Products & Machines, Supply Chain Management and Sustainability

Provided by

Four tips to slash office running costs

Rene Millman — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 07:00:13 +0000

The last couple of years have been tough for businesses in the UK, with COVID-19, Brexit and the energy crisis all conspiring to drive up the cost of doing business.

How the cost of living crisis will savage tech

The average cost of occupying a new build office in the UK rose by 1.2% over the 12 months to June 2021, according to the latest Total Office Cost Survey, to just shy of £80 per sq ft. Since then, however, it’s likely surged much further. Meanwhile, the energy costs alone for running a 100-person workplace, roughly 7,500 – 9,500 sq ft, costs on average £34,854 annually, with air-con costing £10,100, according to Finder. These figures are accurate as of December 2021, with the economy and energy market having changed drastically since. The costs of powering the office are likely to be much higher by the time October rolls around. With no energy price cap for businesses, and government support not expected to arrive for some time, the figure may then rise to nightmarish levels.

These are, indeed, desperate times for many, and the cost of living crisis has led to many organisations seeking to slash expenditure from different angles. When it comes to reducing office overheads, however, there are several options at one’s disposal, from implementing new technologies to reviewing internal processes.

How many desks do you really need?

Desk occupancy monitoring is critical for efficient resource management, according to Pippa Boothman, VP marketing and communications at Disruptive Technologies. She says discrete sensors can be easily placed under desks without the need for invasive infrastructural changes or taking up valuable space. “They provide real-time data on workspaces while respecting the privacy of your workforce, helping workplace and facilities managers maximise services and resources.”

Boothman says these sensors and others were installed in a flexible workspace by her company to engage in this massive data collection exercise. Within just five months, they managed to achieve a reduction in electricity consumption by 31%, labour costs by almost 50%, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 30.4% because they were able to indicate where desks weren’t in use, and didn’t require the same resources.

How to use IoT to meet sustainability goals

“This was a direct result of the application of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors to create an accurate data map of the business, which enables operational efficiencies to be put in place,” she says. Indeed, there are many examples of IoT being deployed to achieve sustainability goals.

Audit energy usage

To see where offices can make savings, it’s also a worthwhile endeavour to conduct an energy audit to assess where the business is using the most energy. By doing this, an organisation can spot areas where energy – and money – is being wasted. Then, your organisation will have enough information to make meaningful changes, according to NerdWallet’s business finance expert, Connor Campbell.

He adds organisations should also take stock of the workplace at different times throughout the day to get an idea of when and where the business uses the most energy. This can help in spotting any trends or spikes in energy usage.

“For example, if you noticed that your energy bill was still high overnight despite no one being in the office at that time, you could be wasting energy on computers on standby or heating an empty office unnecessarily. By assessing how much energy is used, when it’s being used and why, you can make a plan for change,” he says.

Cost-cutting on operations

Another way to slash the overall costs of running a building is through using intelligent building management systems (BMS). These enable building owners and managers to save energy costs with minimal effort.

RELATED RESOURCE

The digital workplace roadmap

A leader's guide to strategy and success

FREE DOWNLOAD

According to Kas Mohammed, VP digital energy at Schneider Electric UK&I, a good example is the use of integrated presence detectors. These can detect whether a room is occupied and automatically change temperature, ventilation, and lighting settings to minimise wastage when vacant. “This occupation data also shows what spaces get used most and when, helping to inform longer-term decisions about reducing office space,” he adds.

Such systems can be programmed to automatically shut down heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems an hour before closing, which allows the building temperature to shift slowly, with no disruption to occupants’ comfort.

Boothman adds that proper energy management is key to reducing waste and ensuring that resources are used efficiently. Businesses can obtain the data needed for effective energy management using sensors such as temperature, humidity, water, CO2 and motion, providing insights into environmental monitoring, space occupancy and property damage protection.

“By combining this data and integrating it with, for example, IWMS platforms, it is possible to optimise energy use and prevent wasteful practices such as having the heating or air conditioning on when rooms are empty,” she says. This is especially important in bigger buildings such as office towers, where small changes can have a bigger effect on overall energy usage, Boothman adds.

Resilience – not cutting-edge technology – is the foundation of smart office buildings

Anthony Dann, senior design partner at Trend Control Systems, says that in addition to using presence detectors, it's also possible to link room booking software to a building and energy management system (BEMS) and only consume energy in heating, cooling and lighting – in other words, powering a room – when it's booked and has people inside. “Using techniques such as these can have an impact on saving energy,” he adds.

Make your office more eco friendly

There's a tremendous amount of wastage in running offices, and much of this is also damaging to the environment. Toni Galo, software as a service (SaaS) product marketing manager at Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise, says that sponsorships by top management in technology intervention and eco friendly operations are also imperative to employee adoption.

“We run a Go Green programme that’s promoted by our CEO and sponsored by a member of our executive management team. Employees identify sustainable projects and, within our programme, we set and deliver projects. For example, we recently signed a contract to agree that, from 1 January 2022, 100% of our energy for French premises will be powered by renewable energy,” he says.

Boothman says occupancy monitoring can also reveal the potential for downsizing. If this is possible, downsizing to a smaller space can significantly reduce energy costs, along with rent costs and other expenses, at the same time as making your office eco friendlier.

“Using the actionable insights generated from IoT sensor data also allows organisations to adjust their operations and services, such as cleaning schedules only cleaning when needed. They can save energy and money by adjusting HVAC systems and reducing their CO2 footprint,” she says.

Google Cloud to retire IoT Core service in 2023

Praharsha Anand — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 12:54:13 +0000

Google Cloud is shutting down its IoT Core service in 2023, according to the tech giant’s recent cloud release notes.

After August 15, 2023, the documentation for IoT Core will no longer be available, read the documentation note. Google also sent out an email to customers, alerting them to the change.

RELATED RESOURCE

Building for success with off-premises private cloud

Leveraging co-location facilities to execute your cloud strategy

FREE DOWNLOAD

“We’re writing to let you know that Google Cloud’s IoT Core Service will be discontinued on August 16, 2023, at which point your access to the IoT Core Device Manager APIs will no longer be available. As of that date, devices will be unable to connect to the Google Cloud IoT Core MQTT and HTTP bridges and existing connections will be shut down,” read the mail.

The move has attracted significant backlash from IoT Core service users.

“Google Cloud has many great services, but it is very distressing to see them devalued by such a sudden announcement of their termination,” stated Twitter user Shinya Yanagihara.

Addressing the sudden unplugging, a Google spokesperson explained, “Since launching IoT Core, it has become clear that our customers’ needs could be better served by our network of partners that specialize in IoT applications and services.”

“We have worked extensively to provide customers with migration options and solution alternatives, and are providing a year-long runway before IoT Core is discontinued.”

Before buying into cloud-based tech, you must prepare for failure

Jon Honeyball — Sat, 13 Aug 2022 07:00:17 +0000

The news that Insteon, purveyors of Internet of Things (IoT) smart home products, had shut down in April will have come as an unpleasant surprise to its erstwhile customers. The servers went offline, as did the website’s support pages. Although a group of customers have endeavoured to resurrect the cloud functionality of Insteon devices by buying out the company, this was always seen as highly unlikely.

I’m not surprised there was – albeit temporarily – a casualty like this. Any product that relies on an intimate relationship with a cloud service for it to function is at risk of that service failing or disappearing altogether.

The rise of cloud misconfiguration threats and how to avoid them

We might wonder how this situation has come about. There is no intrinsic need for a cloud service to be involved with the core operation of an IoT device, but there is an interesting business model at play. For a start, it means the product can just call out to a cloud service somewhere hosted “out there”, with no need for the smarts to be running within the local area network (LAN). This makes deployment and set up easier.

Even better, for manufacturers, is that it gives them one central place to update capabilities and functionality for all their customers. No need to talk to a big bunch of local LAN controllers: just update the cloud server. If you have a local networking box, maybe to allow a protocol transition to Zigbee, then this box can be essentially dumb and closed to the user. And it’s much easier for an app on your phone to communicate with the cloud server as it saves any pesky need for local LAN connection, virtual private network (VPN) tunnels or any other kind of “at home, away from home” configuration hassle.

One more thing: it opens up entirely new revenue streams for manufacturers by forcing the user to buy into a cloud subscription service. The more you pay, the more features you get. If you really want a laugh, go look at the subscription pages for many cloud subscription-based devices, and marvel at the incoherent and confusing tiers and other plans that are foisted upon the customer.

It’s undoubtedly an effective business model, right up to the point where the cloud service disappears. Then you, the customer, are left with junk.

It’s time to ditch software subscriptions

The easy answer is to say, “avoid any product that has any element of cloud functionality”. But that is too simplistic and doesn’t take into account a realistic evaluation of the sturdiness of the company involved. For example, it’s clearly possible for a vendor like Insteon to come off the rails, but the warnings were there – apparently it was trying to structure a buy-out some months ago. The problem is that there is no meaningful route to warn customers of impending doom. As soon as you do, there is a real chance that a small problem cascades into a bigger, company-killing issue.

So, we must do our own realistic risk assessments. It’s possible that Amazon might pull the plug on the entire Alexa infrastructure, but I would suggest that it’s pretty unlikely. Apple might walk away from Siri one day, but it wouldn’t be because the company has run out of money. And you would get months, perhaps years, of warning.

Compare and contrast this level of certainty with that of much smaller tier two, three and four suppliers. While they might well integrate into the top tier platforms such as Azure, they’re still reliant on their own cloud services infrastructures. Consider my home security cameras: I am passionately convinced that these should be wired up using Ethernet cables, preferably with power coming from the POE standard. There should be a local network video recording solution that captures everything, 24/7. And there is no hook into a cloud service.

One-day IT projects to improve your business network

RELATED RESOURCE

Learn how you can get an over 200% ROI with Workplace

How Workplace can help your frontline workers

FREE DOWNLOAD

I can do this because I’m prepared to put industrial-grade networking in place to support the services required to perform a security function. This isn’t quite so appropriate if you want a camera to monitor your bird feeder, to make sure you don’t miss the arrival of a lesser spotted warbler. If so, then a cloud-based solution might be appropriate, but I would certainly only consider one from the top tier companies, and preferably one that had local storage. And which supports standards like ONVIF so it can be hooked up to a NAS/video recording box.

The problem is that the proverbial people on the Clapham Omnibus are bad at doing this assessment, because they simply want something that works. What happens in six months’ time, let along six years, is generally not on their radar.

The failure of Insteon won’t be a sole event. The ongoing supply chain constraints are putting extreme pressure on the smaller vendors. In the past the saying maintained “no one got fired for buying IBM”. There must be a modern equivalent, whether that is Amazon, Apple, Google or another of the big players. Just don’t fall in love with a relatively unknown vendor and put too many capabilities in the one basket. It might not be there tomorrow.

UK's smart meter data traffic to surge 500% by 2026

Rory Bathgate — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 05:00:07 +0000

More than a billion data-packets were sent over the UK's national smart meter network in July, a level of traffic that's expected to increase five-fold over the next four years.

The Data Communications Company (DCC), which operates the UK's smart metering network and links meters in homes and small businesses with their respective energy suppliers, said it will have to increase its working costs and operational capacity to keep pace with exceptional demand.

The DCC is investing in centralised data caching, more efficiently prioritised traffic, and widespread compression. The predicted increase in traffic will be driven in part by physical expansion, but also through changes to the frequency of readings.

In the past financial year, 8.5 million meters were added to the network, for a total of 21 million at time of writing. Around 7.6 billion messages (the DCC’s term for data packets) were sent over this period, largely comprised of meter readings but also including supplier requests, prepayment credit top-ups, and updates to tariffs and firmware. They vary in size from a few tens of bytes, to around one megabyte.

These are all sent through the bespoke internet of things (IoT) network created by the DCC, with the most sensitive information such as customer data encrypted and only given on a need-to-know basis to suppliers, network operators.

At present, some smart meters send readings every day whilst others provide readings at more frequent intervals, to supply the grid with more accurate insight into demand. The DCC states that future meters will be able to send readings every 30 minutes, an interval that they term Market-wide Half-Hourly Settlement (MHHS).

The DCC contends that they only facilitate the movement of messages through the network, and cannot see individual data.

The more up-to-date the readings are, the more consumers and businesses can make use of smart tariffs. Smart meter data is especially important in the face of the cost of living crisis, helping to keep prices accurate to consumers while providing energy suppliers with accurate information on data efficiency and demand for renewable energy.

How the cost of living crisis will savage tech How to greenify your digital transformation strategy EchoStar unveils the world's first pan-European LoRa IoT network

DCC CEO Angus Flett said:

“The DCC network now relays in a single day the amount of data it was carrying in a whole month two years ago. That’s a great thing for Britain, which needs this data for the insights we require to transition away from fossil fuels.

“We’ve now surpassed 1 billion messages sent across our network in a month. We expect a further 500% increase in traffic over the next few years, as the network more than doubles in size, accommodating extra demand like half-hourly meter readings.

“The DCC network was designed for these traffic increases, and our five-year roadmap shows how we’ll be working with our customers and service providers to ensure we’re ready for this high energy data future. Our mission is to make Britain more connected, so we can all lead smarter, greener lives.”

EchoStar unveils the world's first pan-European LoRa IoT network

Praharsha Anand — Tue, 05 Jul 2022 12:09:42 +0000

EchoStar Mobile, a subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation, has launched its pan-European LoRa-enabled Internet of Things (IoT) network, an industry-first.

LoRa, short for Long Range, is a low-power networking protocol best suited for connecting battery-powered devices. Then again, terrestrial infrastructure constraints limit the technology’s use.

RELATED RESOURCE

Optimising storage infrastructure for DevOps practices

Maintaining IT infrastructure to best support application services

FREE DOWNLOAD

The EchoStar Mobile solution gets around this limitation by integrating a LoRa-enabled module into IoT devices, allowing sensors to send and receive data in real time.

Essentially, the mobile satellite service provider's S-band network, concurrent with EchoStar XXI satellite, is the first to provide bi-directional, real-time LoRa-enabled connectivity across Europe.

The coherent pan-European coverage will meet the needs of multinational mobility customers in sectors such as utilities, transportation, rail, logistics, and agritech.

Telemaco Melia, vice president and general manager of EchoStar Mobile, said, "The activation of our pan-European network, the largest, and first multinational, LoRa-enabled IoT network, is a significant milestone for EchoStar Mobile.”

“We, along with dozens of partners participating in our early adoption program for LoRa, are evaluating prototype devices and testing the network with applications such as railway track monitoring, smart farming, utility monitoring and asset tracking in preparation for commercial service launch, which is on track for late 2022," added Melia.

Per reports, EchoStar Mobile's bi-directional LoRa-enabled IoT network ‌‌is set to debut at the LoRaWANWorld Expo in Paris on July 6.

Raspberry Pi launches next-gen Pico W microcontroller with networking support

Connor Jones — Fri, 01 Jul 2022 11:43:11 +0000

Raspberry Pi has launched the Pico W - its first microcontroller to use Raspberry Pi-built silicon and the first to support wireless connectivity.

The RP2040 chip is designed to power the next generation of Pico boards, according to the Cambridge-based firm, offering 2.4GHz 802.11n wireless connectivity, delivered through Infineon’s CYW43439 wireless chip.

Raspberry Pi: Top projects to try yourself A complete guide to Raspberry Pi OS Raspberry Pi ten years on: Breathing new life into retro machines

The CYW43439 chip supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Classic, and Bluetooth Low-Energy. Raspberry Pi said it has not enabled Bluetooth on the Pico W, “but may do so in the future”.

The 802.11n Wi-Fi standard is relatively old for today’s networking technology - it can be seen as ‘Wi-Fi 4’ while the world is now moving to Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E - but Raspberry Pi markets the Pico series as an internet of things (IoT) platform, suitable for a number of different projects.

(Image credit: Raspberry Pi)

The company said the fast cores, large memory, and flexible interfacing make its RP2040 chip ideal for IoT applications like a balloon tracker, robotics, and machine learning with gesture-recognising devices, for example.

The company also regards it as an ‘experimental’ alternative for design engineers looking for functional hardware amid the global semiconductor shortage - a shortage which has “vastly accelerated [RP2040] adoption,” it said.

The new Raspberry Pi Pico W is out now and costs $6 (£5), which is about one dollar or one British pound sterling more than its predecessor. It retains complete pin compatibility with the original Raspberry Pi Pico and delivers wireless connectivity for the first time.

(Image credit: Raspberry Pi)

Raspberry Pi has also released The Pico H and Pico WH for $5 (£4.15) and $7 (£5.81) respectively. These two are almost exactly the same as the original Pico and Pico W, but will appeal to those wanting to start working immediately. Both come with pre-populated pin headers, eliminating the need for at-home soldering, and a new 3-pin debug connector.

The Raspberry Pi Pico H and Pico W are both available today, while the Pico WH is expected to release in August.

RELATED RESOURCE

Powering through to innovation

IT agility drive digital transformation

FREE DOWNLOAD

The Pico platform is developed for in the C and MicroPython languages and both have new tools starting today to help them begin working on Raspberry Pi projects with network support.

The latest version of the Pico SDK is available for C developers and the updated UF2 image is available for MicroPython developers too.

The network stack is built around IwIP and uses libcyw43 to communicate with the wireless chip. Use of libcyw43 is usually free for non-commercial use but Raspberry Pi said that developers can enjoy a free commercial use license when building for Pico, or any product based on RP2040 ir CYW43439.

Resilience – not cutting-edge technology – is the foundation of smart office buildings

Steve Cassidy — Wed, 29 Jun 2022 09:47:08 +0000

When people talk smart – anything from devices to cities – there are some rich providers of confusion in the mix. My favourite right now is the cloud. Not the one that you and I understand, but the other cloud; the one that's vaguely imagined by great chunks of the regular populace, who, by now. have simply smooshed together all our carefully detailed descriptions.

Their cloud isn’t owned by anybody, costs nothing to use, has perfect resilience and is unfettered by topography or the rule of law. This is a multifaceted misunderstanding, of course, which only comes to light when a failure in the real, messy, multi-owner, connection-constrained cloud lays another bit of the world’s biggest jigsaw open to view.

Patching together the UK’s fragmented smart city landscape

To an extent, our smart cities are like a cloud. Everything is spread out, but connected; redundancy of the design is assumed rather than baked in.

What looks like all the same network tech is actually a patchwork of owners, operators and users, with strangely mixed expectations about security and segregation. On the one hand, a fleet of smart sensors are meant to be for the public good; on the other hand, the owners of the networks those sensors talk through are not put there for public-benefit projects. This puts the information that they collect out of everyone else’s reach.

And then on the other hand, smart cities are nothing like a cloud at all. Buildings don’t scale up and down at random; overall reliability of the systems supporting the humans (remember them?) has to be higher than the overall observed reliability of the common cloud names and the networks over which they reach us. That’s a lot of moving parts.

Resilience in cloud architectures is like having an army of zombies at your command. It doesn’t matter if a few punters lose their transaction from an outage because another zombie will instantly be along to help. Resilience in smart buildings is more like a superhero. No matter what goes on outside of your walls, your smart building ought to have the local horsepower and IT antibodies to fight almost anything the world can throw at it.

RELATED RESOURCE

Moving forward in a work from anywhere world

A gorilla guide

FREE DOWNLOAD

Making a massive global network across the globe just to run some local services is becoming the defining sin of the smart building revolution. Yes, of course there are other networks that tick some of the same boxes and use the same jargon, but they’re either non-time-critical or their field of interest isn’t obvious to their human users. And humans must be able to keep on functioning, even when the internet is having a bad day.

This requirement of natural resilience becomes exceptionally sharp when there is a large-scale, global disruption of internet traffic. If you’re going to make quite minor systems “computerised” then it’s no use trying to run them from a data centre halfway round the planet when all you want is to switch on a few of Mission’s smart light fittings.

This is where the more business-focused idea of edge computing comes in. For greybeards like me, this harks back to the old days of strictly local, cloud-independent horsepower. For the more modern generations, though, it’s something of a revelation.

Thus the very gentle introduction I had by Brainbox.ai, which makes artificial intelligence (AI)-cooked building-control systems, aimed at making classic glass-wall skyscraper heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems better at saving greenhouse gases.

The decades-old vision of “pervasive computing” is blueprinting today’s smart cities

If you have a massive sandstorm coming, and your internet access is above-ground on poles at various points, you both want to do strange things to your building’s systems (to keep the sand damage to a minimum) but without the benefit of internet access.

That requires a lot of “internetising” of any information your building might be able to collect, whether that’s heat from the sun, wind speed, temperature or the amount of rain. And internetising means that you could easily have a rich variety of sensor manufacturers, with an equally rich range of responses to a loss of connection to the rest of the world. Well-behaved sensors hold on to their IP addresses, and don’t worry too much about using public-access DNS to find their way home.

Unfortunately, smart building devices tend towards two extremes: too small and dumb to live on their own and formidably complex. One friend developed and sold a doorbell that booted up much of a Linux kernel, and spoke IPv6 across your LAN to its cloud-based central controller, before putting a picture up on the company intranet of whoever just pushed the button on that funny-looking, oversized entry phone thing. To be resilient against entire-planet internet damage, you must design the entirety of your smart building system to be “unplug friendly” – or at least, to fall back into a failsafe mode that does minimal harm to the building’s human population despite the lack of operating humidity sensors on the east wing.

In fact, if you step back and think about it, you’ll notice that most of the smart city advertising material creates an impression of immediacy. You might see a flashing red box and zoom in to get live video of a crashed milk float, shock horror! In fact, successful smart Internet of Things (IoT) deployments are less time-critical: if your printer’s toner tips into low today, it’s unlikely to run out until a few days’ time.

Moving into more immediate reporting and control, an HVAC system must be able to adjust the flow of air, as buildings respond to the changing conditions of the day, and the constant activity and movement of inhabitants makes that job a lot harder – which, in edge computing terms, means more local decision-making, less cloud backchat, and more responsive control systems.

Which is great, if your building is just modern enough. Not brand new, which means potentially loaded with the wrong kind of smarts by enthusiastic but misguided bricks-and-mortar developers. Not so old that you’re dealing with lead pipes and mouldy thatch, birds’ nests and deathwatch beetles, either.

Reimagining Edinburgh with cutting-edge smart city projects

RELATED RESOURCE

Powering through to innovation

IT agility drive digital transformation

FREE DOWNLOAD

Most of the interest in developing smart buildings is focused in on the building stock from about the 1950s through to the early 2000s; the kind of places where even the first couple of retrofit moves – a smart switch to the fan extractor in the server room, or maybe a CCTV webcam pointing into the parking area – shows enough benefit that a larger investment in this technology looks worthwhile.

Brainbox claims many exciting things about its approach to an edge-deployed cloud device smart monitoring and control server. I’m sure it will find a market that agrees with its assertions, but I’ve already seen several false starts in other, very similar markets, where people frankly turn out to be pretty scrappy building owners and their systems reflect that, being made up of half-a-dozen nasty old boxes running embedded Windows 98 to drive everything from the air handler to the cargo bay lift. Tidying and adding resilience to those kinds of “version 0.7” smart networks is a revenue stream I am, I must freely admit, looking forward to a lot.

Ubuntu Core 22 is now generally available for IoT and edge devices

Praharsha Anand — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 13:42:31 +0000

Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has announced a new version of Ubuntu Core for Internet of Things (IoT) and edge devices.

The fully containerized Ubuntu Core 22 variant, aligned with Ubuntu 22.04 long-term support (LTS) through 2023, offers a new embedded operating system paradigm that is inherently reliable and secure, stated Canonical in a blog post.

Ubuntu Linux review: The granddaddy of desktop Linux Mint vs Ubuntu: Which one is better?

Additionally, the new release includes a fully preemptible kernel with a low-touch OS, extending real-time compute support for time-sensitive industrial, telecommunications, automotive, and robotics applications.

As for security, Ubuntu Core 22 builds on Ubuntu Core’s advanced safety features, including but not limited to, secure boot and full disk encryption. Applications are also isolated from one another and from the system at large, permitting‌ ‌a‌ ‌high‌ ‌level‌ ‌of‌ ‌fault‌ ‌tolerance.

Ubuntu Core 22 also maintains the same partition layout as Ubuntu Core 20, ensuring backward compatibility. Commenting on performance improvements, Canonical reported optimized footprint and reduced memory usage for Ubuntu Core 22 to make up for limited storage and CPU resources in conventional IoT and embedded devices.

“Our goal at Canonical is to provide secure, reliable open source everywhere – from the development environment to the cloud, down to the edge and to devices. With this release, and Ubuntu’s real-time kernel, we are ready to expand the benefits of Ubuntu Core across the entire embedded world,” said Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical CEO.

RELATED RESOURCE

Deliver a modernised end-user experience that pays for itself

Start modernising PC lifecycle management today

FREE DOWNLOAD

KMC Controls’ COO Brad Kehler commented, “KMC Controls’ range of IoT devices are purpose-built for mission-critical industrial environments. Security is paramount for our customers. We chose Ubuntu Core for its built-in advanced security features and robust over-the-air update framework.”

“Ubuntu Core comes with 10 years of security update commitment which allows us to keep devices secure in the field for their long life. With a proven application enablement framework, our development teams can focus on creating applications that solve business problems,” added Kehler.

The IT Pro Podcast: Building a smart factory

IT Pro — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 06:30:11 +0000

Technologies like IoT, AI and big data analytics have been forecast to have enormous impacts across a variety of sectors, and one industry that's particularly ripe for transformation is the manufacturing sector. With a huge amount of operational and IT complexity to manage, factories and supply chains can benefit from digitisation in a number of ways.

The process of transforming a factory through digital technology is a complex one, with many moving parts, but the combination of modern cloud platforms and data-driven methodologies has enormous potential to enhance business efficiency. One organisation pursuing this efficiency is Apollo Tyres, and this week, we’re joined by Apollo’s chief digital officer Hizmy Hassen to discuss the company’s efforts, as well as the early results that it’s seen from the project.

Highlights

“In a manufacturing process, there's a lot of idle time that happens: waiting for components, waiting for an operator to come and press a button or make setting changes. So we're starting to identify that, what we call non-productive time. And we're then coming up with solutions either through automation or through workflow changes, or through labour allocation changes, to minimise that non-productive time.”

“So we've got highly automated machines that are used in the manufacturing process. And quite modern. So most of these machines have got sensors, there's a lot of data that we're collecting through PLCs. So what that has done is enabled us to really start to look at using data to take this manufacturing to the next level. So automation will provide certain levels of efficiency and productivity, we're very confident that data is the next frontier in terms of taking our levels of manufacturing efficiency, output, customer service, and even quality consistency using data.”

“The biggest challenge is more the human angle, the change management, and I'm sure you've heard this before. The technology piece is very straightforward. It's relatively easy. And a lot of these IoT technologies have actually matured quite well now. So we've been able to get our cloud setup, the IoT technologies in place, data streaming within a handful of months.”

Read the full transcript here.

Footnotes

Podcast transcript: Building a smart factory

A large number of users are reporting issues at internet of things (IoT) company Insteon, many fear the company has folded without warning.

Users started reporting issues on Friday involving their connections to Insteon servers failing which left their smart home products unusable. Insteon has yet to make a formal announcement of any issues while its system status page reports no issues.

What is open source? What to look for in a mesh Wi-Fi network What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?

First investigated by IoT reporter Stacey Higginbotham, Insteon’s community forums appear to be down and a number of its high-profile executives have removed all reference to their Insteon employment from their LinkedIn profiles.

IT Pro has contacted Insteon for clarification but did not receive a response.

Insteon CEO Rob Lilleness has removed all references to his Insteon employment from his profile, nor can any mention of Smartlabs, Insteon’s parent company, be found either.

Lilleness also appears to have taken any identifiable information out of his profile, changing his screen name to ‘Ro L’ and removing his profile image.

Smartlabs’ chief information officer (CIO) Mike Nunes’ profile suggests his employment at the company ended in April 2022, while chief research officer (CRO) Dan Cregg’s profile also shows his time at Insteon ended in April 2022.

Insteon has a broad suite of smart home products in its portfolio ranging from sensors, power outlets, thermostats, home automation, and more - all controlled using the Insteon Hub.

(Image credit: Insteon)

Users have reported in droves that their Insteon apps are no longer working which means they cannot control the rest of their products, including the Insteon Hub which is central to the device ecosystem.

A large portion of the upset is caused by Insteon’s lack of open interoperability with other IoT networks, meaning it’s difficult for users to make their products work when the manufacturer’s servers are down.

Insteon uses a proprietary dual-mesh network protocol that uses wireless signals (not Wi-Fi) and powerline networking - a combination, it said, is better than a Wi-Fi connection alone since the devices could still work if the home internet line is down.

Potential workarounds

Users have taken to social media to discuss potential workarounds to Insteon’s closed source networking in the hope their products would not be rendered useless if the company has indeed folded.

The main piece of advice for owners of Insteon products is to not factory reset their devices because first-time set-up requires a connection to Insteon servers. Resetting Insteon devices that are already set up could mean the device is rendered unrecoverable if the company doesn’t restore its services.

The easiest solution to move away from the Insteon network appears to be with the open-source home automation and device management software Home Assistant. Some users reported being able to use the software and have all their devices aggregated and working again in just a few hours.

Home Assistant currently lists several Insteon products that are compatible with the software, though some are missing, such as thermostats.

The open-source software’s documentation also has step-by-step instructions on how to integrate Insteon devices into Home Assistant.

Some users have reported success using HOOBS which has released a plugin specifically for Insteon users. This method allows users to restore functionality to their Insteon devices and expose them to Apple Homekit, Amazon Alexa, or Google Home to control their devices through smart assistants.

American company HomeSeer also said it offers an alternative to users. It would involve buying a new hub from HomeSeer, connecting it to the Insteon Hub using a specific Insteon plugin, and then controlling the devices through the HomeSeer app.

Reimagining Edinburgh with cutting-edge smart city projects

Rene Millman — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 07:00:08 +0000

The idea of smart cities has been around for a good few years, with the various initiatives deployed in cities across the UK promising to reshape society. The touted benefits vary, ranging from fewer traffic jams and more responsive emergency services to the enhanced provision of local services, such as intelligent bin collection.

Smart Cities: Living in intelligent spaces

Edinburgh aims to become a state-of-the-art smart city that’s both sustainable and digitally inclusive. Last October, the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) published its Digital and Smart City Strategy that set out how its future technology services should be designed, sourced and delivered over the next few years.

The programme sets out how Edinburgh will use data and cloud-powered technology to connect systems in a digital age to provide even more accessible, secure, and efficient services for residents. There’s also a focus on reusing, recycling and promoting paperless technologies.

“We want to become a digital Council and a world-leading smart city, and this plan will help to get us there,” says deputy leader Cammy Day, who is also CEC’s smart cities lead. “Digital is playing a major role in the way we operate as a council, and we need to keep refreshing our approach so that we stay on top.”

On the fringes of a radical transformation

To that end, the council, as part of a five-year deal with systems integrator CGI, will adopt its SensorInsights360 smart city platform, developed in Australia. This will deliver an end-to-end approach to the Internet of Things (IoT), asset data collection and asset management.

For a start, CGI SensorInsights360 will be deployed through Edinburgh’s City Operations Centre, which is jointly funded by the council and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). By integrating the platform with this programme, the council hopes to deliver digital services using artificial intelligence (AI), IoT and advanced data analytics.

How smart city tech could help us return to ‘normal’

Among material benefits will be better management of council properties, better digital services for citizens, as well as the creation of healthier and safer social housing with increased sustainability and regulatory compliance. The plan also aims to improve waste management using smart bins, introduce sustainable recycling, route optimisation, as well as use data to drive more efficiency in the ‘real world’.

What will this smart city look like by 2027, though? A huge part of becoming a smart city revolves around efficiencies and improvements. Streetlights area great example of this. Many councils now have systems in which a resident can fill out an online form about a broken street lamp, with those details fed automatically into the council's back-end line of business systems, which creates a job automatically for the team to go out and fix it. Edinburgh, however, can go a step further. By deploying IoT sensors, the council can detect if a light fails, with the sensor beaming a report to the council without anyone needing to report the issue first. This would save both time and money.

What will Edinburgh look like in five years’ time?

Optimising waste management

Waste disposal trucks follow set routes that have been optimised for efficiency in terms of distance travelled, but this doesn’t mean they’re optimised in terms of how full bins might be. They could be emptying bins that don’t need emptying or missing overflowing or vandalised bins. Edinburgh also has a seasonal footprint. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival, hosted every August, as well as Christmas markets and Hogmanay new year’s celebrations, are all tourist magnets. This constantly changing dynamic means there’s a need to adapt to the conditions on the ground and reroute accordingly, shifting pathways to where the need is greatest.

To that end, IoT sensors will also be fitted to rubbish bins. These are attached to the bins and connect with a LoRaWan network operated by the Scottish government. Once a connection is established, the bins can send information to SensorInsights360, including how full a bin might be. These bins also have a temperature sensor to alert the authorities to a potential bin fire. Data is pushed into back-end systems run by the council, and service teams can react to that information. When fully rolled out over the next five years, there should be around 11,000 sensors fitted to bins.

Becoming a smart city also involves proactively handling problems within social housing. Again, the traditional way of doing this might be to have residents raise issues with the council as and when they arise, with the council then dealing with each complaint. Although this process has become largely digitised through the internet over the last 20 years, the same pattern of raising issues, and then fixing them, has persisted.

Digitising Leeds: How to build a smart city

In the future, however, sensors installed in properties will monitor things like carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and damp levels. It’s, in fact, a similar scheme to that deployed by Leeds City Council as part of its own smart city venture. Should these monitors sense that they’re rising above a certain threshold, the council will be immediately notified without any human interaction. These sensors will, again, feed the data into back-end systems that alert somebody to visit the property and pre-emptively fix the issue before it becomes a serious problem. Indeed, Identifying a problem early, that perhaps costs hundreds of pounds, is better than trying to fix a bigger problem that costs thousands of pounds.

Intelligent traffic lights and streetlights

CEC installed LED lights in its street lighting back in 2018. It partnered with connected street lighting and smart city applications firm Telensa to deploy 64,000 LED lights as part of its energy efficiency program. The streetlights, moreover, use Telensa’s PLANet wireless central management system to centralise remote control of the city’s lighting.

The system comprises wireless nodes connecting individual lights, dedicated wireless connectivity, and a central management application. The system uses real-time monitoring to identify and track faults, which will cut the number of residents' complaints about broken street lights and remove the need for street lighting staff to undertake night-time patrols to identify faulty lights.

With funding from the ERDF to upgrade traffic message signs, Edinburgh plans to link them to its smart city platform. In the future, road users will be able to take advantage of sensors placed around the city that feed data back into the platform to help better plan journeys. Not only will alerts be displayed on signage throughout the city but these messages will also be sent to smartphones and in-car information systems at the same time, and in real-time.

Sharpening up security and surveillance

With an investment of £2.6 million, CEC is hoping to digitally retool Edinburgh’s CCTV control centre, using a host of technologies to drive efficiencies, improve security and better analyse emerging trends. The revamped control centre will underline the expansion of high-definition CCTV cameras, expanded coverage and the use of AI as well as advanced data analytics. These new elements aim to provide situational awareness as well as the capabilities to predict new and existing threats.

RELATED RESOURCE

Activation playbook: Deliver data that powers impactful, game-changing campaigns

Bringing together data and technology to drive better business outcomes

FREE DOWNLOAD

Partnering with IoT firm North, the project will see the security system intelligently integrated with traffic and transportation platforms. Not only will the new system be efficient, the council claims, but it’ll quickly identify and address issues, offer rapid footage retrieval and integrate with remote security systems not currently connected to the control room. The new system will also allow for better city planning and will offer a more substantive view of how people interact with the urban environment.

Once completed, the council will benefit from a robust platform that can be integrated with other systems like air quality sensors, smart parking applications, flood sensors and intelligent camera analytics to monitor low emissions zones.

How to use IoT to meet sustainability goals

Debabrata Deb — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 14:49:05 +0000

With scrutiny on corporate sustainability intensifying, more and more businesses are attempting to meet their environmental ambitions by investing in innovation and deploying cutting-edge technologies.

Many enterprises, specifically, are turning to the Internet of Things (IoT). Massive properties such as warehouses, factories, and department stores consume energy in an unsustainable way. Machinery, for example, is sometimes kept on when not in use, while bright lights are often switched on at all times of the day, including in broad daylight as well as after closing. IoT, in this context, has been identified as a crucial tool in the broader battle to combat climate change.

Is the IoT the saviour of the environment?

The importance of IoT is only expected to rise in the coming years, with the global market projected to grow from $380 billion in 2021 to $1.9 trillion in 2028, according to Fortune Business Insights. Much of this growth will comprise businesses tapping into connected devices, sensors, big data analytics as well as automation and machine learning, to scale back their energy usage and meet their sustainability goals.

Tracking the status quo

To improve the sustainability of a process, a machine, or an organisation, the first port of call is measuring the current state. That's where IoT first comes in, Dr Paul Miller, principal analyst at Forrester, tells IT Pro.

"IoT sensors at busy junctions measure traffic flow, noise, and pollution. IoT sensors in offices measure room occupancy, temperature, humidity, and the composition of the air. IoT sensors on machines from pumps and motors on the factory floor to high-speed trains and jet aircraft measure vibration, noise, temperature, and more," he says.

RELATED RESOURCE

Sharpen your manufacturing competitive edge

Smarter asset management

FREE DOWNLOAD

Many of these measurements have a direct and immediate impact on energy use, Miller adds. An IoT sensor, for example, can easily alert engineers in the control room to a power-hungry machine on the factory floor that's drawing power and producing nothing of value. The machine can then be switched off. Temperature sensors in buildings, meanwhile, can routinely communicate with HVAC systems to cool spaces that become too warm.

"Combined with machine learning, IoT has broader sustainability applications that reduce wasteful energy use," Miller continues. "Instead of waiting until a room is too warm to start blasting cold air, a smart building will anticipate the need. In factories, machine learning algorithms monitor noise, vibration, temperature, and usage patterns, proactively alerting maintenance teams to equipment that may require attention to keep it operating effectively – and to prevent it from consuming more power or resources than it needs."

Out in the field

Several businesses have already had success in reaching their sustainability targets through IoT deployments, including Deloitte in the way it's embedded the technology in its Amsterdam-based Edge building. This, according to the company, has been rated as the most sustainable building in the world. Microsoft, too, has deployed IoT in the multi-billion dollar rebuild of its Redmond East campus, which began in 2019. Bosch, meanwhile has been carbon neutral on Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions since 2020, in large part due to getting a better handle on the consumption of its industrial machines. The firm uses IoT and machine learning, too, to measure, predict, and reduce energy consumption levels.

IoT vendors are equally keen to highlight case studies of customers using their technologies to minimise their carbon footprints. IBC Cube clients, for example, use the firm's systems to save fuel by ensuring diesel-powered backup generators they operate are automatically turned off during periods when a power supply has available electricity. Site personnel in charge of operating these generators, previously, were found to frequently shut them off long after the mains supply was restored, wasting fuel.

Curious Noses: Fighting climate change one garden at a time

"Another example involves a client that used our IoT digital display solution to automate the release of new branding and product information to their point of sale displays,” says Shaunak Raha, IBC Cube’s head of IoT and emerging technology. “In the past, whenever they launched a new product or campaign, they would have to print thousands of branding and merchandising materials, ship them, and install them at thousands of stores across India. Now, they simply release the campaign on our portal, and their new campaign releases across all their stores without having to waste paper, fuel, and manpower on the changeover."

When it comes to sustainability-specific use cases, the technology stack and its deployment tend to be largely similar to other areas of IoT, senior director analyst at Gartner, Aapo Markkanen, tells IT Pro. “There are, first, the field devices and they connect to the network either directly or through edge gateways," he says. "Both the field devices and the gateways tend to possess more extensive computing and storage capabilities than they used to just a couple of years ago. From the edge, the data is delivered to the platform back-end, which is often in the cloud but can be of the on-premise sort as well. On the platform level, data is fed into a variety of business applications that are more and more integrated with each other. Sometimes the applications scale down to the edge level, for example, in the form of edge AI."

One area Markkanen highlights is remote sensing delivered by low-earth-orbit satellites. This isn’t part of the traditional IoT domain, he clarifies, but nevertheless, satellite-based data sources hold a lot of promise in sustainability. For instance, they help to scale the measurement and monitoring of environmental impacts, and the related changes over time.

Looking beyond the enterprise

Similar to how IoT is being deployed in industrial settings, the increasing digitisation of our environment is generating more activity data that can be connected to develop insights on a variety of carbon emissions, says Bettina Tratz-Ryan, VP analyst with Gartner. Many businesses can, in this sense, contribute to the wider mission to meet society’s sustainability targets, as opposed to just looking inwardly.

"In addition, adding society as a steward for sustainability brings the option to gamify sustainable behaviour, drive communities and provide new applications to assess personal individuals’ carbon footprint, reduce waste, and so on,” Tratz-Ryan adds.

How to greenify your digital transformation strategy

An untapped resource, for example, is the development of community data exchanges where citizens can generate data for industries to consume for various sustainable purposes, such as reducing the carbon footprint in the process of developing their products. That data, though, needs to be standardised otherwise its value is compromised.

Sustainability is an increasingly significant challenge for enterprises across the globe, and many are developing sustainability policies with the help of IoT and associated technologies like machine learning. Advancements in connectivity methods and IoT sensors, too, can allow governments, companies, and individuals to use resources responsibly, and gradually move to more energy-efficient practices.

IoT security market to hit $59 billion by 2029

Praharsha Anand — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 12:09:30 +0000

The Internet of Things (IoT) security market is poised to reach $59.16 billion by 2029, according to a new report from Meticulous Market Research.

In addition to eliminating vulnerabilities, IoT security solutions enable connected devices to identify, respond to, and recover from cyber attacks.

Internet of Things: A quick guide Time for vendors to get off the fence with IoT security Why consumer IoT security is now a business problem

A compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.2% is estimated for the market between 2022 and 2029, driven by rising IoT deployments, ransomware attacks targeting connected devices, and increased IoT security regulations.

However, emerging IoT threats and COVID-19's detrimental effects on the global economy pose challenges to the market's growth. That said, the healthcare industry has been a prominent adopter of IoT security to combat fraud and protect patient data.

By geography, North America held the largest share of the global IoT security market in 2021. The rapid growth in the region is attributable to key players providing advanced IoT security solutions and services across a wide range of industries.

Furthermore, the US government passed the NIST Internet of Things Cybersecurity Improvement Act in 2020 to strengthen cyber security for IoT devices.

Together, favorable government initiatives and investments by key IoT security companies have helped accelerate growth in the North American market.

RELATED RESOURCE

The Total Economic Impact™ of Red Hat OpenShift Cloud Services

Cost savings and business benefits enabled by Red Hat

FREE DOWNLOAD

The Asia Pacific region, however, is projected to lead the market during the forecast period. The high growth of infrastructure in the Asia Pacific, particularly in China, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and India, and the penetration of IoT in these countries create tremendous opportunities for IoT security solutions, according to Meticulous Market Research.

Globally, GSMA Intelligence estimates that the Asia Pacific region will support 11.5 billion IoT connections by 2025.

Cisco, Forescout Technologies, and Fortinet are among the leading vendors in the IoT security market.

What is Wi-Fi 7?

Zach Marzouk — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 11:40:12 +0000

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) declared in November 2020 that Wi-Fi 6 was ready for global roll-out after successfully completing five trial deployments. In these tests, Wi-Fi 6 demonstrated gigabit transfer rates that were nearly three times faster than its predecessor, Wi-Fi 5, with a capacity of up to 9.6Gb/sec versus 3.5Gb/sec. Wi-Fi 6 was also found to be more reliable, with lower latency, and better networking efficiency.

Businesses are building their future with 5G and Wi-Fi 6 in mind How the Fira de Barcelona is bringing Wi-Fi 6 to some of Europe's biggest events View from the airport: Networking at MWC 2022

This year, Wi-Fi 6 chipsets are expected to reach 1.5 billion units, with the technology more widely adopted among major smartphone brands, like Samsung, Huawei, and Apple, too.

Since homes and businesses are beginning to adopt Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, we’ve decided to look at what the wireless industry has in store for the next generation of wireless technology.

Wi-Fi 6 vs Wi-Fi 7

Also known as IEEE 802.11be, Wi-Fi 7 is the next generation of the wireless technology standard; it's an extremely high throughput wireless network that uses 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz, and 6Ghz frequency bands. It aims to decrease latency, increase speed to all devices, and support large numbers of users.

Wi-Fi 7 will ultimately provide faster speeds for more devices, for longer. It'll operate across the three frequency bands, versus just two in Wi-Fi 6, and supports a transmission rate of up to 30Gb/sec, which is a huge jump from Wi-Fi 6E’s current targeted bitrate of 9.6Gb/sec.

Proposed features for Wi-Fi 7 include the capacity to support 320MHz transmission, double that supported by Wi-Fi 6. This will increase speed and throughput for many devices, and users should find less interference between gadgets, too, which is important if multiple devices within close proximity are trying to connect to the same network.

This technology also wants to take on latency, and will ensure more data requests can be made with no delay. One technique it's seeking to develop is Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which allows devices to keep numerous online connections across various bands simultaneously.

Wi-Fi 7 will also increase the number of spatial streams from eight to 16, doubling the theoretical transmission rate. With more data streams, it can also support distributed Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) technology, which could help deliver a high-quality indoor 5G experience.

RELATED RESOURCE

Modernise and thrive with Device-as-a-Service

Improving end-user experience through modernisation

FREE DOWNLOAD

The 16 data streams can be delivered by different access points at the same time, so multiple access points can coordinate with each other. Currently, there isn’t a lot of access point coordination. This feature, however, aims to optimise channel selection and adjust loads between access points to achieve efficient utilisation and balanced allocation of radio resources, according to Huawei.

Wi-Fi 7 won’t change your broadband speed in and of itself, though, so until your internet service provider (ISP) offers better packages, feeling the fullest benefits will be put on hold. Homes across the country, too, haven’t been in any great need for the maximum speeds Wi-Fi 7 might offer yet. You’re more likely to notice the difference Wi-Fi 7 will make at the workplace, or if you’re travelling, as offices are far more likely to need faster speeds for business purposes, like streaming and processing vast quantities of data.

What are the key Wi-Fi 7 use cases?

Thanks to its massive increase in speed and lower latency, there are plenty of use cases for Wi-Fi 7 as well as Wi-Fi 7 routers. Streaming is set to get a big boost, with 8K content likely to gain more traction, as is fast and seamless 4K video conferencing. Online gaming, too, will also see less lag while the greater bandwidth will facilitate advances in cloud gaming.

Wi-Fi 7 will also benefit from integration into cloud and edge computing networks, industrial Internet of Things (IoT) systems, immersive augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), as well as real-time collaboration.

What’s the Wi-Fi 7 release date?

The IEEE is expected to publish the 802.11ebe amendment in 2024 and we might see commercial deployment at the same time. Following this, the Wi-Fi Alliance should release its Wi-Fi 7 certification programme to outline the security standards and ensure interoperability. Semiconductor firm MediaTek, meanwhile, claims Wi-Fi 7 hardware is expected to hit the market as soon as 2023.

Does Wi-Fi 7 spell the end of Wi-Fi 6?

Wi-Fi 6 is still currently being rolled out, so it won’t be ditched anytime soon, just as Wi-Fi 5 devices will still be common for months and years to come. Wi-Fi 7 is still in its early days of developed, and many of the purported innovations still need work. Although there isn’t a definitive picture of what we can expect from Wi-Fi 7, however, we more or less know what researchers are aiming to develop.

As for Wi-Fi 6, it'll probably stick around for some time yet. Internet speeds need to be fairly fast in order to accommodate the new technology, and since Wi-Fi 6 is ahead when it comes to development and implementation, it has a clear advantage.

Patching together the UK’s fragmented smart city landscape

Sandra Vogel — Mon, 14 Mar 2022 08:00:10 +0000

There’s no official definition of a smart city, according to research by the Houses of Parliament published in late 2021, with projects falling under this umbrella term implemented by a variety of organisations, with varying motives. These include local authorities, utility companies, transport operators and universities, all of which can deploy smart city projects of varying scope in towns and cities across the nation.

Smart Cities: Living in intelligent spaces

This breadth is part of what makes smart cities such an exciting field, and capable of driving change at a very granular level. It also means, however, that local implementations can be patchy and reliant on a range of actors with different end goals. Funding streams, too, have varied, while support hasn’t always been readily available.

The lack of a centralised government strategy, however, hasn’t deterred projects across the country from taking shape and succeeding. From Edinburgh to London, and everywhere in between, practitioners have been deploying smart city projects for years, with this collective wealth of experience contributing to a culture of knowledge sharing that defies and collaboration that promises to shape the future of the UK smart city landscape.

Cultivating green shoots

Smart city projects often have multiple goals. They’re designed to support real-time action in which some degree of automation or artificial intelligence (AI) can play a part, with the aim of making better use of resources. They’re also built to provide input into longer-term planning.

Liz St Louis, assistant director of smart cities at Sunderland City Council, for example, tells IT Pro the local authority has installed video and motion sensors on key routes into the city. Under this project, vehicles, cyclists and pedestrian movement are monitored anonymously, with the data collected, in turn, informing traffic light sequences, which can be altered to reduce congestion.

Sunderland also uses smart technology for longer-term urban planning. The council has, for instance, also installed technology in larger buildings to gain a greater understanding of energy use. This has led to informed interventions designed to reduce building emissions and contribute to Sunderland’s ambitions to be a net-zero city.

How smart city tech could help us return to ‘normal’

Many cities have similar technologies in place and similar ambitions for those technologies. Some are taking a more expansive approach, though, with Stoke-on-Trent, for example, publishing a prospectus last June called Silicone Stoke. As part of the project, the city rolled out a 113km full-fibre network, which offers the opportunity of citywide 5G connectivity, alongside plans a full-fibre academy at Stoke-on-Trent College and a new Digital Academy. The aim is to make Stoke a “hotbed of digital innovation – creating jobs, boosting businesses and improving lives,” said the then parliamentary under-secretary digital infrastructure Matt Warman at the launch of Silicon Stoke.

The Stoke-on-Trent initiative means the city can play host to advanced technologies in fields such as manufacturing, head of smart infrastructure systems at techUK, Teodora Kaneva, tells IT Pro. This includes innovations such as “industrial robotics and networked machinery, as well as accelerating the deployment of the Internet of Things (IoT)”.

Staying focused is key

With real benefits being felt on the ground, and expansive plans in place for the future, smart city managers within councils need to be fully aware of the risks too. With so much potential for what could be done on the ground, a lack of focus could be a real danger. “Local authorities must understand the problem they are trying to solve, the digital capabilities of the communities they are trying to serve, and then the potential of technology in addressing this,” Teodora Kaneva tells IT Pro.

RELATED RESOURCE

The Total Economic Impact™ of Red Hat OpenShift Cloud Services

Cost savings and business benefits enabled by Red Hat

FREE DOWNLOAD

Setting the right ambition isn’t the only risk, though. With so many vendors in this market, becoming locked into one could narrow the field of opportunity for the longer term or result in data being sealed into siloes. Awareness of the potential pitfalls is essential. Liz St Louis advocates “having open standards, with interoperability at the core, ensuring that data is always accessible, and ensuring any procurement processes adhere to these standards”.

Because the underlying technologies, and the initiatives that utilise them, are relatively new, it’s also valuable for those involved in developing smart city projects to share their learnings. The range and scope of networks to do this are growing as the number and variety of projects themselves develop.

There are numerous examples of collaborative frameworks and fora that form around smart city initiatives. Edinburgh’s ambitious smart city programme, for example, includes a contract with experienced provider CGI, set to run until 2030, which involves a range of implementations from educational projects to smart bins and streamlined refuse collection.

Digitising Leeds: How to build a smart city

John Goodram, vice president of consulting services at CGI tells IT Pro that knowledge sharing and partnerships are crucial to the success of a project like this. “We developed a Local Authority Special Interest Group which brings together academia, local authorities and subject matter and domain expertise to share insights from Smart Place initiatives,” he explains. “This allows us to help smooth transition bumps and ensure greater harmony and connectivity. We believe that anyone undertaking a smart city project should consider developing this type of collaborative element at a foundation level.”

Back in Sunderland, St Louis says the city is working with a provider on building an integrated smart city platform. This will allow data to aggregate rather than sit in silos, which will, in turn, “allow us to pool together and analyse information from different services to help inform coordinated multi-agency responses at the earliest point, further benefiting citizens and services”.

If smart cities are characterised by diversity, this is mirrored in terms of support at the national and regional levels. No single government department is responsible for smart cities. Instead, there are roles across a number of departments. with those in charge of housing, digital, communities and local government, transport, health and business all playing some role in the wider ecosystem.

That’s not to say there isn’t some degree of centralised guidance. British Standards Institution (BSI), the UK’s national standards body, has developed a range of standards and guides, such as its PAS 181 smart city framework and its PAS 182 data concept model to help city leaders develop and deliver smart city projects. There are also numerous regional organisations such as Smart London, which is part of the London Mayor’s administration.

These exist alongside a range of other groups, think tanks, policy organisations, academic institutions and fora on a national, regional and local basis. Events and conferences, too, are a great means for getting guidance, sharing good practice and networking.

The lack of a definitive playbook on building a smart city doesn’t seem to be holding back progress, and, as UK smart city projects expand, the breadth and range of support is growing too. For many practitioners, such as Sunderland’s St Louis, this is vital. “National and regional smart city groups often provide very practical support and guidance, based on real examples of smart city deployments,” she explains, suggesting momentum in the UK smart city landscape is gaining fast.

Alibaba taps Nokia to enhance edge cloud products

Praharsha Anand — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 12:33:49 +0000

Nokia and Alibaba Cloud have joined forces to streamline the Chinese cloud giant's enterprise edge capabilities.

As part of the deal, Nokia will integrate its private wireless network system Digital Automation Cloud (DAC) with Alibaba Cloud's service offering to aid customers' digital transformation strategies.

DAC expedites the adoption of enterprise industrial Internet of Things (IoT) with its end-to-end, high-performance private wireless networking and edge computing functionality.

Developing effective strategies in the Industry 4.0 age Industrial IoT connections will reach 37 billion by 2025 HMD bolsters commitment to enterprise IoT with Nokia partnership

The platform helps enterprises meet changing market demands through secure wireless asset connectivity and the use of operational data to enhance processes. Open APIs within the DAC, too, facilitate third-party service integrations, increasing the pool of applications available to enterprises.

"We will continue to innovate cloud service offerings and benefit our global customers, enabling them to digitalize their operations and deploy new industrial applications on the edge," said Li Li, vice president of Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.

"By leveraging Nokia’s private wireless solution, our enterprise customers will benefit from plug-and-play high-speed, low-latency and, connectivity together with timely intelligence management and processing."

Commenting on the joint enterprise edge service offering, Nokia said its wireless network solution will allow Alibaba Cloud's customers to securely and reliably connect a wide variety of equipment, sensors, and vehicles. Having the ability to analyze data at the edge will also allow enterprises to harness so-called Industry 4.0 capabilities such as real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, and autonomous operations, resulting in improved efficiencies.

"Nokia has already contributed to the digital transformation of more than 420 enterprises globally with our private wireless offer," said head of enterprise solutions at Nokia, Stephan Litjens. "We are excited to collaborate with Alibaba Cloud by bringing our global networking knowledge and enterprise digitalization experience to enhance their cloud business service offering to a broader market of enterprise customers worldwide."

The UK's IoT proposals are riddled with ‘astonishing’ gaps

Kate O'Flaherty — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 08:00:32 +0000

Billions of IoT devices power everything from home routers to smart ovens, with the number only set to soar in a booming market. These devices carry security risks, however, partly because they’re often built to launch as soon as possible, with cyber security taking a backseat in the design process. Once connected devices make it into homes and businesses, manufacturers can also be slow to update them, giving rise to further risks.

The consequences of a breach are clear. Compromised IoT devices form a weak point through which attackers can target a business or individual. Large numbers of IoT devices can also be compromised to form a botnet to perform distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks; this is a devastating form of cyber attack in its own right.

Why consumer IoT security is now a business problem

The growing security risks posed by the IoT landscape have prompted the government to propose the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Bill. This focuses on strengthening the security of IoT hardware, as well as bolstering networks through an update to the Electronic Communications Code.

Among its stipulations, the bill outlines the need to end default passwords, alongside plans to integrate security from the outset. It’s been welcomed by many but has also attracted criticism from experts, who say, simply, it doesn’t go far enough.

Millions of devices will remain at risk

The bill is flawed chiefly because it doesn’t cover vehicles, smart meters, medical devices and desktop and laptop computers, says Martin Tyley, head of cyber at KPMG UK. “Over the past 18 months, we’ve witnessed threat actors’ attempts to take advantage of home workers, many of whom have been forced to use personal devices,” he tells IT Pro. “The new law could do more to protect these individuals, as well as the businesses who employ them whose hybrid networks are subsequently at risk.”

David Warburton, principal threat research evangelist at F5, is also concerned about its scope. “Baby monitors, smart fridges and other home devices are named but other products, such as light bulbs and internet routers are not,” he laments. “The majority of DDoS botnets comprise broadband routers, so it’s astonishing they’re not included in the bill.”

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

The mass shift to remote working increased the scope of threats

In addition, while the regulations ask manufacturers to comply from a forward looking-date, it doesn’t address devices already out in the field. The bill, therefore, leaves millions of devices exposed to cyber security and privacy risks, adds Mark Brown, global MD of cyber security and information resilience at the British Standards Institution.

Why is IoT security still such a problem?

The PSTI bill aims to streamline the process for manufacturers disclosing security vulnerabilities. On paper, this makes sense, but fixes must be issued immediately to ensure criminals can’t get hold of the details to be able to perform attacks, says Tom Cox, cyber defence manager at Bridewell Consulting. “If manufacturers have to disclose known vulnerabilities publicly without being forced to issue automated fixes, attack vectors will essentially be broadcast globally, making them readily available for malicious activity.”

In addition, the bill doesn’t stipulate a minimum support period for security updates, says Phil Robinson, principal consultant and founder of cyber security consultancy Prism Infosec. “Manufacturers can still release products without a commitment to supporting them, therefore, leaving this decision in the hands of consumers who may not understand the risks.”

While the bill requires IoT manufacturers to improve default password security and regularly patch devices, the real issue centres on ensuring device owners apply the fixes, says Alan Calder, CEO of GRC International Group. “There are millions of home Wi-Fi routers out there that still have their default passwords and are not patched when necessary.”

At the same time, large numbers of IoT devices are made in China, which is a concern given sanctions already in place in the UK and US, Calder adds. It’s not clear what steps the bill envisages should be taken to ensure Chinese manufacturers don’t build backdoors into such hardware.

Grinding to a halt

While creating issues for users, the regulation could cause headaches for businesses. With companies currently facing multiple cyber risks, the PSTI bill simply adds another task to CISOs’ ever-growing to-do lists, says Tyley. “Manufacturers are already struggling to stave off threat actors and comply with existing legislation. Adding another regulation into the mix could overwhelm them.”

Tyley thinks all cyber security regulations should be issued alongside guidance and support for the industries expected to comply. “Regulators and the UK Government have a view of the cyber threats these organisations face that goes well beyond what any one player in the industry could expect to understand,” he continues. “There is a responsibility to explain why it’s coming into effect and how to consider its implications.”

If businesses have to rush to comply with the regulation when it arrives, too, it could be difficult to think holistically about security. This could impact customer relationships, profit potential and market position. “It will be most damaging for smaller organisations that do not have the funds to invest. It is these manufacturers who will miss the mark on product security and privacy and may risk losing market share to competitors who get it right.”

Practicality of UK government’s cyber bill criticised by industry experts

Waiting a year for the regulation to come into place is too long for many smaller firms, adds Piers Linney, CEO of Moblox, a tech service provider for small businesses. He cites the example of a small independent baker which recently invested in IoT ovens that were targeted with ransomware. “The ovens were hacked and the business couldn’t switch them on again until they paid a ransom. This was devastating for them as it meant they were effectively put out of business.”

(Image credit: Getty Images)

There are billions of IoT devices being shipped to the market, including smart ovens

RELATED RESOURCE

Delivering on demand: Momentum builds toward flexible IT

A modern digital workplace strategy

FREE DOWNLOAD

With this risk in mind, Linney advises looking at security holistically – rather than focusing on IoT devices in isolation. He cites strong authentication, staff training and timely updates as ways of ensuring security across the business.

In its current form, it’s unlikely the bill will end the UK’s connected devices nightmare, but the legislation is only in its early stages and still has a long way to go before it becomes law. Many organisations currently lack awareness of the new legislation, and the assets that pose the risk, says Brown. While firms wait for the bill to progress, education will raise awareness, but many will fail to act until after they’re breached. As he points out: “Until an organisation suffers a significant breach, or reputational damage as a result of insecure IoT, many will be slow to embrace and comply with these new regulations.”

1NCE and AWS partner on global IoT platform

Praharsha Anand — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 12:14:04 +0000

Internet of Things (IoT) carrier 1NCE and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have partnered to make 1NCE's cloud-native IoT offering more accessible to its customers around the world.

Arm launches cloud-based IoT platform How to beat coronavirus with the Internet of Things What the internet of things means for democracy

The collaboration expands 1NCE's IoT platform globally through AWS’ infrastructure while also enhancing its overall performance. Using 1NCE's software offerings on AWS, developers can easily incorporate cellular IoT connectivity into custom applications with plug-and-play capabilities.

Additionally, the 1NCE-AWS deal will deepen ties between the two firms and foster the deployment of IoT projects worldwide through next-gen IoT software.

1NCE CTO Younes Allaki said: "This intensified engagement with AWS also allows us to boost our network and IoT software portfolio at greatly improved conditions and with the appropriate know-how.”

"We can leverage synergies between the AWS infrastructure and our IoT platform which helps us to develop our next Level IoT Software at low costs. This is a prerequisite to implement new features into our existing IoT Flat Rate offering, like protocol conversion, energy management and localization services."

Among the mobile communication standards 1NCE supports with Deutsche Telekom AG and its roaming partners are 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, NB-IoT, and LTE-M. A pioneer of IoT flat rates, 1NCE offers a 10-year subscription plan for enterprise IoT devices for $10.

RELATED RESOURCE

The Total Economic Impact™ of deploying Dell EMC PowerScale storage

Cost savings and business benefits of deployment

FREE DOWNLOAD

With AWS, 1NCE now offers reliable IoT services that integrate secure connectivity with robust software applications. By partnering with Deutsche Telekom and AWS, 1NCE has also achieved leadership in costs and features, serving more than 7,000 customers and 10 million managed connections.

Furthermore, the "1NCE For All" program enables AWS Marketplace customers to order up to 100 SIM cards for free. Per reports, 1NCE will demonstrate its IoT services at CES in LAS Vegas from January 5-7.

AWS kickstarts Re:Invent 2021 with launch of RoboRunner IoT platform

Bobby Hellard — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 11:50:13 +0000

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced a new IoT-based platform that signals an expansion into robotic fleet management.

What is Robotic Process Automation? Robotic process automation revenue to hit $1.3bn AWS wins Adidas contract to host its SAP workloads

IoT RoboRunner, which was revealed on the first day of the company's annual Re:Invent conference, is designed to help enterprises build and deploy applications so that their robotic fleets all operate as one.

RoboRunner is an expansion of the RoboMaker cloud-based simulation service launched in 2018. It addressed developer frustrations around the challenge of operating different robot types, such as autonomous guided vehicles (AGV) and robotic manipulators.

"When a new robot is added to an autonomous operation, complex and time-consuming software integration work is required to connect the robot control software to work management systems," AWS principal developer advocate, Channy Yun said.

"AWS IoT RoboRunner lets you connect your robots and work management systems, thereby enabling you to orchestrate work across your operation through a single system view."

RoboRunner includes tools to create a programme in the AWS Management Console to build repositories for storing robot and task data. Developers can also integrate codes for connecting robots and systems via RoboRunner's Fleet Gateway Library and also tools from managed applications services such as AWS Lambda and Greengrass.

Additionally, the cloud giant has also launched the AWS Robotics Startup Accelerator, which will offer mentorship to robotics startups. This accelerator will include a four-week programme with hands-on AWS training and $10,000 in promotional credits for use of AWS services.

RELATED RESOURCE

Shining light on new 'cool' cloud technologies and their drawbacks

IONOS Cloud Up! Summit, Cloud Technology Session with Russell Barley

FREE DOWNLOAD

The first day of Re:Invent saw a plethora of new services launched for AI, machine learning, storage and quantum computing.

Amazon Braket Hybrid Jobs, for example, was launched as a new offering to help reduce extensive infrastructure and software management and confidently execute algorithms quickly and predictably, with on-demand priority access to QPUs.

There was also an expansion of CodeGuru Reviewer with an automated tool to help developers detect secrets in source code or configuration files, such as passwords or access tokens.

UK gov introduces cyber bill designed to clamp down on unsecure devices

Rene Millman — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:40:05 +0000

Companies could be fined up to £10 million or 4% of their global turnover if they sell digital products that fail to protect consumers from being hacked.

Manufacturers, importers, and distributors of digital tech will be required to make sure the devices meet new security standards under a new law proposed by the UK government - with heavy fines for those who fail to comply.

Why the Internet of Things needs security by design Manufacturers forced to improve cyber security of wireless devices under new EU rule Security by design, not insecurity by default

The Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure (PSTI) Bill, introduced to Parliament on Wednesday, will allow the government to ban universal default passwords, force firms to be transparent to customers about what they are doing to fix security flaws in connectable products, and create a better public reporting system for vulnerabilities found in those products.

At present, digital device manufacturers must comply with rules to stop them from causing people physical harm from issues such as overheating, sharp components, or electric shock. But there is no regulation to protect consumers from harm caused by cyber breaches, which can include fraud and theft of personal data.

The bill will give the government new powers to bring in tougher security standards for device makers.

The tougher standards include a ban on easy-to-guess default passports that come preloaded on devices - such as ‘password’ or ‘admin’ - which are a target for hackers. All passwords that come with new devices will need to be unique and immune to resets from universal factory settings.

The new law will also require connectable product manufacturers to tell customers at the point of sale, and keep them updated, about the minimum amount of time a product will receive vital security updates and patches. If a product does not come with security updates, that must be disclosed to the customer.

This will increase people’s awareness about when the products they buy could become vulnerable so they can make better-informed purchasing decisions, according to the government. It's believed nearly 80% of the firms targeted by the bill do not have any such system in place, the government said.

There will also be new rules that require manufacturers to provide a public point of contact to make it simpler for security researchers and others to report when they discover flaws and bugs in products.

This new cyber security regime will be overseen by a regulator, which will be designated once the bill comes into force, and will have the power to fine companies for non-compliance up to £10 million or 4% of their global turnover, as well as up to £20,000 a day in the case of an ongoing contravention.

The regulator will also be able to issue notices to companies requiring that they comply with the security requirements, recall their products, or stop selling or supplying them altogether. As new threats emerge or standards develop, ministers will have the power to mandate further security requirements for companies to follow via secondary legislation.

RELATED RESOURCE

The Okta digital trust index

Exploring the human edge of trust

FREE DOWNLOAD

NCSC technical director Dr. Ian Levy said the bill would “ensure the security of connected consumer devices and hold device manufacturers to account for upholding basic cyber security”.

“The requirements this bill introduces – which were developed jointly by DCMS and the NCSC with industry consultation – mark the start of the journey to ensure that connected devices on the market meet a security standard that’s recognised as good practice,” he added.

Curious Noses: Fighting climate change one garden at a time

Steve McCaskill — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 08:00:09 +0000

This article originally appeared in issue 21 of IT Pro 20/20, available here. To sign up to receive each new issue in your inbox, click here

In August this year, a report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) dominated headlines around the world with a stark warning that urgent action was required to prevent a climate breakdown.

Even more concerning was that the study, the largest ever conducted, found some of the impacts of global warming were already irreversible.

In the discourse that followed, a range of behavioural changes and policies were touted as ways to minimise our impact on the environment. Technology can play a critical role both in facilitating these changes and by enhancing our understanding of how the planet is being affected.

Curious Noses

The University of Antwerp’s ‘Curious Noses in the Garden’ project is using the Internet of Things (IoT) to better understand how green spaces such as forests, farms, and gardens, are being affected by climate change and how they can help us cope with its effects. It’s also one of the largest user-driven research projects ever conceived, powered by 5,000 participants in the Belgian region of Flanders.

How UK tech’s environmental startup scene is growing in stature

The recruitment of citizen scientists was necessary, says researcher Stijn Van de Vondel, because of the logistical and privacy challenges of acquiring data from private gardens using traditional methods.

Aside from practicalities, the participant-driven model also helps reinforce the idea among the general public that climate change isn’t just something that happens far away but affects temperate countries like Belgium too. It’s one of the reasons that the project has received support from the Flanders government.

“People aren’t necessarily welcoming to having scientists in their back garden!” Van de Vondel tells IT Pro. “A compromise is for citizen scientists to collect the data themselves, so they can see the information and interact with it and with each other. It brings the concepts of climate and climate change literally to your doorstep.

“We wanted to see if gardens contribute to cooling or if they provide heat. The city can become a greenhouse because they capture a lot of heat and radiate it."

Citizen scientists

Each participant has installed a ‘Garden Dagger’ equipped with sensors based on an existing TMS-4 technology from TOMST, a Czech firm famous within the scientific microclimate community for highly reliable and robust sensors.

However, TMS-4 sensors typically require data to be collected manually – limiting the scope and capability of the project. The use of IoT technology simplifies the process, allows many more sensors to be used, and provides researchers with more up-to-date data.

“In the beginning, the idea was do the project manually with 200 sensors or so,” explains Van de Vondel. “However, the process of taking the measurements, collecting and combining the data was quite a struggle. Then we figured out we could [use IoT] and use thousands of sensors.”

The team approached Orange to see if something could be done and the mobile operator was very keen to get involved. After all, the project showcased the virtues of cellular IoT and the environmental capabilities of the technology – it almost sells itself. The TMS-4 sensors were upgraded with the necessary chipsets and SIM card functionality and Curious Noses had the foundation for mass IoT deployment.

Getting the data

Once a sensor is in place, it takes a series of readings – air temperature, surface temperature, and moisture levels – every 15 minutes. This information is relayed to the researchers overnight using Orange’s Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) network.

Digitising Leeds: How to build a smart city

Before the information is sent to the database, it sits in a ‘basket’ so it can be checked for any potential discrepancies or system errors. For example, a massive variation from the previous reading would indicate a potential failure, while very little change would indicate an extended period of disconnection.

Although cellular networks provide wide coverage, there can occasionally be some hiccups. Fortunately, the researchers receive some information such as throughput and network quality, aiding any investigation if they think there is a problem.

“During a recent heavy rain event, we saw something strange was happening as temperature readings were just flatlining,” says Van de Vondel. “Basically, the sensors were actually drowning in floods – they were submerged.”

Once the data has been checked, it’s sent to a SQL database that serves two different user groups.

RELATED RESOURCE

Best practices for running Microsoft SQL Server on AWS

Optimise performance for your SQL Server

FREE DOWNLOAD

The first is the participants. Some of the data collected, such as soil warmth and moisture, is processed so participants can interact with the information using a dashboard based on the cumul.io platform.

Because this data is presented visually, it makes it easy for people to understand their garden and compare it to others involved in the project. This ‘quasi-real time’ data coupled with a focus on local environment helps drive interest and engagement.

This ‘quasi-real time’ data coupled with a focus on local environment helps drive interest and engagement.

Meanwhile, the researchers get the raw data, which they can analyse for patterns and create models. The researchers use ‘R’, a statistical programming language based on Python, which can be used to submit queries or create visualisations. It can even be used for 3D modelling if required.

This visual element is particularly important for the media element of the Curious Noses project, which has partnered with De Standaard newspaper to raise awareness. The hope is not to create a story of anguish, but rather spread the idea that society can work together to improve the situation.

Why is IoT security still such a problem?

“Although science is good for society, it often falls behind a paywall or jargon,” says Van de Vondel. “This project shows science is cool and relatable. You are all cooperating with us and we’re all learning things from each other.”

It’s not just traditional media, either. He adds that Cumul.io even allows participants to share their data on social media, fuelling discussion.

Exportable framework

Already, the project has been able to challenge the assumption that inner-city gardens would be worst affected by changing conditions due to the aforementioned heat islands. The data instead shows that because urban gardens are often smaller and shadier, they are naturally cooler on sunny days and less impacted by hot weather.

Meanwhile, the researchers have empirical evidence to show that the value of green spaces in the community goes beyond leisure.

“We had a rain event in July, and we can show that without those gardens things would be much more drastic,” Van de Vondel suggests. “We all say green space is important, but we can actually show it [empirically]. Gardens act as a very big sponge that can slow down the water we have in our streets [caused by severe weather events].”

Ultimately, the goal is to create an IoT-based citizen science model for others to follow – allowing for even larger experiments, collecting more types of data, in more parts of the world.

“If your sensors only measure once a day then you will miss extreme weather events. We want to export this framework so we can create a large microclimate network across multiple ecosystems and countries because we believe we can gather hugely valuable data that would be otherwise impossible to collect.”

IAR Systems and Secure Thingz partner to streamline Azure IoT migration

Praharsha Anand — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 19:00:38 +0000

IAR Systems and Secure Thingz have announced a development-to-deployment solution for Microsoft Azure Internet of Things (IoT) and real-time operating system (RTOS).

The jointly developed solution enables rapid device development and simplified deployment, ensuring out-of-the-box connectivity.

WANdisco makes LiveData platform for Azure generally available Microsoft fixes bug preventing Azure Virtual Desktop security updates Datto launches its business continuity solution for Azure Azure Container Instances users urged to revoke privileged credentials after flaw discovery

In combination with Microsoft's Cloud Device Provisioning Services (DPS), IAR Embedded Workbench development toolchain, and Embedded Trust security tool, enterprises can deliver solutions that feature unique cryptographic identifiers, secure software installation, integrated production management, and more.

IAR C/C++ compiler is compatible with most popular debuggers and emulators. It offers advanced global and target-specific optimizations, including support for ELF/DWARF.

Additionally, the end-to-end solution obviates any access paths for bad actors from development to deployment by safeguarding intellectual property, blocking malware, and ensuring trust across all connected devices.

"It is only by designing for security and cloud connectivity at the inception of the development process that we can truly ensure protection of devices, intellectual property, customer data and software updates," said Haydn Povey, chief strategy officer at IAR Systems and CEO at Secure Thingz.

Povey added: "Secure development and secure manufacturing of devices, coupled with tight integration of strong cryptographic identity and valet services to ensure OEM credentials are meshed securely into Microsoft's Azure services, means that cloud-first strategies are available to every developer and enterprise."

RELATED RESOURCE

The AI-powered supply chain

Better demand forecasting and operational excellence

FREE DOWNLOAD

Static analysis tool C-STAT, integrated into IAR Embedded Workbench, identifies and details source code errors. Businesses can also leverage Embedded Trust to configure multi-purpose RoT based on the IoT devices' requirements.

"Building with Microsoft Azure RTOS and being cloud ready delivers the Microsoft vision for connected devices," stated Tony Shakib, general manager of Azure IoT at Microsoft.

"The ability to develop and deploy pre-onboarded devices which are implicitly cloud aware means everyone can rapidly connect devices to services and reduce time-to-data."

Arm launches cloud-based IoT platform

Zach Marzouk — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 15:28:46 +0000

Arm has launched Arm Total Solutions for IoT, a cloud-based platform to enable software development without the need for physical silicon.

The company hopes this will simplify and modernise software development, resulting in accelerated time to market for developers, OEMs, and service providers at all stages of the Internet of Things (IoT) value chain. It also claims it will reduce the product design cycles by up to two years.

Arm launches its first new chip architecture in a decade Japan's Fugaku retains title of world's fastest supercomputer Apple abandons Intel in favour of custom Arm-based Mac CPUs

The new platform is built on Arm Corstone, the company's IoT system on a chip (SoC) package, and will deliver a virtual model of the Corston subsystem to allow for software development without the need for physical silicon. It will provide mechanisms for simulating memory, peripherals, and more, to allow for development and testing of software before hardware is available.

The company said this will allow users to reduce a typical product design cycle from an average of five years to as little as three. It will help Arm customers get customer feedback for chips before release and allows the entire IoT value chain to develop and test code on the latest IP ahead of chips being released.

To help it simplify the design process and streamline product development, it contains hardware IP, software, machine learning models, and application-specific reference code.

“Through a radical change in how systems are designed, Arm is uniquely positioned to fuel a new IoT economy that rivals the shape, speed and size of the smartphone industry’s app economy,” said Mohamed Awad, vice president of IoT and Embedded at Arm. “Arm Total Solutions for IoT changes the way we’re delivering key technology to the entire ecosystem and demonstrates our significant and ongoing investment in the software that will empower developers to innovate for global impact.”

Arm is also set to introduce Project Centauri, a set of device and platform standards as well as reference implementations for device boot, security, and cloud integration. The company hopes this will reduce engineering costs, accelerate time to market, enable IoT deployments at scale, and improve security.

In March, Arm launched its first new chip architecture in a decade, focusing on security and AI. It is called v9 and the company hoped it would help it move from general-purpose to more specialised compute across applications like AI, 5G, and IoT.

IT Pro 20/20: Using technology to create a better future

Dale Walker — Fri, 01 Oct 2021 08:32:49 +0000

Welcome to issue 21 of IT Pro 20/20, distilling the most important themes of the previous month into a simple, easy-to-read package.

This month we look at the newest innovations and projects helping to shape how we interact with the world around us.

Whether that be new approaches to tackling climate change, quirky ideas on what the office should look like post-pandemic, or ambitious plans to build a world-leading smart city, each story celebrates technology that’s helping to turn age-old into cutting-edge.

DOWNLOAD ISSUE 21 OF IT PRO 20/20 HERE

The next IT Pro 20/20 will be available on 29 October – previous issues can be found here. If you would like to receive each issue in your inbox as they release, you can subscribe to our mailing list here.

Digitising Leeds: How to build a smart city

Keumars Afifi-Sabet — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 08:24:15 +0000

With the North of England traditionally facing an uphill struggle to attract the same levels of investment and skills that flow so freely in London, the Leeds Digital Festival was established to turn the tide. Debuting in 2016, the two-week festival has since grown in popularity and become a fixture in the regional tech sector’s calendar. However, this highly anticipated opportunity for organisations to share ideas and knowledge came to a screeching halt in March last year.

Leeds smart city plans described as 'akin to living under Stasi rule'

With the worst of COVID-19 now behind us, however, its organisers hope that a reinvigorated hybrid programme, which started on 20 September, can bring back the matchday-like buzz the city and its businesses have so badly missed. Its return also comes as Leeds City Council (LCC), among the more digitally-savvy local authorities in the UK, turbocharges its mission to transform Leeds into the UK’s most cohesive smart city.

Welcome to cyberspace

On Friday 9 March 2020, Stuart Clarke, co-founder of the digital festival, closed the window on submissions for an April event, with 250 event proposals – a record. The conference, open to all organisations and funded entirely by sponsorships, had hit its stride after a vibrant 2019 edition, and organisers were keen to build on this success. By the following Tuesday, however, the entire programme was cancelled.

(Image credit: Leeds City Council)

The Headrow district in Leeds and the town hall as seen at dusk

The looming lockdown left Clarke and fellow organisers little choice but to transition online. The result was 134 virtual events and meetings cobbled together within two weeks, including 80 from the original lineup and 50 that, in Clarke’s words, “came out of nowhere”. They delayed an in-person version to September, but were again forced to relegate this bumper 294-event edition to a primarily virtual programme, alongside a smattering of in-person meetings. Despite broad enthusiasm, with more than 400 events and 45,000 attendees throughout 2020, alongside the opportunity to showcase the region’s successes to a more international audience, the Leeds Digital Festival suffered a similar fate to many virtual conferences.

“I probably attended more things myself last year,” Clarke tells IT Pro, “But you’ve listened to the event for an hour or two hours, you’ve enjoyed the speakers, you’ve enjoyed the Q&A and everything – and then that’s it. It’s over. And you look around and it’s just you in your kitchen. There’s no one there to have that conversation with, and that networking. So, I couldn’t wait to get back.” For a festival that thrives on physical collaboration, its presence has been sorely missed. Also overlooked is how useful it’s been for encouraging partnerships to form between the digitally-savvy local authority and a tech sector just as invested in the health and wellbeing of the region as it is the bottom line.

Tech Stranding

For the leader of LCC’s smart cities programme, Stephen Blackburn, digitally transforming Leeds is a journey that’s often been a lonely one. He was the only representative from a UK council to attend Barcelona’s Smart City Expo in 2017 – an experience he describes as being “like a rabbit caught in the headlights”. However, this hasn’t deterred him from returning year after year. Blackburn reveals that by 2019, while Leeds was the only UK city with a physical stand, other towns and cities had now followed, using its presence as a base. He was also joined by more than 60 individuals from the wider region, including business owners who might ordinarily consider themselves rivals.

Leeds is building a tech hub to rival San Francisco

Building on the Data Mill North databank, LCC’s plans rely on a foundational networking layer that comprises the expansion of gigabit broadband and Wi-Fi hotspots alongside a newly-installed regional long-range wide area network (LoRaWAN) for IoT devices. This remarkable low-bandwidth and high-latency field is powered by 28 gateways installed on high rise council buildings. Its coverage is vast. Only 600 of 55,000 of its residential properties aren’t supported by at least two gateways, while hilly geography also means the signal stretches as far as York to the north, and the iconic Humber Bridge, approaching Hull, to the east. The network officially launched as the Leeds Wireless Innovation Network at the beginning of the festival, with LCC keen to invite businesses and individuals to begin forming strands within it.

(Image credit: Stuart Clarke)

The Leeds Tech Map was created by Stuart Clarke to visualise the city's digital sector. An interactive version can be accessed here

RELATED RESOURCE

Create what’s next

The future of collaboration and productivity

FREE DOWNLOAD

“SMBs, organisations, town councils, whoever, if they go out and buy the devices, we can arrange the connectivity to get that data back to them,” Blackburn explains. “It’s an open innovation network, so it’s there for anything or anybody to use, really. For example, you could go out before you come to Yorkshire and buy an air quality sensor. As long as you get your data sorted on your end – where you’re going to store it – you can put that in your back garden and start collecting data, and use our network for connectivity to get your data back.” The hope is this network can soon power smarter public services. Blackburn outlines how a housing project is already taking advantage of its potential to improve the quality of life for council house residents. The project, which has entered its second testing phase, involves fitting sensors into peoples’ homes to collect environmental data. The objective is to pre-empt issues, such as the buildup of damp, and address them proactively before they translate into significant maintenance costs down the line. Testing will be wrapped up by December, with LCC hoping to review a full body of evidence to establish the value in putting a contract out to tender. Plans are also underway to monitor footfall in and around the city’s high streets, with 32 counters in position, alongside air quality and road traffic in the future.

No longer a rabbit in the headlights

(Image credit: Leeds City Council)

The Leeds Digital Festival plays host to a variety of events, including late-night coding sessions and LGBTQ+ hackathons

Although LCC marked the latest Leeds Digital Festival with the launch of the Leeds Wireless Innovation Network, Blackburn tells IT Pro it won’t be long before LCC will need to address the streams of data set to flow inwards. Unfortunately, Leeds’ capabilities at this stage are practically non-existent, he laments, with LCC relying instead on third-party data processing tools to glean surface-level insights from the data its sensors collect. However, plans are underway to change this with CIO Leonardo Tantari working to establish an Office of Data Analytics to develop highly desired in-house capabilities to analyse and present data in a meaningful way. The initial focus will be on health data, given Tantari is also the CIO for NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), but it won’t be long until this remit expands.

How smart city tech could help us return to ‘normal’

This is one key objective Stephen Blackburn hopes LCC can achieve before his next visit to Barcelona. Although he felt like “a rabbit in the headlights” when he first attended the Smart City Expo, it has served as a barometer to reflect on the progress LCC has made, year after year. “In the second year,” he explains, “I felt that we at least had a plan. In year three, we started to put some of that plan into motion. We started to look at a LoRaWAN network, for example. I think if we had been there in November last year, or certainly November this year, we’d have then had something to say about ‘now we’ve built our LoRaWAN network’.”

He adds that by 2022, he suspects LCC will be able to say “right, now this is what we’ve done with getting our data sorted out”. “Because you’ve got that market at the end of each year,” he continues, “you think, actually, we’ve done quite a lot in the last 12 months.”

The Leeds Wireless Innovation Network is officially launching at the Leeds Digital Festival, which has run from 20 September 2021 in venues across the city region

Myriota taps Spire Global for global satellite expansion

Praharsha Anand — Wed, 22 Sep 2021 15:28:36 +0000

Myriota has struck a new deal with Spire Global to enhance its global satellite network.

Myriota’s low-cost yet robust internet of things (IoT) connectivity helps customers track, locate, and monitor a wide range of assets, including vehicles, wind turbines, shipping containers, and more.

Medigate and CrowdStrike bolster IoT medical device security IoT devices are more vulnerable than ever Extend SAP with AWS Analytics, AI/ML, and IoT Services 83 million IoT devices at risk of hacking

In addition to providing affordable IoT connectivity, Myriota also eliminates the need for ground-based satellite infrastructure. As part of the new deal, Myriota will employ Spire’s space services and low-earth orbit nanosatellites to develop a global, low-latency constellation.

Spire’s constellation of low-earth orbit nanosatellites features software-defined radio (SDR) technology, enabling partners to test, deploy, operate, and scale custom applications. Over 110 satellites measure temperature, pressure, and humidity at over 10,000 intervals per day, allowing for a holistic 3D weather profile.

Leveraging the firm’s 300 years of space flight heritage, Spire’s in-orbit-reprogrammable platform ensures flexible operations in space. Building on Spire’s space-as-a-service capabilities, Myriota plans to scale its IoT services swiftly and efficiently to meet global demand.

The Myriota-Spire Global partnership is also geared toward growing Myriota's customer base beyond North America, Australia, and New Zealand.

“We’re proud our satellites and technology are ready to seamlessly help Myriota make smart devices more accessible to everyone,” said Theresa Condor, executive vice president and general manager of space services and earth intelligence at Spire.

RELATED RESOURCE

Transform your network with advanced load balancing from VMware

How to modernise load balancing to enable digital transformation

FREE DOWNLOAD

“Australia is a hotbed of innovative companies, and it’s gratifying to help a leading satellite connectivity provider go to market quickly and scale up efficiently.”

Myriota is Spire's first large-scale, commercial IoT customer.

“With high demand for the Myriota Network from our partners, who are rolling out products at an ever-accelerating rate, this agreement is a game-changer for our business,” said Dr. David Haley, CTO and co-founder of Myriota.

“By leveraging Spire’s constellation, Myriota will rapidly improve its services, and enter new markets such as Europe. Spire is a perfect partner for extending our global reach.”

JFrog acquires Upswift for edge-based DevOps expansion

Danny Bradbury — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 17:31:48 +0000

DevOps software company JFrog has acquired Israel-based Upswift, a firm that makes software to manage internet of things (IoT) devices. JFrog will use Upswift's software to extend its DevOps management capabilities to edge devices.

The Upswift acquisition brings new capabilities to JFrog customers, including dependency scanning, CI/CD, artifact management, and device software updates. It will also help to make connected devices more secure, JFrog said. IoT security continues to be a problem for enterprises.

Medigate and CrowdStrike bolster IoT medical device security IoT devices are more vulnerable than ever Critical flaw in IoT camera system could lead to remote takeover Kanglim and Ridecell partner on IoT-enabled industrial mobility platform

The integrated platform will enable developers to manage the software development pipeline for IoT devices from coding through deployment at the edge. It will also track software releases, including incremental updates, and will include the ability to update large numbers of devices, which are common in edge and IoT environments.

Developers and engineers will be able to monitor device health in real time and access individual IoT devices from a browser or via an application programming interface (API) for remote control purposes.

JFrog offers its DevOps management platform as a self-managed service or as a software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based cloud system. It uses separate components, including the VCS code repository, the Artifactory software package manager, the XRay security and compliance monitoring system, and a container registry. It also features a distribution system and a software pipeline manager.

RELATED RESOURCE

DevOps: A view from the enterprise

What's driving DevOps, the impact of value stream management, and more

FREE DOWNLOAD

JFrog plans to integrate Upswift's platform into its own over time. It brings other features including a software container management system, data and resource monitoring for edge devices, hardware log management, and a map administrators can use to see edge and IoT device locations.

Upswift, which uses device-side agents for its edge and IoT-based management, claims it can connect Linux hardware to its management system in under a minute.

Edge computing is a buoyant market. IDC has predicted a 43.5% growth in managed edge services this year alone.

Medigate and CrowdStrike bolster IoT medical device security

Praharsha Anand — Fri, 10 Sep 2021 16:56:19 +0000

Medigate and CrowdStrike have joined forces to provide integrated endpoint security for Internet of Things (IoT) medical devices.

IoT devices are more vulnerable than ever Critical flaw in IoT camera system could lead to remote takeover 83 million IoT devices at risk of hacking Kanglim and Ridecell partner on IoT-enabled industrial mobility platform

With more and more medical devices entering hospital networks, health care delivery organizations (HDOs) face the difficult challenge of ensuring visibility into every connected device or terminal.

Medigate and CrowdStrike aim to solve this problem by offering HDOs a consolidated view of threat activity across connected devices.

As part of the partnership, CrowdStrike will integrate its Falcon software with Medigate’s device security platform, allowing HDOs to manage risk outcomes, detect anomalies, and enhance response capabilities.

RELATED RESOURCE

The ultimate guide to going mobile for fire/emergency medical services

Get your free guide to going mobile for fire services and EMS

FREE DOWNLOAD

Falcon by CrowdStrike monitors and safeguards functions and applications installed on all managed endpoint devices and workloads. Medigate device security platform (MDSP) offers critical insights into clinical protocols, communications, and workflows in a network.

The integration will allow MDSP to incorporate Falcon’s telemetry into its passive network monitoring. In addition to providing a 360-degree view of the environment, the combined solution will enable HDOs to monitor their managed and unmanaged endpoints for signs of intrusion and block them from becoming successful.

“We have seen a significant number of cyber attacks and ransomware against hospitals over the past year and this number will only increase in the future. A hospital should focus on patient care, rather than seeking to respond to external threats, ” said Matthew Polly, vice president of worldwide alliances, channels, and business development at CrowdStrike.

“Medigate's unique interest in the healthcare IoT industry is very effective in helping to reduce the fields of attack. With CrowdStrike and Medigate, HDOs can accurately see, detect, respond and prevent attacks across the IT and clinical landscape to safeguard their operations and data - including patient information. "

US Air Force taps Novetta for base defense operations

Praharsha Anand — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 16:02:56 +0000

The US Air Force has enlisted Novetta's platform for integrated C3 and responsive defense (PICARD) for base military operations at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.

Novetta designed PICARD to meet USAF's need for a platform to connect forces with intelligent systems for rapid decision making. By integrating internet of things (IoT) principles into sensor fusion, Novetta created a hybrid edge-cloud system that combines DevSecOps with non-traditional operational technologies, including electronic security, control, and weapons systems.

US Air Force launches $50,000 satellite hacking challenge Google Glass tested by US Air Force Autonomy faces US Air Force "financial irregularity" claims Google still ‘covertly’ invests in military AI projects

This way, PICARD uncovers data hidden in disconnected, proprietary, and legacy systems. Operators receive actionable insights regardless of where they are or how they access the data.

Thanks to its open architecture, the platform seamlessly integrates with sensors, control systems, connected devices, weapons systems, and more.

"It has been a pleasure seeing the partnership between our team and the Air Force yield truly transformative results," said Kevin Heald, senior vice president of information exploitation at Novetta.

"PICARD is a key part of a grander vision to contribute to the Air Force Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) and the DoD Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) initiatives."

RELATED RESOURCE

The new leadership mindset for data and analytics

How to grow your data and analytics talent, empowering a data culture from the inside out, and more

FREE DOWNLOAD

"We are proud to partner with the Air Force and the hard-working, innovative people at AF/A4S, LCMC/HBU, and SAF/CDM modernizing Security Forces capabilities and operations," commented Steven Adelman, senior director of sensor fusion and IoT portfolio at Novetta.

Adelman added, "PICARD begins to deliver on the promise of Integrated Base Defense and all-domain data sharing. We look forward to continuing to evolve the platform and deliver for the career field and the Air Force."

Per reports, the Air Force will extend PICARD to 11 military bases by 2022 and across the entire branch by 2026.

Amazon devices to start communicating with each other by default

Keumars Afifi-Sabet — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 09:24:00 +0000

Amazon's catalogue of Internet of Things (IoT) devices will soon be able to create low-bandwidth shared networks with each other in an experiment to broaden smart home functionality.

Amazon Sidewalk will create networks between 'bridge' devices, such as Echo or Ring units, by pooling together small portions of bandwidth and sharing this capacity to offer better smart home services to users.

Smart home device manufacturers must do more to protect users from hacking Amazon, Apple and Google join forces on voice for smart homes Aruba unveils enterprise-grade Wi-Fi 6E

From 8 June, devices will be instructed to search for similar units in order to form these networks, which Amazon claims will make it easier to maintain a consistent connection, even if your own network is knocked offline temporarily. The company also says connecting the devices will extend their effective working range.

For example, if a user's Echo device were to lose connection, it would be able to make use of the Sidewalk network to borrow bandwidth and stay online. Smart lights, pet locators, and smart locks will also continue to work over longer distances when they're tapped into these shared networks.

"Amazon Sidewalk is a shared network that helps devices work better," the firm said in a series of FAQs. "Operated by Amazon at no charge to customers, Sidewalk can help simplify new device setup, extend the low-bandwidth working range of devices to help find pets or valuables with Tile trackers, and help devices stay online even if they are outside the range of their home Wi-Fi.

"In the future, Sidewalk will support a range of experiences from using Sidewalk-enabled devices, such as smart security and lighting and diagnostics for appliances and tools."

Although users may be concerned about the potential privacy implications of participation in the experiment, Amazon claims in its security whitepaper that there are three layers of encryption applied to the data transmitted through the scheme.

Users have the option of turning off participation in any of their devices, although this will be turned on by default once it launches on 8 June.

The shared networks operate under a maximum bandwidth of 80Kbps, with the total monthly data used per account capped at 500 MB. The coverage will vary by location based on the number of participants in any given area, although Amazon claims the greater the number of people taking part, and devices in a network, the stronger it becomes.

RELATED RESOURCE

Transforming business operations with AI, IoT data, and edge computing

A Pathfinder report on the ROI of AI, IoT, and edge computing

FREE DOWNLOAD

Not all Amazon devices will be supported by the network, with the company setting out a full list of compatible devices in its FAQs. They generally include the third generation and above of several kinds of devices, as well as IoT devices released in 2019 or later.

Amazon has also launched the Sidewalk Developer Service (SDS) for device manufacturers to build and launch devices that are compatible with Sidewalk. These include silicon chipsets, development boards, software development kits (SDKs), device provisioning tools, technical documentation, and cloud integration.

Device manufacturers can get started on building proof-of-concept devices by reviewing a starting guide and technical documentation on the SDS console, before deciding which development board and Sidewalk Bridge to purchase and downloading an SDK.

Amazon had previously hinted that it would seek to create a Wi-Fi challenger network, with the firm discussing plans for Sidewalk in 2019. The service is currently only available in the US, with the company providing no details as to when it plans to extend the scheme.

Smart ships are coming

Nicholas Newman — Fri, 28 May 2021 08:56:10 +0000

Worldwide, the maritime sector is adopting automation and sensor technology to cut costs, reduce emissions and improve productivity. Verified Market Research reports that the Global Autonomous Ships Market was valued at $6.39 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $10.02 billion by 2027 by which time, pioneering ocean-going ships could have 'virtual captains'. Smart ship technology is defined as the partial or total autonomous operation of inland vessels, such as barges, coastal vessels including ferries and ocean-going vessels including container ships, cruise liners, oil tankers and even naval vessels such as Britain's super carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

RELATED RESOURCE

IT Pro 20/20: Understanding our complicated relationship with AI

The 16th issue of IT Pro 20/20 looks at the very human problems associated with artificial intelligence

FREE DOWNLOAD

Smart ships will be equipped with a range of automation, sensor, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, supported remotely by sensor data collected from ports and inland waterways, connected to the maritime internet of things (MIOT) networks. This will allow a vessel to manoeuvre autonomously or prompt the crew to act. In a few years, thanks to MIOT, vessels could operate autonomously without crews for much of their voyage, perhaps relying on just a skeleton crew for when the ship enters or leaves harbour. In fact, this future is almost here in Europe, where a smart cargo carrier delivers fish feed along the west coast of Norway and a smart inland cargo barge operates in Flanders, in north Belgium. Both vessels are operated by the technologies being trialled in self-driving cars.

What are the incentives?

Shipping companies DFDS, Grimaldi and Maersk, amongst others, are adopting smart ship technologies for essentially environmental and economic reasons. "These include the need by the industry to cut carbon emissions as set out in the Paris Accords, an ongoing tightening of environmental regulations by such [entities] as the European Union and the International Maritime Organisation, and our goal of being climate neutral by 2050 " explains Mads Bentzen Billesø, innovation lead at, DFDS. He also cites " the need to improve safety and productivity" as another reason for the industry's growing adoption of smart technologies.

What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?

Smart ships technology is now available for four key functions: navigation, guidance, the physical ship, and control.

The ship's electronic navigation computers continuously receive and combine data from a network of sensors, including radar and sonar, which are processed and analysed by situation awareness software, to create an image of the actual world. However, experience suggests that it remains vital for ship's officers to keep a look-out.

The ship's guidance computers use the images generated and assessed by the navigation computers to plot the vessel's course. The guidance computers must consider several issues including nearby obstacles such as rocks, sea currents, actual and predicted weather conditions along the route, as well as the status of other vessels in the area.

On board, internet of things technology helps support the software-based decision-making system using a sensor net to collect the data needed to monitor the condition of the ship and its hardware. This combination of smart technology aids is designed for "not only monitoring but managing more effectively to cut fuel consumption and resultant carbon emissions" explains Bentzen Billesø.

IT Pro News in Review: Driverless cars on British roads, vaccine passport fears, and the digital divide narrows

At the same time, the vessel's control systems mean that a ship can be steered using autonomous control systems. The control system computer processes the data provided by the path generation software, converting it into commands for the various hardware positioning systems on the ship.

Not all plain sailing

Improved productivity, operating cost reductions, greater safety and reductions in human errors are the chief benefits of smart ship technologies. Specialised software and automation technology including voyage and ship data analytics, fuel optimisation, machinery reliability, health and condition monitoring, and smart alerts and reports all contribute to smooth running and reduce vessels' downtime. Technical advances permit significant reductions in crew numbers, yielding space for more cargo. Meanwhile, automation reduces the need for crews to work in dangerous situations and environments, including rough weather and areas where there's a heightened risk of piracy. Machine learning also enhances the ability of navigation computers to plot a more cost-effective route, thereby cutting fuel costs.

Despite all this, the adoption and installation of smart ship technologies also pose a variety of operational challenges ranging from recruiting new IT specialists who are happy to spend their time at sea, to commonplace difficulties in integrating any new technology into existing IT systems. This new hardware and software also needs to be protected from hacking attacks ranging from disruption to systems to ransom demands by sophisticated cyber security systems and specialist personnel.

Average ransomware costs have more than doubled in 2021

Integrating these new technologies with existing equipment involves multiple stakeholders. In the maritime sector, this involves IT compatibility issues on board the vessel itself, at the dockside, as well as ship-to-shore situations.

"Fortunately for companies like DFDS, on regular routes such integration is less of a challenge as both expertise and experience is learnt and shared between all partners involved in the logistics and value chains" notes Bentzen Billesø. Nonetheless, crews will need to receive additional training in technical skills to operate the vessel.

Cyber security is as much a concern for the shipping industry as any other, and companies like CMA CGM, Maersk, and Mediterranean Shipping Company have all been attacked by cyber pirates. The Wall Street Journal reports that hacking has cost companies nearly $1.3 billion in recent years. Ransomware, USB malware and worms on container booking systems and vessel IT systems are the most likely disruptors, but ships in the Black Sea have been affected by GPS spoofing. This is where the ship's GPS system is misled by criminal gangs onshore into providing an incorrect location for the vessel. George Patterson, cyber security expert at IT recruitment firm Arrowforth, says this isn't just a technical challenge, it's a business challenge too. "The key lesson the maritime sector has to learn is to develop a cyber security culture," he says.

The arrival of smart ship technologies in the coming years is an exciting development for owners and ship's operators of both short and long-distance routes. However, as with any new technology, it's important to have a clear view of what additional investments will need to be made and new challenges that could be thrown up, irrespective of what the hype says.

Samsung’s Galaxy Upcycling update turns old smartphones into IoT gadgets

Praharsha Anand — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 14:35:21 +0000

Samsung has announced its Galaxy Upcycling at Home, a new initiative centered on its Galaxy Upcycling program.

Designed to limit electronic waste, Galaxy Upcycling at Home enables users to recycle their old Galaxy devices into smart home gadgets via a simple software update available through the SmartThings Labs app.

“Smart home devices are a fast-growing trend for consumer electronics, and we believe that Galaxy devices currently not in use can play an important role in turning every home into a smart home,” said Jaeyeon Jung, VP and head of the SmartThings, mobile communications business at Samsung Electronics.

Samsung Galaxy A52 and A72 bring flagship features to the mid-range Samsung profits rise 44% thanks to strong Galaxy S21 sales Samsung and Marvell develop low-power SoC to support 5G Samsung debuts 'industry-first' AI-powered memory

“The program transforms Galaxy devices into SmartThings devices and demonstrates the power of our intelligent IoT platform to broaden the possibilities of what users can do with their old phones.”

Through the Galaxy Upcycling at Home program, users can repurpose old Galaxy phones’ built-in sensors to alter sound and light-control features. Furthermore, the SmartThings ecosystem allows users to explore broader features and updates without purchasing a new device.

For instance, owners can customize a Galaxy device’s sound sensor to distinguish sounds in everyday surroundings and trigger an alert when a baby cries, a dog barks, a cat meows, or someone knocks on the door. Additionally, SmartThings users can program their devices to switch on the TV or lights automatically if the room becomes too dark.

RELATED RESOURCE

Go further with mobile marketing

Easy steps to get your mobile strategy up-to-speed

FREE DOWNLOAD

What’s more, Samsung's Galaxy Upcycling at Home program includes battery optimization solutions to reach the highest battery life possible. “Devices will also be able to connect effortlessly to SmartThings, allowing them to interact with countless other IoT devices in the SmartThings ecosystem,” added Samsung.

“We created Galaxy Upcycling at Home to enable more people to repurpose their old devices into useful tools, allowing both Samsung and our users to be mindful of the impact we have on the environment,” said Sung-Koo Kim, VP of the sustainability management office, mobile communications business at Samsung Electronics.

“We are rethinking how we use existing resources, and we believe the key to upcycling is to enable solutions that transform old technology into something new by adding value. We are committed to integrating sustainable practices into our day-to-day lives, and through Galaxy Upcycling at Home, users can join our journey toward a more sustainable future.”

How smart city tech could help us return to ‘normal’

Carly Page — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 14:41:49 +0000

This article originally appeared in Issue 14 of IT Pro 20/20, available here. To receive each new issue in your inbox, click here.

RELATED RESOURCE

10 keys to AI success in 2021

The challenges and rewards of AI

FREE DOWNLOAD

While many industries ground to a halt as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with its ensuing lockdown restrictions and social distancing requirements, digital innovation has accelerated significantly. The development of smart cities, in particular, has gained momentum during the past 12 months, with recent research showing the size of the industry is set to double from $410.8 billion in 2020 to $820.7 billion by 2025 as a result.

COVID-19 has undoubtedly emphasised the importance of technologies such as big data, 5G, location-based services, geo-tagging services, beacon technology, and VR/AR. While many have championed the use of these technologies for many years due to the value smart cities can deliver to both local governments and their citizens, others are now recognising the technologies’ potential to lead us out of the coronavirus crisis and initiate a return to something resembling normal.

This potential has already been demonstrated. In Singapore, for example, the government used smart facility management, the Internet of Things (IoT), and surveillance to create advanced, safe, and liveable urban environments during the pandemic. In South Korea, meanwhile, the country’s smart city data hub system allowed health officials to conduct advanced contact tracing using data from cameras and other sensors.

The IT Pro Podcast: Has COVID killed the smart city dream?

While a return to ‘normal’ working life won’t be coming for some time yet – office-based staff have been advised by the government to work from home where they can until at least late June – many are likely already feeling uneasy about the prospect of a busy commute at rush hour or sharing a workplace with multiple other people.

It’s clear that upon a return to work, changes need to be made in order to not only prevent the spread of illnesses but also to make people feel comfortable with leaving their now all too familiar home office.

Many believe that smart city technologies will be critical to this transition, and as other countries have demonstrated, the ‘new normal’ will demand much greater emphasis on initiatives like data-driven community health surveillance and smart and sustainable infrastructure, not just to facilitate a return to normal, but to ensure we are resilient to similar crises.

Alicia Asin, IoT expert and Smart Cities World Advisory Board member, tells IT Pro: “The past year has changed the perspectives of governments and municipalities, which now realise that there is a need to make the cities they manage much more sustainable and liveable for their citizens and that they can achieve these changes using smart technology.”

Sensing change

With the majority of employees continuing to work from home, the COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly changed our traditional view of the workplace and it’s likely that these workplaces will look very different when – and if – we return.

Not only will businesses likely adopt a hybrid approach – with a select few employees working from the office, while the rest remain remote – but many also look set to adopt new technologies in order to ensure offices remain safe, even after the current pandemic has passed.

Paul Kostek, senior IEEE member and advisory systems engineer at Base2 solutions, expects this technology to take the form of IoT sensors that can monitor employees’ temperature before they enter the building as well as ensure there is adequate ventilation.

Smart Cities: Living in intelligent spaces

“In response to the pandemic, sensors may be installed at entryways to determine whether employees are running a temperature – with others installed in dining areas, break rooms and restrooms to monitor people throughout the day,” Kostek tells IT Pro.

“Employees can expect to see sensors installed by air vents in buildings to measure airflow and provide feedback on the need to increase or decrease flow. Closed-loop systems that recycle air will need sensors to monitor the air quality and ensure pollutants or airborne viruses are not spread. For buildings with opening windows, sensors can also be used to measure airflow.”

It’s unlikely to be just workplaces that adopt these kinds of technologies as a result of the pandemic, as local authorities are also likely to deploy IoT networks in order to better understand how their cities are impacted and in order to improve their pandemic responses.

Ben Pocock, IoT product specialist at IoT and smart city operator Connexin says: “During the pandemic, we’ve seen an increase in organisations looking to deploy IoT networks to accelerate smart city deployment, with Newcastle being the most recent example.”

He continues: “Authorities have a duty to create places where people thrive, businesses are attracted, and educational attainment is high.” Data-driven societies, he says, are the key to enabling citizens to engage and make informed choices, adding that “smart networks are the natural choice for this and will be prevalent more than ever post-pandemic”.

“Understanding datasets within a city will allow local authorities to better plan and adapt to changing behaviour and demand, such as increased footfall, demands on waste, traffic routes, and so on,” Pocock says.

Going underground

The pandemic has also made it abundantly clear that conventional mobility needs to be re-imagined. It's likely that employees will be less than enthusiastic about travelling to their workplace on cramped trains and buses with little to no ventilation, and with most having worked remotely for the past 12 months (or more, by the time lockdown fully lifts), questions will no doubt be raised about what travel is really essential.

The use of contactless technologies on transit networks, which was already slowly being encouraged in some locations, is likely to gain much greater traction following the pandemic, bolstered by technologies such as mobile and account-based ticketing and fare payments as a service models.

For passengers, this goes beyond simple contactless mobile ticketing and means using smart cards or mobile passes that can be integrated into third-party apps like Transit, Uber or Citymapper to simply tap and ride, while account-based ticketing ensures they are charged the best possible price for their journey.

Poor data is killing the smart city dream

Others, however, think we’ll be seeing a more futuristic approach to transportation going forward. Kevin Curran, IEEE senior member and professor of Cyber Security at Ulster University, tells IT Pro: “In the future, we will need to allow ‘smart cars’ to become more integrated with national intelligent transport infrastructures and systems, to ensure vehicles will be able to operate more safely and efficiently. Satellite navigation and traffic signal control systems will ensure vehicles know when to stop, slow down and speed up as well as identify hazards in good time.

“This basic communication will ensure better traffic management and drastically reduce the number of accidents. Ultimately, the roads beneath us will communicate with smart cars, most likely through indestructible sensors embedded within the road.”

Surveillance state

While “surveillance” is a word most often associated with government snooping and Orwell’s 1984, in many places around the world it’s proved critical in responding to the pandemic. China, for example, has integrated surveillance networks and kept transmissions at a relatively low level, while Western democracies have led a more policy-driven and human engagement approach which, by comparison, has been less successful.

Tony Porter, chief privacy officer at Corsight AI and former government surveillance camera commissioner, believes that adopting surveillance technologies could have a myriad of benefits for cities across the world.

“Facial recognition can undoubtedly provide transport solutions in smart cities; reducing the need perhaps for cash transfer, recognising authorised travellers, alerting (with the aid of heat sensors) possible health threats. With the help of IoT, big data and AI, cities can perform continuous monitoring, as well as enhance decision making and inform key decision-makers on pertinent facts.

“Using the best and most powerful technology as a force for good and enhancing public wellbeing is required. For example, face recognition technology to support compliance where masks need to be worn, alongside interconnected systems communicating, keeping traffic moving and making the commute a more safe experience for all.

“We must have confidence that our law-makers can create a set of rules and regulations that enable our world-class technology industries to provide software that supports communities but doesn't spy on them.”

Surveillance could also be used in the workplace to ensure employees are following mandated health and safety guidance. For example, mask-wearing will likely be enforced in some workplaces once a return to the office is on the cards, and cameras could ensure that staff are sticking to the rules.

Static IP vs dynamic IP: What is my static IP address?

Praharsha Anand — Fri, 12 Feb 2021 18:27:44 +0000

From wearables to smart home appliances, and maybe even your coffee machine, Internet of Things devices increasingly need to connect to the internet to work effectively. By 2023, it’s also predicted that 70% of automobiles will connect to the internet.

These devices are able to “talk” to each other using IP addresses, which can either be static or dynamic – but what's the difference?

What is an IP address?

Similar to how a Social Security number in the US is used to distinguish citizens, an internet protocol (IP) address differentiates machines from each other across the internet. Every single device on a transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) network needs an IP address, in order to send or receive data across the network.

TCP/IP is a widely adopted networking standard for exchanging messages over the internet.

As a general rule, IP addresses are usually displayed and written as a combination of periods and numbers. An IP address corresponding to internet protocol version 4 (IPv4), for example, would be 180.151.119.202.

As humans are ill-suited to remembering such long numbers, IP addresses have more user-friendly representations known as domain names. These are unique to each website, and far easier to memorise. For example, the domain name given to YouTube is “youtube.com.”

Assigning IP addresses to network devices is the job of a network administrator. They can assign a dynamic or static IP address, depending on the requirements of the network.

What is a static IP address?

As the name suggests, a static IP address does not change. It can remain the same for weeks, months, and even years.

Businesses offering dedicated internet services such as web hosting prefer static IPs for their unchanging nature. These are assigned manually by internet service providers (ISPs).

Pros	Cons
+ Ideal for hosting computer servers	- Difficult to set up and manage
+ Facilitates faster data exchange	- More vulnerable to hacking
+ Supports remote desktop access	- Generally more expensive

What is a dynamic IP address?

A dynamic IP address is temporary and may change when you reboot your system or the router. ISPs assign dynamic IP addresses as needed via a dynamic host configuration protocol server (DHCP server).

Most machines have dynamic addresses, as they’re economical and secure. When a dynamic address is not in use, an ISP assigns it to a different device.

Pros	Cons
+ Automatically configured; requires no additional setup	- Makes it nearly impossible to set up remote access
+ Less prone to hacking	- Can cause downtime when disconnected
+ Cost-effective	- Affects performance of geolocation services

What is my static IP address?

This is an important question, and one that might especially affect your security protocols if you are working from a personal computer.

Luckily, whether you are using a Windows laptop or desktop, or a Mac, it's relatively easy to find your IP address.

How to check if your IP address is static or dynamic: Windows

Right-click on the “Start” button
Type “Command Prompt” in the search bar and press enter
Click “Command Prompt”
Type “ipconfig/all” in the Command Prompt window and press “Enter”
In the list of network information displayed, you should see your IP address listed
Look for “DHCP Enabled”

If it says “Yes” next to “DHCP Enabled”, your system has a dynamic IP address. If it says “No”, your device has a static IP address.

How to check if your IP address is static or dynamic: macOS

Click the “System Preferences” icon in the Dock or choose Apple menu > System Preferences
Select the “Network” option
Go to Advanced > TCP/IP

If you see “Using DHCP” next to “Configure IPv4”, then your system uses a dynamic IP address. If the section says “Manually”, you have a static IP.

If you prefer, you can always contact your ISP to get more information about your IP address and network type.

Static IP vs Dynamic IP: Which is better?

Businesses that require unwavering uptime will prefer static IP addresses. As mentioned earlier, they’re particularly favoured by organisations hosting websites and servers. Other big benefits of static IPs include reliable internet connection, faster data exchange, and convenient remote access.

Nevertheless, static IP addresses still present challenges that can quickly become security bottlenecks. For example, it is easier to track devices with static IP addresses, making them a prime hacking target.

A virtual private network (VPN) can alleviate the safety concerns of static IPs. Besides hiding your IP address, a VPN encrypts online traffic and communication, helping to make digital footprints less traceable.

What is subnetting? What is network topology? HTTP vs HTTPS: What difference does it make to security?

Dynamic addresses change periodically, making them naturally harder to trace. However, keep in mind that the DHCR server failure can cause downtime across an entire network. Dynamic IPs are generally best for local networks and home users, as they feature much-needed security at reasonable prices.

To summarise, static IP addresses provide more reliability than dynamic IP addresses, but what they make up for in this regard they sacrifice in affordability and security. Unless you’re dealing with large volumes of data or work remotely, a dynamic IP address is your best bet.

How to protect your IP from identity theft, hackers, and prying eyes

IP addresses are akin to the return addresses on traditional mail. Bad actors can use your IP address to trace your location with surprising accuracy, gain access to your browsing history, passwords, and more.

To steer clear from cyber attacks, keep your antivirus software up to date and change your router’s default password. The default router password the ISP or manufacturer set is the same for all users that share the router type, and hackers can access this information easily online.

Firewalls are also a must to prevent unauthorised network access.

80% of medtech firms suffered a cyber attack in the past five years

Danny Bradbury — Mon, 08 Feb 2021 17:29:28 +0000

Medical internet of things (IoT) devices promise great benefits, but companies working with them must tighten their cyber security, according to new research from Irdeto.

The security company surveyed senior executives at Fortune 1000-sized US-based companies working in the medical device sector to assess their cyber security stance.

Responses to the survey suggested a high level of confidence in medical IoT security among just one in five companies, with 18% believing their medical device security was strong. Slightly fewer (13%) believed they were well-prepared to mitigate future risks, while 18% weren’t prepared at all.

Researchers find 45 million medical images exposed online Health sites are 'unlawfully' sharing medical data with Facebook and Google Birmingham NHS trust passes medical data to Telefonica without patient consent How AI can improve medical diagnosis

These responses correlated with the rate of reported security incidents. The survey found 80% of companies suffered at least one cyber attack in the past five years, with over two-thirds (67.5%) sustaining multiple attacks.

Poor cyber security is often linked to a lack of visibility, as you can’t manage what you can't see. Most companies (78%) found device inventory management problematic, often because of bureaucracy. Many failed to patch the devices they could see, warned the report. And if they did patch them, they used inefficient and possibly dangerous methods, such as passing patches around on USB keys.

RELATED RESOURCE

Security analytics for your multi-cloud deployments

IBM Security QRadar SIEM solution brief

FREE DOWNLOAD

Most companies want to mitigate their medical device cyber security problems by turning to the cloud, with 48% advocating for this solution. This clashes with a separate Trend Micro survey that revealed significant cloud adoption challenges, including privacy and security concerns.

When assessing the importance of cyber security, companies concentrated heavily on compliance rather than the risk of business disruption or financial losses. Of the respondents, 80% cited regulatory requirements as a driving factor for cyber security, with just over two-thirds pointing to brand protection as an issue. Only 2.5% worried about ransomware or financial losses.

Understanding those regulations was not universal, with 40% saying they had a good handle on new cyber security rules. Another 45% said their cyber security knowledge was adequate. A worrying 15% claimed to have no knowledge of regulations at all. Some companies were escalating regulatory compliance to board level, while others called in their legal teams. Other companies working with medical devices focused on external help.

President Biden’s Peloton raises cyber security concerns

Rene Millman — Thu, 21 Jan 2021 17:51:17 +0000

President Biden's fitness regime may be derailed by cyber security concerns, as reports indicate his Peloton bike could be a risk.

According to a Popular Mechanics report, Max Kilger, director of the data analytics program and associate professor in practice at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said spies could use the bike’s microphone and camera to eavesdrop on confidential discussions.

From the Peloton to the Cloud: How data keeps the Tour de France running White House goes open source White House review found no evidence of Huawei spying, claim sources Hackers access White House computers

"Because you're connected to the internet, even though there are firewalls and intrusion detection software ... those things can be gotten around if you’re really good and skilled,” he said. "If you really want that Peloton to be secure, you yank out the camera, you yank out the microphone, and you yank out the networking equipment ... and you basically have a boring bike.”

Garrett Graff, director of the cyber security initiative at the Aspen Institute, told the New York Times: “The threat is real, but it is presumably a manageable risk given enough thought and preparation.”

RELATED RESOURCE

Managing security risk and compliance in a challenging landscape

How key technology partners grow with your organisation

FREE DOWNLOAD

Tim Mackey, principal security strategist at the Synopsys CyRC (Cybersecurity Research Centre), told IT Pro we should assume all IoT devices have hardware that allows them to access information beyond their function.

“That might be a microphone that the designers added in anticipation of a future feature, logging of Bluetooth targets for possible pairing, or interactions with third-party services,” he said.

According to Mackey, while this isn’t an overarching threat for most home users, IoT devices deployed in sensitive areas, like the White House or Congressional residences, should be inspected for any latent hardware and undergo a firmware analysis.

“This can help to determine whether it has any unpatched security issues, but also to determine if it has any embedded phone home mechanisms or interacts with third-party APIs in an undisclosed manner," Mackey said.

"Since many IoT devices have some form of over the air (OTA) update mechanism for their firmware, understanding the conditions under which that update occurs, what data is sent with a request, and what the updated firmware’s security risks might be are all part of operating any network containing IoT devices.

"Such risks only increase when there are high-profile users of the IoT device where the user might be a target for a well-funded attacker."

Developing the Internet of Senses

Keri Allan — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 11:01:06 +0000

Although 5G is still very new to the majority of us, many technologists and researchers have already moved their focus onto the next generation of wireless technology; 6G.

Each generation gave us something new – 3G focused on voice and text while 4G centred around the growing consumption of data. The Internet of Things (IoT) was at the heart of 5G’s focus, while the goal of 6G is to deliver multisensory experiences that will be almost inseparable from reality. This has been coined the Internet of Senses.

A form of teleportation

Professor Rahim Tafazolli, regius professor at the University of Surrey and director of the 6th Generation Innovation Centre, talks about the Internet of Senses as a form of teleportation.

“Mobile systems transmit. First it was voice, then images, 2D video and now 3D video in the form of VR. We’re transmitting and receiving two of our senses currently, seeing and hearing. So now we need to find a way to transmit the other three senses. If you put this together with 3D video, we’re effectively creating a kind of teleportation.”

The Internet of Senses will rely on technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and automation to interact with our senses of sight, sound, taste, smell and touch, and experts believe this will enable a myriad of new applications.

Transforming training with virtual reality

For example, doctors could monitor patients and provide care remotely, we could hug friends and family hundreds of miles away – for example, by wearing the wetsuit-like outfits used in the TV show Upload – and businesses could hold truly lag-free virtual meetings.

“We could enable scenarios like that seen in the movie Kingsman: The Secret Service, where physical participants in different locations all meet together in a virtual space,” enthuses Tafazolli.

The journey’s already underway

The concept of the Internet of Senses was championed by Ericsson, which predicts it could be a reality by 2030. Last year we saw the launch of the UK’s first dedicated hub to 6G research at the University of Surrey, and many businesses are already researching opportunities in this area.

“A look at recent patent filings gives a good indication we’re on the journey right now,” says Julie Richardson, a partner at specialist intellectual property (IP) law firm Reddie & Grose. “We’ve already seen several successful filings for innovations that combine VR and haptics to simultaneously trigger our sense of touch and sight.”

She points to the Teslasuit as an example. “[This is] a very exciting innovation in this space which could have consumer and business-focused applications.

IT Pro 20/20: Augmenting our new reality

“Most people will be familiar with this from the recent Vodafone advert in which a boy uses a VR headset to experience tobogganing with his sister while laid up in bed with a broken leg. Tesla Studios has already secured two US patents for its technology and is actively seeking further IP rights in other countries. Elsewhere, Apple has applied for more than 500 patents related to haptic feedback, showing it too is actively positioning itself to be a significant player in this space.”

The challenges ahead

There’s still a long way to go for the Internet of Senses to become reality, and many challenges to overcome. Transmitting and receiving all our senses will require extensive bandwidth and high accuracy synchronisation between the different data flows. Low latency levels of approximately 10ms will also be needed in order for natural interactions, such as shaking hands, to be able to happen in real time.

“Even a three second lag could be dangerous,” points out futurist Shivvy Jervis. Founder of FutureScape 248, Jervis has been following research into ‘the tactile web’ for the last three years. “Think about an engineer in the middle of fixing a vital piece of machinery or a surgeon conducting remote surgery. The connectivity is the most vital part of developing the Internet of Senses.”

“We need much better bandwidth and capacity than 5G can currently provide, we need 3D audio and we also need to develop a way to transmit the three other senses,” continues Tafazolli. “As a research institute, we believe that knowing what the problem is is half the solution, and so we’re working with our industrial partners to develop technologies that will enable all of this.

“We’re focusing on touch first. We need sensors, perhaps a type of electronic skin that can translate the transmission into a sensation we can receive. Then we’ll move onto the other two senses of taste and smell.”

Potential 6G business use cases

A lot of the buzz around the Internet of Senses has been consumer-focused, with talk around things like more immersive entertainment or online shopping experiences.

What is 6G and how far are we from rollout?

However, there are many potential use cases that will appear to businesses, particularly in sectors like health and manufacturing. These, according to Tafazolli, “will take things to a completely new level and make this fusion of the virtual and physical worlds as natural as possible”.

One of the clearest business cases for the Internet of Senses is the development of more realistic training simulators. Today’s simulators can recreate the sights and sounds of a real-world environment, but could be made even more authentic with the addition of further sensory feedback.

There have also been some more ‘out there’ ideas floated, such as using implants to turn the brain into an interface in its own right, enabling people to control devices using only their thoughts. These are very much blue-sky concepts right now, with technology firms focusing on advanced AR and VR supplemented with additional sensory inputs. However, Richardson points out that brain implants, in conjunction with AI mind mapping, monitoring and ultimately inference with the brain/bodily function interface, are definitely on the agenda of many forward-looking companies and research institutes.

But implants are a tall ask for consumers, notes Jervis, and there’s a lot of ethical issues to consider. “The ability to connect one’s brain is a little worrying – I study the ethical oversight of new technology very closely and this is a minefield. However, more attainable applications are not as far fetched and often have a tech for good element underpinning them,” she concludes.

Google announces switch-off date for Android Things

Danny Bradbury — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 23:52:30 +0000

Google has put an official expiry date on an ambitious internet of things (IoT) project that failed to catch light: Android Things. In an announcement, the company warned developers wouldn’t be able to create new projects from the platform as of January 2021.

Launched in developer preview in 2016, Android Things is an embedded operating system designed to run low-power IoT devices with as little as 32 MB of memory. The operating system used a protocol called Weave, which Google announced simultaneously with Android Things, to communicate with other devices over Bluetooth Low Energy and Wi-Fi.

The problems facing Google T-Mobile will sell the first Google Android smartphone Top 5 Android security tips for the enterprise Will Android ever make it as a business platform?

The system is a stripped-down version of Android that allows developers to build smart devices that could access Google services, from computer vision to speech processing. When Google released version 1.0 in May 2018, it announced support for system-on-module hardware from NXP, Qualcomm, and MediaTek.

After lackluster adoption, Google announced that it would refocus the Android Things project purely on OEMs producing smart speakers and smart displays in February 2019.

Android Things would become a platform for OEM partners to build devices with Google Assistant built-in, the search giant said, adding it would remove commercial support for the SoM production modules. Non-commercial IoT tinkerers could still use the company's Android Things console to develop systems on that hardware, but Google referred developers to its Cloud IoT Core and Cloud IoT Edge projects for custom hardware solutions.

The latest announcement warns the company will cut the non-commercial Android Things console for new projects beginning on January 5, 2021. Developers can maintain their existing projects using the console through January 5, 2022, it added: "At this point, the console will be turned down completely and all project data will be permanently deleted — including build configurations and factory images."

This also means companies that shipped commercial products using Android Things, other than a group of "specific partners," will no longer get one of the project's most promised features: regular security updates.

When it began, Android Things promised over-the-air updates to keep device software current. This is a perennial problem for IoT devices that frequently suffer from irregular security updates, if they get any at all. All too often, software updates on IoT devices aren't signed, introducing severe security vulnerabilities.

Android Things was supposed to provide security updates for three years, but the company stopped issuing patches for developer system-on-module deployments in August 2019.

Flaws in open source protocols expose millions of embedded devices

Rene Millman — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 14:35:28 +0000

Security researchers have disclosed details of 33 new vulnerabilities present in millions of smart devices from over 150 vendors.

According to a Forescout Research report, these new Amnesia:33 vulnerabilities can cause widespread disruption to worldwide organizational operations, including health care services, retailers, and manufacturers. They could also endanger the physical safety of consumers who own these devices.

Microsoft: IoT security is our priority People aren't taking IoT security seriously, claim experts Government opens consultancy on IoT security laws Why is IoT security still such a problem?

The report found that four of the Amnesia:33 vulnerabilities are critical, with potential for remote code execution on certain devices. If an attacker exploits these vulnerabilities, they could take control of a device and use it as a network entry point, a pivot point for lateral movement, a persistence point on the target network, or as the final target of an attack.

The Amnesia:33 flaws affect multiple open source TCP/IP stacks that aren’t owned by a single company, including uIP, FNET, picoTCP and Nut/Net. Researchers said this means a single vulnerability tends to spread easily and silently across multiple codebases, development teams, companies, and products, presenting significant challenges to patch management.

Over 150 vendors and millions of devices are vulnerable to the flaws. Researchers said it was challenging to assess Amnesia:33’s full impact because the vulnerable stacks are widely spread, highly modular, and incorporated in undocumented, deeply embedded subsystems.

Among the possible scenarios organizations could face, hackers could exploit these vulnerabilities to manipulate temperature monitors in storage spaces and spoil new COVID-19 vaccines or manipulate room temperature and ventilation units in coronavirus wards to initiate patient evacuations.

Hackers could also use the flaws to hijack or disable receipt printers or RFID tag readers in retail stores to disrupt sales or disable smart home alarms and smoke detectors.

“Due to the complexity of identifying and patching vulnerable devices, vulnerability management for TCP/IP stacks is becoming a challenge for the security community. We recommend adopting solutions that provide granular device visibility, allow the monitoring of network communications and isolate vulnerable devices or network segments to manage the risk posed by these vulnerabilities,” said the report’s authors.

Tod Beardsley, research director at Rapid7, told ITPro that cyber security researchers and defenders had pieced together the details of these findings, but the advice today is the same as it was yesterday: Don’t expose your IoT/OT/ICS devices directly to a hostile internet, especially when those devices are built with hard-to-determine versions of difficult-to-audit software.

“Traditional defense technologies like firewalls that drop all unexpected IPv6 and malformed IP traffic will go a long way toward mitigating most of these specific vulnerabilities. Network segmentation to keep fragile devices like these contained in their own trusted networks will cover the rest. More longer-term, initiatives that leverage a software bill of materials can also help IT and security teams keep tabs on the more exotic components of their infrastructure,” Beardsley said.

Build a greenhouse monitor with a Raspberry Pi

Nik Rawlinson — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 08:30:00 +0000

The Raspberry Pi Sense Hat is a versatile add-on, with sensors for temperature, humidity, pressure, orientation and direction, and there are numerous examples of how it can be used online. The European Space Agency has even sent two of them to the International Space Station for conducting experiments in weightless environments.

Here at IT Pro, we're a little more down to earth. To showcase the Sense Hat's capabilities, we'll focus on three of those sensors – temperature, humidity and pressure – to build a greenhouse-monitoring system. With winter on the way and gardeners moving vulnerable plants under cover, it makes sense to have a way of keeping an eye on conditions without having to go out and check a thermometer.

We'll therefore take a reading every 15 minutes and upload the data to a web server so it can be checked from the comfort of a centrally heated home. We'll also make use of the LED matrix mounted on the Sense Hat's top surface to give visual feedback should temperatures stray outside of a defined range. That way, if you mount the Pi so it's visible from the house, you can see at a glance if you need to go out and turn on a heater or open a window, even if you haven't checked the server.

Naturally, you need a power source wherever you position your Pi plus Sense Hat. If you're going to use it in an outbuilding, you should also make sure it isn't going to get wet. You don't need Wi-Fi if you only want to record your measurements onto the SD card, but you will if you want to upload them to the server, so make sure your network signal carries far enough, or use a booster. If you don't have a greenhouse, you could use the same technique to monitor the temperature of, say, a nursery, a vivarium housing reptiles or even just your office.

Install the Hat and set up your Pi

The Sense Hat works with Raspberry Pi 2 Model B and later, so if you've upgraded and have an old Pi hanging around, this is a great way to give it a useful second life. For this project, we're using a Raspberry Pi Zero WH, with built-in Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and a pre-soldered GPIO header. We won't be using Bluetooth, but Wi-Fi and GPIO are essential; if you're using a Zero without pins, either buy a header and solder it on or, if you don't have a soldering iron, check out Pimoroni's solderless header.

You'll need the "Male + Female + Installation Jig", which, at £7, is pricier than the male pins alone (to which the Sense Hat attaches), but is still cheaper than an iron, flux and just the pins you need. We've used it ourselves and, although the first few taps with a hammer are a breath-holding experience, it's easier than you might imagine.

Sense Hat ships with four standoffs. Having unplugged your Pi from the mains, screw the standoffs into the holes on the corners of your Pi (if you're using a Pi Zero, hold your Pi so the side with all of the chips on it is facing you and the GPIO pins are at the top. Screw the standoffs to the top left and both of the right holes, leaving the bottom-left hole vacant). Now mount the Sense Hat by pressing it onto the GPIO pins, with the LED matrix facing you and the female GPIO sockets again at the top.

When it's properly seated, use the remaining four screws (two on the Zero) to secure the Sense Hat to the standoffs. On the Zero, you'll notice that only the top two standoffs align with holes on the Sense Hat, so screw these into place. The third standoff you attached to the Pi will sit beneath the Hat, supporting it without being physically attached.

Download the Pi imager from this link, then insert a microSD card into your PC and click "Choose OS". Select "Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit)", click "Choose SD Card" and select the card you've inserted. Finally, click "Write". This wipes the microSD card and installs the OS. When it's finished, open Windows Notepad and enter the following, replacing the parts in angled brackets as appropriate. Note that the country code for the United Kingdom is GB, not UK.

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=netdev
update_config=1
country=<2 letter ISO 3166-1 country code>network={
ssid="<your Wi-Fi network name>"
psk="<your Wi-Fi network password>"
}

Save this file in the root of the microSD card as wpa_supplicant.conf (be careful: unless you change the "Save as file type" dropdown to "All files (*.*)" on the Notepad save dialog, it will add .txt to the filename and your Pi won't be able to connect to your network. Close the file, create a text file with no contents and save it as ssh. Make sure it has no extension by again choosing "All files (*.*)" from the "Save as file type" dropdown.

Eject your microSD card, insert it into the Pi, connect to power and wait for it to boot. Its first boot may take a little longer than subsequent boots, so leave it a couple of minutes, then check your router's DHCP table to see when it's connected to the network. Make a note of its IP address, then open a Windows command prompt and type:

ssh pi@192.168.1.88

If your Pi's IP address isn't 192.168.1.88, adapt the command as appropriate. When asked if you want to authorise the connection, type yes, press Enter and, when asked for a password, type raspberry and press Enter again.

Your first job is to change the default password, so type passwd and press Enter, then type in the existing password and your new password when requested. Make sure your Pi is running the most up-to-date software by entering these two commands, pressing Enter after each one.

sudo apt-get updatesudo apt-get upgrade

Finally, it's time to install the Sense Hat software with:

sudo apt-get install sense-hat

Next, to simplify the process of logging in remotely, set a meaningful hostname, which you can use in place of the IP address, so it won't matter if your router issues a different address in the future. Type the following and press Enter:

sudo raspi-config

Key down to option 2 and press Enter, then select Hostname. Choose any name you like. We're running nine Pis on our network, each of which we've given a name beginning pi to differentiate them from PCs and Macs, so we've used pisense for this device. In future, we can connect to it from Windows command prompt with:

ssh pi@pisense.local

You don't need to add .local when setting it up, but you'll need to use it with the ssh command.

Finally, let's enable VNC so we can interact with the GUI remotely, rather than working solely in the text-based environment. Return to the config homescreen and this time key down to Interfacing Options (the fifth entry). Press Enter, key down to VNC and press Enter again. Confirm that you want to enable it. When it finishes installing the VNC extensions, quit the config routine and let the Pi reboot.

While it's doing so, download VNC Viewer on your PC. When the Pi has finished booting, launch VNC Viewer and, in the address bar, type "pisense.local" (swapping "pisense" for whatever hostname you specified) and press Enter. Enter "pi" as the username, and whatever password you specified during the setup process to log in.

Interacting with Sense Hat

We're going to control the Sense Hat and read its data using Python, and we'll use cron to automate the collection at regular intervals and upload it to the server.

Click the raspberry on the taskbar and launch Geany Programmer's Editor from the Programming submenu. Enter the following code, which we'll explain in detail below:

#!/usr/bin/env python3import timefrom datetime import datetimefrom sense_hat import SenseHat
sense = SenseHat()
sense.clear()now = datetime.now()
thedate = now.strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
thetime = now.strftime("%H:%M:%S")temp = sense.get_temperature()
pressure = sense.get_pressure()
humidity = sense.get_humidity()print(temp)
print(pressure)
print(humidity)if temp < 15:
r = 0
g = 0
b = 255
sense.clear((r, g, b))
elif temp > 30:
r = 255
g = 0
b = 0
sense.clear((r, g, b))import csv
thefile = "/home/pi/sense.csv"
thefields = [thedate, thetime, temp, pressure, humidity]
with open(thefile, "a") as fp:
wr = csv.writer(fp, dialect="excel")
wr.writerow(thefields)

It's important that you maintain left margin indents in the code as Python uses these to define subroutines. For example, the indented section between if temp and elif temp runs only if the condition specified on the if temp line is true, and Python knows that the point where the indent stops, at the elif line, is the end of that subroutine.

The code explained

The first few lines of code set up the operating environment. We import the time and date, which we'll write out with the data later on so that we know when each measurement was taken, we then connect to the Sense Hat itself with the following lines:

from sense_hat import SenseHatsense = SenseHat()

The line that immediately follows this clears the matrix display so that if it's currently showing anything (later in the code, we'll turn it red for high temperatures and blue for low), it will be switched off until we can verify that the conditions remain true.

We then write the date and time to the variables thedate and thetime. Notice that we've formatted each variable in the brackets at the end of the line, and we've chosen to use year-month-date for the date as this makes the data easier to sort should we choose to import it into a spreadsheet. If you want to format the date differently, you can choose from a wide range of variables:

%a	truncated week day	Mon, Tue, Wed
%A	full week day	Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
%d	date to two digits	01, 02, 03… 29, 30, 31
%m	month to two digits	01, 02, 03… 10, 11, 12
%b	truncated month	Jan, Feb, Mar
%B	full month	January, February, March
%y	year to two digits	20, 21, 22
%Y	year to four digits	2020, 2021, 2022

The same is true of recording the time. We have chosen to use the 24-hour clock, but you could swap our %H for %I to use the 12 hour clock, and append %p at the end of the string to add AM or PM as appropriate. For a full list of variables, check out W3 Schools' comprehensive explanation.

In the next section, we start interacting with the Sense Hat by reading data from its sensors. We're interested in temperature, pressure and humidity, each of which we will write to an appropriately named variable. The format in each case is very similar:

temp = sense.get_temperature()
pressure = sense.get_pressure()
humidity = sense.get_humidity()

We'll then print the variables onscreen. After all, there's not much point gathering them if we're not going to display them.

print(temp)print(pressure)print(humidity)

Now that the recordings are stored in variables, we can perform tests against them. What we're most interested in is the temperature value, so in the next section we check, first, whether the temperature is below 15˚C and, in the section below that, if it's above 3o˚C.

if temp < 15:
r = 0
g = 0
b = 255
sense.clear((r, g, b))
elif temp > 30:
r = 255
g = 0
b = 0
sense.clear((r, g, b))

If either case is found to be true, we again set some variables. In the case of temperatures below 15˚C, we set the variable for b to 255 and zero out the variables r and g. If the temperature is above 30˚C, we set r to 255, and zero out g and b. It doesn't take a genius to work out that we're setting values for red, green and blue here, and that 255 relates to the intensity of each tone. Thus, if the temperature is below our minimum (15°C) we set full-on blue and, if it's above our maximum (30°C), we pick full red.

Now that we've specified our colours, we'll return to a command that we've already employed once in the code: sense.clear() . When we included it at the start of the code, we hadn't specified any colours within the brackets, so the effect was to turn off the LED array. Yet, by including the variables for r, g and b within the braces when we call it at this point, we'll instead illuminate the array with full blue if it's cold, and full red if it's hot. If the temperature sits between our specified minimum and maximum, neither of our test conditions will have been met, so no change will be made to the LED array.

As we turned it off at the start of the code, therefore, it will remain off if neither of the temperature tests results in a positive response. In this way, if the temperature was cold enough to have turned the array blue and we remedied it by turning on a heater in the greenhouse, we'd be able to see from inside the house that the temperature had risen sufficiently to protect our plants when the array extinguished itself.

Recording your observations

If all you want is a temperature-based traffic light system, you could stop at that point, but isn't it more interesting to keep a record of your readings so you can refer back? At present, the file we want to write to doesn't exist, so click the raspberry icon and pick Text Editor from the Accessories submenu. Without adding anything to the new file this creates, press Ctrl+S for the Save dialog, click Home in the sidebar and save the file as sense.csv. Close the sense.csv file and return to Geany Programmer's Editor.

The next section of code writes them to a comma-separated values (CSV) file, which we'll upload to a server using a separate routine.

import csv
thefile = "/home/pi/sense.csv"
thefields = [thedate, thetime, temp, pressure, humidity]
with open(thefile, "a") as fp:
wr = csv.writer(fp, dialect="excel")
wr.writerow(thefields)

We start by telling Python that we're going to work with a CSV file, and specify that the file in question is called sense.csv, which is stored in our home directory. Having specified the name and location of the file we want to write to, we list the variables we want to write. As you can see, these are the date, time, temperature, pressure and humidity readings. Each variable will be separated by a comma, resulting in a file that can be opened and read just as easily in a plain text editor as it can in Excel.

The fourth line opens the file whose name is stored in the variable thetime, and the a switch tells Python that we want to append our data to the end of what already exists. The next two lines are indented as they tell the Pi what to do with the open file.

That's the end of the code. Press Ctrl+S to save it and call it sense.py. To run it manually, open a Terminal window by clicking the Terminal icon on the Pi's taskbar (or select Terminal from the Accessories menu), type python3 sense.py and hit Enter. You'll see the current temperature, pressure and humidity and, if either of the tests for low or high temperatures is satisfied, the LED array will light up blue or red. Behind the scenes, the measurements, plus the current date and time, will be added to the sense.csv file. You can check that this has happened by right-clicking the file and picking Text Editor from the menu to open it.

Upload and automation

The next step is to upload the CSV file to a web server so you can more easily interpret the readings. Luckily, this requires only two lines of code, so long as you have the FTP login details for your server. In Geany Programmer's Editor, create a new file and enter the following, replacing the sections in angled brackets as appropriate, while keeping everything that follows curl on a single line:

#!/bin/bashcurl -T /home/pi/sense.csv ftp://<ftp server address>/sense.csv --user <ftp username>:<ftp password>

Save the file as upload.sh, again in the Home folder where it will sit alongside your existing sense.py and sense.csv files. If you want to check that you've got your FTP server address, username and password correct before relying on the code, type the curl line at the command prompt first and make sure the transfer completes successfully.

Of course, you don't want to have to manually invoke these two scripts every time you take a reading. Doing so would require you to log in to the Pi through the day and night using either ssh or VNC and, unless you accurately anticipated an extreme temperature, the traffic light system would be useless. So we'll use cron to automate the process. Shut Geany Programmer's Editor and return to the Terminal. Type the following and press Enter:

sudo crontab -e

When asked which editor you'd like to use, press 1 for Nano. Key down to the bottom of the file, press Enter to move to a new line and type the following two lines of code:

*/15 * * * * python3 /home/pi/sense.py2-59/15 * * * * sudo /home/pi/upload.sh

Press Ctrl+O to save the file (the "O" stands for "write out", not open), then Ctrl+X to exit Nano.

The first of these two lines runs your sense.py Python routine every 15 minutes – on the hour, at quarter past, half past and quarter to. The four stars that follow the */15 mean every hour, every day, every month and every day of the week. If you only wanted to run it every 15 minutes in December, you would instead use */15 * * 12 *. If you only wanted to run it on the first of the month, it would be */15 * 1 * *. If you wanted to run it every minute of every hour, regardless of the date, use * * * * *.

On the second line, we're again invoking something every 15 minutes. In this case, it's the script that uploads the CSV file to the server. However, you'll notice that the first part of the equation is more complicated. While we ran sense.py every 15 minutes starting from minute zero of each hour, we're running upload.sh at the same interval, but offset by two minutes – so, we're telling cron to start counting at two minutes past the hour and upload at two, 17, 32 and 47 minutes past the hour. Why? That way we can be sure the data collection routine has finished running before the upload routine kicks in.

At the server end

When you upload a CSV file to a web server and try to open it in a browser, most browsers will download the file rather than displaying it, which isn't ideal as you then need to open it in a spreadsheet. It's more convenient to render the results in a browser by incorporating them into a web page. Here, there's no point reinventing the wheel – and doing so would require several further pages of explanation – so credit to the Stack Overflow contributors who have already solved this problem.

The answer here reads a specified CSV file and drops the contents into a table. Ensure you change the filename on the second line, which begins $file, to sense.csv and, if necessary, include its path relative to the domain root. You could also edit the code to use

tags rather than table cells, and perhaps import Bootstrap within your header or footer to make it mobile-responsive.

Over time, your CSV will grow considerably (at present, we're adding four new lines every hour so it will grow by almost 100 lines a day). You might, therefore, want to periodically open the file in the Pi text editor and delete the contents, or use PHP to only display, say, the five most recent entries when parsing it on the server. In the latter instance, another Stack Overflow post is likely to provide the help you need.

Latest from ITPro in Internet-of-things

New industry-backed IoT security standards aim to improve device safety

IoT security has been a long-running cause for concern

What is the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)?

How IIoT forms the backbone of smart industry

How does IIoT work?

The future of the IIoT across sectors

Glasgow eyes goal of becoming Europe’s leading IoT city with launch of new innovation hub

Glasgow tech infrastructure efforts

Scottish satellite firm wins major IoT network contract

Spire Global deal could be extended

What is the Internet of Behaviors (IoB)?

What is the Internet of Behaviors (IoB)?

Is IoB ethical?

How do IoB systems collect and use data?

What’s the difference between IoB and big data?

The seven types of power problems

Verizon ends 3G support in US, finalises nationwide shutdown

3G services around the world

The future of wholesale distribution

Build innovation, intelligence and sustainability into your industrial processes, with the cloud

Four tips to slash office running costs

How many desks do you really need?

Audit energy usage

Cost-cutting on operations

Make your office more eco friendly

Google Cloud to retire IoT Core service in 2023

Before buying into cloud-based tech, you must prepare for failure

UK's smart meter data traffic to surge 500% by 2026

EchoStar unveils the world's first pan-European LoRa IoT network

Raspberry Pi launches next-gen Pico W microcontroller with networking support

Resilience – not cutting-edge technology – is the foundation of smart office buildings

Ubuntu Core 22 is now generally available for IoT and edge devices

The IT Pro Podcast: Building a smart factory

Highlights

Footnotes

Subscribe

Podcast transcript: Building a smart factory

Adam Shepherd

Hugh Armitage

Adam

Hugh

Adam

Hizmy Hassen

Hugh

Hizmy

Adam

Hizmy

Hugh

Hizmy

Adam

Hizmy

Hugh

Hizmy

Adam

Hizmy

Adam

Hizmy

Adam

Hizmy

Adam

Hizmy

Hugh

Hizmy

Adam

Hizmy

Hugh

Hizmy

Adam

Hizmy

Adam

Hizmy

Adam

Hizmy

Adam

Hizmy

Hugh

Hizmy

Adam

Hugh