Earlier this year Vodafone’s IoT Barometer found that there has been a significant increase in the number of businesses who were placing the Internet of Things at the heart of their operations. And, in keeping with its motto - “Connected Worlds—Safe and Secure,” electronica, the world’s largest electronics trade fair, demonstrated how far the various aspects of our lives will be networked with one another in the future.
This connectivity will certainly redefine our everyday lives and across the exhibition as well as at many conference sessions the issue of security took centre stage.
The difficulties of securing products and systems, according to Kurt Sievers, European Vice President and General Manager Automotive, NXP Semiconductors, are immense.
Speaking at electronica he warned that, “Smart technologies and applications make it vital for new security solutions to keep up with this development. Security by design must be an important guiding principle for the industry.”
“It will play a key role in the future,” explained Christoph Stoppok, managing director of the Electronic Components and Systems Division of the ZVEI (German Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association). “but the only way to instil trust in consumers and successfully sell smart devices is to make high-tech products and their components secure.”
While security is crucial, it is also highly complex and a secure IoT can only be achieved in close collaboration with the IT industry.
It is certainly true to say that security has been an afterthought when it comes to the Internet, it was not designed into it.
With the Internet of Things dominating this year’s show there were over 2900 exhibitors in attendance. Besides Germany, the countries with the largest contingents of exhibitors were from China, Taiwan, the USA and Great Britain. As for visitor numbers Italy, Austria, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, France and Switzerland accounted for the top five places in terms of the numbers attending this year’s show.
That alone suggests that there is enormous innovative strength, dynamics and interest in the electronics industry.
Shows like electronica certainly demonstrate the momentum behind the IoT and in this month’s Products in Focus we focus on some of those very technologies helping to drive the IoT.
