THE GROWTH OF CONNECTED DEVICES
2000 - 2020
As the expansion of the digital data network makes the world ever smaller and more integrated, we’re using our personal web-connected devices to create and distribute works of art, to measure our physical exertion and monitor our health, to read and react to global news in real time, and to chat on video with people on the other side of the world. In the last ten years alone, the number of mobile data devices—smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, camcorders, e-book readers etc.—shot up from two to six billion, a number that is still growing fast. The Internet of Things is a lot bigger than smartphones. Virtually every kind of industry, business, and institution is beginning to see the flood of new data as a fount of innovation.
In this connected future, our cars will communicate with every other car on the road, preventing accidents. Sensors driving data from every power outlet to the electric grid will help utilities flatten demand and alert us when we can save money by turning something off. Emergency vehicles will communicate with traffic lights. Data from sensors will drive the world’s largest industrial plants. Big data will make every kind of business smarter about their customers—and customers smarter about business. And this data-driven future is happening right now.
GLOBAL MOBILE DATA TRAFFIC
2014 - 2019
Smartphones alone will test the capacity of the world’s data centers in the not very distant future. Right now more than a billion people are sending and receiving all forms of web-based data every minute of every day. And as smartphones become more and more ubiquitous, their data output is exploding. Today, nearly a quarter of the world’s population owns a smartphone. By 2018, that fraction will increase to a third. In that time, mobile data is projected to increase four-fold.
By 2019, data from smartphones alone is projected to increase from three million to 19 million terabytes per month.
CONNECTED DEVICES IN SMART CITIES
2000 - 2020
Beyond self-aware cars, streamlined healthcare systems, more secure homes, and energy efficiency, networked data will create the foundation for smart cities. The influx of data from our personal devices as well as data-collecting sensors on everything from street and traffic lights to water and waste systems will make urban life cleaner, safer, and healthier. In Copenhagen (see below), that future for cities is being realized right now.
Smart City Partnership
“Extensive retrofitting of buildings, reorganization of the energy supply, more wind turbines and a change in transport habits are some of the many initiatives that we plan to implement to reach our 2025 goal.” — Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen
Whether to reduce traffic jams or crime rates, data is crucial to making modern cities work more efficiently. While individual data streams alone are invaluable, integrating, centralizing, and sharing them can make for dramatic, even life-saving change. Consider, for one small example, the difference it would make to share the data, now siloed, between stop lights and emergency services.
To explore the full potential of such data integration, Hitachi is currently working with the city of Copenhagen and other partners to build a citywide platform for big data, collecting and analyzing information from every corner of Copenhagen’s urban infrastructure— demographics, crime statistics, and every kind of sensor-driven output, from energy consumption and air quality to traffic patterns. Citizens and businesses will be directly connected to the platform as well. For Hitachi, this is part of what the company calls “Social Innovation”.
Pulling Copenhagen’s data together and submitting it to advanced analytics is an important step toward making all cities smarter, improving public safety, inspiring efficiencies, and enhancing the wellbeing of citizens. It will also drive innovation and entrepreneurship: Copenhagen’s big-data platform will be a marketplace where app developers and businesses can buy and sell new data, which is the key to encouraging private companies to make their data available for others.
Copenhagen By The Numbers
Hitachi itself is already building two pilot apps on the platform. Its transportation app will allow users to track their transportation choices as they move around in the city, allowing them to learn how much time they spend using various forms of transport, as well as distance travelled, calories burned, and CO2 footprint based on these choices. The app will also allow users to see how they are doing on these metrics compared to others in the city. An energy app will integrate data from energy providers to help companies and citizens keep track of their energy consumption and its effect on greenhouse-gas emissions
The reach of such a platform is yet to be fully measured, but one indication of its promise is that Copenhagen’s project with Hitachi is expected to help the city meet its exemplary and very ambitious goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2025.
To learn more about Hitachi Social Innovation, visit http://social-innovation.hitachi.com/.
Terms & Definitions
Telematics and In-Car Infotainment; Under-the-Hood and Others
PC’S & DIGITAL HOME
Consumer Electronics: Flat Panel TVs, Set-top Boxes, Gaming Consoles and Controllers, DVD / Blu-ray Players / Recorders, Remote Controls, 3D Glasses, Digital Photo Frames, Speakers, Wi-Fi Access Points / External Adapters. PCs and Peripherals: Desktop PCs, Laptops, Netbooks, Ultrabooks, Printers, PC Accessories, USB and Other External Modems, PCMCIA Cards
Home Automation Controllers; Smart Home Devices; Smart Appliances; Smart Home Lighting Units
Health and Medical; Sports and Fitness Equipment; Other Wearables (incl. Smartwatches)
Smartphones, Mobile Phones, Mobile Phone Accessories, Media Tablets, Mobile Internet Devices, Handheld Gaming, Portable Media Players, Digital Cameras / Camcorders, eBook Readers, PNDs
RETAIL, ADVERTISING, & SUPPLY CHAIN
POS; ATMs; Kiosks; Vending Machines; Digital Signage; Asset Tracking; Inventory Management
SMART CITIES & BUILDINGS
Commercial Building Automation; Intelligent Transportation Systems; Smart Parking; Smart Street Lighting; Other Smart City Applications (e.g., Environmental Monitoring); Video Surveillance; Enterprise Access Points
UTILITIES & INDUSTRIAL IOT
Agriculture; Industrial Equipment; Hospital and Other Healthcare Equipment; Heavy Vehicles; Electricity Metering; Water and Gas Metering; Smart Grid Equipment; Renewable Energy; Aerospace; Defense
ABI Report: Internet of Everything Market Tracker
Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update 2014–2019 White Paper http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/white_paper_c11-520862.html#Trend_3_Measuring_Mobile_IoE
ABI Report: Internet of Everything Market Tracker
Interview with Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen; http://cities-today.com/interview-with-frank-jensen-lord-mayor-of-copenhagen/