Published on the 24/03/2015 | Written by Beverley Head
Cisco has pledged US$15 million to be spent over five years setting up an internet-of-everything innovation centre in Australia…
Demand for internet connected devices is on the rise according to analyst Gartner. A report published last week suggests that in the world’s smart cities there will be over 1.1 billion connected things by the end of the year, surging to almost 2.7 billion within two years.
It nominates homes, transport and utilities as being among the early movers.
Capitalising on this rising interest Cisco has announced that Australia will host the company’s eighth Internet of Everything Innovation Centre with locations in Sydney at Sirca (an organisation owned jointly by 40 A/NZ universities and famously responsible for deploying sensors into Tasmania’s farms), and in Perth at Curtin University.
The Cisco centres will work with industry and partners to develop proofs of concepts and offer rapid prototyping. The company estimates that internet-of-things (IoT) deployments could be worth US$74 billion to the Australian economy over the next 10 years thanks to benefits emerging from improved efficiencies, reduced downtime, new business models and suchlike.
While technology companies and analysts are breathless about the prospect of everything being connected over the internet, and the data that liberates to underpin analysis and drive action – not everyone is ready to make a move.
Recent Australian research sponsored by Microsoft and conducted by Telsyte revealed a degree of business indifference to IoT.
Although the majority of existing Australian IoT users are reaping benefits (two thirds of organisations using and measuring the results from IoT solutions report 28 percent cost reductions in day-to-day operations), only 26 percent of the 300 companies surveyed had IoT platforms while a very significant 48 percent had no plans to follow suit.
Asked to nominate what was holding them back 38 percent nominated technology and IT, 35 percent said it was costs, and 31 percent were concerned about security.
Against that backdrop Cisco’s innovation centre could prove a useful first step by developing pilots to showcase the technology available and helping companies to overcome any lingering IoT inertia.
