The Internet of Things requires a lot of background engineering, planning and design work. Some companies are already well ahead in being ‘IoT ready’, says Andrew McGee, Chief Technology Officer, of Hitachi Data Systems, ANZ.
The Internet of Things is the idea that the physical objects in our world, from machinery to automobiles and MRI scanners, will be embedded with sensors and interconnected. By 2020, an estimated 50 billion of these physical objects will be consuming, generating and communicating data, effectively turning the world into a giant network of interconnected ‘things’.
At Hitachi we refer to the “Internet of Things That Matter” as we focus on combining the operational technology (OT) of large or critical infrastructure with innovative information technology (IT) such as Big Data Analytics, high speed data streaming, management and protection.
To respond to this seismic shift, organisations will need to implement leading-edge technologies that can rapidly organise, store, manage and analyse the vast quantities of data, even as it is generated from a growing multitude of sources. The critical word in all this is analytics.
With our deep expertise in IT, advanced data analytics capability and data platforms, Hitachi Data Systems enables organisations to support optimal operations and informed decision-making, with an advanced IT infrastructure for IoT and big data analytics. The advantage stems from the predictive rather than historical viewpoint analytics provide. Imagine not just knowing what could happen but instead shaping what will happen, and being able to respond with real-time adjustments that change outcomes.
The acquisition of leading data integration, visualisation and analytics company Pentaho, completed in June, enhances our existing big data analytics and processing technologies and extends the capabilities of our broader information management product and services portfolio. Through the integration with the Pentaho platform, HDS is now extending its data integration, refinement, monitoring, management, and orchestration capabilities to deliver an incomparably sophisticated data analytics stack.
Later in 2015 you will see HDS launch our Hyper Scale-Out Platform in Australia. This exciting, small footprint, analytics platform is designed for analysing data at the source, eliminating the need to shift large amounts of machine data to a central location. What’s more, it starts small and grows very large organically, as needs determine.
As cities around the world become smarter, we are helping to make public places safer using smart phone applications, world class facial and license plate ID recognition, gunshot detection sensors and many other sources of data. With Hitachi Visualization for Public Safety, we offer advanced situational awareness solutions for law enforcement professionals by integrating these multiple types of data from cameras, sensors, emergency dispatch and social media.
As we evolve, some of the issues of tomorrow for which we are preparing today include the transportation crawl on our roads. The innovation of connected cars will hopefully lead to greater congestion predictability and management.
Andrew McGee is Chief Technology Officer & Pre-Sales Director at Hitachi Data Systems Australia and New Zealand. McGee is responsible for driving the company’s strategy of helping businesses become truly data-driven, leveraging HDS’s evolving capabilities in emerging technologies such as cloud, hyper-converged infrastructures and data analytics. He has more than 25 years’ experience in the information technology market, in industries as diverse as banking and finance, government, mining, manufacturing and insurance.