‘The biggest business transformation in history’: Internet of Things industry experts to descend on Sydney

IT’S been touted as the biggest business transformation in history, but others are quick to point out the dangers of the ever growing Internet of Things.

THE growing industry of internet-enabled gadgets and smart devices loosely dubbed the internet of things (IoT) is tipped to be worth tens of billions of dollars to the Australian economy in the coming decade.

It’s been described as the next industrial revolution and while there are immense challenges and security concerns attached to the IoT wave, industry experts are urging Australia to capitalise on the burgeoning technology.

Researchers, entrepreneurs and experts will meet in Sydney on Wednesday and Thursday for a summit organised by industry group Everything IoT in a bid to accelerate the pace of change down under.

The event is designed to connect start-ups and corporate businesses and “put the focus on the growing (IoT) sector in Australia,” says the CEO of Everything IOT, Eitan Bienstock.

“The faster we do that, the quicker we will get the benefits.”

‘THE BIGGEST BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION IN HISTORY’

For Mr Beinstock the importance of collaboration in this space can’t be overstated, particularly given Australia carries a reputation for not always converting our world class research into commercial products or services.

“We tend to do things locally and not really be aware of what’s happening around the world,” Mr Bienstock said. Something we can’t afford to do when it comes to IoT.

This is the “biggest and most rapid business transformation in history,” he added.

Such a claim is backed up by research undertaken by the IoT Alliance Australia which believes IoT technologies will bring $116 billion of potential upside to the Australian economy by 2025.

The hype surrounding the sector has grown considerably in recent years. In Australia alone there are companies developing soil sensors for farmers, remote energy monitoring systems, clever car alarms and a range of smart city networks.

One such start-up company is Sydney-based Smart Paddock, which is in the early stages of developing electronic tags for cattle which track and monitor of the herd by constantly collecting biometric data and sending it to the farmer.

Cattle have a high mortality rate and the data could be hugely helpful in the early detection of injury and illness.

“The farmer might not see the animal for days at a time, it only takes losing one or two cows to considerably eat into profit,” the company’s founder Darren Wolchyn told news.com.au.

Following advances in long range wireless technology and batteries in recent years he believes his company can begin offering its platform to farmers at a reasonable cost.

“The time is just coming right for this technology,” he said.

Cattle are high value assets and IoT devices could help farmers get the best out of their herd.

Other IoT start-ups have been given a considerable push by the Australian government.

In August, IoT start-up Thinxtra announced it raised $10 million from government investment body the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

The start-up’s IoT hardware allows long-range transmission of data between connected devices and Thinxtra hopes its network can drive efficiency in the eHealth, smart cities, agriculture and the consumer sectors.

CASINO BROUGHT DOWN BY A FISH TANK

But while the hype is real, there has been no shortage of people raising concerns over the path we’re heading down.

When everything is connected to the internet, the world becomes a hacker’s playground.

In July it was revealed cyber criminals managed to hack a casino through an internet-connected fish tank. The fish tank had sensors connected to a computer that regulated the temperature, food and cleanliness of the tank — and that was enough for the hackers to gain access and penetrate the casino’s network.

Last year several networks of compromised devices were directed to attack web infrastructure company Dyn. Hackers were effectively able to use an army of hijacked internet-connected devices to bring services including Netflix, Twitter, PayPal, Amazon, Reddit, and Spotify offline.

At the time, security experts said many of the devices would never be fixed and that the broader security threat posed by the internet of Things would get worse before it gets better.

An internet connected fish tank turned out to be a vulnerability in a US casino’s network recently.

The problem is such devices — including smart home appliances and toys — have little in the way of security. Basically your kettle could be used against you.

“What usually happens is that people jump into the space and try to develop the quickest and lowest cost devices and they didn’t want to spend money and too much time on security,” Mr Bienstock said. “So it became kind of the back door to the internet.”

Some of “the major hacks in the last year or two were through IoT devices,” he said.

“I think it kind of shocked everybody and it was back to the drawing board.”

The Dyn hack prompted the US Department of Homeland Security to hold a conference call with 18 major communication service providers to develop a new set of “strategic principles” for securing internet-connected devices.

Meanwhile earlier this year, the IoT Alliance Australia released security guidelines for IoT systems saying security and privacy need to be at the forefront of thinking in order to minimise the risks.

50 BILLION PROJECTED INTERNET DEVICES

Depending on who you ask, the Internet of Things is considered the single biggest technical innovation opportunity to hit the world in decades.

There are currently about 5​ ​billion​ ​items​ ​wirelessly​ ​connected​ ​to​ ​the internet​ ​worldwide. In three years that number is projected to swell to a staggering 50 billion internet-connected, data-producing devices.

The technology is applicable to so many industries that 70 per cent of Fortune 100 companies are innovating through IoT products, according to IoT Business News.

And Mr Bienstock hopes events like this week’s Global Leadership Summit can help ensure Australian companies don’t miss out.

In the past Everything IoT has held smaller events based around subdivisions of the IoT industry such as smart cities, agriculture, energy and healthcare. This week’s event is the first time they will all be rolled into one.

Among the attendees and speakers will be Professor Issac Ben-israel, a former Israeli military scientist and current chairman of the country’s space agency, and UCLA professor and surgical robotics pioneer Jacob Rosen who among other things has developed robotic systems for remote brain surgery.