Connected Analytics: Capturing the Value of the Internet of Everything

Ten large oil refineries produce about 10 terabytes of data each day, which equates to the entire printed collection of the U.S. Library of Congress.

One modernized city the size of Singapore can generate about 2.5 petabytes of data every day, which translates to all U.S. academic research libraries combined.

And with more than 14 billion, data-transmitting devices connected to the Internet today, growing to 50 billion by 2020, it is little wonder that most of us are overwhelmed by this mind-boggling explosion of data.

Turning this flood of raw data into useful information and even wisdom for better business decisions and quality of life experiences is what the Internet of Everything (IoE) is all about. This is a daunting task. According to IDC Research, just .5% of all data is used or analyzed, and online data volumes are doubling every two years from a combination of mobile devices, videos, sensors, M2M, social media, applications and much more.

Connected Analytics Portfolio

Last Thursday, however, Cisco unveiled our Connected Analytics portfolio for the Internet of Everything, a unique approach that includes software packages to bring analytics to the data, regardless of its location or whether it is in motion or at rest. This new generation of analytics tools for IoE can convert more and more data into valuable intelligence — from the inter cloud, to the data center to the network’s edge.

I think this analytics approach is a breakthrough in unleashing the economic value of IoE for the public and private sectors. Cisco Consulting Services estimates that analytics geared to IoE’s highly distributed network can drive $7.3 trillion of IoE’s $19 trillion global opportunity over the next decade. In other words, the right type and location of analytics can extract more than 38% of IoE’s full potential to improve revenue generation, asset utilization, productivity, supply chain operations and customer experiences.

Analytics for Distributed Networks … Moving from Store-and-Act to Act-and-Store

Traditional analytics have been designed to tap historical data stored within the four walls of a centralized storage repository where the data often is outdated. The most valuable IoE-generated data, however, often is in motion in real time, coming from mobile devices, sensors or decentralized computing at the edge of physical operations, whether on the factory floor, a retail shelf, water treatment plant or smart parking space.

This new approach provides analytics that converts data at virtually every node in the network’s end-to-end infrastructure – no matter how remote – enabling real-time insights either on site or by feeding consolidated information to Integrated Operations Centers. Along with virtualization that brings data to life in understandable graphics, as well as analytics tailored to industry solutions, this new Cisco strategy will transform and disrupt adoptive companies, cities and countries, resulting in more immediate and sustainable process improvements.

Optimizing Smart City Urban Services

By taking analytics to the edge, a Smart City can optimize urban services. For example, the analysis of street traffic flows in real time to optimize the time traffic signals change, allows for dynamic pricing based on supply and demand.

In San Francisco, sensors deployed in about 20,000 parking spaces already have reduced parking search time by 43 percent and alleviated traffic congestion. More pervasive analytics can further optimize traffic flows by integrating intelligence with parking availability in garages, at current events and by factoring historical patterns.

Analyzing patterns, behavior and activities in real-time also enables municipalities to dynamically maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of waste management, bus routes, lighting, energy distribution and re-direction of traffic during emergencies, accidents or congestion.

The Value of IoE-Centered Analytics for Smart Cities

To help cities focus on the best use cases for driving value, Cisco Consulting Services developed an economic framework leveraging IoE-centered solutions and analytics for a city of 3 million people, with a concentrated downtown area and sharing a common application-centric infrastructure:

• Smart Parking: Increased revenue from dynamic pricing, data sales, fines, reduced costs and fuel savings results in better citizen experience and improved revenue for cities.
• Smart Lighting: Analytics can improve energy consumption and OpEx savings, better city planning, reduce crime reduction and corresponding impact on real estate values.
• Smart Waste Pickup: smart truck routing, reduced fleet size and maintenance that increases efficiency of city operations.
• Positive Train Control: Improved safety (prevents colli­sions and derailments), increased train frequency, better traveler experience.
• Improved Customer Experience: Personalized promotions,  interac­tive point-of-purchase capabilities, higher revenue from self-service channels, smart lockers, incremental in-store sales, higher online revenues, revenue lift from “endless aisle” capabilities.

The possibilities for radical improvements, at public entities and industries alike, are limited only by the imagination. New network-wide analytics is an integral catalyst for IoE’s global transformation of business and society. Winners will be those that can derive the most value from their connections – not those who merely connect the most devices.