The consumer IoT market is hot and getting hotter. A proliferation of smart home devices—security systems, lighting controls, HVAC and appliances—is changing the way consumers interact with and accept technology into their lives, including what they expect in terms of performance, safety, reliability, and cyber security. Whether it’s a simple personal fitness device or a high-end security system, consumer IoT devices must be able to meet or exceed the high expectations of savvy buyers.

Known as Industry 4.0, or the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), the movement toward creating the smart factory is in full swing. Leveraging machine-to-machine communications, robotics, and machine learning, today’s smart factory is becoming a semi-autonomous environment in which the machines share real-time data streams, enabling them to learn and improve on their own. The result is increased agility, decreased downtime, and vastly improved operations.

In healthcare, the power of IoT enables mass patient monitoring and remote medical treatments, extending the reach of patient care, reducing hospital visits and lowering costs. IoT devices installed into hospital systems increase communications and share critical data where it is most needed. Virtual Reality (VR) surgical training and remote robotic telesurgery are innovations that seemed impossible not so long ago. The potential benefits are enormous.

The consumer IoT market is hot and getting hotter. A proliferation of smart home devices—security systems, lighting controls, HVAC and appliances—is changing the way consumers interact with and accept technology into their lives, including what they expect in terms of performance, safety, reliability, and cyber security. Whether it’s a simple personal fitness device or a high-end security system, consumer IoT devices must be able to meet or exceed the high expectations of savvy buyers.