Simplifying IoT: Interoperability & Security for Enterprise Success

IoT is the prime driver of digital transformation for enterprises, and IDC forecasts $1.4 trillion (€1.19 trillion) in IoT spend by 2021. Yet, a quarter of all companies abandon transformation projects mid‑journey.

Alon Segal, CTO at Telit, highlights a knowledge gap. When people describe IoT, they usually imagine billions of devices—a network that gathers accurate business data, turns it into actionable insights, delivers them to the right stakeholders, and enables smarter decisions.

Today's markets demand creative solutions; the promise is to solve problems, create new apps, and stay ahead. That vision stalls unless the underlying implementation complexity is stripped away.

Many potential players remain on the sidelines. The current reality is a tangled mesh of incompatible networks and devices—like a poorly cut jigsaw puzzle. Few enterprises possess the expertise to align it all.

The addressable market is massive. Verticals such as asset tracking, healthcare, security, telematics, POS, wearables, telemetry, industry, energy, and smart metering will all reap benefits. In fact, any sector that values data stands to gain, making opportunities essentially limitless.

To become data powerhouses, companies need guidance and support to harness IoT’s potential. Success hinges on the ability to sift, measure, analyze, and act on data from customers, machines, OS, and personal devices.

The greatest barrier remains the complexity of building that IoT. We must cut complexity, reduce costs, and introduce simplicity by ensuring every element of the ecosystem works together seamlessly.

In short, interoperability is the linchpin of future IoT success. Yet no single standard or interconnect exists. With data coming from diverse sources and the sensitivity of some information, interoperability must be both open and secure. Gartner cites that more than 50% of all IoT projects are expected to expose sensitive information in 2020 due to the failure of hardware security, a significant increase from less than 5% in 2016.

Thus, the path to simplicity starts with aligning data regardless of source. It demands federating and normalizing data from multiple origins so it can be shared consistently, with appropriate security controls.

4G has paved the way, and 5G will accelerate the journey. LTE‑Mobile IoT (Cat‑ and NB) was built as the foundation for 5G low‑power, massive IoT device networks.

Release 15, slated for June, is the first 3GPP specification for 5G that heavily incorporates IoT. Enhancements include small‑cell support for NB‑IoT and TDD support for in‑band, guard‑band, and standalone modes.

As LTE‑A Pro and 5G evolve together, interoperability becomes critical to ensure the ecosystem matures smoothly and delivers promised business benefits. However, 3GPP’s plan to submit both LTE and NR to the ITU under the 5G umbrella will pose challenges for early adopters.

The goal must be to reduce complexity, because innovation’s value lies in what enterprises gain. Today they juggle too many unrelated elements, and that hampers IoT adoption.

Crafting the right architecture demands expertise, collaboration, and adaptability. While Industry 4.0 is a buzzword, we’re still refining Generation 1 of IoT, and experience is essential.

5G is designed to enable full integration of corporate IT systems and the IoT. For enterprises, the bearer becomes secondary; they care less about underlying tech and more about solving business problems.

The industry must shift from technology‑centric to customer‑centric. IoT platforms and services should weave together all systems seamlessly to achieve integration and operation. That’s when IoT delivers tangible business outcomes—as customers like Honda, John Deere, and Johnson & Johnson have shown.

Simplicity and scalability hinge on interoperability, driving the next evolutionary step once technical complexity is removed. Enabling easy interconnection of heterogeneous deployments will propel the industry forward, unlock new revenue streams, and allow the IoT to reach its full potential.

The author of this blog is Alon Segal, chief technology officer at Telit