Embedding Intelligent Connectivity in Every Device

Alon Segal, SVP Software & Services at Telit, explains how the Internet of Things is evolving from simple connectivity to fully intelligent, edge‑driven systems.

The first generation of IoT relied largely on retrofitting existing devices with connectivity—credit‑card readers moved from landlines to Wi‑Fi and eventually to cellular, illustrating how centralised business systems gained value by accessing remote edge devices.

Today, the trend is reversing. Nearly every manufactured product can be embedded with digital capabilities, enabling devices to communicate with each other as much as—or more than—they communicate with a central cloud.

Consider autonomous drone swarms: thousands of drones exchange data locally through a “fog” network, sending only aggregated insights to the cloud, which reduces bandwidth demands and speeds decision‑making.

This pervasive, highly connected ecosystem unlocks new business models where sensing, actuation, data delivery and edge computing are provisioned on demand. The model mirrors the evolving multi‑tenant cloud, with “things” self‑identifying and being dynamically allocated resources as needed.

Scaling to over three million new device provisions per day on cellular alone requires that both data and control planes reach the edge. Next‑generation IoT hardware must embed security, provisioning, and capability management, moving toward a zero‑touch, fully virtualised experience.

“The point of connection must live inside the device itself,” Segal notes. “Embedding connectivity at the manufacturing stage—much like built‑in Wi‑Fi on PCs—keeps costs low and speeds adoption.”

5G will be a game‑changer, offering the bandwidth and latency required for devices to interconnect directly, rather than funneling all traffic to a central cloud. Whether for smart cities, autonomous vehicles, robotics or industrial IoT, ready‑to‑connect devices will become the heartbeat of innovation.

Author: Alon Segal, SVP Software & Services, Telit