Growth in connected IoT devices expected to generate 79.4ZB of data in 2025: report

Framingham, Mass, June 22, 2019: A new forecast from International Data Corporation (IDC) estimates that there will be 41.6 billion connected Internet of Things (IoT) devices, or “things,” generating 79.4 zettabytes (ZB) of data in 2025.

The IDC report, Worldwide Global DataSphere IoT Device and Data Forecast, 2019-2023 provides a forecast of the number of IoT “things” that are connected as well as the data generated by these things. This forecast study also categorizes the devices and the data across several categories including video surveillance, industrial, household, medical, industry terminals, and other. Definitions of the categories are included in the Market Definition section at the end of the document.

There is an obvious direct relationship between all the “things” and the data these things create. IDC has forecast that the amount of data created by these connected IoT devices will see a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 28.7 percent over the 2018-2025 forecast period. Most of the data, said IDC in a press release, was being generated by video surveillance applications, but other categories such as industrial and medical will also increasingly generate more data over time.

“As the market continues to mature, IoT increasingly becomes the fabric enabling the exchange of information from ‘things’, people, and processes. Data becomes the common denominator – as it is captured, processed, and used from the nearest and farthest edges of the network to create value for industries, governments, and individuals’ lives,” said Carrie MacGillivray, group Vice Ppresident, IoT, 5G and Mobility at IDC. “Understanding the amount of data created from the myriad of connected devices allows organizations and vendors to build solutions that can scale in this accelerating data-driven IoT market.”

“Mankind is on a quest to digitize the world and a growing global DataSphere is the result. The world around us is becoming more ‘sensorized,’ bringing new levels of intelligence and order to personal and seemingly random environments, and Internet of Things devices are an integral part of this process,” said David Reinsel, senior Vice President, IDC’s Global DataSphere. “However, with every new connection comes a responsibility to navigate and manage new security vulnerabilities and privacy concerns. Companies must address these data hazards as they advance new levels of efficiency and customer experience.”

IDC said while the video surveillance category will drive a large share of the IoT data created, the industrial and automotive category will see the fastest data growth rates over the forecast period with a CAGR of 60 per cent. This is the result of the increasing number of “things” (other than video surveillance cameras) that are capturing data continuously as well as more advanced sensors capturing more (and richer) metrics or machine functions. This rich data includes audio, image, and video. And, where analytics and artificial intelligence are magnifying data creation beyond just the data capture, data per device is growing at a faster pace than data per video surveillance camera.

IDC defines an IoT device as a uniquely identifiable “thing” or endpoint that can autonomously connect bidirectionally using connectivity to exchange data via the internet. As these things become connected, they generate data that allows for monitoring, management, and analysis to be done on the state of these devices or the surrounding environment.

IDC’s Global DataSphere sizes and forecasts data creation, capture, and replication across 70 categories of content-creating things — including non-IoT devices as well as IoT devices. The data is then categorized into the types of data being created to understand various trends in data usage, consumption, and storage.

Source: IDC


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