According to the research group Gartner, there will be approximately 6.4 billion things connected to the internet at the end of 2016: a 30% increase since 2015. Further away, at the end of the year 2020, there will be an estimated 21 billion internet-connected devices. The consumer market will be responsible for the greatest number of devices, and enterprises for the greatest spending.
The next generation of wireless networks, which are tentatively called 5G mobile networks, is expected to reach the market in 2020, which isn't too far away at the time of writing. The upcoming mobile networks will have capabilities suitable for IoT devices and even be way ahead of today's 4G networks.
Some of the projected abilities of the new mobile network standards include:
- The ability to connect many more devices than is possible with...