8 Things to Know Before purchasing your next Smart IoT Lighting Solution, Part 2. Part 1.

Mike Welch Managing Director Control Network Solutions Ltd

5.    Is it wireless versus wired, wireless & wired?

• Wireless operates in an uncontrolled environment, see here.
• How secure is a wireless solution? It is easier potentially, to unobtrusively monitor and hack a wireless network than a wired one.
• For deterministic high-performance solutions such as lighting controls, either it requires very expensive point to point wireless solutions, or it's low-cost wired.

6.    What does IoT really mean in building & lighting controls and how secure?

• The IoT is an idea, a concept; it is not a standard for anything. Right now it is mostly the Internet of Connected Separate Things (IoCST)
  Unintended and unexpected consequences of the IoT? Read more, click here
• The impact of the IoT depends on whose application it is, and where it is. It may affect remote device level power consumption and the necessary infrastructure required to enable a solution and application to deliver paid-for results.
• The IoT does not mean every device being physically connected to an IP network; it does mean seamless access to every device and its value data across the internet! (Not 1 x IP device per IP address but for example 64 x devices per IP address)! (As opposed to the IoCST?)
• Is your chosen IP device secure? How is its security maintained over time?

7.    Analytics; what is it, what could it deliver, what might it not deliver?

• It’s the clever maths that mines for nuggets of gold from device level value data and represents opportunities to more efficiently run a space for a given business outcome than your competitor.
• It allows you to calculate which exact device level settings create the optimum space environment for your workers, so they are both healthier and operate more efficiently.
• The problem is, do your analytics tools have seamless access to all the device level value data?
  

8.    “Cloud” based solutions, whose “Cloud” is it, who owns the data/IP in the “Cloud,” can I change from “Cloud” to “Cloud,” how secure is it?

• All very good questions and not usually the one the End Client is fully aware of until it’s too late!
• There are NO standards-based “Cloud” solutions. Each solution provider is offering their own version of their “Cloud.”
• Unlikely to be able to switch from one “Cloud” based solution provider to another seamlessly, without loss of content.
• It’s just another tie-in to proprietary solutions enabling the supplier to earn more money from the End Client/User
• IP/Copyright ownership again depends on who owns the facilities, the nature of the contract terms offered and where on the planet the facilities are. One thing is for sure; most people have no idea regarding the answers to these questions. They incorrectly assume too much and don’t realise that it is a legal minefield.     
  
• Security most likely depends on who actually owns the equipment and facilities and where they are based on the planet. It will pay to be very cautious.
• Suggested reading: “Cracks in the Cloud.”