With the Internet of Things (IoT) continuing to grow and connect more and more of the world around us, the possibilities for new capabilities seem larger than ever before.
But away from the consumer-leaning offerings such as smart homes and vehicles, IoT technology could play a huge role in reinventing areas such as manufacturing, and utilities - the so-called Industry 4.0 and Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).
Nokia has been firmly established as one of the world’s central networking providers for many years, and the company is well set to take advantage of the huge opportunity on offer.
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"We talk about Industry 4.0 as a wave of change - of course it's going to go through the industry, but it's also going to touch everything else,” Richard Kitts, Nokia’s head of enterprise and IIoT in global services, told TechRadar Pro.
“Often when people say IoT, customers get a bit worried as it's such a big topic - but we're very specific, and we can say, what processes or activity do you want to automate, what's your drive for automation?
“Normally, it's a mixture of efficiency, in terms of doing it cheaper, plus it's also the quality, the time, and removing human error - and thirdly innovation, because you can actually do something now in a way that your competition can't.”
"In order to do this, you need the devices, the integration, and the capability - and that's what we bring to the market"
Referencing recent research that estimates the value of the IoT and wider digitalisation at several trillion dollars, Kitts notes that connectivity, and the infrastructure behind it, will play a major role in this.
“If you can imagine in a factory as an example, there's a few things you need, such as very fast connectivity, and you need very accurate positioning information - if you've got those two things, you know where your assets are in the factory and where they are in the process.”
“It's going to create an ecosystem of innovation that we haven't managed to unlock in the past.”
The increasing proliferation of 5G will also help accelerate such initiatives, and Nokia once again is in pole position to help enable this push.
“The great thing about 5G is that it can probably outstrip your imagination,” Kitts says, noting that Nokia is, “more than laser-focused on 5G... we see it as the key enabling technology for Industry 4.0.”
“It's going to be a very exciting time, our business is really going to change.”
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