Posts

Top 10 IoT Technology Challenges for 2017 and 2018

/by

Gartner, Inc., the IT research firm based in Stamford, Connecticut, recently published a forecast for the top ten IoT technology challenges for the coming two years.  The list covers a lot of ground, from hardware issues like optimizing device-level processors and network performance to such software considerations as developing analytics and IoT operating systems to abstract concepts like maintaining standards, ecosystems, and security.

“The IoT demands an extensive range of new technologies and skills that many organizations have yet to master,” said Nick Jones, Gartner vice president analyst. “A recurring theme in the IoT space is the immaturity of technologies and services and of the vendors providing them.”

Heading the list of needed expertise is security.  “Experienced IoT security specialists are scarce, and security solutions are currently fragmented and involve multiple vendors,” said Mr. Jones. “New threats will emerge through 2021 as hackers find new ways to attack IoT devices and protocols, so long-lived ‘things’ may need updatable hardware and software to adapt during their life span.”

To anyone considering the IoT, and particularly the Industrial IoT (IIoT) or Industrie 4.0, this should be a wake-up call.  As the recent power-grid hack in the Ukraine shows us, old-school approaches like VPNs will not be sufficient when an industrial system is exposed to the Internet. In the IoT environment, Skkynet’s secure by design approach ensures not only a fully integrated approach for the security issues that many are aware of today, but also a forward-looking approach that will meet future challenges.

Having taken security into consideration, there are other items on the list that we see as significant challenges, and for which we provide solutions.  Among these are:

  • IoT Device Management – Each device needs some way to manage software updates, do crash analysis and reporting, implement security, and more. This in turn needs some kind of bidirectional data flow such as provided by SkkyHub, along with a management system capable of working with huge numbers of devices.
  • Low-Power Network Support – Range, power and bandwidth restraints are among the constraints of IoT networks.  The data-centric architecture of SkkyHub and the Skkynet ETK ensure the most efficient use of available resources.
  • IoT Processors and Operating Systems – The tiny devices that will make up most of the IoT demand specialized hardware and software that combine the necessary capabilities of low power consumption, strong security, tiny footprint, and real-time response.  The Skkynet ETK was designed for specifically this kind of system, and can be modified to meet the requirements of virtually any operating system.
  • Event-Stream Processing – As data flows through the system, some IoT applications may need to process and/or analyze it in real time.  This ability, combined with edge processing in which some data aggregation or analysis might take place on the device itself, can enhance the value of an IoT system with little added cost.  Skkynet’s unique architecture provides this kind of capability as well.

According to Gartner, and in our experience, these are some of the technical hurdles facing the designers and implementers of the IoT for the coming years.  As IoT technology continues to advance and mature, we can expect other challenges to appear, and we look forward to meeting those as well.

Industrial Analytics: Predictive and Prescriptive

/by

A few blogs back we looked at growing interest in extracting value from IoT data through industrial analytics.  This interest has not sprouted up overnight.  Since the beginning of computer-assisted control systems, plant engineers and managers have been using their increasingly powerful and sophisticated tools to gather data, and then use the data to improve their processes.

For much of that time, the idea was to collect data in a database, and then at the end of the month or quarter, run various analytical tools on the data to see where the problems and bottlenecks were, and what could be changed.  This approach had some value, but it is essentially a reactive model.  Today, there is a general trend underway to go beyond simple reaction like this, and move towards the ability to predict problems, and if possible prescribe a solution.  In a recent blog, Blurred Lines Between Predictive and Prescriptive Analytics Mike Guilfoyle at ARC Advisory Group explains the value of each of these approaches to analytics, as well as their differences.

He breaks down this kind of pro-active analysis into three parts: performance, predictive and prescriptive, distinguished as follows:

  • Performance describes what is happening or has happened, and is the starting point of all analytics, reactive or pro-active.  The focus here is on current or past performance.
  • Predictive looks forward to what is most probable to happen, given the current conditions, using Big Data, machine learning, and other IT tools.
  • Prescriptive uses all of the above inputs, and adds to that a knowledge base and decision-making algorithms to prescribe what action can or should be taken.  In some instances, the system might actually even carry out the action, which is referred to as “closed-loop control.”

Guilfoyle goes on to identify some of important differences between predictive and presciptive analytics.  In fact, he will be leading a session on analytics best practices at the ARC Industry Forum this week.  You may not be able to attend, but his article is a good introduction.

In any case, the trend towards predictive and prescriptive analytics and any kind of closed-loop control based on such approaches highlights the need for secure, real-time access to plant data.  It is yet another example of the closing gap between OT and IT, and is an unmistakable benefit of the Industrial IoT.

Skkynet and Partners Showcase Secure IoT at ET2016 in Japan

/by
Joint collaboration between NiC and Skkynet partners BellChild and Nissin demonstrates secure, real-time connectivity for the IoT.

Mississauga, Ontario, November 8, 2016 – Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (“Skkynet”) (OTCQB: SKKY), a global leader in real-time cloud information systems, announces that NiC, a Skkynet subsidiary, will collaborate with Skkynet partners Nissin Systems Co. Ltd. and BellChild Co. Ltd. to demonstrate secure, end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity at ET2016 in Yokohama, Japan, later this month.  The joint exhibit, which features the Skkynet ETK connected to BellChild’s iBRESS Secure Micro Cloud Service, will give engineers, developers, and executives a chance to access and control Renesas Synergy™ Platform hardware from their mobile phones, over a secure, real-time, two-way data communications link.

“This demonstration represents a fusion of leading IoT technology―hardware, software, and services―to provide a seamless experience,” said Mr. Akira Iwata, President of NiC. “Developers working with Renesas Synergy can simply activate the Skkynet ETK for their project, and get immediate access to their data in a web browser or mobile phone.”

“Japan is a world leader in embedded technology,” said Paul Thomas, President of Skkynet.  “This show is the ideal venue for demonstrating the practical value of connecting embedded devices to the IoT.”

The ET2016 show is the largest of its kind, attracting developers and customers from all over Japan, as well as other parts of Asia and the world.  With two specialized sub-shows for embedded and IoT technologies, ET2016 caters to the expanding range of applications for embedded devices in all markets.

The Skkynet ETK (Embedded Toolkit) for the Renesas Synergy Platform is part of the Renesas Synergy Verified Software Add-on (VSA) Program. The ETK is offered by Skkynet free of any royalty or development-license fees, allowing engineers and developers to quickly and securely enable their projects for the IoT, while providing a platform to earn a recurring revenue stream.

The iBRESS Secure Micro Cloud Service can transmit mission-critical sensor data over a public cloud in real time, while conforming with or exceeding the most stringent security requirements in the industry. It can meet the individual needs of a wide range of corporate users, and provide flexible solutions for individuals and groups of clients in the financial or industrial sectors.

About Skkynet

Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: SKKY) is a global leader in real-time cloud information systems. The Skkynet Connected Systems platform includes the award-winning SkkyHub™ service, DataHub®, WebView™, and Embedded Toolkit (ETK) software. The platform enables real-time data connectivity for industrial, embedded, and financial systems, with no programming required. Skkynet’s platform is uniquely positioned for the “Internet of Things” and “Industry 4.0” because unlike the traditional approach for networked systems, SkkyHub is secure-by-design.  For more information, see http://skkynet.com.

Safe Harbor

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future, and results of new business opportunities. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, such as the inherent uncertainties associated with new business opportunities and development stage companies. Skkynet assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements. Although Skkynet believes that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be accurate. Investors should refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in Skkynet’s annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Recent IoT Attack on Dyn Calls for Secure By Design

/by

The recent denial of service attack on Dyn, a DNS service company for a huge chunk of the Internet, sure woke up a lot of people.  Somehow when it happens to you, you tend to feel it more.  Twitter, Netflix, Reddit, eBay, and Paypal users certainly felt it when they couldn’t access those sites.  Now that most of us are awake, what can we do about it?

In the short term, not a lot, apparently.  In a recent article about the attack titled Vulnerability Is the Internet’s Original Sin, Internet security expert and author of Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War, Fred Kaplan points out that from the beginning the costs and challenges of designing security into the Internet from the ground up was considered too challenging and costly.

Kaplan tells how, back in 1967, Willis Ware, the head of the Rand Corporation’s computer science department and a NSA scientific advisory board member, wrote a paper warning the ARPANET team and others that “once you put information on a network—once you make it accessible online from multiple, unsecure locations—you create inherent vulnerabilities … You won’t be able to keep secrets anymore.”

The Dyn attack was simple in concept and easy to execute.  The devices used were accessible household appliances and electronics, configured out of the box with simple default user names and passwords like “username”, “password”, and “12345”.  The virus cycled through these default credentials to recruit thousands of devices into a giant collective, which was then coordinated to flood Dyn with traffic.

To prevent this kind of hack, device manufacturers may start updating their devices to ensure more secure usernames and passwords.  But that ignores the elephant in the room.  The fundamental problem is that these IoT devices are available (they are always on, ready to communicate over the internet), they are accessible (they can be seen on the internet), and they are numerous (with numbers growing exponentially).  This combination of availability and accessibility, multiplied by the huge numbers, makes IoT devices perfect for coordinated attacks.  We can be sure that the bad actors are already working hard on defeating username/password protection on IoT devices.

Considering the first of these three critical factors, IoT functionality requires that IoT devices are available for communication.  There is not a lot we can do about availability.  Secondly, the business opportunities and economic promise make device proliferation unstoppable.  We have to expect continued rapid growth.  But we can do something about the third critical factor: accessibility.

No IoT device should be sitting on the Internet with one or more open ports, waiting for something to connect to it.  The device can and should be invisible to incoming probes and requests to connect.  A hacker or bot should not even see the device, let alone be given the chance to try a username or password.  That technology exists, is easy and inexpensive to implement, and has been proven in thousands of industrial installations for over a decade.  Governments and manufacturers need to be employing it across the full range of IoT applications.

Skkynet Connectivity to be Showcased by Renesas at ARM TechCon 2016

/by
Live demo of secure, real-time connectivity for the IoT uses SkkyHub™ and Skkynet ETK running on Renesas Synergy™ Platform.

Mississauga, Ontario, October 24, 2016 – Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (“Skkynet”) (OTCQB: SKKY), a global leader in real-time cloud information systems, announces that its real-time connectivity solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT) will be showcased at the Renesas Electronics booth #412 at ARM TechCon 2016 from October 26-27 in Santa Clara, California.  A live demonstration of Skkynet’s ETK running on the Renesas Synergy™ Platform and connecting to SkkyHub™ will allow hardware engineers, software developers, and industry executives to access and control Synergy-based embedded systems from in-plant, mobile and the IoT cloud, in real time.

“The Skkynet ETK connected to SkkyHub gives Renesas Synergy users immediate and secure access to the IoT,” said Paul Thomas, President of Skkynet.  “At ARM TechCon, engineers and developers will experience for themselves how easy it is to monitor and control an ARM device in real time from a smartphone.”

With over 80 billion installed in devices worldwide, the ARM architecture and ARM-based processors account for the majority of embedded systems today.  Supporting the development of this technology, ARM TechCon attracts over 4,000 industry professionals, technical experts, hardware engineers and software developers in the ARM ecosystem, making it the largest, best-attended annual show of its kind.

The Skkynet demo at ARM TechCon consists of a Renesas Synergy S7 Series development board running the ETK, which is connected via the Internet to the SkkyHub cloud service.  Data from the board is displayed graphically on the web with WebView™, allowing show attendees to monitor and control lights and indicators on the demo board in real time from their smartphones.  This secure, end-to-end connectivity between the Synergy-based embedded solution, the ETK, SkkyHub, and WebView combine to produce a seamless experience of the IoT.

Skkynet’s SkkyHub service allows industrial and embedded systems to securely network live data in real time from any location. It enables bidirectional supervisory control, integration and sharing of data with multiple users, and real-time access to selected data sets in a web browser. The service is capable of handling over 50,000 data changes per second per client, at speeds of just microseconds over Internet latency. Secure by design, it requires no VPN, no open firewall ports, no special programming, and no additional hardware.

The Skkynet ETK (Embedded Toolkit) for the Renesas Synergy Platform is part of the Renesas Synergy Verified Software Add-on (VSA) Program. The ETK is offered by Skkynet free of any royalty or development-license fees, allowing engineers and developers to quickly and securely enable their projects for the IoT, while providing a platform to earn a recurring revenue stream.

About Skkynet

Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (OTCQB:SKKY) is a global leader in real-time cloud information systems. The Skkynet Connected Systems platform includes the award-winning SkkyHub™ service, DataHub®, WebView™, and Embedded Toolkit (ETK) software. The platform enables real-time data connectivity for industrial, embedded, and financial systems, with no programming required. Skkynet’s platform is uniquely positioned for the “Internet of Things” and “Industry 4.0” because unlike the traditional approach for networked systems, SkkyHub is secure-by-design. For more information, see http://skkynet.com.

Safe Harbor

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future, and results of new business opportunities. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, such as the inherent uncertainties associated with new business opportunities and development stage companies. Skkynet assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements. Although Skkynet believes that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be accurate. Investors should refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in Skkynet’s annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Skkynet’s SkkyHub Powers Becker Mining Demo at MINExpo 2016

/by
Leading gas monitoring system now IoT-ready, providing access to critical data for operations, maintenance, and management personnnel.

Mississauga, Ontario, September 26, 2016 – Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (“Skkynet”) (OTCQB: SKKY), a global leader in real-time cloud information systems, announces that its SkkyHub™ technology is being used to provide real-time, remote data displays for a Becker Varis SSFM-100 smartsense® Atmospheric and Environmental System demonstration at MINExpo 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Show participants will be able to view live data from the SSFM-100 on a display monitor, as well as securely from their mobile phone browsers over their own cellular connection, in real time.

The SSFM-100 smartsense® monitor provides a lighted display on the sensor itself for a user to read data directly, and it also supports standard industrial data communications protocols like Modbus and OPC.  Connecting in this way to SkkyHub enhances the SSFM-100 by allowing its data to be viewed by any authorized user’s computer or mobile phone, with SkkyHub WebView™.

“Connecting to SkkyHub makes the SSFM-100 IoT-ready,” said Jian Zhao, Engineering Manager – Environment and Safety at Becker Varis.  “Mine managers can monitor the gas levels in the mine from a computer in the office, while ventilation maintenance personnel can see the same data from their smartphones from any location.  Here at our offices, we can also use that data for routine or emergency maintenance on the equipment, as needed.”

“This demonstration is a real-world example of the practical value of the Industrial IoT, and SkkyHub’s implementation of it,” said Paul Thomas, President of Skkynet.  “It’s all about putting useful or critical data into the hands of people who need it, on-site or remote, at any level of the organization.”

The smartsense® fixed monitor SSFM-100 with its integrated controller functions as a black box storing critical information such as calibration record, Alarm History and Data Logging for post-accident investigation. The SSFM-100 is an all-in-one package and eliminates the need for complex cables connections and troublesome programming, out of the box the SSFM-100 is the most versatile and hassle free Atmospheric and Environmental System on the market. The SSFM-100 system design has taken into account the requirements of the industry and placed on the security and features into a single compact design but still maintaining the main requirement of reliability / accuracy / low power consumption.

The SkkyHub service allows industrial and embedded systems to securely network live data in real time from any location. It enables bidirectional supervisory control, integration and sharing of data with multiple users, and real-time access to selected data sets in a web browser. The service is capable of handling over 50,000 data changes per second per client, at speeds of just microseconds over Internet latency. Secure by design, it requires no VPN, no open firewall ports, no special programming, and no additional hardware.

About Becker Mining Systems

Becker Mining Systems is a system supplier for mining infrastructure with its headquarters in Friedrichsthal, Germany. With 1,800 employees in every essential mining region, the company, which is completely family-owned, sells its products to the leading mining companies of the world. In addition to Germany, Becker Mining Systems is also represented by its own subsidiaries in France, Poland, Russia, China, South Africa, Australia, the United States, Canada and Chile. Since the middle of the 1980s, Becker Mining Systems has followed a consistent internationalisation strategy and thus countered the receding mining market in its home country.

About Skkynet

Skkynet Cloud Systems, Inc. (OTCQB: SKKY) is a global leader in real-time cloud information systems. The Skkynet Connected Systems platform includes the award-winning SkkyHub™ service, DataHub®, WebView™, and Embedded Toolkit (ETK) software. The platform enables real-time data connectivity for industrial, embedded, and financial systems, with no programming required. Skkynet’s platform is uniquely positioned for the “Internet of Things” and “Industry 4.0” because unlike the traditional approach for networked systems, SkkyHub is secure-by-design. For more information, see http://skkynet.com.

Safe Harbor

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined in the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements in this press release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements, including beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future, and results of new business opportunities. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, such as the inherent uncertainties associated with new business opportunities and development stage companies.  Skkynet assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements. Although Skkynet believes that any beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be accurate. Investors should refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in Skkynet’s annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.