How To Achieve Network Optimization For IoT

With analyst firms forecasting exabytes of IoT-related network traffic by the mid-2020s and billions of IoT devices projected to be connected, it’s clear that IoT networks need to be optimised to minimise the impact of IoT traffic on other services using cellular networks and to ensure maximised utilisation of network resources on other types of networks. The application traffic is only part of the challenge, the number of devices involved in IoT will mean a radical increase in the volume of non-app related traffic as devices send messages in the control plane of networks.

Managing networks for IoT is a different discipline to that of smartphone networks because of the different profile of IoT traffic which is subject to pronounced, yet predictable peaks and troughs. Sensor networks, for example, may communicate on the hour, every hour, but other apps such as connected car services might put more stress on the network if traffic becomes bunched up in a jam. Optimisation is therefore a critical goal and organisations are looking to ensure they can optimise as IoT services mature and the mass market of billions of devices emerges.