The document provides nine key predictions for the Internet of Things (IoT) in 2019, highlighting its potential impact on various industries and technologies such as digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. Significant trends include an increase in connected devices, investment growth, and the necessity for skilled professionals to support IoT development. Additionally, the document addresses challenges like standardization and security issues within IoT networks.

1. 9 IoT Predictions for 2019
Prof. Ahmed Banafa
IoT-Blockchain-AI Expert | Faculty | Author | Keynote Speaker
Continuing Studies –Stanford
College of Engineering- San Jose State University
CA, USA

2. Prof. Ahmed Banafa has extensive research work
with focus on IoT, Blockchain, cybersecurity and
and AI. He served as a faculty at well-known
universities and colleges.
He is the recipient of several awards, including
Distinguished Tenured Staff Award, Instructor of
of the year and Certificate of Honor from the City
City and County of San Francisco.
He was named as No.1 tech voice to follow by
LinkedIn, featured in Forbes, IEEE-IoT and MIT
MIT Technology Review, with frequent
appearances on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox TV and
and Radio stations.
He studied Electrical Engineering at Lehigh
University, Cybersecurity at Harvard University,
University, and Digital Transformation at MIT .
Author of “Secure & Smart IoT using Blockchain &
Blockchain & AI” book.
Prof. Ahmed Banafa

3. Secure and Smart Internet of Things
(IoT) Using Blockchain and AI

4. • By 2020, the Internet of Things (IoT) is predicted
to generate an additional $344B in revenues, as
well as to drive $177B in cost reductions.
• IoT and smart devices are already increasing
performance metrics of major US-based factories.
• They are in the hands of employees, covering
routine management issues and boosting their
productivity by 40-60% [1].

5. • The following list of predictions (Figure 1)
explores the state of IoT in 2019 and covering
IoT impact on many aspects business and
technology including Digital Transformation,
Blockchain, AI, and 5G.

7. IoT Prediction 1: Growth in Data and
Devices
• By the end of this year there will be are
around 3.6 billion devices that are actively
connected to the Internet and used for daily
tasks according to IT Pro [8].

8. • With the introduction of 5G that will open the
door for more devices, and data traffic. You
can add to this trend the increase adoption of
edge computing which will make it easier for
business to process data faster and close to
the points of action [5].

9. IoT Prediction 2: IoT and Digital
Transformation
• IoT is a key driver of digital transformation in
several industries. Sensors, RFID tags, and
smart beacons have already started the next
industrial revolution. Market analysts predict
the number of connected devices in the
manufacturing industry will double between
2018 and 2020.

10. • These devices are a total game changer for the
many industries, disrupting every part of the
production process from development to
supply chain management.
• Manufacturers will be able to prevent delays,
improve production performance. Another
example; in 2019; 87% of healthcare
organizations will have adopted IoT
technology.

11. • The possibilities are endless for healthcare
organizations and the IoT—smart pills, smart
home care, personal healthcare management,
electronic health records, managing sensitive
data, and an overall higher degree of patient
care.
• This type of improvements can be applied to
many sectors vertically and horizontally [6][9].

12. IoT Prediction 3: More Investments in
IoT
• IoT’s undisputable impact has and will
continue to lure more startup venture
capitalists towards highly innovative projects
in hardware, software and services.
• Spending on IoT will hit 1.4 trillion dollars by
2021 according to the International Data
Corporation (IDC) [7].

13. • IoT is one of the few markets that have the
interest of the emerging as well as the
traditional venture capitalists. The spread of
smart devices and the increase dependency of
customers to do many of their daily tasks
using them, will add to the excitement of
investing in IoT startups.

14. • Customers will be waiting for the next big
innovation in IoT—such as smart mirrors that
will analysis your face and call your doctor if
you look sick, smart ATM machine that will
incorporate smart security cameras, smart
forks that will tell you how to eat and what to
eat, and smart beds that will turn off the lights
when everyone is sleeping [5][14].

15. IoT Prediction 4: Expansion of Smart
IoT
• IoT is all about connectivity and processing,
nothing will be a better example than smart
cities , but smart cities have been in a bit of a
holding pattern recently.

16. • Smart sensors around the neighborhood will
record everything from walking routes, shared car
use, building occupancy, sewage flow, and
temperature choice 24/7 with the goal of creating
a place that’s comfortable, convenient, safe, and
clean for those who live there.
• Once the model is perfected, it could be the
model for other smart neighborhoods and
eventually smart cities [2].

17. • Another area of spreading smart IoT is auto
industry with self-driving cars become a
normal occurrence in the next few years,
today tons of vehicles have a connected app
that shows up to date diagnostic information
about the car. This is done with IoT
technology, which is the heart of the
connected vehicle.

18. • Diagnostic information is not the only IoT
advancement that we will see in the next year
or so. Connected apps, voice search, and
current traffic information are a few other
things that will change the way we drive [2].

19. IoT Prediction 5: Artificial Intelligence
and IoT Data
• Artificial intelligence is the fundamental
ingredient needed to make sense of the vast
amount of data collected these days, and
increase its value for business.
• AI will help IoT data analysis in the following
areas: data preparation, data discovery,
visualization of streaming data, time series
accuracy of data, predictive and advance
analytics, and real-time geospatial and location
(logistical data). Here are a few examples.

20. IoT Prediction 6: Fog Computing & IoT
• Fog computing is a technology that distributed
the load of processing and moved it closer to
the edge of the network (sensors in case of
IoT). The benefits of using fog computing are
very attractive to IoT solution providers.

21. • Some of these benefits allow users minimize
latency, conserve network bandwidth, operate
reliably with quick decisions, collect and
secure a wide range of data, and move data to
the best place for processing with better
analysis and insights of local data.
• Microsoft just announced a $5 billion
investment in IoT, including fog/edge
computing [3][4][5].

22. • Hardware manufacturers like Cisco, HPE, Dell and
more are building specific infrastructure for the
edge deigned to be more physically rugged and
secure, and security vendors will start to offer
endpoint security solutions to their existing
services to prevent data loss, give insights into
network health and threat protection, include
privileged user control and application
whitelisting and control, that will help in the fast
adoption and spread of edge/fog computing
implementations by businesses [2].

23. IoT Prediction 7: IoT and Blockchain
• The current centralized architecture of IoT is
one of the main reasons for the vulnerability
of IoT networks.
• With billions of devices connected and more
to be added, IoT is a big target for cyber-
attacks, which makes security extremely
important.

24. • Blockchain offers new hope for IoT security for
several reasons. First, Blockchain is public,
everyone participating in the network of
nodes of the Blockchain network can see the
blocks and the transactions stored and
approves them, although users can still have
private keys to control transactions.

25. • Second, blockchain is decentralized, so there is
no single authority that can approve the
transactions eliminating Single Point of Failure
(SPOF) weakness. Third and most importantly,
it's secure—the database can only be
extended and previous records cannot be
changed.

26. • In the coming years manufactures will
recognize the benefits of having blockchain
technology embedded in all devices and
compete for labels like “Blockchain
Certified”[3][5].

27. IoT Prediction 8: IoT and
Standardization
• Standardization is one of the biggest
challenges facing growth of IoT—it’s a battle
among industry leaders who would like to
dominate the market at an early stage.

28. • Digital assistant devices, including HomePod,
Alexa, and Google Assistant, are the future
hubs for the next phase of smart devices, and
companies are trying to establish “their hubs”
with consumers, to make it easier for them to
keep adding devices with less struggle and no
frustrations [3][5].

29. • But what we have now is a case of
fragmentation. One possible solution is to
have a limited number of vendors dominating
the market, allowing customers to select one
and stick to it for any additional connected
devices, similar to the case of operating
systems we have now have with Windows,
Mac and Linux for example, where there are
no cross-platform standards [3][5].

30. • To understand the difficulty of standardization,
we need to deal with all three categories in the
standardization process: Platform, Connectivity,
and Applications.
• In the case of platform, we deal with UX/UI and
analytic tools, while connectivity deals with
customer’s contact points with devices, and last,
applications are the home of the applications
which control, collect and analyze data.

31. • All three categories are inter-related and we
need them all, missing one will break that
model and stall the standardization process
[3][5].

32. • There is no way to solve the problem of
fragmentation without a strong push by
organizations like IEEE or government
regulations to have common standards for IoT
devices [3][5].

33. IoT Prediction 9: IoT Skills Shortage
• While investment in the Internet of Things (IoT) is
set to reach over $1 trillion by 2020, according to
IDC, the need for IoT skills may just hamper this
growth.
• In fact, according to a Canonical report, 68% of
businesses still struggle to hire IoT experts [10].
• The latest Tech Cities Job Watch report from
Experis showed a 35% increase in the demand for
technology skills since this time last year, as
businesses look to harness the power of IoT
[11][13].

34. • The Tech Cities Job Watch report noted that
IoT has massively increased the number of
connected devices and has exploded the
volumes of data businesses have to process
and as a result, big data roles are important to
delivering success on IoT.

35. • The report found that businesses were willing
to pay for such skills, with big data
professionals commanding by far the highest
salaries and day rates of any other technology
discipline analyzed [13].

36. • Since connected devices also create many
more vulnerabilities to cyber threats for
businesses to contend with, security skills are
also in demand, the report found.

37. • There has been a 24% increase (year-on-year)
in the demand for IT Security contractors.
• Businesses are urgently plugging short term
security gaps and using contractors to train up
existing employees across the business and
are shifting focus to this more flexible
contractor model for IT security in response to
the demands for IoT [13].

38. • Universities cannot keep up with the demand,
so to deal with such shortage, companies have
established internal training programs to build
their own teams, upgrading the skills of their
own engineering teams and training new
talents.
• This trend will continue, representing an
opportunity for new engineers and a
challenge for companies [3][5].

39. References
• https://mobidev.biz/blog/iot-trends-for-business-2018-and-beyond
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2018/07/31/five-iot-predictions-for-
2019/#5a73cf186edd
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/looking-ahead-whats-next-iot-ahmed-banafa/
• https://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2018/04/05/it-execs-see-promise-in-iot-reinforcing-microsofts-5b-
investment/
• https://www.amazon.com/Secure-Smart-Internet-Things-Iot/dp/8770220301/
• https://www.i-scoop.eu/internet-of-things-guide/internet-things-healthcare/
• https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/manufacturing/an-introduction-to-the-internet-of-
things/
• https://www.itproportal.com/features/next-big-things-in-iot-predictions-for-2020/
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-ai-blockchain-catalysts-digital-transformation-ahmed-
banafa/
• https://blog.ubuntu.com/2017/08/09/68-of-businesses-are-struggling-to-hire-talent-for-
iot?_ga=2.150705918.931132101.1502305379-1356650044.1502305379
• http://techcities.experis.co.uk/?utm_source=exp_insights&utm_medium=website&utm_ter
m=none&utm_content=q42017&utm_campaign=techcities
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/08/23/so-you-want-a-job-in-iot-here-
are-the-three-skills-every-iot-company-looks-for/#14a1f97c45b7
• https://www.idgconnect.com/idgconnect/analysis-review/1003535/talent-shortage-
hampering-iot-development
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/8-trends-iot-2018-ahmed-banafa/

40. Thank you!
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahmedbanafa
ahmed.banafa@sjsu.edu
@BanafaAhmed