It is amazing to see the trajectory of data growth that has been triggered by myriad devices, macro and micro, that capture and create data. Today’s data is more than ever; tomorrow will have more. The internet of Things is the latest contributor to the huge amounts of data being created every day. This new surge in data has prompted the industry once more to examine data management strategies from the perspectives data gravity, scale, integration, and general safety. The traditional approaches to data management of yesterday are not sufficient for dealing with IoT’s volume, diversity, and interconnectivity. Both centralized and scalable management are essential.

Globally scalable infrastructure is essential

IoT’s massive data volumes are the first shock wave IT organizations must deal with. Data volumes are increasing over the years. However, storage space and costs have decreased making it easier to manage these data volumes. Rethinking the entire data cycle is necessary because of the IoT’s increasing data volumes, location and speed. Think about how much data is generated by autonomous vehicles. If you enable location services on your smartphone, you can think about how many data you generate per day. We’re asking these questions again about data management:

• Is the current network and communications infrastructure capable of handling these volumes?
• Which location is best for managing these data — the data center, the cloud, or all three?
• Who should have access? Operations, maintenance, compliance and finance.
• What are the legal and operational requirements for data retention?
• What is the projected data growth for the next three-years?

These questions are both practical and rhetorical. However, there is a common thread to all of them: The need to scale up your IT infrastructure to support data growth and management for many years.

This is a growing trend that enterprises are responding to by moving to the cloud. The cloud has shown financial and operational advantages over on-premises data centres. However, many enterprises face the challenge of coordinating with cloud providers to support the diverse applications, data, and geopolitical needs of their enterprise. A reduced cost for capital and operating expenses can result in greater complexity when managing diverse infrastructures.

IoT data gravity is a source of value

It acquires gravity as the IoT data volume increases in any given location. This means that other functions or applications find value in the data as it grows in volume. These applications then increase the volume. An instrumented drillstring on an offshore platform records depth, speed and angle as well as temperature and other operational data. All of this information is useful for managing a single downhole operation.

This data is even more valuable when it’s combined with data from hundreds of other downhole operations. Operators can use this data to predict and optimize drilling operations in similar locations or environments. It could be combined with geomorphic data to make exploratory techniques more efficient. Operator data can also be beneficial to equipment manufacturers, particularly when it indicates failures or suboptimal performance. This information can be used to improve product design and preventative maintenance.

Large data volumes can provide more insight which can be beneficial to operators, manufacturers, and maintenance personnel. The data’s inherent value is greater the larger the data volume. These data can only be captured, managed and shared securely by your IT infrastructure.

Secure integration is essential for IoT

IoT’s value comes in large part from interconnectivity between devices, processors, storage and applications at the physical level. Sharing these data securely with legitimately interested parties increases their value. An analysis of operational data provided by customers can be a huge benefit to a drilling equipment manufacturer.

Secure integration between the various components and connections of your IoT environment can be a difficult task. How can you connect, gather, exchange, and manage data efficiently while maintaining security as data moves across an IoT network?

This problem is addressed by the concept of interconnection, private data exchanges among businesses. It allows data sources to be integrated with digital services at the edge, reducing latency and optimizing performance. Real-time processing is an essential requirement for many IoT operations. This is because operational data can be generated on the factory floor and need to be analyzed at busy intersections.

Encryption strategy for data security

Enterprises must not only secure data in motion but also ensure data is safe at rest. Cyberattacks are not limited to personal and financial data. Any enterprise that has significant physical operations, such as manufacturing, utilities or transportation, chemical and petroleum products, city infrastructures, telecommunications, etc., must now be concerned about the security of intellectual and operational data.

An operational data store could be compromised and a hacker can modify it secretly to disable critical processes. Protect intellectual property. Organizations that depend on it, such as research and proprietary processes, must be protected.

While data security is complex and requires multifaceted approaches, a solid data encryption strategy can be your best defense. A centralized approach to encryption key administration is essential in the IoT context. This is due to the distributed nature of operations across multiple clouds environments. This will allow you manage encryption keys throughout their entire lifecycle, no matter where they are used.

Encryption key management must be delivered in a service. Traditional hardware security module ( ) cannot scale in multi-cloud environments. The service of encryption key management provides additional data security. It separates encrypted data from the key. Without access to the encryption keys, encrypted data is ineffective ciphertext.

IoT that is reliable and scalable

A global platform allows you to connect, deploy and scale your IoT infrastructure. This will allow you to address issues such as data gravity, scalability and integration more effectively. Instead of trying to build your IoT infrastructure piece-by-piece, work with an organization that has a global footprint and has access to IoT services from the best-in-class providers. HSM-as a service simplifies provisioning and controlling encryption keys. It also provides cloud scalability and secure key storage.