Industrial Internet Of Things (IIoT)

The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), a term coined by GE represents a smart principle in product design and data-driven automation processes in the industrial/manufacturing sectors (Ranger, 2019).
The IoT commonly uses modern sensor technology with remote control and maintenance capabilities to optimize various types of equipment. The tiny low-cost sensors and high-bandwidth wireless networks now make it possible to connect even the smallest devices, providing a degree of digital intelligence that enables us to monitor and track, and to exchange their status information and communicate with other devices.
The IIoT is very significant because of its potential to enable quicker and improved decision-making. The transition that the IIoT can bring is also closely related to the projects of digital transformation that many organizations are working on. The IIoT companies help to better understand the business operations effectively and efficiently by providing very detailed data in real-time. And from analysing the data from the sensors able to create new revenue streams (Saqlain, Piao, Shim, & Lee, 2019; Wu, Rüdiger, & Yuce, 2017). The IIoT can also offer businesses with an insight into the wider supply chain, allowing companies to collaborate and create more efficiencies.

Industrial IoT vs IoT
The internet of things and the industrial internet of things have many common technologies, including cloud platforms, sensors, networking, machine-to-machine communications, and data analytics, but used for various purposes.
The Industrial IoT varies from other IoT applications where IIoT focuses on the role of industrial machines and equipment in oil and gas, energy grid and healthcare industries. In IIoT implementation, system failures and downtime can lead to high-risk situations or even life-threatening circumstances. IIoT applications are more concerned with improving efficiency and health or safety (Wu, Wu, & Yuce, 2018).
Whereas the consumer IoT, including agriculture, healthcare, government, consumer utilities involves applications that usually do not cause emergencies if something goes wrong like smart watches or smart home appliances at the consumer level.
Simply stated, IIoT applications are more at stake where system failures and downtime can lead to life-threatening or high-risk circumstances and on others, the user IoT aims to make life easier or more enjoyable for others.

Benefits of IIoT applications:
The Industrial Internet of Things is a strategic priority for manufacturing industries as it enables them to add value to their customers in order to improve the cost-efficiency of their processes. Smart technologies are becoming a significant point of sale for modern industrial equipment, not least because they simplify field service and reduce the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of the customer (Jalali, Kaiser, Siegel, & Madnick, 2017).
For manufacturing companies, the Industrial Internet of Things is essential as it enables them to add value to their customers as well as improve their cost-efficiency in their internal operations. Smart technologies become a significant point of sale for modern industrial machinery, not least because it simplifies field service and decreases the customer’s TCO (Total Ownership Cost). The entire production process is easier to check and control with IoT enabled production lines. Eventually, IoT encourages more modular, accessible architectures through tens of thousands of devices which allow greater flexibility and virtual updates.

Risks to IIoT systems
The lack of proper security measures causes the most security issues related to the IIoT. Security vulnerabilities such as open ports, insufficient encryption, and obsolete software lead to threats emerging. Combine these with making the network linked directly to the internet and invite more potential risks.
The unsafe IIoT systems, among other significant consequences, could lead to organizational disruption and financial loss. More linked environments lead to more security risks, such as:
• Software vulnerabilities lead to device attacks.
• Internet-connected devices and systems lead to publicly searchable.
• Malevolent activities like hacking, targeted attacks, and data breaches.
• System process manipulation that may cause operational failure.
• System malfunction can result in operator health and safety issues.

Applications of IIoT
Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is an ever-increasing and fast-growing industry that accounts for most of the global market share for IoT spending (Ben-Daya, Hassini, & Bahroun, 2019). Almost in every sector, Industrialists & manufactures have a remarkable opportunity not only to monitor but also helps to automate many of the complex manufacturing process involved. Industries and plants have had sensors and devices to track progress for a long time, but IoT is taking a step further and offering intricacies even to the minute issues (Evans, 2011).
Some of the IIoT applications are shown below:

The Industrial IoT Group lists these possible uses of IIoT (Ibarra-Esquer, González-Navarro, Flores-Rios, Burtseva, & Astorga-Vargas, 2017):
1. Smart factory warehousing applications
2. Predictive/Preventive maintenance.
3. Freight, goods and transportation handling.
4. Smart city applications.
5. Smart farming and livestock monitoring.
6. Industrial security and safety systems
7. Energy consumption
8. Industrial heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
9. Manufacturing equipment maintenance.
10. Asset tracking and smart logistics.
11. Industrial environment monitoring.
12. Employee welfare.
13. Employee Safety and health conditions monitoring.
14. Asset performance management
15. Production management
Current industries may adapt to an IoT ecosystem for process improvements, better management, cost-effectiveness, and overall efficiency. Through analysing Big Data from thousands of tiny sensors, future industries can use the power of IoT infrastructure for product optimization. Industrial IoT is a fast-growing technology with infinite potential for future industries and production units. By 2020, Bain & Company foreseen that the industrial IoT applications will produce double that of the consumer IoT segment (Schallehn, Schorling, Bowen, & Straehle, 2019).