Transforming the Internet of Things (IoT) to Visions for the Internet of Things**(VIoT)**
The Internet of Things (IoT) has taken the entire technological industry by storm. It has not only created pathways for new technological developments but also opened new economic avenues for people across the world. Furthermore, the closer integration it enjoys with our daily lives has made it an indispensable part of our generation. Along with the internet and smartphone economies, the Internet of Things (IoT) economy has established the triumvirate of the neoclassical model of economics which will only continue to evolve from the infantile state it currently is in. From the technological maturity perspective, the IOT is still in infancy. It has successfully tackled the survival challenges that any newborn faces but now to take a leap into the adulthood it needs to overcome certain critical challenges that it faces.
The quandary, plight and the predicament of the IoT can be summarized as below:
- Poor Compatibility: The IoT is not the only industry that has grown over the last few years. The hardware industry has equally grown at a fast pace and continues to do so. In such a scenario for IoT solutions to again adoption and bring in value — they cannot afford themselves to get restricted to a handful of devices. Instead, they must come with a capacity to integrate with disparate hardware devices while providing a low cost-experience at the same time. The challenge of interoperability needs to be effectively tackled thereby removing any limitations on the IoT platforms for connecting with different hardware manufacturers.
- Poor Security: In 2016, the world witnessed one of the biggest DDOS attacks across the Dyn servers providing services to leading multinationals. The attack was carried out using Mirai malware that created a huge force of botnets from the insecure IoT devices across the globe. The security is a pressing issue for the IoT devices which usually come with a default username and password which is the same for all devices manufactured by particular manufacture in a particular batch.
- Poor Scalability: For any business model to survive and thrive in the market, it needs to be made scalable. Unless the IoT model is not able to cope up with the growing complexity and interconnectivity demands of technology, the chances of survival are very few. Furthermore, the IoT realm is rife with problems such as outdated equipment, inefficiency, and high costs.
- Data uniformity: While compatibility can be solved through integration, the data uniformity can be solved only when there are certain defined standards of information sharing. E.g. in the realm of cybersecurity, the STIX/TAXII and CybOX have emerged as standard information sharing models. Similarly, the IoT industry needs to invent common standards of data sharing to ensure smooth information flow across disparate hardware.
- High-Cost: For any solution to gain greater adoption, it needs to be affordable with a high Return on Investment (ROI). Presently, the IoT industry is plagued with high communication costs, device-generated data storage costs and analysis-by-server costs.
- Low architecture flexibility: One of the foremost challenges in the present IoT models is low architectural flexibility. The present IoT solutions can face disruptions across the entire network while they are routing data across the centralized cloud storages. The low architectural flexibility throws up the challenge of the weak reliability which needs to be effectively tackled.
Waltonchain: The Vision, Mission and Beyond
The Waltonchain seems to be at the forefront of the technological revolution as it leverages the two new technological concepts of Named Data Network (NDN) and Service-Centric Networking (SCN) to bring user focus on what can be done with the IoT solutions after accessing the networks and at the same time cater to the whole new network service demand. Furthermore, the use of technologies like Blockchain and RFID will be key to solving the IoT’s pressing challenges in the following manner:
- Data Authentication: The IoT is slated to transform into a data generating mammoth. The data will be massive, transient, polymorphic and disparate. Unless precise tools are not leveraged, the data verification challenge cannot be solved. Therefore, Waltonchain will be using data labels, integration and packaging of massive data along with data authentication stamps to solve the data verification problem in the IoT industry.
- Data Query: Waltonchain is not a singular chain but a large multi-chain and cross-chain ecosystem. Each individual chain across this ecosystem will be able to accurately store its own data and feed it to the parent chain exosystem to realize the cross-chain query. This would require data union and professional distribution through modules that Waltonchain is adequately taking care of.
- Data Backup: The Blockchain technology being leveraged by Waltonchain will ensure the immutability of records in the distributed Blockchain ledger thus ensuring efficient data backup that cannot be amended, modified or falsified through any means.
- Data Sharing: The transparent and open data processing by Blockchain will greatly reduce communication, analysis, and data storage costs, and realize differentiated data processing and sharing. This will ensure data decentralization in the truest sense and effectively tackle the problem of low architectural flexibility.
- Data-cored: Data is valuable only when it is used. Data sources and channels are not the top concerns for the general public. The public is more concerned about data access and usage. Different access roles and scenarios should have corresponding data management and control.
- Equipment-based and Network-bound: The Blockchain technology being leveraged by the Waltonchain will ensure that a large amount of data flowing across different hardware equipment is being distributedly uploaded to the storage devices with utmost accuracy, credibility, and consistency. Furthermore, the Blockchain’s distributed ledger will tackle the problem of standardization of distributed and multivariate data being shared across different hardware equipment. To summarize in a few words, it will pave way for new business models to emerge.
- Data Consensus: Waltonchain has designed its own consensus mechanism called Waltonchain Proof of Contribution (WPoC) that leverages Proof of Work (PoW), Proof of Stake (PoS) and Proof of Labor (PoL).The mechanism will ensure consensus through real-time data uploading, falsification and tamper resistance and promote unity and integrity thereby effectively ensuring smooth data circulation.
- Data Co-governance: One of the heritage benefits of Blockchain technology is the co-governance that would be imparted by the decentralized and distributed storage. The Blockchain consensus mechanisms will ensure co-governance and coordination through encryption algorithms and confidentiality agreements.
- Data Co-sharing: The Waltonchain cross-chain ecosystem ensures that each chain including the parent and the child has the access to data on other chains in the ecosystem thereby ensuring data sharing and effectively solving the issue of quick indexing making it real-time in the truest sense.
- Data Co-integration: The Waltonchain is in the process of developing the main chain surrounded by multiple Blockchains. The parent chain at the heart of the cross child chains will ensure effective data circulation and value exchange solving the problem of data sharing and integrations.
Review Conclusion: The Final Marks
The overall review of Waltonchain can be summarized as a game-changer. With the use of seminal technologies like Blockchain and RFID technologies, the Waltonchain is slated to transform the Internet of Things (IoT) to Visions for the Internet of Things (VIoT) and solve all challenges being faced by it. It is only a matter of time when it realizes the goals of inculcating architectural flexibility, ensuring high scalability and data uniformity, transforming the IoT security and reducing overall costs. With the highly experienced team and the business advisors, Waltonchain is deemed to succeed in making IoT an authentic, traceable and data-fully shared economic model while imparting transparency at the same time.