IT Spending to Climb in 2018

IT spending will continue to climb in 2018, projected to reach $3.7 trillion, an increase of 4.5 percent over 2017, according to Gartner. Investments in digital business, blockchain, IoT and progression from big data to algorithms to machine learning to artificial intelligence will be the main drivers of growth, according to a press release.

IIC to Host IoT Forum on Energy

The Industrial Internet Consortium will present a one-day forum on the impact of IIoT on the energy industry on Feb. 9. The MITRE Corp. will host the forum in McLean, Va. The event, offered in partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology and part of the IIC Global Event Series, will showcase IIoT technologies, as well as IIC and NIST activities in the energy sector. It will include experts from both organizations, and shine a spotlight on smart grids, industrial analytics, cybersecurity and standards. Those interested can register here.

Okiru Targets ARC Processors, According to Researcher

A new variant of the Mirai botnet, a DDoS attack that brought down a large portion of the web in 2016, that targeted connected devices with ARC processors has been discovered by an independent Japanese security researcher, according to reports. The so-called Okiru variant targets the very common 32-bit embedded Argonaut RISC Core processor from ARC, which can be found in more than a billion IoT devices, according to coverage in SC Media.

Advice on Securing Connected Devices

Security journalist Brian Krebs offered some advice for securing IoT devices in his recent column. Avoid connecting the devices directly to the Internet without a firewall or in front of a firewall, change the device’s default credentials (if you can), and check for and update firmware, are among the tips he offers.

Arrow to Collaborate with AT&T

Arrow Electronics will collaborate with the AT&T Internet of Things Foundry in Plano, Texas, a collaborative workspace and incubation facility designed to help companies innovate with connected IoT solutions. Arrow will contribute its full suite of “Sensor-to-Sunset” technology, including engineering and production resources, to help customers get their products to market quickly, according to a press release. “Sensor-to-Sunset” is Arrow’s portfolio of technology from sensors, wireless connectivity, gateways to cloud platforms, data ingestion, aggregation and visualization, analytics and security.

Smart Fleet Management to Grow

The global smart fleet management market is expected to reach $565.1 billion by 2025, according to a study from Grand View Research, Inc., with a compound annual growth rate of 7.6 percent. The automotive segment will register the fastest growth during the forecast period, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.2 percent. Autonomous vehicles, telematics and vehicular communications will drive this segment, according to a press release.

How to Choose an Edge Computing Platform

MachNation co-founder and President Steve Hilton detailed five requirements for edge computing platforms in a Network World article. Platforms should have extensive protocol support for data ingestion, robust capability for offline functionality, provide cloud-based orchestration to support lifecycle management, a hardware-agnostic scalable architecture, and comprehensive analytics and visualization tools, according to the article.