Open source dominates IoT and edge solutions

Connectivity, data security and data collection and analysis are the biggest roadblocks to IoT and edge computing adoption, according to the Eclipse Foundation’s 2022 IoT and Edge Commercial Adoption Survey report. The survey of more than 260 IoT and edge professionals identify the requirements, priorities and challenges faced by companies that deploy commercial solutions, including open-source technologies.

Findings show that connectivity (38%) is a top challenge in 2022, followed by data security (29%) and data collection and analytics (22%). This is similar to Eclipse’s recent IoT developer survey that found connectivity (47%), security (26%) and data collection and analytics (26%) as their biggest challenges.

The top operational challenges for IoT and edge computing are processing and managing data (23%), end-to-end IoT solution monitoring (18%) and budget management (17%), according to survey respondents. Other challenges cited include device management, extracting useful data from sensors and securing the network, devices and data.

The fourth annual survey report indicates that IoT and edge computing adoption continued to accelerate in 2022. According to respondents, 53% currently deploy IoT solutions, 24% plan to deploy within the next 12 months and 18% are currently evaluating deployments. For edge computing, 53% of respondents said they are either using or planning to use edge computing within 12 months, while 20% said they are currently evaluating the use of edge deployments.

The survey also reveals an increased reliance on open-source technologies, with 73% of respondents factoring open source into their deployment plans, while 27% do not use open-source technologies. “This clearly demonstrates that the dominant IoT and edge platforms will either be open-source or based on open source,” according to the report.

Survey respondents said the key benefit of using open source is the ability to customize or influence code in projects (30%), followed by flexibility (22%) and cost advantages (16%). Other benefits cited include shorter innovation cycles, more control and security.

Other key findings include:

• Higher investments: 23% of respondents project spending between $100,000 and $1 million in 2022, growing to 33% in 2023, while 10% expect to spend over $10 million, growing to 12% in 2023.
• Larger number of IoT and edge assets managed per deployment: Deployments of fewer than 1,000 managed assets will remain steady or decline, while larger deployments are on the rise. For asset implementation, 52% are a mix of both greenfield and brownfield.
• Strategic decision-making: IoT and edge are seen as strategic for companies with spending decisions driven by the C-suite, according to 38% of respondents, up from 35% in 2021. This is followed by IT personnel (20%) and collaborative stakeholders (20%).
• Rise in hybrid cloud strategy: 42% of respondents are using hybrid clouds for IoT deployments, followed by multi-cloud (21%), private cloud (19%) and public cloud (14%).

Sponsored by the Eclipse IoT Working Group and the Eclipse Edge Native Working Group, the 2022 IoT and Edge Commercial Adoption Survey report, now in its fourth year, surveyed more than 260 global developers, executives, engineering/R&D management and other industry participants in a broad range of industries. The adoption survey complements the annual IoT Developer Survey.

Other areas covered by the report include the biggest benefactors of IoT and edge adoption, greenfield and brownfield implementations and edge computing workloads. It also summarizes key recommendations for enterprises, solution providers and platform and software vendors.