In 2015, we will see the proliferation of frameworks for communicating with and controlling connected accessories in users’ homes. Communications apps based on TCP-over-Bluetooth will also emerge as well as lower power implementations of Wi-Fi. This is all according to Matt Osminer, Director of Engineering at Cardinal Peak, an engineering services firm that helps its customers bring Internet of Things (IoT) and video/audio products to market.

Osminer’s predictions about emerging technologies are all part of our second annual Technology Predictions series in which industry experts share their predictions with us about the hot tech trends that they think will take center stage in 2015. We’ll be sharing all of their predictions with you over the next several days. Read on for more from Osminer.

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Prediction No. 1: Homekit and similar frameworks will arise

Homekit, a new framework in iOS 8 for communicating with and controlling connected accessories in a user’s home, is going to make it a lot easier to configure residential IoT devices. Additionally, we expect to see a similar framework coming out of Google in response.

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Prediction No. 2: TCP-over-Bluetooth will emerge

The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet. In 2015, we will see TCP-over-Bluetooth emerge. This development will allow for the creation of some more interesting communications applications over Bluetooth.

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Prediction No. 3: Lower power implementations of Wi-Fi will emerge

Lower power implementations of Wi-Fi will allow Wi-Fi to make inroads against Zigbee. There has been a lot of discussion about protocols such as Zigbee and Z-wave and their use as an alternative to Wi-Fi. The primary issue with Wi-Fi use for IoT devices is power consumption; currently, Wi-Fi is not a great protocol if the IoT device needs to be battery-powered. Today, Zigbee and Z-Wave use far less power than Wi-Fi but we predict that Wi-Fi vendors will begin to resolve their power issues and, ultimately, Wi-Fi will prevail.

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Prediction No. 4: More “party trick” Internet of Things devices will appear

Unfortunately in the next year, we will see more “party trick” IoT devices, meaning devices that are simply connected to the Internet because they can be, not because they should be or because the connected feature adds extensive value to the user.

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Prediction No. 5: We will see an increase in the industrial and commercial use of IoT

While everyone is aware of the high-profile connected gadgets that can be purchased for the home, next year we will see an increase in the industrial and commercial use of IoT. For instance, connected devices that can track inventory and automatically alert stores of restocking needs.

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Prediction No. 6: More high-profile security breaches will occur

We will also see more high-profile security breaches. Sadly, the state of security in IoT devices is pretty poor and we predict that IoT hacks will continue to occur.

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2015 Technology Predictions graphic courtesy of SiliconANGLE