The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing how people function — from smartphones to smart homes and everything in between. As people and things become increasingly connected via the Cloud, new horizons loom.

By 2020, the amount of Internet-connected things will reach 50 billion, with $19 trillion in profits and cost savings coming from IoT over the next decade. And 82 percent of companies will have implemented some kind of IoT into their business by 2017.

What could 2016 hold for the adoption of IoT? We asked experts across the tech industry to weigh in with their predictions.

IoT will dramatically impact IT networks

Tony Bishop, VP of Global Enterprise Vertical Strategy & Marketing at Equinix, Inc.

Record-breaking adoption and expansion of IoT devices and sensors will continue to accelerate, resulting in a flood of data that severely strains network capacity and security. We predict that in 2016, enterprises will work to more seamlessly combine networked intelligence with the data being processed by sensors and actuators. This will enable the enterprise to gain more control of its information and enhance its ability to use the IoT to quickly adapt to changing conditions, create new value and drive new growth.

Enterprises can improve their agility in rapidly changing IoT environments by deploying infrastructure that enables direct and secure connections between the multiple components that must be in synch to exploit the real-time insights the IoT offers. That kind of interconnection ensures employees, partners and customers can get the information they need, in the right context, using the devices, channels and services they prefer. Businesses will realize this, meaning robust interconnection will become a more prominent solution in this space in 2016, as an intersection point between IoT, clouds and the enterprise becomes increasingly necessary.

Smart home companies will become household brands, not luxury items

Chris Klein, CEO of Rachio, Inc.

Early adopters of smart home products are a small group of tech fanatics. However, the demographic of smart home users is vastly expanding beyond just 30-to-40-year-olds in single-family homes. In 2015, smart home companies tackled many refinements, extensions and upgrades to make their products more accessible and valuable to homeowners than ever before. Because of this, in 2016, smart home companies like Nest, Ecobee, August and Ring — to name a few — will become household brands versus being seen as cool-but-not-necessary luxury tech products. In fact, 68 percent of Americans are confident smart homes will be as commonplace as smartphones within 10 years.

The cost of owning a house is the biggest expense in a homeowner’s life. Housing eats up most of the average person’s budget, accounting for 33 percent of their annual expenses. Smart home products promise to save time, energy and money for homeowners, with 45 percent of smart home product users saying these products have saved them $1,100 per year, and 87 percent saying they have made their lives easier. As a result, smart home products will become standard household brands in the coming year.

IoT will cause a true security threat

Haiyan Song, SVP of Security Markets at Splunk, Inc.

IoT will become a significant threat surface for the enterprise, leading to more physical disruption and new solutions. Internet-connected systems will create opportunities for hacktivists and terrorist organizations to access and productize information, and businesses will have to adapt to manage this new threat surface. Cyber attacks have historically caused little physical damage, but the proliferation of IoT will cause more disruption and actual physical damage versus just hardware and software disruption.

Mark Painter, security evangelist of HPE Security Products at Hewlett Packard Enterprise

We’ve been talking about IoT for some time, but in 2016, IoT will rapidly expand the attack surface and present a very real threat to individuals, businesses and governments. Adversaries will exploit the influx of connected devices – everything from watches to cars to critical national infrastructure – to obtain personal and sensitive information. IoT represents the next battleground as we move toward smarter environments and adversaries advance their tactics to take advantage of new vulnerabilities that arise.

IoT companies will expand beyond the hardware

Chris Klein, CEO of Rachio, Inc.

Now that IoT companies have mastered hardware, 2016 will be the year of sophisticated, forward-thinking software.

Smart home products in 2016 will offer unprecedented technology — so much more than the physical product you see in front of you. IoT companies will start to broaden the value of their hardware platforms with the addition of advanced upgrades and integrations with professional software services tied to their markets. Through these integrations, users will gain better features, more possibilities and more value from the same hardware they already own. Impressive hardware will simply not be enough in 2015 – in 2016, innovative software will be a must.

The term ‘IoT’ will eventually vanish

Ross Garrett, product marketing at Push Technology Ltd.

As today’s connected, mobile-first world advances, the seamless delivery and integration of data in real time, at scale, no matter the connectivity available, will be paramount to this successful evolution. When data is sent efficiently and intelligently, we can expect to see … the term “Internet of Things” will disappear as data delivery techniques advance to become entirely seamless, connected devices will become the “new norm” and the term will disappear just like “surfing the Web.”

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