Current estimates suggest that the Internet of Things (IoT) will grow to 50 billion connected devices in the next five years. Cisco is keen to claim their share of the market, and has recently announced their planned acquisition of database vendor ParStream.
50 billion devices will generate vast amounts of data, storage of which will be the least of the CIOs problems. The falling cost of magnetic disk and all-flash arrays, or the option to acquire off lease hardware, means that adding capacity is relatively inexpensive.
However IoT data is only valuable if it can be analyzed and mined for insight – which is where ParStream comes in.
Timely data analysis at the edge
Built specifically for speed, ParStream allows users to analyse extremely large datasets in real time. More importantly still, this analysis can be completed at the edge, with minimal additional infrastructure costs.
The ParStream acquisition means that Cisco’s customers will be able to query billions of rows of data, using the most accurate and up-to-date information. Insights can be gathered and acted upon in almost real time, helping ParStream users maximize the value of their data, and establish new competitive advantages within their industry verticals.
IoT, Cisco ParStream and the cloud
The potentially huge volumes of data being generated by IoT sensors could be stored using cloud services, but this presents two problems. First, storage costs will quickly spiral out of control as the database grows exponentially. Second, offsite storage systems by their very design introduce latency into storage, retrieval and querying processes, preventing genuine real time analysis.
In recognition of this fact, ParStream operates at the edge of the corporate network, rather than in the cloud. In doing so, businesses can greatly increase the speed at which they process IoT data.
It is clear then that Cisco’s vision of the Internet of Things is heavily reliant on local data storage, using proximity to deliver insights more quickly and efficiently than many rival platforms. And Cisco customers may even find that these new benefits significantly outweigh any short-term savings made by adopting cloud storage and related services.
Learn more about extending on-site Cisco solutions and preparing for the future of IoT by calling the CDS team today on 
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