It’s hard to pin down a precise explanation for what makes up the Internet of Things (IoT) stack. The problem is that the platforms and solutions are evolving as rapidly as the applications they’re used for. Three years ago, the IoT stack was smart applications, data analytics, connectivity, sensors and product infrastructure. Or thereabouts. Today, that stack has been shoved onto a technological precipice, with Gartner predicting that edge computing will continue to lead the trend charge in 2019 and a Forrester survey claiming that the edge is where all those complex datasets are about to be analysed. There are claims that the edge will eat the cloud and this heralds changes to how IoT will stack up.

The IoT architecture consists of multiple sectors and tiers that allow for the collection of data from sensors connected to, or embedded in, assets and devices. The data produced by IoT devices is processed by the computing and analytics that are powerful enough to interpret the information while sitting right on that edge that’s getting all the attention. The movement of IoT data to aggregation systems and data repositories is handled by a network, dashboards and reports are used to translate the data for humans, and the entire pipeline has to be curated for efficiency, capability, agility and security. And every inch of this stack has to be crafted in such a way to ensure that the organisation is capable of understanding its data and doing a decent job of leveraging its IoT investment.