Stay Ahead of the Curve: Four Hot Tech Trends and Industry Headlines to Watch

A number of key tech trends are dominating industry headlines in 2023. They’re disrupting a diverse range of industries and signaling the world’s entry into the Fourth Industrial Revolution (“Industry 4.0”) which will be marked by rapid change to technology, industries, societal patterns, and processes at the hands of increasing interconnectivity and smart automation.

Are you up to speed on these trends?

Wi-Fi 6

Officially certified in 2020, IEEE Standard 802.11ax™ enhances the speed and reliability of wireless networks. (It is especially effective in high-density environments where a large number of devices are connected to a network.) This standard represents the underlying technology of the latest Wi-Fi 6 products.

According to Network World’s Neal Weinberg, “Wi-Fi 6 has quickly become the de facto standard for wireless LAN technology (WLAN) superseding Wi-Fi 5, and delivers improved performance, extended coverage and longer battery life compared to Wi-Fi 5.” Thanks to its more efficient quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) and spectrum utilization, he expects Wi-Fi 6  to deliver a nearly 40% increase in pure throughput.

Impacting everything from telehealth and security to defense, food service, manufacturing, the automotive industry, and much more, IEEE Standard 802.11ax ushers in a new era in remote imaging, surveillance, and smart communications in today’s highly connected landscape.

Configuration Management

As part of an alarming and ongoing trend, Security Magazine reported that global cyber attacks in 2022 increased by 38% over 2021 levels. Based on similar findings in a recent Allianz Risk Barometer report, Forbes contributor Chuck Brooks concurred that cyber security threats remain a top issue for organizations, even amid other recent worldwide challenges Specifically, “cyber perils are the biggest concern for companies globally,” Brooks said. “The threat of ransomware attacks, data breaches, or major IT outages worries companies even more than business and supply chain disruption, natural disasters, or the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which have heavily affected firms in the past year.”

Configuration management (CM) is among an organization’s best defenses against this growing threat. According to cybersecurity provider UpGuard, CM principles help optimize servers, networks, operating systems, and other IT assets, while also enhancing the consistency and traceability of configuration changes and minimizing the risk of data breaches.

Benefitting a diverse range of industries— from finance and healthcare to engineering, automotive, defense, and many others— CM helps build IT systems that better manage and respond to critical incidents while enhancing safety, security, and reliability.

Time Sensitive Networking

Fueled by a set of IEEE 802® standards known industry-wide as the “TSN toolset,” time sensitive networking enables data traffic of time-critical applications to be carried over a network shared by various kinds of applications having different Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. According to CISCO’s white paper entitled “Time-Sensitive Networking: A Technical Introduction,” “TSN technology is centrally managed and delivers guarantees of delivery.” In the case of autonomous vehicles, for example, TSN helps provide the quick processing and clear communication needed for the safe and accurate operation of everything from the steering wheel and brakes to anti-lock/anti-slip functions and road-scanning systems. And in the world of industrial automation, TSN helps ensure connectivity and real-time quality of service to mission-critical industrial applications involving robots, smart sensor/meters, intelligent manufacturing, and more.

Because it allows engineers and technicians to determine the exact time it will take for traffic to travel across a network (achieving what’s known as “determinism”) and also assesses delays in the process, TSN will deliver tremendous benefits to a diverse range of industries that rely on rapid and reliable connectivity, including industrial automation, manufacturing, automotive and aerospace, telecommunications, entertainment, and more.

Internet of Things (IoT) Security

According to Statista, the number of IoT-connected devices globally is expected to triple from 9.7 billion in 2020 to over 29 billion in 2030. While this trend reflects greater global connectivity than ever, it also exposes this rapidly growing number of devices to a broad range of threats if they’re not properly protected. Because IoT attacks present a variety of risks, the need for and value of robust IoT security has never been more imperative. An understanding of the evolving legislation behind IoT security and need for best security practices will impact everyone from product developers and device manufacturers to engineers, smart city planners, and more.

Let IEEE Help You Sharpen Your Skills and Prepare for the Future

Don’t fall behind in 2023! Stay on top of these major trends and technologies by staying up to date with IEEE. You can find training on a variety of hot topics by browsing the IEEE Learning Network, an online platform featuring hundreds of resources.

Resources

Weinberg, Neal. (24 May 2022). What is Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), and why do we need it? Network World.

UpGuard. (1 August 2022). What Is Configuration Management and Why Is It Important? UpGuard Website content..

Brooks, Chuck. (21 January 2022). Cybersecurity in 2022 – A Fresh Look at Some Very Alarming Stats. Forbes.

Anderson, Joy LePree. (20 January 2023). Global Cyberattacks Increased 38% in 2022. Security Magazine.

(2017). Time-Sensitive Networking: A Technical Introduction. CISCO White Paper.

Vailshery, Lionel Sujay. (22 November 2022). Number of Internet of Things (IoT) connected devices worldwide from 2019 to 2021, with forecasts from 2022 to 2030. Statista.