When Pavlo Huk, the co-founder of Kyiv’s Assembly neo-bistro, leaves his restaurant, he does not worry about its security. Huk has an app on his smartphone that will notify him if something goes wrong.
This app is a part of a security system developed by Ukrainian company Ajax that uses wireless sensors to detect trespassing, flooding or fire in the building.
Unlike many other alarm systems that exclusively inform security companies about accidents, Ajax allows users to control the house directly or program the technology to make smart decisions itself. For example, Ajax can turn off the water if it senses leakage or automatically switch on the lights when a stranger enters the protected area.
To develop the system and connect it to smartphones, Ajax applies a technology called the internet of things, “when you take a conventional product and insert ‘smart features’ in it,” said Valentine Hrytsenko, chief marketing officer at Ajax.
Using modern technology and cellular networks, developers can make “smart” things out of everything — kettles, refrigerators, roads, and even whole cities. For businesses, it reduces labor costs, increases work efficiency, saves money and resources.
Ukraine does not have major constraints to develop the internet of things, said Vitaly Sedler, CEO of Ukrainian software engineering company Intellias.
With the current mobile internet coverage, which covers 85% of Ukraine, and reasonably cheap components for the internet of things, the task is “quite feasible,” according to Sedler.
However, the speed and quality of the internet, cybersecurity, and the mental readiness of businesses to use the new technology slows down the pace of adopting the tech in Ukraine.
Ukrainians need to know more about the internet of things and how to use it to realize the benefits, according to Jan Peter De Jong, the country manager at Microsoft Ukraine.
Connectivity is crucial
According to De Jong, devices connected to the internet of things don’t provide benefits to businesses themselves. But when connected to the network, machines and appliances collect data from the world and use this data to make automated decisions on their own in the future.
For example, Ukrainian company DeviceVoice creates internet-of-things tech for coffee vending machines. Such a coffee machine makes drinks without a barista and allows customers to pay for it with bank cards or via QR codes. But the tech also collects data about orders, determining which coffee is more popular and alerting the company if the coffee beans supply has to be replenished.
Used in Ukraine’s shopping malls, supermarkets, and gas and oil stations, the technology both reduces queues and improves sales, said Oleksii Golenko, chief financial officer of DeviceVoice.
This technology works because it connects users, coffee machines, and the company’s device into a single network.
Depending on the size of this ecosystem and the amount of data transferred, developers can choose certain internet-of-things protocols, said Zenoviy Veres, the solution architect at Ukraine’s largest IT company, SoftServe.
Ukrainian mobile operators Kyivstar, Vodafone, and lifecell have rolled out the internet of things protocol called NB-IoT — low power and wide-range — that coexists with the 4G network provided by the carriers at 900-megahertz frequencies.
The NB-IoT networks ensure that data is protected and can be transferred at high speed between tens of thousands of simultaneously connected devices. These devices can work up to 10 years from one battery while using this network, said Kostiantyn Vechir, business-to-business director at Kyivstar.
Telecom operators use this technology in agriculture, logistics, and infrastructure. It also helps develop decisions for smart cities, Vechir said.
However, the existing internet of things standards are not enough to test the whole capacity of the technology. “Industries are waiting for the 5G,” Sedler from Intellias said.
The fifth-generation network is about 20 times faster than 4G — enough to download a full-length HD movie in a few seconds. This network is crucial for industries that need quick response like autonomous driving or health care, Sedler said.
Weak spots
Although businesses can profit from 5G, the technology is too complex to ensure that it’s secured properly in Ukraine — just like the internet of things. In fact, the more devices that are connected to the network, the more vulnerable they are to cyberattacks, experts said.
To secure information, telecom operators store it in their own data centers — energy-consuming buildings dedicated to storing data. But even those companies that have data centers opt to work with cloud service providers like Amazon, Microsoft, or Google, according to SoftServe’s Veres.
“Cloud-based solutions are necessary,” agreed De Jong from Microsoft Ukraine. With their help, data is stored, processed, and analyzed in the same place, he said.
Boost to the competition
As the quality and speed of the internet grow globally, the technology is expected to properly enter global markets, including in Ukraine, and generate more than $11 trillion by 2025, according to consultancy McKinsey & Company. A survey by Microsoft showed that almost 90% of businesses anticipate reaping benefits from the internet of things. Microsoft itself plans to invest $5 billion in the internet of things by 2022, De Jong added.
The investments will pay off, experts said. For example, mobile operator Vodafone helps Ukrainian retailers to monitor demand and supply chains, predicting how many products to deliver next time so they will not run out of stock or spoil on supermarket shelves.
In Ukraine, the demand for the internet of things is also rising in agriculture. One example is precision farming, when sensors collect data from the field and help farmers to improve production while minimizing resource usage. Although beneficial, automation has an ethical issue too — it reduces the labor force. But we should accept it, according to Sedler.
“The technology will win anyway and we cannot stop progress,” he said
