A key way through which companies will be able to cope with the increasing volumes of data from Internet of Things (IoT) devices is to use software-defined application services (SDAS) to ensure that their networks are scalable, reliable and secure, says networking company F5 Networks senior engineer Martin Walshaw.

SDAS is a centralised application service fabric that can operate across physical, virtual and cloud environments; applications will, therefore, always be available, secure and fast.

Additionally, the ability to scale up and down when required, with-out affecting availability or latency, is vital to cope with the traffic deluge that will come with the IoT.

“[Most] traffic will not be gener-ated by computers; it will be generated by wireless devices, such as smartphones and sensors that connect devices to the Internet.”

Networking major Cisco reports that the IoT will result in Internet protocol traffic reaching 1.6 zettabytes a year by 2018 – a 300% rise on the figures of 2013 – which translates into about 132 exabytes a month by 2018.

For businesses and networks, the IoT means more traffic and more connections, which require reliable and scalable infrastructure.

“One of the most important aspects of this trend, which is sometimes overlooked, is Domain Name Systems (DNS). That is the starting point for IoT connections and more devices mean more connections; hence, service providers need to ensure their DNS infrastructure can handle the increase. If they do not, then the issue becomes one of latency, and slow connections will result in annoyed end-users.”

More devices connecting to a network also mean more threats. All these new devices connected to the Internet offer a new way for cyberattackers to get into a network and steal private, sensitive information. A distributed denial of service attacks, for example, could be much more devastating, considering the number of devices potentially affected.

The IoT is much more difficult to defend against, as the traditional perimeter in the data centre no longer exists. Data will travel from different devices along different networks to different data centres, and security must adapt to continue providing protection.

An IoT security architecture will need to adopt a multilayered approach to ensure end-to-end protection, from application layer firewalls and access management to remote access security.

“The Internet of Things is not about ‘things’ at all; it is about the data, the applications and the services that it enables. And, most importantly, it is about the underlying network infrastructure that allows for it all to happen, through scalability, flexibility, relia- bility and intelligence,” concludes Walshaw.