Data fabric and cybersecurity mesh are new technologies shaping the IT architecture of companies, while carbon-free shipping and new warehouse robots increase efficiency and security. Emerging technologies include everything from cybersecurity to climate change. These technology trends are the ones to watch in 2022, whether the tactic is still in its early stages or growing rapidly.
Clean technologies and low-carbon shipping
McKinsey lists clean technologies in his top 10 trends in tech due to the growing need for clean energy generation. This includes systems to distribute energy in the grid, to store energy and to enable CO2-neutral energy generation. These innovations include renewable energy, carbon capture, smart grid technologies, electric vehicles, wastewater treatment and smart buildings and infrastructure. As these technologies become cheaper to implement, McKinsey views these emerging technologies as increasingly disruptive to traditional business models with the potential to influence industry structure and competitive dynamics.
The World Economic Forum also mentioned green technology as an emerging trend to follow in 2022. Two examples of these advances are a passenger train that does not produce carbon dioxide and alternative marine fuels such as green ammonia. The Coradia iLint runs in Sweden and is powered by hydrogen instead of diesel. According to the manufacturer Alstom, Germany has ordered 41 of these trains and the Italian train operator FNM has ordered 14.
In addition to reducing emissions from trains, innovators are also working to reduce the climate impact of air travel. Green ammonia could be a cheap alternative fuel for shipping in general. Green ammonia is produced by using renewable energy to produce electricity that feeds an electrolyser to extract hydrogen from water. The challenge is to apply it on a large scale, according to a report from the World Economic Forum.
Composite Applications
This modular approach means using interchangeable building blocks to create applications. Composable applications rely on APIs to link individual parts and enable data sharing. This approach can make it easier for organizations to adapt to changing business and market requirements more quickly than the traditional approach. This is due to the fact that new applications can be easily integrated with existing tech stacks without the problem of data silos.
Gartner sees this trend extending to a broader corporate philosophy encompassing these principles†
- Composable Thinking: Prioritize modularity, autonomy, orchestration and discovery when deciding what to build or create
- Composite business architecture: build an organization that is flexible and resilient
- Composite Technologies: Use the design goals of speed through discovery and greater flexibility through modularity to build new technologies
Cyber Security Network
Businesses can use this composable architecture to allow standalone security solutions to work together to improve overall security. Gartner analyst Kasey Panetta recommends this new technology to cover identities beyond the traditional security perimeter and to increase security for remote workers.
This distributed architecture approach can make it easier to scale cybersecurity auditing as well as more flexible and reliable. According to cybersecurity firm Check Pointcybersecurity mesh architecture has four basic layers:
- Security Analytics and Intelligence
- Distributed Identity Substance
- Consolidated Policy and Attitude Management
- Consolidated dashboards
data substance
Gartner has included data fabric in the top 12 strategic technology trends based on its potential to reduce data management efforts by up to 70%. This technology provides a new way to integrate data sources across platforms and business users. Datafabric supports “redesigned decision making” and can be used to figure out where to use and change data.
Datafabric is a design concept that uses human and machine capabilities to access data where it currently resides and determine whether it should be moved or consolidated. In a description of datafabric, Gartner analyst Ashutosh Gupta . said shares this example of how architecture can improve operations†
“…a supply chain leader using a data fabric can more quickly add new data assets to known relationships between supplier delays and production delays, and improve decisions with the new data (whether for new suppliers or new customers).”
Gupta explains that data fabric observes information flows and then proposes more productive alternatives to the existing processes. To implement this infrastructure, the focus of the human-machine workload must be changed.
Edge Computing
The report of the Linux Foundation, State of the Edge 2021found that edge infrastructure and applications grew compared to 2020. The biggest barrier is the massive infrastructure investment required to support growing demand:
“We estimate that between 2019 and 2028, cumulative capital expenditures of up to $800 billion USD will be spent on new and replacement IT server equipment and edge computing facilities. This expenditure will be split relatively equally between the device equipment and infrastructure edges.”
Even with these infrastructure needs, edge computing is expanding across all global regions, the report found, with the largest edge footprint forecast in Asia-Pacific at 38%. China, Japan and South Korea will be the largest contributors to this infrastructure by 2028. Europe follows with 29% and 21% in North America.
Advances in this sector include micro-modular edge data centers and new form factors such as street-facing cabinets and light pole mounts. Edge computing will also bring changes within hard drives with Arm server processors, AI processing chips, GPUs, smart network interface controllers and field programmable gate arrays.
IoT and wearables for worker safety
Internet of Things technology is not just for machines. Modjoul uses a wearable device to reduce injuries among workers and ensure that people in certain environments use the appropriate protective clothing. The platform uses RFID technology and a wearable device that can be worn around the neck, clipped onto a belt or worn as a belt buckle. Six sensors in the device track motion, location and environmental data.
SEE: AI in closed-loop manufacturing could benefit edge computing systems: 4 things to consider in IIoT
Modjoul users track and try to avoid “risky bends” and twists in warehouse personnel. Modjoul published a case study based on a pilot project with a major e-commerce company and found that injury prevention specialists used Modjoul data to determine which employees needed training and which processes were likely to cause injuries. The company also drew these conclusions from the pilot project:
- Using a haptic tool corrected for “non-compliance” behavior and resulted in a reduction in risky behavior.
- The data collected was able to identify employees most at risk for injury and communicate their names to the injury prevention specialist.
- Injury Prevention Specialists have proven that they can change the behavior of risk outliers and lower the risk of surgery.
- Modjoul’s technology in combination with the right coaching reduced the total number of bends per employee. Most importantly, the amount of risky bending was reduced.
Privacy-enhancing calculation
This tactic focuses on securing personal data in untrusted environments and uses privacy protection techniques to extract value from the information while meeting compliance requirements. This approach to data security is still in its infancy, according to Gartner, but has the potential to reduce the risk of data breaches. Science Analytics recommends combining these techniques to build a privacy-enhancing compute infrastructure:
- Zero proofs of knowledge
- Multi-party calculations
- Homomorphic encryption
- Differential privacy
- Trusted execution environments
Scion analyst Michael Tupek said in a blog post that HR leaders could use PEC to narrow the gender pay gap, medical researchers could use the technique to analyze patient data while preserving privacy, and bank executives could use it to prevent fraud. to prevent.
Smarter robotics for factories
Mantis Robotics is developing a tactile robotic arm that uses sensor technology to work safely next to people. The company claims the device is safe “out of the box” and requires no fencing. Factories usually keep robotic arms and other devices physically separated from humans for safety reasons. The Mantis arm uses sensors to detect when a person is approaching and to slow or stop operations. According to the company, the robot can reduce total cost of ownership and deploy within hours.
SEE: Robots play a central role in rebuilding and repairing infrastructure
Amazon invested in the company as part of the retail chain new Industrial Innovation Fund announced in April. Amazon will invest $1 billion in companies building solutions to make supply chain, fulfillment and logistics operations more efficient. The fund will invest “in companies that devise solutions that incrementally increase delivery speed and further improve the experience of employees working in warehouses and logistics.”
Gerry Vannuffelen, Co-Founder and CEO of Mantis Robotics, said in an announcement about the investment that customers often say they have to sacrifice in efficiency if they want robots to work safely alongside humans.
“With Amazon pioneering the use of robotics, this investment is a strong vote of confidence in our vision to make human-robot collaboration even more secure and productive,” he said.
Smart warehouse technologies
BionicHIVE is developing an autonomous robot which can be adapted to existing racking and boxes in warehouses. This means the technology can operate in warehouses not specifically designed for robotic workers. The SqUID uses an algorithmic engine to sort, select and shelve packages. The device uses cameras and sensors to move between people and objects in the warehouse and rails on shelves to move up and across. The company calls the approach “post-automation” and states that the algorithm can dynamically learn problems created in one warehouse and apply solutions to all warehouses in the network.
BionicHIVE also won an investment from Amazon’s industrial fund in April.
