The Digital Workplace

Today's digital workforce demands a secure, high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity. Pervasive wireless access to business-critical applications is now expected wherever users work. Wireless LANs (WLANs) need massive scalability, uncompromising security, and rock solid reliability to accommodate the soaring demand. 

Embracing a mobile first digital workplace

Designing and building a high-performance workplace needs a wireless network, and the applications that run on them, is where services from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) excel.

With Aruba wireless technology can deliver a mobile first workplace which connects to Microsoft Skype for Business and Office 365, making the transition to a digital workplace a seamless process.  

The digital workplace enables people to bring your own (BYO)-everything with pervasive wireless connectivity, security, and reliability. This enables IT to focus on automation and centralized management. The mobile first workplace will be simpler to manage and maintain. 

Benefits include:

• Higher productivity with fast, secure, and always-on 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity

• Lower operating expenditures (OPEX) through reduced reliance on cellular networks

• Better user experiences  

• Reduce infrastructure cost in an all wireless workplace by 34%

• Increase business productivity

• Reduce hours spent on-boarding and performing adds, moves, and changes

Why Use Lusture File System?

Lusture File System is designed for a large-scale, high-performance data storage system. Lusture was designed for High Performance Computing requirements – which scales linearly to meet the most stringent and highly demanding requirements of Media applications. 

Lustre file systems have high performance capabilities and open source licensing, it is often used in supercomputers. Since June 2005, it has consistently been used by at least half of the top ten, & more than 60 of the top 100 fastest supercomputers in the world, including the world's No. 2 and No. 3 ranked TOP500  supercomputers in 2014,Titan & Sequoia. 

 Lustre file systems are scalable and can be part of multiple computer clusters with tens of thousands of client nodes, hundreds of petabytes (PB) of storage on thousands of servers, and more than a terabyte per second (TB/s) of aggregate I/O throughput.  This makes Lustre file systems a popular choice for businesses with large data centers, including those in industries such as Media Service, Finance, Research, Life sciences, and Oil & Gas.

Run Big Data Apps on Containers with Mesosphere

Apache Mesos was created in 2009 at UC Berkeley. Designed to run large scale webapps like Twitter, Uber, etc. It can scale upto 10,000s of nodes and supports Docker Containers.

Mesos is a distributed OS kernel:

• Two level resource scheduling
• Launch tasks across the cluster
• Communication between tasks (like IPC)
• APIs for building “native” applications (aka frameworks): program against the datacenter
• APIs in C++, Python, JVM-languages, Go and counting
• Pluggable CPU, memory, IO isolation
• Multi-tenant workloads
• Failure detection & Easy failover and HA

Mesos is a multi-framework platform solution: weighted fair sharing, roles, etc. Runs Docker containers alongside other popular frameworks e.g. Spark, Rails, Hadoop, Allows users to run regular services and batch apps in the same cluster. Mesos has advanced scheduling: resources, constraints, global view of resources, which is designed for HA and self-healing.

Mesos is now a proven at scale, battle-tested in production running the biggest of the web apps. 

Effective workplace for Digital Startups

Earlier this week, I met with a CEO of a startup in Bangalore who wanted to setup a smart office for this startup. I had a very interesting discussion on this subject and here in this blog, is the gist of our discussion.

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Startups need a work environment that fosters collaboration, productivity, and innovation, it is able to attract and retain the best employees.

Office spaces are now turning into intelligent spaces - where office space can engage with employees to maximize effectiveness, connect seamlessly and securely anywhere, anytime.

How to build such a work place? 

Today, we have ultra-fast Wi-Fi, mobile "anywhere" communications, and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity that connects physical building work places to employees. For example having a mobile app - which gives information about available meeting rooms, directions to meeting rooms and an easy one-click interface to book a meeting room - helps save 5-10 minutes off an employee's time in setting up a meeting. This alone translates into 42-85 man hours of productivity per employee per year! Freeing up time for innovation and collaboration.

In the world of intelligent work spaces technology becomes a key enabler. Every employee has fast and complete access to the applications and data they need and can use any mobile device to schedule space, operate electronic white boards or projectors, or set up video conference calls. Employees can be productive, seamlessly and securely, anywhere, anytime, whether in a quiet work space, a conference room, a boardroom, or even an outdoor space such as a rooftop café.

In a startup office, basic Wi-Fi and video conferencing are now so very common that they are taken for granted. The closed-door offices and cubicles have given way to open-space designs, casual meeting areas. Cafeterias & pantries are now seamlessly integrated with work spaces - to encourage open idea sharing and other collaborative exchanges among workers.

Understanding the requirements

Startup offices often share offices spaces with other startups (typically non-competing - Of course!)

A startup workplace must also be truly innovative. In most of the legacy workplaces, there is too much friction and inefficiency that hampers office productivity. Talented & creative employees are still shackled to desks on which sit hardwired computers that act as their main and sometimes only access point to the applications, software, and data they need to do their work.

Startups do not have a hierarchical organization structure. Instead they tend to have a team-based organizational structure. Teams are formed and disbanded depending on the project at hand. Cross-functional teams are dynamically created when necessary. This means employees need the right tools to work in a fluid environment where they and their colleagues can collaborate whenever and wherever the need arises.

Good news is that, today we have mobile-first, cloud-first and IoT technologies that enable such intelligent spaces. Facility managers will have to dorn an IT hat and ensure that:

1. Secure, untethered, and consistent connectivity anywhere.Security is of paramount importance in a multi-tenant workplace. Employees are no longer tethered to a wired deskspace, they need to have complete mobility within the workspace - and yet have safe and consistent high bandwidth connectivity.
2. Consistent workplace productivity solutions across all devicesWorkplace productivity tools such as Slack, Skype, Google Meetups etc are essential. These tools can work on various devices: iPad, iPhone, Android Phones, Windows Laptops, Apple Macbook etc.
3. Collaboration solutions built on cloud
    Note that for a consistent workplace collaboration tools are all connected to cloud. Its not just the productivity tools, even booking conference rooms or meeting rooms are handled via cloud. In a multi-tenant workplace where conference rooms are shared, the solutions must be able to generate pay-per-use billing systems for all shared resources.
4. Location based services
   Based on number of people per floor or per zone or area, smart facilities are turned on or off based on actual need. This means all lighting, cooling/heating and Wi-Fi connectivity are all based on number of people in that area. This implies use of intelligent sensors and smart analytics on the edge to minimize energy usage.   

Build Analytics into workplace  

Industrial IoT devices opens up a whole new way of seeing how an existing facility is being used. Heat/motion sensors can track which areas of the office are highly used and which areas are least used. This data over a period of time can be of immense value - to optimize the way  office spaces are designed. This data can be used to optimize the cooling & lighting requirements and HVAC systems planning.

The use of smart building technologies - sensors on the floor, motion sensors, thermal scanners, CCTV, Biometric scanners etc., generate vast amounts of data which can be used in lot of ways to a better workplace.

Closing Thoughts 

When technology and facility design is done right, we can create workspace that allows organizations, small or large, to orchestrate workflows for maximum efficiency and productivity. This will unleash the kind of innovation, creativity, and productivity needed to compete in the new digital economy.

Such a building would be a truly digital workplace where technology becomes a strong hidden foundation for a true user centered work place.

Invest in IT enabled facilities to make employees happier, attract and retain the most talented workers, it must provide employees with a modern, digital environment where they can work efficiently and seamlessly.

Taking Analytics to the edge

In my previous article, I had written about HPE's EdgeLine servers for IoT analytics.

In 2017, we are seeing a steady wave of growth in data analytics that's happening on the edge and HPE is in the forefront of this wave - leveraging its strengths in hardware, software, services, and partnership to build powerful analytic capabilities.

With HPE EdgeLine, customers are able to move  analytics from the data center to the to the edge, providing rapid insights from remote sensors to solve critical challenges in multiple industries like energy, manufacturing, telecom,  and financial services.

Why IoT project fail?

Recently, Cisco reported that  ~75% of IoT projects fail. This is because IoT data has been managed in centralized, cloud-based systems. In traditional settings, data is moved from a connected 'thing' to a central system over a combination of cell-phone, Wi-Fi and enterprise IT network, to be managed, secured, and analyzed.

But with IoT devices generating huge volumes of data, and data being generated at multiple sites - even in remote areas with intermittent connectivity. This meant that analysis could not be done in a meaningful way as the data collection was taking time, and when the analysis was completed, results were computed, it was irrelevant.

Centralized cloud systems for IoT data analysis just does not scale nor can it perform at speeds needed.

HPE Solution - EdgeLine servers for Analytics on the Edge

With HPE EdgeLine servers, we now have a  solution that optimizes data for immediate analysis and decision making at the edge of the network and beyond.

For the first time ever, customers have the first holistic experience of the connected condition of things (machines, networks, apps, devices, people, etc.) through the combined power of HPE EdgeLine servers and Aruba wireless networks.

Analysis on the edge is just picking up momentum and it's just the beginning of good things to come.

Today, cloud is omnipresent, but for large scale IoT deployment, a new model of computing is needed emerge where constant cloud connectivity is not essential. Most data will be processed at or near its point of origin to provide real-time response and will be handled on-site in that  moment. Running analytics on edge will save costs, refine machine learning on massive data sets -  that can be acted on at the edge.

In June 2017 at HPE Discover, customers were delighted to get an in-depth view of this solution.

HPE's continued investments in data management and analytics will deliver a steady stream of innovation. Customers can safely invest in HPE technologies and win.

HPE along with Intel is future proofing investments in data and analytics for hyper distributed environments. HPE has taken a new approach to analytics to provide the flexibility of processing and analyzing data everywhere - from right at the edge where data is generated for immediate action and for future analysis in the cloud at a central data center.

Customers are using IoT data to gain insight through analytics, both at the center and the edge of the network to accelerate digital transformation. With HPE Edgeline, one can take an entirely new approach to analytics that provides the flexibility of processing and analyzing data everywhere—at the edge and in the cloud, so it can be leveraged in time and context as the business needs to use it.

This technology was developed in direct response to requests from customers that were struggling with complexity in their distributed IoT environments. Customers, analysts and partners have embraced intelligent IoT edge and are using it in conjunction with powerful cloud-based analytics.

Analytics on the edge is a game changing approach to analytics that solves major problems for for businesses looking to transform their operations in the age of IoT. The HPE Vertica Analytics Platform now runs at the IoT edge on the Edgeline EL4000. This combination gives enterprises generating massive amounts of data at remote sites a practical solution for analyzing and generating insights.

Customers like CERN, FlowServe,  etc are using Edge analytics to expand its monitoring of equipment conditions such as engine temperature, engine speed and run hours to improve maintenance costs. Telecom services companies are pushing the edge with analytics to deliver 4G LTE connectivity throughout the country, regardless of the location of the business.

Closing Thoughts 

Benefits of centralized deep compute make sense—for traditional data. But the volume and velocity of IoT data has challenged this status quo. IoT data is Big Data. And the more you move Big Data, the more risk, cost, and effort you'll have to assume in order to provide end-to-end care for that data.

Edge computing is rebalancing this equation, making it possible for organizations to get the best of all worlds: deep compute, rapid insights, lower risk, greater economy, and more trust and security.

Managing Big data with Intelligent Edge

The Internet of Things (IoT) is nothing short of a revolution. Suddenly, vast numbers of intelligent sensors and devices are generating vast amounts of data that contain potentially game-changing information.

In traditional, data analytics, all the data is shipped to a central data warehouse for processing in order to get strategic insights, like all other Big data projects, tossing large amounts of data of varying types into a data lake to be used later.

Today, most companies are collecting data at the edge of their network : PoS, CCTV, RFID scanners, etc. IoT data being churned out in bulk by sensors in factories, warehouses, and other facilities. The volume of data generated on the edge is huge and transmitting this data to a central data center and processing it in a central data center turns out to be very expensive.

The big challenge for IT leaders is to gather insights from this data rapidly, while keeping costs under control and maintaining all security & compliance mandates.

The best way to deal with this huge volume of data is to process this data right at the edge - near the point where data generated.
 

Advantages of analyzing data at the edge  

To understand, lets consider a factory.  Sensors on a drilling machine that makes engine parts - generates hundreds of bits of data each second. Over time, there are set patterns of data. Data showing vibrations, for example - it could be an early sign of a manufacturing defect about to happen.

Instead of sending the data across a network to a central data warehouse - where it will be analyzed. This is costly and time consuming. By the time the analysis is completed and plant engineers are alerted, there may be several defective engines already manufactured.

In contrast, if this analysis was done right at the site, plant managers could have taken corrective action before defect occurs. Thus, processing the data locally at the edge lowers costs while increasing productivity.

Also keeping data locally improves security and compliance. As all IoT sensors - could potentially be hacked & compromised. If data from a compromised sensor makes its way to the central data warehouse, the entire data warehouse could be at risk. Avoiding data from traveling across a network prevents malware from wreaking the main data warehouse.  If all sensor data is locally analyzed, then only the key results can be stored in a central warehouse - this reduces cost of data management and avoid storing useless data.

In case of banks, the data at the edge could be Personally Identifiable Information (PII), which is bound by several privacy laws and data compliance laws, particularly in Europe.

In short, analyzing data on the edge - near the point where data is generated is beneficial in many ways:

• Analysis can be acted on instantly as needed.
• Security & compliance is enhanced.
• Costs of data analysis are lowered.

Apart from these above mentioned obvious advantages, there are several other advantages:

1. Manageability:

It is easy to manage IoT sensors when they are connected to an edge analysis system. The local server that runs data analysis can also be used to keep track of all the sensors, monitor sensor health, and alert administrators if any sensors fail. This helps in handling a wide plethora of IoT devices used at the edge.

2. Data governance: 

It is important to know what data is collected, where it is stored and to where it is sent. Sensors also generate lots of useless data that can be discarded or compressed or eliminated. Having an intelligent analytic system at the edge - allows easy data management via data governance policies.

3. Change management: 

IoT sensors and devices also need a strong change management( Firmware, software, configurations etc.). Having an intelligent analytic system at the edge - enables all change management functions to be off loaded to the edge servers. This frees up central IT systems to do more valuable work.

Closing Thoughts

IoT presents a huge upside in terms of rapid data collection. Having an intelligent analytic system at the edge gives a huge advantage to companies - with the ability to process this data in real time and take meaningful actions.

Particularly in case of smart manufacturing, smart cities, security sensitive installations, offices, branch offices etc. - there is a huge value in investing in an intelligent analytic system at the edge.

As conventional business models are being disrupted. Change is spreading across nearly all industries, and organizations must move quickly or risk being left behind their faster moving peers. IT leaders should go into the new world of IoT with their eyes open to both the inherent challenges they face and the new horizons that are opening up.

Its no wonder that a large number of companies are already looking to data at the edge.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise makes specialized servers called Edgeline Systems - designed to analyze data at the edge.  

Big Data as an Organizational Center of Excellence

Introduction - Managing Data Across Large Enterprise

Today, enterprises are looking for Integrating Data to Support Analytics Based Decision Making and are still facing massive challenges. The biggest challenges they have is that data is located in silos, and yet large volumes of data are being generated are still managed in silos.

Thanks to new technologies such as IoT, there is an abundance of data being generated. Enterprise information systems, Networks, Applications and Devices that churn out huge volumes of information are awash in Big Data.

But enterprises are unable to make best use of this data as their internal organization — the network of people & business process are operating in isolation and many analytics efforts that only take into account information from a single silo - that delivers results in a vacuum - thus prevent them from making better business decisions.

The best way to lower costs of managing big data and leveraging this data for actionable insights - is to have a  pan-enterprise Big Data strategy.  (Also see Getting Your Big Data Strategy Right)

The best way to solve this problem is to create Big Data as an organizational center of excellence. This special group that can cut across silos, take ownership of all data and create new opportunities for operational excellence with Big Data.

Big Data as an Organizational Center of Excellence

Managing all data across the entire organization will improve efficiencies and services while lowering costs of mining this data.

Organizational BU's can now use this centralized data for actionable insights that can help them make better business decisions.

As business leaders recognize a pan-enterprise Big Data effort provides much more meaningful insights because it's based on an integrated view of the business. Yet they are faced with the challenges of siloed information systems. The current IT implementations and business process prevent data sharing and access to data.

In this article, I will present a solution to address the challenges of data silos and data hoarding.  As a enterprise wide solution, I shall present a new CoE for Big Data - a solution for breaking down data silos and discuss the key benefits of the solution.

Big Data CoE will take ownership of all data and present an integrated data for data analysis improves performance across the global enterprise. Big Data CoE can thus deliver long-term return on investment (ROI), enabling business leaders to develop a solid data for making better Analytics Based Decisions.

Understanding Data Silos and the Pitfalls of Data Hoarding 

Before I dive into the details of Big Data CoE, let take a quick look at data silos and dangers of data hoarding.

In large, global enterprises, individual business units (often referred to as BU's) are notorious and pervasive. Data silos are born in this toxic environment - where individual BU budgets procurement processes create data silos.

Group IT resources which are often scarce and are often designated for specific BU functions.   Each individual BU has no financial incentive to share data and IT resources. As a result, data collect by each BU becomes siloed and data is hoarded in each BU's IT systems and is not shared.

This results in organizational deficiencies where the entire organization suffer from redundant systems and inefficient decision-making. Because enterprise information systems remain segregated, data is walled up in departmental databases and applications. With valuable assets trapped in silos, BU's are unable to leverage data to improve processes, workflow or service delivery.

While data silos are created by operational and technical challenges, data hoarding is a result of insular agency cultures that encourage autonomy and self-reliance, as well as stringent compliance mandates for securing data, especially in this era of risks from data leaks/breaches and liability lawsuits.

In this environment, "business data" becomes "OUR DATA." Data hoarding trumps openness and sharing.

The impact of data silos and data hoarding is quite devastating. Without data sharing across BU's, each BU maintains its own view of business and there is no holistic view of a consistent global business. There is no integration of relevant data and this leads to missed opportunities and wrongful expenses and wastage, delays in discovering fraud, waste & misuse of money.

In addition, critical decisions are made with partial data - that leads to unproductive staff and duplicated efforts - which leads to wastage. Budgets are drained by the cost of managing and maintaining complex and redundant information systems, applications and system interfaces.

Finally, data silos and data hoarding weaken security & compliance efforts. It's harder to ensure the security and privacy of information as it moves among computer systems and databases, and can lead to noncompliance with critical regulations. (PCI-DSS, SOX, etc)

A Holistic Model: Big Data CoE 

Envision a pan-enterprise model for managing Big Data as an organizational center of excellence, A competency center whose core focus is to manage Big Data across the organization and provide right set of tools & infrastructure for business analytics.

Big Data CoE is created with a common focus to manage data and develop new technologies and architectures to analyze big data for making better business decisions

When Big DataCoE model is applied to the enterprise, we can instantly see the following benefits:

• Data is treated as an organizational asset.
  Treating data as an organizational asset, CoE develops and fosters a collaborative environment for users across BU's to meet and exchange ideas, discuss new projects and share best practices.
  
   
• Data is managed separately from IT in terms of strategy, organization, resources, purchasing and deployment. This frees up enterprise IT from handling the challenges of Big Data. Data can reside in-house systems or on public clouds.
  
   
• Distinct processes are developed for collecting, consolidating, managing, linking, securing, sharing, analyzing, archiving, publishing and governing data.
  
   
• Analytical expertise is shared among individual departments, which relieves them of the burden of independently recruiting their own talent and developing unique solutions.
  
   
• Data is aggregated, shared and analyzed using a single, enterprise-wide data platform. A unified system of enterprise data management and analytics tools ensures seamless integration of data repositories with analytic tools, provides a common user experience with access to all types of enterprise data and builds end user engagement in data-driven decision-making.

Unlike siloed data, an enterprise wide approach to data provides all BU's with a single version of the truth. With this integrated, holistic view, decision-making involves all relevant, consistent data, regardless of data ownership.

Creation of Big Data CoE is Transformative

The biggest benefit of Big Data CoE is that it transforms business operations.

Big Data CoE leads to business transformation:

1. More efficient Enterprise. When used at the enterprise level, Big Data can reduce fraud, waste and misuse of funds, Enhance communication and coordination between BU's, Improve management of Big Data, and Identify key business trends across the entire enterprise.
    
2. Faster & Better Decision Making. A complete view of each BU's data, CoE can offer the most appropriate data management & analytical services by identifying patterns that might otherwise be missed. They can also eliminate data processing errors and duplicative data entry. Provide consistent procedures and processes eliminates waste of valuable time and speed up decision making.
    
3. Stronger compliance efforts. When data management is integrated, it makes it easier to implement data compliance mandates across organization. Entire enterprise data can be made secure and compliant even when it is shared across BU's.
    
4. Cost reduction. More efficient data management, analytics & workflows, compliance, security and  service delivery - all lead to cost reductions. By consolidating data analytics efforts under a single CoE, additional savings can be realized because departments don't have to procure and manage their own systems or hire department-specific data scientists and analysts.

To realize the benefits of an enterprise approach to Big Data, Enterprises must adopt a comprehensive approach that leverages appropriate tools and techniques.

Closing Thoughts  

Big Data can provide tremendous business advantages by for improving business productivity,  business decision making and service delivery. But Big Data can only live up to its true potential only if analytics programs are implemented thoughtfully and skillfully.

The strategic use of Big Data and data analytics technologies and tools requires considerable innovation, creative thinking and leadership.

The "silo mentality" has to be broken up and data needs to be shared across the enterprise as a common asset. Having a CoE manage all of Big Data allows enterprises to holistically manage, share and leverage data for faster decision making and service delivery.

Big Data CoE helps enterprises and its BU's to rethink and retool the way they collect, manage, archive and use data. CoE will enable Bus to work together and share information - this leads to better decision-making, faster service delivery and develop an enterprise wide approach to managing and using Big Data.

IoT needs Artificial Intelligence

IoT - Internet of Things has been the biggest buzzword in 2016. Yet, one fails to derive value for IoT devices, and IoT has not yet hit the mainstream and continues to be at the periphery - but with a lot of hype surrounding it.

Personally, I have tested several of these IoT devices. Wearable devices such as FitBit, Google Glass, Smart Helmets - but failed to derive value from it. The main reason, I had to work more to make sense of these devices.  In short, I had to work to make IoT work for me!

There are two main problems plaguing IoT.

1. Lack of inbuilt intelligence to derive value out of IoT
2. Power supply for IoT

In this article, I will concentrate on the first problem plaguing IoT.

Essentially, IoT produces raw data and lots of it. The type of data depends on the type of device: Sensor data in cars, heartbeat information from Pace Makers, etc. Collectively, all this sensor data usually falls under BIG DATA category.  The sheer volume of data being created by them will increase to a mind-boggling level. This data holds extremely valuable insight into what's working well or what's not – pointing out conflicts that arise and providing high-value insight into new business risks and opportunities as correlation and associations are made.

The problem is that it takes huge amount of work to find ways to analyze this huge deluge of raw data and build valuable information out of it.

For example, with a health wearable, I can get to know my heartbeat pattern, heart rate, how many steps I walked, how many calories I burnt, how much rest, how much sleep etc. But this information is useless to me unless I can analyze it and develop a plan to change my activities. The wearable IoT does not tell what I need to do to reach my health goals, nor can it handle any anomalies.

For corporates using Big Data Analytics tools (which is expensive), one can get a really valuable insight. But, it takes a large team of experts to develop a big data analytics tools & platform - which then product valuable insight. The organizational leaders, must then understand the insights and ACT on it. All this means - LOTS OF WORK!

The only way to keep up with this IoT-generated data and make sense of it is with machine learning or Artificial Intelligence.

As the rapid expansion of devices and sensors connected to the IoT continues, it will produce a huge volume of data: Big Data which can be used to develop self driving cars, save fuel in Airplanes, improve public health etc. The treasure trove of big data is valuable only when machine intelligence is built on it - which can take autonomous decisions.

While the idea of AI sounds great. There is limitless benefits of AI - which will eliminate the need for humans to intervene in daily mundane tasks.  However, the big problem will be to improve the speed and accuracy of AI.

In an IoT based AI system must be able to regulate the action without errors. If IoT & AI does not live up to its promise, then the consequences should not be disastrous. A minor glitch like home appliances that don't work together as advertised. But a life-threatening   malfunction like the Tesla car crash would force people from embracing IoT & AI.

AI is already in use in many ways, for example Netflix, Amazon, Pandora use it to recommend products/movies/songs that you may like.

Today, there are lots of opportunities in IoT-AI solution space. For example an intelligent insulin pump which can regulate insulin levels based on the person's activities and sugar levels. Similarly, driverless vehicles - trains, planes, cars etc., so that better decisions can be made with out human intervention.

IoT is about to change Human Behavior

Internet of Things (IoT) is no longer a futuristic science fiction stuff. It is here and is slowly but surely changing our lives. As the technology matures and the prevalence of connected devices increases, it will change our lives in several profound ways. IoT would have an impact greater than that of World Wide Web!

I would say IoT will be one of those things that will fundamentally change the way we live on this planet:

 - Just like our ability to harness fire put humans on path to civilization,
 - Just like our ability to read & write helped create complex civilizations,
 - Just like Newspaper and Telegram created a global economy,
 - Just like Internet & WWW created a knowledge economy,

IoT will fundamentally change the way humans live, behave & interact in the society.

Let illustrate this with an example.

Let's say there is a construction on a major highway in the city. One hundred years ago, information of this construction would be published in newspaper - which very few people would read, and the local administration would put up big hoarding all around the construction site - requesting commuters to take alternate routes, and a local policemen would manually redirect traffic.

Percentage of people who knew about the advisory - 5%
Percentage of people who heeded to the advisory - 1%

The rest 99% would still drive on the same path and get redirected by local police.

With the advent of Radio & television the situation did not change much. With better communication technology, more people were now aware of the construction, but did not know

Percentage of people who knew about the advisory: 20-30%
Percentage of people who heeded to the advisory:  1-5%

The rest 95-99% would still drive on the same path and get redirected by local police.

Internet and World Wide Web along with  Social Networking tools improved the level of awareness, but people would still pile up at the construction point and choke traffic, and we still needed police to redirect traffic.

Percentage of people who knew about the advisory: 50-80%
Percentage of people who heeded to the advisory:  5-10%

While we now have all the tools to send out information, we as humans still have limited capability to absorb information and act on it.  So even with instant communications, real time traffic map service and social networks, people behavior hardly changed.
Studies done on the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and Katrina show that people now have awareness - but still do not act on those information!

But IoT is about to change this.

With the advent of GPS Navigation systems, users can now chart out their driving path so as to avoid the construction area. So with IoT,

Percentage of people who knew about the advisory: 100%
Percentage of people who heeded to the advisory:  50-80%

The next generation IoT does even bettwe, with the advent of self-driving cars, the information about road constructions will be consumed by the car and it will reroute its path to avoid construction site, thus avoiding unnecessary traffic jams and wasted time/fuel. Thus with second generation of IoT,

Percentage of people who knew about the advisory: 100%
Percentage of people who heeded to the advisory:  100%

First Generation of IoT

While IoT is no longer a futuristic pipe dream, the technology is still maturing. The  technology has evolved a lot ever since Simon Hackett and John Romkey operated a toaster via the Internet in 1990. Technology evolved quite a bit since then and today we have Smart thermostats such as Nest, or fridges which can display Tweets!

Today, there is much wider prevalence of connected devices - which collect lots of data from the surrounding environment. But these are essentially the first generation of IoT.

Collecting information and presenting information is just a proof of concept of what role IoT can play in our daily lives. Devices such as smart watches or Fit-bit bands can collect a whole lot of information on a person's daily activity. But it does very little to change the person's behavior.

Very few people can change their actions and behavior based on the information presented to them. I would say less than 1% of people changed their exercise pattern because of Smart Bands/watches.

First generation of IoT was all about collecting data. But data was not an end in itself.  Consumers are already overwhelmed by data. Some systems were able to present data in a meaningful way in form of actionable information for people to act. For example, smart baby monitors can alert parents when the baby's breathing pattern changes. But then all mothers are still very anxious and would not change their sleeping patterns - even after knowing that their baby us being safely and actively monitored.

First generation IoT did not make life better, rather it added tremendous complexity with yet another gadget that consumes attention and feeds our obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Smart products today still have big challenges in making users interact with the products and take actions.

The first generation IoT was still far away from creating meaningful experiences.

Second Generation of IoT

Second generation of IoT is just around the corner. Few systems are already being deployed and tried - but these are just the beginning. Smart systems today react to all the information coming from connected systems in a meaningful, purposeful ways.

For example, Smart insulin pumps can alter the quantities of Insulin being pumped into body based on real time blood sugar levels.

The second generation of IoT goes beyond collecting & presenting data. It has to simplify life through automation. Connected devices have to remove tedious chores from our daily lives, allowing people to concentrate on more important stuff.

Second generation of IoT has to provide the ability to control things automatically - which we otherwise would not. For example changing the building thermostat settings to match with power savings plans or based on real-time power supply data - when grid loads increase beyond a point, smart gird can tell all connect smart buildings to lower their power consumption. Smart buildings will then react to this request by changing the temperature & lighting settings.

The next big innovation in IoT will be to create user experience in ways that it makes lives richer by seamlessly eliminating mundane activities. One must create systems focused on meeting a conscious or an unconscious need. For example self driving cars - which meets the need for transport whenever without the hassle of driving.

Today, Airlines and aircraft's are using data from IoT to change the flight parameters to create better fuel efficiency and better passenger comfort - all without pilots actions.

Closing Thoughts

Developing this second generation IoT systems will certainly require a different ways of thinking. This also presents a tremendous opportunity to enhance human experience and enhance life in ways that were never possible before.

Smart systems must be able to understand our intentions and desires and then act independently to create those experiences. When IoT and Smart systems can take real time, meaningful action - without human interaction, IoT will become mainstream.

Second Generation of IoT will not be centered around the product. Instead, it will be centered around user experiences, while hiding all complexity of technology.  Second generation IoT does away with all the unnecessary interfaces and enable customer to concentrate on more important tasks. When IoT products (sensors, actuators), the network, the apps - will all work seemlessly - it will ehance the customer experience - without "Experience of the product"

How IoT will help Sustainability

Any one who has a car today will have experienced a traffic jam and once a while, while waiting in the traffic jam, there will be a thought: How to eliminate this traffic jam and help environment by better use of technology?

Several of today's startups are working on latest technology that may do just that.

In my previous post I had mentioned about How IoT is helping build sustainable buildings. But there is more to technology built on top of IoT which will profoundly change the way we live - and thus reduce energy consumption by increasing energy efficiency.

Cars are the BIGGEST users of energy today. It is no wonder, a lot of innovation and new technology is being developed to improve energy utilization in cars. Some of the innovations that we have already seen are:

1. Hybrid Cars that run on electric motors and fossil fuel engines
2. Electric Cars that can be charged from Solar panels
3. Uber's network of cars, where Internet connects the drivers to customers
4. Google's self driving cars

Now the stage is set for the next revolution:  A network of connected cars, connected buildings and smart traffic management systems.

The idea of self driving electric cars integrated with Uber like technology will enable commuters to share rides - thus eliminating waste. The idea of one person driving alone in a car will soon be history!

To enable such a system where self driving taxis can be hailed via smart phones will require lots of new technologies driven by IoT in form of Smart/Intelligent cars, Traffic monitoring systems on roads such as cameras, Vehicle speed detectors, Intelligent traffic monitoring and management via smart traffic lights, Smart parking spaces  & recharge points - which broadcast empty slots to self driving cars, Air quality & pollution monitoring and broadcasting system - which will guide hybrid cars to switch over to electric mode in polluted areas, Commute demand management systems - which will automatically determine the best possible commute options,  etc.

I am sure there will several other technologies that will emerge in the next decade.

On November 30th, amidst the backdrop of the COP21 Climate Change Conference in Paris,  a group of high-powered tech executives announced Monday the formation of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition and its intention to push investment to pioneering climate change technologies, there can be some real change in energy efficiency in the enterprise with technology available today.

IoT and the always connected network forms the backbone of this new technological breakthroughs - that will create build a sustainable world. IoT forms the eyes, ears & senses of this new technology, while the wireless networks from the interlinks that connects the people, the business and the cities together and provides relevant information for insights on what needs to be done to reduce energy consumption in real time.

Linking vehicles, commuter traffic and air emissions to air quality is giving traffic management the right data to manage for optimal efficiency: Reduce operational cost, greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental footprint.

The key value will come from raising the efficiency. Today people who drive their cars & big SUVs around normally use it for 5% of the time and at 20% of the capacity - i,e ~99% of all the available transport capacity in cars & automobiles are being wasted!

This will have to change and technology sector will drive this change to create a sustainable cities.

Similarly, almost 100% of sunlight falling on cities are being wasted! Developing more effective and efficient solar photo voltaic panels can eliminate the need for fossil fuels in cars.
New technology can change the way we consume energy and lead us to a path of greener and a sustainable future.

Closing Thoughts

Today, cars form the biggest polluters in the planet, and with new technology based on IoT and connected world and renewable energy, we can change the way we commute and this will help in a big way to reduce pollution and create a sustainable world. 

How Innovations in IoT & Smart Buildings are creating Sustainable Work Places

As Indian economy grows at 8%, the demand for new office spaces in big cities like Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai etc. has increased exponentially. According to a study done by CBRE, 150 Million Square feet of new office space will be ready in 2017! Most of this office space will be consumed by IT & ITES companies.

Such a rapid growth in office space naturally leads to big increase in power consumption. It is therefore natural that reduction in energy usage has become a top priority for owners of commercial and industrial buildings to help save money and also save environment in the process.

Adding to the desire to save operation costs, government and non-government agencies are increasingly demanding compliance with IGBC (LEED) Green Building Standards. Examples include ASHRAE standard 90.1-2007 and ECBC 2008 and California's 2013 Title 24 Building Energy Efficiency Standards. In future several new, more stringent standards are likely to go into effect by 2020.

These changes in regulations implies that in future, businesses will need to implement technologies that enable highly energy efficient office spaces and factories and ultimately leading to zero-net-energy buildings - Office, Factory, or Warehouses.

To meet this challenge, several innovations are happening. Internet of Things (IoT) is the game changer and is enabling the revolution in managing energy requirements of buildings.

Some of the innovations include Smart LED Bulbs which can connect wirelessly to a central Building Management System - which monitors & controls the bulbs can lead to 70-80% of energy savings when compared to regular lighting. Smart sensors for Temperature, CO2, Humidity, Motion detectors help in optimizing air-conditioning, which leads to big power savings.

In short, the need to create sustainable buildings has led to a plethora of innovations in all aspects of building management. Building are now being equipped with intelligent networked systems for controlling and managing energy-related applications. Wireless networking removes a number of limitations, such as which devices (lighting, thermostats, plug-loads and CO2 sensors etc.) can be controlled.

Innovations in Building Lighting

Building lighting presents on the greatest opportunity for implementing energy savings and costs. Automated lighting control systems allow lights to be turned off or dimmed to accommodate time and usage factors, providing the correct amount of light where and when it's needed. These systems can reduce building energy consumption by 70 percent or more, and when combined with LED lighting, savings can top 90 percent.

Power saving from LED alone makes a strong business case to adapt LED lighting. But LED can offer several more advantages.

The new innovation in LED lights is Li-Fi. A new light based Internet connection system that will replace Wi-Fi. Light based data transmission can transfer data at 224 gigabits per sec!  Even at 1 Gbps, it is 100 times faster than Wi-Fi.

Smart lighting will provide several other benefits such as enhanced comfort to occupants, improved operational efficiencies and very fast Internet connectivity. Since the available bandwidth on Li-Fi is in several Gbps, one can create a mesh architecture where each Smart light device can connect to other devices and data  is passed through the wireless network from device to device. New technologies such as Li-Fi will eliminate the need for data wiring. The savings from eliminating wiring alone is an incentive enough for many building owners to make the move to Li-Fi systems.

Innovation in Smart HVAC Systems 

Building heating & cooling is a big consumer of energy in office buildings and optimizing it with smart sensors and smarts controllers will save operational costs.

Humidity, CO2 and temperature significantly affect personal health and comfort; thus measuring humidity and temperature in this context and reacting to the changes can improve personal well-being. Applications include temperature control, humidity control and quality of air.

Smart HVAC systems can sense the various air quality parameters inside the building and can change and control it automatically and efficiently. Smart HVAC systems use sensors that distributed across the building and have VAV fans to control the ventilation system to achieve optimal ventilation. And temperature control.

Measurement of humidity and temperature can help optimize processes and thus save energy and costs. Applications include automotive engine control, smart condensation control for refrigerators and optimization of A/C cooling cycles.

Smart Temperature Sensors will enable several levels of automation. Knowing the hot & cold zones in the building from the sensors will enable HVAC controllers to direct cold air via VAV fans to the required regions and avoid cooling/heating the entire building. Such systems can reduce energy consumption by as much as 25%.

Innovation in Elevator Control & Management

A bank of Elevators have become a mandatory feature in all office buildings. All elevators have a common feature - it annoys users in several ways. Firstly it makes people wait. Secondly it is impossible to know which elevator will take you to the desired floor quickly. Often we see one elevator being filled to capacity and the next elevator going empty.

Occasionally it make people happy when the elevator goes nonstop to the desired floor.

Smart Elevators are going to change this. Some of the new innovation in Elevator control and management. Instead of choosing the floor to stop after entering an elevator, users will have to enter their destination floor on a common keypad set at the bank of elevators.

The smart elevator management system instantly assigns the user to the elevator that will get him most quickly to the desired floor. Knowing how many people have similar destination allows for clustering of people into a common elevator. This allows elevators skip floors and minimizing stops. It also prevents random cramming into the first available elevator.

Another innovation in elevator management is use the information embedded in employee smart badges which reads the floor details and even eliminate the need to press buttons!

When elevator management system is integrated to motion sensors, it can automatically shutdown elevators when there are less number of people and turn them on when number of users increase.

Smart Elevators not only gets the users with less waiting, but the system saves energy and equipment wear by minimizing empty trips. Smart elevators also enhance user comfort by reducing waiting time and enhance user experience!

Innovation in Water Efficiency

Water is fast becoming one of the scarce resource all over the world. In India, we are already seeing critical water shortages. It may be our most precious resource. Where alternatives exist for energy sources, but there are no alternatives to water. It therefore makes sense to look at innovative solution to improve water management and improve water efficiency.

Office buildings require large amounts of water for Landscaping, HVAC chillers, toilets and taps/faucets. Water also has a direct connection to energy use. Every gallon or liter of water used may require some pumping or treatment which uses energy. Reducing potable water uses reduces energy consumption.

In most office buildings, monitoring and management of water is generally pathetic. How many facility managers can monitor and manage real-time water use in their buildings? Water is often seen as cheap and limitless resource.

Office buildings have two main needs for water. One is the plumbing system within the building and the other is the irrigation system for the building's landscape.

Green Building codes in form of USGBC LEED Certification in US or IGBC Certification in India, have defined building codes that specifies the type of fixtures, water recycling requirements, usage of recycled/reclaimed water and water metering systems.

For real savings in water usage, one must use smart technologies such as smart water meters which can detect leakage and alert facility management. Smart meters can record water usage for specific areas and generate reports & alerts when the usage pattern changes or crosses set thresholds.

Smart irrigation control systems can take inputs from weather monitors, timers and soil moisture sensors and then regulate the amount of water used for landscaping or irrigation.

Smart water management systems that monitors and manages water usage that will change the process from simply supplying water to managing the demand for water - thus saving water and reducing costs.

Innovations in Building Management Systems

Buildings today use complex systems. Each component inside a building has been developed and improved, allowing modern-day building owners to select lighting, security, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems independently.

For real savings, buildings must connect the various pieces in an integrated, dynamic and functional way. Smart building management systems will seamlessly integrate disparate systems while minimizing energy cost, supporting a robust electric grid and mitigating environmental impact.

At the most fundamental level, smart buildings deliver useful building services that make occupants productive (e.g. illumination, thermal comfort, air quality, physical security, sanitation, and many more) at the lowest cost and environmental impact over the building life cycle.

Today, Building Management Systems aggregate all data sources and data analysis tools can generate previously unattainable insights in real time.

For example, building management systems monitor multiple HVAC systems and detect performance anomalies. When HVAC systems in the campus have different power consumption - then the BMS will flag this alerting maintenance crew to find & fix the issue.

Smart building management system looks beyond the equipment and uses data from each system (Lighting, HVAC, Security, water meters etc.) to optimize total building performance. It allows buildings to be responsive to smart power grid and interacts with building operators to empower them with new levels of visibility and actionable information.

Imagine predicting when equipment is about to break down. Imagine having clarity into which retrofits can get you the highest ROI, before any project has even started. Imagine automating your lights so that when you are approaching peak demand, they dim automatically. Holistic building data analysis are at the heart of the hidden insights which were previously impossible to find.

Smart Technologies are more valuable when they are connected.  Data is meaningful only when it is holistic. Siloed data causes more harm than good. That's why smart building management systems connect various systems, thus enabling completely automated buildings that enhance user comfort and productivity and lower costs in the process.

Closing Thoughts 

Today, new building management software systems can collect data, organizing it, normalizing it and highlighting actionable insights which are then used to identify, quantify, implement and verify efficiency improvements.

At the heart of smart buildings lies IoT. A set of connected smart objects that create a powerful impact on how people interact with their environment.

Innovations in IoT is driving Smart buildings which not only improve energy & cost efficiency, but also increase the productivity of people working in those buildings. Data collected from smart systems helps architects and construction engineers to build better and smarter buildings that leads to real saving and create less impact on environment.  

What Marketing wants from IT

Today marketing technology products is fully digital. Product Marketing is a big user of big data analytics. The potential benefits of data analytics for marketing is immense. Marketing has been an early adopter of cloud SaaS services www.salesforce.com.

In this business environment, marketing needs more than just a plain vanilla tech services from IT departments.  To succeed, CMOs need more that the traditional application hosting, support, security services. CMOs need IT departments to be an active partner and help leverage technology to develop cutting edge marketing initiatives such as predictive analysis, creating custom offers etc.

This new jobs will be in addition to the current role of keeping the infrastructure running and the systems secure. As a product manager, I am involved in several product marketing initiatives and I interact with several CIOs. These interactions have given the insight into these new requirements.

1. Enable Big Data Analytics

The IT systems are collecting tones of data. But this data is locked up by IT in different silos. Marketing needs to access this data in real time to run data analytics. CMOs need IT to provide access to these multiple data sources in an integrated way - i.e, provide a quick, safe and secure access to the data lake to run their data analytics.

Managing, collecting and making use of internal and external data is one of their top five challenges, according to more than 500 marketing professionals who responded to IBM's 2013 Global Survey of Marketers.

2. Help to measure new KPIs

Social media, viral marketing, multi-channel customer engagements, and big data analytics are creating new key performance indicators, or KPIs. CMOs understand the value of these new KPIs but often struggle to measure it.  Marketing needs help in measuring parameters of time taken at the billing section, time taken for servicing a customer request etc. Getting these new KPIs helps marketing to optimize & improve all customer interactions and deliver a truly outstanding experience that matches the company's brand promise.

IT needs to understand the new KPIs and then help marketing by building IT systems to measure it. Thereby helping marketing to succeed.  This implies that IT must go beyond the back-office functions and become an active technology partner in marketing activities.

3. Help to remove shadow IT & manage technology expenses

Marketing works at a pace which is much faster than what their internal IT can support. So often times, marketing chiefs create a shadow IT - by outsourcing some IT function - such as creating & hosting specific websites, or subscribing to a SaaS or PaaS or IaaS services. While outsourcing & creating a shadow IT helps, it also costs more. So over a period of time, the cost of maintaining shadow IT becomes prohibitively expensive.

CMOs want their IT departments to eliminate this shadow IT by bringing back the external hosted sites/applications in-house and by consolidating all the outsourced IT services.

According to Gartner report, by 2017, CMOs will spend more on IT than will CIOs.  So CMOs want IT to bring its technology expertise, knowledge of existing infrastructure and newfound understanding of marketing's objectives/KPIs to bear in helping marketing make the best investment decisions.

CMOs want IT to guide/assist/help in selecting technology platforms and provide data on viable IT systems that meets the business needs.

4. Faster Turnaround time please... 

One reason why CMOs use shadow IT is due to the fact that their own internal IT department cannot service them in a timely manner. Today marketing campaigns are planned and executed in days. For examples a road show is planned, and a web site has to be created for the event in 3 days. The CMO approaches IT with this request, but IT needs 4-6 weeks to test and host the web site! Such a long turnaround time is unacceptable for CMO and they end up outsourcing to a third party or signing up for a cloud service.

5. Enable a faster pace of  Business

Smart Phones & Tablets have changed the pace of marketing. Customers now have access to Internet from anywhere anytime. Added to this mix is the mobile social media: Twitter & Facebook. This implies that customers are interacting with the company in new ways - which require faster response from marketing departments.

Marketing now has to handle all customer interactions -- outbound, inbound and those happening on social media in real time - and for that they need new technologies that allows them to interact with customers at any time in any of those media.

But the IT departments are still hesitant to support the new mobile platforms and insist on doing things the old way for security. For example, IT does not allow employees to carry corporate data in mobile fileshare app such as Dropbox.  In many organizations, IT is yet to embrace Virtual Desktops on Tablets.

This slows down the pace of business & CMOs want their IT departments to change from being a brake on business wheels to a booster rocket.

6. Create an Office of Chief Marketing Technology 

The fast changing landscape of technology - with mobile, cloud, Big data and IoT, it has become a necessity for marketing departments to have a specialized technology office - which looks at new and emerging technology and determines how/when/where to use these new technologies. Traditionally, new technology evaluation and validation was done by IT departments - but now CMOs are creating an Office of Chief Marketing Technology.

Chief marketing technologist is responsible for understanding both available and emerging marketing technology platforms and articulating how marketing can capitalize on them. They play a strategic roles and some cases tactical roles in terms of getting involved in procurement, or setting up marketing technology centers of excellence etc.

In many organizations, marketing departments lack the technical skills needed to create the Office of Chief Marketing Technology and they need help of their IT department to set it up.  In some of the large fortune-500 companies, the Office of Chief Marketing Technology also works with IT to run & maintain new technology platforms.

7. Let marketing run its own software systems 

To reach out and communicate with customers in real time, Marketing departments have stated to run their own software. New technologies such as big data analytics, Internet-of-things, Mobile apps etc. has created several new requirements - where Marketing wants to have hands-on control on the software systems, while IT runs all the backend infrastructure.

In this new paradigm of mobile & Cloud Apps, Marketing want to own and control customer experience by running the software - where marketing team can quickly alter design, develop a new user experience or create a new technology-driven marketing initiative, without doing lots of coding or fixing bugs.

CMOs want IT to empower marketing in how they interact and deliver personal experiences to customers. In this way, IT builds the backend infrastructure and creates an engagement layer - which interacts with marketing department to empower technology users.

For example, IT creates & maintains a big data platform - which marketing department runs to get real-time insights.

Closing Thoughts

Big data, social media and mobile technologies are shaking up the old world order. CMOs are eager to bridge the big gap between traditional marketing and IT to take full advantage of new technology driven opportunities for better customer engagement and higher ROI.

Some of the leading organizations have created shadow IT or mini-IT within marketing departments, but then they are now realizing its limitations and challenges.

The right solution is for IT to take a proactive steps and work with marketing departments to bridge the technology capability gaps and lead the transformation of how marketing teams engage customers.

Also see:

1. Understanding Big Data
   
2. Defining the Business Objectives for Big Data Projects
   
3. Understanding Data in Big Data
   
4. Next Technology Disruptor: Internet of Things

Facebook To Buy Oculus VR for $2 Billion!

Today, March 26th 2014, Facebook has announced plans to purchase Oculus VR, the company behind the Rift headset, for around $2 billion in cash and stock. This includes $400 million, and 23.1 million Facebook shares.

This acquisition indicates the value of Internet of Things (IoT) and brings new platform for Social Networking, taking users of Social Networking to a new level of Virtual Reality interactions.

Oculus VR brings in multiple technologies to force. First is a wearable mobile device Oculus Rift headset, a connected device (Like Google Glass an IoT), but its a lot more involved, the Virtual Reality technology will completely immerse the users into a virtual world.

When this technology is merged with Social Networking, one can create new experiences - which was impossible before. For example, a group of friends can play a game of Soccer - Virtually!

People can meet virtually and yet have a real life like experience. Oculus makes a virtual reality technology, the Oculus Rift headset, that allows you to enter a completely immersive computer-generated environment, like a game or a movie scene or a place far away. This incredible technology makes you feel like you are actually present in another place with other people. Its unlike anything one has experience before.

Actually, this level of Virtual Reality (VR) has been used in expensive flight simulators and other military training equipment. Oculus brings that platform into a more affordable price for general public.

"I'm excited to announce that we've agreed to acquire Oculus VR, the leader in virtual reality technology," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in a statement today.

Huge Impact on Facebook

Facebook is no tech slouch. Facebook has tremendous investments in new technologies - such as is face recognition technology called "DeepFace Program". It is also creating a host of new programming tools such as Facebook Hack.

Recently Facebook acquired WhatsApp, which brings in real-time mobile to mobile communication technology. And now with Oculus acquisition, Facebook can take this VR technology, mobile-to-mobile communication technology from WhatsApp and merge both of it to its social networking platform & with new programming tools & visual processing technology,  Facebook can create a new experiences for its users. And hope that youth of the world will continue to use Facebook, and prevent the decline in its market base.

"Over the next 10 years, virtual reality will become ubiquitous, affordable, and transformative," says an Oculus blog post. And with Oculus VR platform Facebook can change social networking forever.

Also see: 

Next Technology Disruptor: Internet of Things

Why is Facebook buying WhatsApp for $19Billion?

How to identify and create disruptive innovation that customer would buy?