What new network engineering skills are needed with the rise of IoT?

1 IoT network architectures

In order to succeed in the world of IoT, it is essential to understand the different types of network architectures and how they fit into the overall network topology. Depending on the scale, purpose, and requirements of the IoT devices and applications, there are various architectures available. These include star, mesh, bus, and tree architectures. Each architecture has its own advantages and disadvantages; hence, it is important to consider factors like scalability, reliability, latency, bandwidth, security, and cost when selecting the best one for your IoT network.

2 IoT network protocols

It is essential to acquire the skill of understanding the various IoT network protocols and their ability to facilitate communication and data exchange between IoT devices and networks. These protocols are designed with low power consumption, limited resources, interoperability, and security in mind. The most widely used protocols are MQTT, CoAP, 6LoWPAN, Zigbee, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). To be successful in your IoT network, you need to be aware of the features and functions of each protocol and how to configure and troubleshoot them.

3 IoT network security

In order to secure your IoT network from various threats and attacks, you need to develop a third skill. IoT network security is a complex and dynamic field that requires constant vigilance and updating, as IoT devices and networks are vulnerable to eavesdropping, spoofing, tampering, and denial-of-service (DoS) attacks. To protect your IoT network, you should be familiar with the best practices and tools for encryption, authentication, authorization, and firewalls. Encryption uses cryptographic algorithms to encrypt data and communication between IoT devices and networks. Authentication uses passwords, certificates, tokens, or biometrics to verify the identity of IoT devices and network nodes. Authorization uses access control lists, roles, or policies to grant or deny access to IoT devices and network resources. Firewalls use a device or software to filter and block unwanted or malicious traffic from entering or leaving your IoT network.

4 IoT network analytics

Analyzing the data generated by your IoT network and extracting valuable insights and actions is a fourth skill you need to hone. IoT network analytics is the process of collecting, processing, and visualizing data from IoT devices and networks. This includes descriptive analytics, such as summarizing the data in a meaningful way; diagnostic analytics, like exploring causes and effects of the data; predictive analytics, forecasting future outcomes; and prescriptive analytics, optimizing performance or efficiency. To perform IoT network analytics, you need to know methods and tools such as SQL, Python, R, and machine learning. SQL is a query language for accessing and manipulating data from relational databases. Python is a programming language for performing data analysis and visualization using libraries such as pandas, numpy, matplotlib, or seaborn. R is a programming language for performing statistical analysis and modeling using packages such as dplyr, ggplot2, or shiny. Machine learning is a branch of artificial intelligence that uses algorithms and models to learn from data and make predictions or decisions.

5 IoT network automation

A fifth skill you need to cultivate is automating your IoT network tasks and processes, making them more efficient and reliable. IoT network automation is the use of software or hardware to perform repetitive or complex tasks without human intervention, such as setting up and configuring devices remotely, collecting performance metrics, verifying functionality, identifying issues, and optimizing parameters. You should be familiar with frameworks and tools like Ansible, Grafana, Postman, Wireshark, and Netmiko for implementing IoT network automation. With these tools, you can automate configuration and management using YAML scripts and modules, visualize metrics using dashboards and panels, test APIs using requests and responses, capture network traffic using filters and protocols, and automate device interactions using SSH connections and commands.

6 IoT network innovation

Exploring and experimenting with new and emerging technologies and trends in IoT networking and innovation is a skill you need to embrace. IoT networking is a fast-evolving field that provides many opportunities and challenges for network engineers. Edge computing, 5G, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and fog computing are some of the current and future technologies and trends in IoT networking. It's important to understand the concepts and applications of these technologies and how to integrate them into your IoT network architecture. Doing so will help you stay ahead of the curve and create value and impact.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?