Internet Connected Devices Near 10 Billion Oct 10, 2012

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The number of devices that connect to the Internet is forecast to increase to 9.6 billion by year's end, according to IMS Research. IMS sees the third wave of connected device growth accelerating, expected to drive further growth in the connected device market. The firm forecasts 28 billion internet connected devices by year-end 2020.

The firm said that only half of the total installed base in 2020 will be considered "existing connected devices" - that is, communications, computers, and consumer electronics. The firm said that, by 2020, there will be significant growth in medical, industrial, and automotive sectors.

"There are a number of key drivers behind the push to make more devices IP addressable," according to Bill Morelli, IMS associate director. "These include impressive advances in processor technologies, especially low power processors which will be critical for many previously unconnected industrial devices. Much of this equipment does not have ready access to power and will need to rely on batteries, driving this need for highly efficient, low-power processors."

Also expected to help enable rapid growth of internet connected devices is the transition from internet protocol version 4 (IPv4) to internet protocol version 6 (IPv6), increasing the number of available unique IP addresses. A second enabler is rollout of next-gen cellular networks.

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