CHICAGO ― Aiming to take the lead in the era of the Internet of Things, Cisco, a global networking giant, announced new plans on Tuesday to develop the smart technology ecosystem.

The steering committee of the Internet of Things World Forum, an annual conference held by Cisco from Tuesday to Thursday in Chicago, unveiled a new IoT Reference Model that is expected to serve as a common framework to help industries accelerate IoT deployments. The reference model consists of seven parts including education for chief information officers and developers on deployment of IoT projects, and standards for efficient collaboration.

The steering committee was comprised of global industry officials, tech experts and executives of IT companies including General Electric, SAP and Oracle.

“IoT is here, it is now. It is big and bold,” Wim Elfrink, executive vice president of Cisco, said in a keynote speech at the conference, hinting at great prospects for what is often called the next big thing in the global tech sector.

“We estimate 300,000 people have jobs in developing IoT products and it (IoT) is an engine for job creation,” he added.

According to a Cisco survey of 230 top businesspeople, around 95 percent of the executives are planning to deploy the networking technology within three years, and 63 percent think they would fall behind competitively without the technology.

Giving kudos to Uber, a cab-hailing mobile service, the executive vice president said he hoped that more transformational and innovative business models based on the ecosystem made by Cisco and its partners can be developed.

“The IoTWF’s introduction today of the IoT Reference Model is a great step for the industry and shows that the IoT ecosystem is coming together and moving forward,” said Inbar Lasser-Raab, vice president of Cisco’s enterprise networking and IoT Marketing.

In order to address a skills gap, which will likely surface for the next decade with the rapid growth of the IoT technologies, the committee also introduced the IoT Talent Consortium, an educational initiative to nurture talents in the relevant sectors.

Cisco forecast that there would be a skills gap of 2 million trained engineers in realizing the value of IoT.

The firm will partner up with universities and private firms including the New York Academy of Sciences, MIT, Rockwell Automation and Davra Networks to give college and university graduates the skills needed for the IoT.

By Kim Young-won, Korea Herald correspondent
(wone0102@heraldcorp.com)