The Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology concept that is currently transforming and redefining virtually all markets and industries in fundamental ways. In fact, IHS forecasts that the IoT market will grow from an installed base of 15.4 billion devices in 2015 to 30.7 billion devices in 2020 and 75.4 billion in 2025, according to “IoT Platforms: Enabling the Internet of Things” a new white paper available as a free download from IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS), a global source of critical information and insight.

An important sign of the fundamental significance of the IoT concept is that most major information and communication technology vendors are now strategically developing IoT offerings. Companies that sit at the heart of the telecom, networking, industrial infrastructure, enterprise system, and cloud computing sectors are now offering platforms to facilitate the broader economy’s transformation to pervasive connectivity. Over the past five years, fragmented efforts to connect machines and sensors in industry-specific ways are now coalescing into a comprehensive vision of connectivity permeating the global physical environment.

“IoT platforms serve to remove the complexity when developing, deploying, and managing applications over the application lifecycle,” said Sam Lucero, senior principal analyst, IHS Technology. “Moreover, these underlying platforms provide operators flexibility to choose various strategic approaches to the IoT beyond simple managed connectivity offers. IoT platforms enable new value-added services for developers and implementers, while providing complete, end-to-end IoT solutions directly to the market.”