The global number of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) connections will increase from 17.7 billion in 2020 to 36.8 billion in 2025 - representing an overall growth rate of 107 per cent.

Juniper Research identified smart manufacturing as a key growth sector of the IIoT market over the next five years, accounting for 22 billion connections by 2025.

Its analysis predicted that 5G and Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) networks will play pivotal roles in creating attractive service offerings to the manufacturing industry, enabling the realisation of the ‘smart factory’ concept, in which real-time data transmission and high connection densities allow highly-autonomous operations for manufacturers.

The report identified private 5G services as crucial to maximising the value of a smart factory to service users, by leveraging the technology to enable superior levels of autonomy amongst operations.

Juniper Research found that these networks will prove most valuable when used for the transmission of large amounts of data in environments with a high density of connections, and where significant levels of data are generated. In turn, this will enable large-scale manufacturers to reduce operational spend through efficiency gains.

It forecast that over 80 per cent of global IIoT market value will be attributable to software spend by 2025; reaching $216 billion. Software tools leveraging machine learning for enhanced data analysis and the identification of network vulnerabilities are now essential to connected manufacturing operations.

Research author Scarlett Woodford noted: "Manufacturers must exercise caution when implementing IoT technology; resisting the temptation to introduce connectivity to all aspects of operations.

"Instead, manufacturers must focus on the collection of data on the most valuable areas to drive efficiency gains."

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