ThinkstockNetworking – Connecting machines to each other and to the command and control systems that will oversee them will require the skills of a highly-skilled network engineer. They will have to be up to date on WANs, edge networking and fog computing as well as next-gen 5G networking technologies, WiFi, and the low-power LAN protocols that IoT devices often run on.
They will need to appreciate the challenges imposed by connecting systems and machines that were never designed with networking in mind. The cloud factors prominently in Industry 4.0 ecosystems so moving data around efficiently with as little latency as possible will be a priority. Network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN) will also be valuable skills to know as will open source technologies, said Said Tabet, chief architect for IoT Solutions at EMC and an IIC steering committee member.