Market Trends of Embedded Security Industry
Increasing Adoption of Wearable Devices in Healthcare Expected to Drive the Market
- According to Gallup's annual Health and Healthcare survey, 90% of US consumers said they are currently using a wearable fitness tracker, and the same percentage stated that they currently use a mobile health application. Also, with the rise in national health expenditure in the United States, by combining the present use with the percentages of US citizens that claim, in the past, they have used such devices, it becomes clear that at some point, one in three citizens used a fitness tracker such as a wristband or smartwatch (34%) or tracked their health statistics on the phone or tablet application (32%).
- The majority of wearables collect and filter data directly from the wearer's body or from the environment around them using a range of sensors and other technologies. Certain wearables have the ability to process and analyze data locally, giving users instant access to results or alarms. Others are unable to process data at the source due to the small size of the sensors and storage devices. Rather, they will send the information to a smartphone, cloud app, or distant computer over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
- Following the analysis and parsing of data, the wearer will receive actionable insights via their smartphone application or the wearable device itself. Usually, proprietary servers in a data center or cloud will be used to keep original data and analytic results indefinitely. Due to their ability to facilitate communication between sensors and control systems, communication networks are essential to the success of wearable technology. With decreased end-to-end latency, these networks are growing quicker and more capable of supporting sophisticated wearables with the advent of 5G technology.
- According to a study published in Nature Medicine, wearable fitness trackers were designed to detect COVID-19 by building a system that detected 80% of pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic infections. The study involved more than 3,300 adults aged 18-80 who installed the researchers' app, called MyPHD, on their Android or Apple devices. The app collected data from the wearables they already had and transferred it to a secure cloud server where the researchers could analyze the data. The wearables included Fitbits, Apple Watches, Garmin devices, and other gadgets compatible with either Apple's HealthKit or the Google Fit platforms.
- Further, technology services firm Vee Technologies and Sona Group of educational institutions recently signed an agreement with Toronto-based University Health Network (UHN) to develop smart fabric-based wearables. This initiative will help develop smart textiles and garments that can support the growing needs of the healthcare industry in Canada. The collaboration agreement seeks to contribute to FIBRE, a research initiative by The University Health Network (UHN), a public research and teaching hospital.
North America Accounts for a Significant Market Share
- North America accounts for a significant share of the embedded security market, as growing concerns for protecting critical infrastructure and sensitive data have increased interventions by regional government bodies in recent years. Thus, government initiatives, such as specific budget allocations and mandated security policies, are expected to drive the market of embedded security in North America.
- The proliferation of IoT devices promises to improve infrastructure efficiency, ease of monitoring, and quality of life, but it also poses new security threats. In the IoT landscape, all smart gadgets are by nature Internet-connected, with the data they generate and utilize kept on servers that are vulnerable to hacking. These factors make embedded security necessary.
- The use of sensors integrated into security-embedded hardware can vary based on the industry in which a specific company operates. For instance, drones can be used to inspect big expanses of land if end users are cultivating crops. IoT devices can assist in locating each shipment in a fleet of trucks and in estimating the time it will take to reach its destination. If end users run a manufacturing plant, they can use linked IoT sensors to determine whether a specific piece of equipment needs repair or to find out how efficient the assembly line is with the help of embedded security solutions.
- To protect their system from intrusions, dealerships and Cars.com implemented a two-step login process. According to Helion Technologies, several insurers need it as a requirement for dealership cybersecurity coverage. Further, the new budget spending for Canadian infrastructure protection is marked at USD 144.9 million over five years, including Canada's critical cyber systems, which span the finance, telecommunications, energy, and transport industries, further driving the demand for embedded security solutions.
- The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, a federal statute of the United States, reported an increase of 25% annually in data breaches in the Healthcare Data Breach Report, with 29,298,012 healthcare records in total breached. Such increases are projected to drive the market studied.