Micro-grids, remote monitoring, supply coordination, self-healing networks, preventive maintenance supported by AI... we could go on. It takes a lot of processing power to make quick and accurate decisions based on this Big Data. For security reasons, the utility sector refused to adopt cloud computing for a long time, and they now have to catch up. 

In the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), sensor technology plays a major role, partly due to the arrival of combined sensors and the development of custom analysis software. Simulations will be made using ‘digital twins’ of physical equipment to improve efficiency. Expected data multiplication goes hand in hand with a substantial expansion of network capacity and a large contribution from machine-to-machine monitoring.