• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, November 9, 2015

If nothing else, The Internet of Things is about very big numbers.

Not all the numbers projected from various sources are the same, but they are, nonetheless, substantial.

There are 10 billion devices now connected to the internet, according to one new report.

That report, by BI Intelligence, projects there will be 34 billion devices connected to the net by 2020. Of those, 24 billion will be IoT devices, while traditional computing devices such as smartphones, tablets and smartwatches will comprise 10 billion.

Juniper Research pegs this year’s connected device number at 13 billion and IDC says the number in five years will be 30 billion. In five years, IC Insights sees the number of connected devices at 25 billion.

So in five years, it looks like the number of connected devices will be in the range of 25 billion to 34 billion.

No matter which projection turns out to be the most accurate, the direction is clear and the numbers are large.

Aside from the top line numbers, the BI Intelligence report did some interesting segmentation. Some projections:

• Beacon-triggered messaging will generate $44 billion
• There will be 220 million connected cars on the road by 2020
• By 2030, the majority of home devices shipped will be connected to the internet as device makers connect everything they produce
• In food services, 310 million IoT devices will be used, mostly for digital signs connected throughout grocery stores and fast-food chains
• There will be 5 billion consumer connected devices by 2020
• Close to $6 trillion will be spent on IoT solutions over the next five years

Even if any of these numbers are off by a few billion, the scale is massive.