• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, August 3, 2017

Spending on the Internet of Things ultimately will have a ceiling, but it’s a bit tough to see where that might be at the moment.

Overall IoT tech spending is now at $140 billion, according to a new tally.

That spending will grow 18% a year to $322 billion within five years, according to the study by Zinnov Consulting.

A good chunk ($78 billion) of spending this year will be on IoT technology services alone, projected to reach $190 billion within five years.

North America leads IoT spending, accounting for 40% of worldwide spending.

The study also noted some key trends, including:

• IoT is blurring the industry lines and helping businesses explore new business models and additional revenue streams
• The power of connectivity and data is providing unprecedented visibility, control, autonomy and intelligence across use cases
• Security, privacy and interoperability remain the top challenges for IoT adoption
• Technology enablers are investing to provide solutions that cater to the challenges
• Businesses and service providers are pushing for IoT standardization through consortiums to allow interoperability of billions of connected devices
• Technological innovations catering to potential IoT threats are expected to continue driving IoT investments and penetration

Despite challenges, most notably around security and privacy, activity on the Internet of Things is not slowing. More significantly, plenty of money is heading its way.