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A new report shows healthy revenues for 21 benchmarked Internet of Things (IoT) companies in the last quarter of 2015, with revenue growing by almost 15% to levels approaching $7 billion. Cloud computing and IT infrastructure are especially potent drivers of IoT revenues, as vendors help companies cope with ever increasing rivers of data.

In a press release Technology Business Research (TBR) reported that commercial IoT opportunities drove year-over-year growth in the fourth quarter by 14.8% among the 21 companies it tracks in its regular Commercial IoT Benchmark report. Total revenues for the quarter were $6.7 billion among benchmarked vendors that include Verizon, Microsoft, Intel, Google, Amazon, Siemens, Cisco, Ericsson and Oracle.

See also: Hackers drive huge growth in IoT security market

“Effectively, every type of IT and operational technology (OT) vendor will have a stake in the growing commercial IoT market, as IoT solutions will drive increased use of diverse IT and OT products and services,” said Dan Callahan, a TBR analyst specializing in devices and IoT.

TBR says revenue growth is being driven by a rise in go-to-market refreshes by top vendors who are striving to become known as early leaders in the commercial IoT space.

“In addition to building interest in established IT products, commercial IoT will create growth in specialized business consulting, hardware, network, development, management and security components,” said Callahan. “IT and OT vendors that are quick to capture IoT opportunities within their current customer base, and attract new ones through developer programs and investing in growing mindshare, will enjoy additional, immediate, revenue opportunities.”

TBR’s report showed vendors are looking to become early IoT leaders in order to drive profits in this emerging industry. Vendors who take an early IoT leadership position are benefiting because there is less competition, customers have limited outsourcing options due to early IoT’s security challenges, and clients require custom solutions due to the lack of technology standards.

Cloud computing services posted the highest year-over-year revenue growth rate of 79% to record $604 million in the quarter. This growth is being propelled by the vastly increasing need being created for platforms to process and store data.

TSR also noted strong growth in IT services and ICT infrastructure, which charted a 51.4% growth rate in revenue for the quarter. This subsector is benefiting from the increasing capacity requirements created by the huge streams of IoT data that is being generated, as more companies struggle to tame the growing flood of information into actionable insights.

Communications giant Huawei has revealed its vision for 2016 at its annual analyst summit (HAS), with a focus on the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality, and 5G internet.

The Chinese firm was one of the first to begin 5G tests, working with Japanese wireless carrier NTT Docomo last year on field tests. It expects to see a rollout in the next five years, but in the meantime Huawei plans to upgrade its LTE Advanced service.

See Also: Google is Readying its Own Internet of Things OS

The two other areas hinge on faster internet speeds and more bandwidth, according to Huawei. It claims that LTE Advanced might be enough for artificial and virtual reality, though an IoT system in every home might require much faster Wi-Fi and cellular speeds.

Huawei didn’t announce any individual devices for the IoT market at the summit, but wants to become a provider of entire systems for consumers. This is being attempted by Nest and Apple, through Works with Nest and HomeKit, but without a strong consumer platform like the Nest thermostat or iPhone it might be hard for Huawei to get off the ground.

It already has its own IoT ecosystem, Lite OS, but only a few IoT applications and services utilize the ecosystem. Indian Express points to one app for smart parking, which allocates a parking space for a car before it enters the facility, lowering the amount of time searching for a space.

That’s not exactly the most innovative app in the IoT world, but Huawei seems committed to building its ecosystem and partnering with more developers in the future.

On the virtual reality front, Huawei recently released a VR headset to compete with Samsung’s Gear VR. It works with the P9 and P9 Plus devices, similar to Samsung’s VR, but uses its own ecosystem that offers 4,000 movies and 30 video games for free.

That might be enough in the short-term for customers, but it will need to constantly update its store to keep users interested. That is why Samsung’s partnership with Oculus made sense, so that developers weren’t forced to develop for yet another VR platform.

All in all, the real excitement here is the onset of 5G in the next five years. We’ve heard data speeds reaching up to 800Gbps in UK research labs, though we expect 2-10Gbps when it initially arrives in 2020, enough to hopefully power an IoT home without any hiccups.

An Australian trial of Internet of Things (IoT) technology hopes to get the lowdown from city sewers without workers needing to get knee deep in the muddy waters. This comes as more global smart city initiatives push the frontiers of data collection both above and below ground.

Gizmodo reports that the state of Victoria is working with IT and communications companies to test out Narrowband-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) systems in its sewer and water systems. Huawei, Optus and Vodafone are partnering with the state agency South East Water for the trial in urban areas that include Melbourne.

NB-IoT is a low-powered, low-cost radio technology that allows thousands of connected devices and infrastructure elements to gather and share data, regardless of the location. The three-month trial seeks to provide operators with access to granular, real-time data to better the safety, reliability and efficiency of Victoria’s sewer and water infrastructure.

“Through this trial, we are building a platform for a more reliable and sustainable water supply, a safer place for our people to work, and more cost-effective services for our customers,” he said.

The trial will see NB-IoT sensors placed on sewer manhole covers to inform city workers of unauthorized access, to reduce the risk of injury and damage to water assets. NB-IoT technology will also be fitted to rainwater tank management systems to monitor storage levels amid efforts to optimize stormwater runoff and rainwater harvesting.

And NB-IoT will replace existing 3G technology across South East Water’s peninsula early connection option sewer network. The real-time information generated will be used to locate faults across the network and to manage waste water flows.