Verizon has released its latest State of the IoT Market report, with headline figures finding that 73% of executives are either researching or currently deploying IoT projects, with manufacturing, transportation, and utilities making up the largest percentage of investments. Insurance and Consumer represent the areas with fastest spending growth, and Verizon says 8.7bn ‘things’ will be connected in 2017 – up 31% from the total number in 2016. IoT spend will apparently account for $2tn in 2017. The main drivers for adoption are new network technology, cost reductions, and regulatory pressures, and the B2B sector is expected to account for around 70% of the potential value enabled by IoT technologies. However, over half of business execs said that standards, security, interoperability, and…