The Internet of Things, Connecting Everything with Everything
By Kevin Ngai
September 4, 2015A lot of people are talking about the Internet of Things, or IoT. It was highlighted across the 2015 CES show floor among more than 900 exhibitors within various marketplaces, including Fitness & Technology, Health & Wellness, Smart Home and Wearables. It may be the hottest topic in tech right now but chances are, you may not understand it or have even heard the phase!
A study from ORC International’s Caravan Omnibus Surveys, indicates that only 51% of the US population are aware of the term IoT and even those respondents who felt they knew the term struggled to define it. Just 8% of US consumers regards themselves as being very familiar with the IoT.
What is the Internet of Things?
It's the concept where ordinary things will be able to seamlessly communicate with each other using sensors and controllers, as they stay connected to all of us via the internet.
A thing can be an everyday object or person. When you put a sensor on any of these things, they can receive information, send information, or trigger commands to any other thing. These "smart" things can communicate with each other and automatically perform actions based on what you want them to do or on what's happening around them. The idea is for an interconnected world of online devices that will automate our daily lives, making living easier and better.
This means someday, sensors inside your fridge will notice when you eat ice cream, automatically replenish the ice cream by placing an order to Loblaws and have Purolator deliver it to your door!
Yup, smart fridges that will always be full of ice cream could be a reality!
The IoT allows for virtually endless opportunities and connections to take place. Could you imagine the positive impact it could have to health and wellbeing, having devices proactively track and monitor health issues on a regular basis? The IoT concept lends itself to fantastic ideas. In theory, the idea of a future smart city has been tossed around which could help reduce waste, improve energy efficiency and transportation networks.
This might seem far-off right now, but it's not. As broadband Internet is becoming more widely available with costs going down, more devices are being created with wireless connectivity and sensors built into them. It's real, and it's happening now with appliances, cars, home automation systems, wearable tech, smartphones to networked PCs. We're already in a generation that expects every screen we come across can be tapped and swiped!
The principle behind the IoT will be a game-changer for the next decade. The analyst firm Gartner predicts that by 2020 there will be over 25 billion connected devices! With billions of devices potentially being connect, it's not hard to see why the IoT is such a hot topic today which also poses a major challenge. Companies will need to address the privacy and security of the massive amount of data that theses devices will produce. From my earlier example, you do not want someone hacking into your smart fridge and gaining access to your entire network!
It's still very early and we haven't touched the full potential of what the IoT can do, but figuring it out and watching it all unfold will make for some exciting times to come. The IoT represents the next wave of technological innovation that will change how we live. The only certainly I have is that ice cream will still remain delicious.
Showing 1 Most Recent Comment
View all