The Name Sounds Non Technical

The name of this nascent aspect of the digital world sounds very crude and preliminary. But it’s not.  It’s the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ) adopted name of this ever-scalable evolution of networking technology. The Internet of Things is a development in which everyday common objects have wireless connectivity to a wide area network (WAN). The term is stylized as IoT. It is the object inter-connectivity of everything from urban transport, living things, medical devices to household appliances. These objects can send data and receive data. The IoT allows objects to be accessed and controlled remotely. These “Things” are appliances such as home HVAC, lighting, washer/dryers, ovens and refrigerators also known as the “smart home devices”. A popular home nanny-cam, which you can login to from your smartphone. From across town you can see real-time video from your home.

Internet Of Things

Each object has it’s own IPv6 Address just like your home or office desktop or laptop computer has and IP Address. IPv4 has already reached its limit of assignable addresses. A cattle ranch owner can tag his heard with a wireless transponders to keep track of the heard. Even your pet can be part of the Internet of Things. People who had heart pacemakers, had to use a landline telephone to updates to the doctor. Now the IoT allows for all of the pacemakers info to be sent wirelessly, on a schedule or on demand. It can even send updates to the pacemaker.

An Ordinary Coke-A-Cola Machine?

  The first Internet connected appliance device tested was a Coke-a-Cola vending machine at Carnegie Mellon University in the 80’s. Coke-a-Cola Machine. It was able to send info on it’s inventory and whether it’s news replenished stock was cold yet.  RFID, radio frequency identification, was seen as a prerequisite for the Internet of Things. In it’s original form, RFID used in a large retail store or warehouse, can determine the exact location of an inventory item. Shipping container companies will benefit tremendously by knowing exactly where a shipment is and at what time it arrived.

Companies Already Involved And Invested.

 Amazon’s Things  Dell has partnered with Intel. ATT, GE, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Samsung, Apple, Siemans are companies heavily invested. Cisco is calling it The Internet of Everything. Powerful Companies Invested These days when you wave your Smart Phone over the typical credit card terminal at the supermarket checkout lane to pay for your groceries, you’re also participating in the Internet of Things. 

Another more common and practical form of Internet of Things, would be your refrigerator sending a message to your smartphone. It could tell you that your low on milk, eggs, orange juice and bread etc. when you’re close to a supermarket. And once inside the supermarket, the IoT will direct you to the appropriate isles. It will also alert you to your previously purchased items that are currently on sale.

In 4 years, there will be an estimated 25 billion objects on the Internet of Things.  How many of them will be your things?