The 1990’s was a decade of computer science. With the help of easily usable operating systems, personal computers became popular and end users could begin using them at home and at work. Shortly after the rise of the PC, the Internet was born and everything began changing at that point.
We’ve been fascinated with mobile phones, laptops, smart phones, tablets, and many gadgets since then and nowadays we are talking about Internet of Things, also known as IoT. The term “Internet of Things” was introduced in the late 1990’s by the famous entrepreneur Kevin Ashton who is one of the founders of Auto-ID Center at MIT. He and his team discovered how to link objects to the Internet through an RFID tag and the term “Internet of Things” was created. Ashton said he first used the term in a presentation he made in 1999. But it’s only been in the past several years that it is becoming an increasingly growing topic.
What is Internet of Things?
In a nutshell, IoT is the concept of everyday objects being brought ‘online’. This concept entails connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet. With IoT it is possible to connect cellphones, tablets, smart TVs, washing machines, wearable devices, and more. The connected devices have built-in sensors to gather data. The gathered data is used by the IoT network for taking action such as automatically adjusting the heating and lighting. Or it can transmit sensitive data about a patient and help doctors to observe the daily progress of treatment. IoT can also help detect impending failure of production equipment in real time.
As you can see, IoT is a giant network of connected “things”. The thing can be a device or a person. The relationship of the things can be between people-things, things-things and people-people. Internet of Things is the future of technology. It makes technology more cognitive which can make our lives more efficient. In 2013, the Global Standards Initiative on Internet of Things (IoT-GSI) defined the IoT as “the infrastructure of the information society.” Which means, in the near future, anybody or anything connected to the Internet will be a part of IoT.
Who is using IoT?
The IoT is not just for consumers to make their life easier. It also helps business in a variety of industries to boost productivity.
Health
Wearable technology is highly popular nowadays. Consumers have already adopted them to help monitor exercise and sleep. Those devices can now also monitor blood pressure and many other health items which can inform the user if there is something going wrong. With the help of IoT, patient monitoring devices, electronic records and also some simple wearable devices can help save lives.
Retail
IoT can be used for inventory tracking. It can help store managers predict which products are being sold more and when to buy new ones. Consumers may also have a personalized shopping experience through data collected by sensors or cameras. The stores can offer new products which may be interesting for the consumers personally.
Telecommunications
Smart phones are already a part of IoT and consumers participate in it by using their mobile devices day by day. The telecommunication industry itself uses IoT technology to gather important data of their customers, sometimes keeping it for other uses. It is important to maintain a reliable connection between the smart phone and IoT to ensure effective IoT infrastructure.
Transportation
Aviation and maritime have been familiar with IoT for a very long time, but cars are getting into this technology, too. It is a common prediction that cars will be able to drive themselves with the help of IoT in a very near future. For the present moment, IoT helps delivery companies track their fleets and make more economic, efficient, and safe routes.
Manufacturing
As IoT devices have many sensors, manufacturing industries can benefit from IoT by collecting data from the factory machinery or warehouse shelves. With the inter-communication of the devices, it is now easier to track resources and problems in real time. IoT makes it easy to work more efficiently and keeps costs down if used properly.
Energy
The term, smart meter, is not far removed from us. These help people to pay for electricity based on how much they actually use. Smart meters collect data automatically and let the experts track and manage energy use. Smart windmills are another good example; they are able to track data and use predictive modeling for efficient energy use.
Cities
Water is becoming more important day by day and water supplies are getting less predictable due to the effects of global climate change. This is one of the most significant issues for municipalities and IoT can help citizens to use water and other resources in the most efficient way. IoT also holds tremendous importance for the city’s infrastructure and security of the city’s residents.
It is already evident that there are many market segmentations of IoT and there will be many more in the future. Manufacturing seems to be the industry that benefits from IoT the most. But the home and lifestyle segments are rapidly adopting IoT, too. That means not only business, also consumers will benefit from IoT more and more over time.How Does IoT
Impact You?
As IoT is becoming more popular, the new rule for the future is going to be “everything will be connected to everything else”. Imagine that your alarm clock wakes you up at 7 a.m. and connects with your coffee maker to make you a strong, hot coffee to help you rouse yourself. You can also imagine coming home from work, would you like your car to calculate the best route to home? Who wouldn’t? While driving home, you might also like your smart oven to cook your food and make it ready to serve as soon as you arrive.
What if your office equipment knows when it is running low on supplies and re-orders it automatically? What if the wearable devices of your workers let you know when they commence working, for how long they have been working and on which projects they are more efficient? What if you could also monitor your workers’ heart beats, blood pressure and predict that there is something wrong with them, so you can let them undergo proper treatment in time? The scenarios are limitless.
IoT Means Big Data
Every minute, we send 204 million emails, generate 1.8 million likes and upload 200 thousand photos to Facebook; we send 347 thousand tweets on Twitter and 20.8 millions of messages via WhatsApp. It is estimated by 2020 there will be 50 billion things connected to the Internet. It is also estimated by the US Census Bureau that there will be 7.6 billion people alive at that time.
As you can see by the numbers above, we are generating very large volumes of data and it will increase exponentially. The term “big data” is getting more significant with the use of hand-held devices connected to the Internet and the growing popularity of IoT.
“Big data” means large volumes of data. That data may be both structured and unstructured. Big data can be analyzed for insights that lead to better decisions and strategic business moves. It also helps the military or intelligence services in the prediction and prevention of any hostile actions.
The volume of the data is not important. The importance of big data is what you do with it. You can gather and use data from any source to find answers for;
- Cost reductions
- Time reductions
- New product developments
- Smart decision making
By using big data systems efficiently, it is easy to determine root causes of failures, issues and defects in near-real time. It also enables recalculation of entire risk portfolios in minutes. A good analysis of big data will also let organizations detect fraudulent behavior before it is too late. Another benefit is gathering customers’ buying habits and being able to create special, personalized marketing strategies.
Remember that the primary value from big data does not stem from the data in its raw form. The value is the result of the processing and analysis of the big data platform. Already there are many helpful tools and services currently available to make analysis easier.
The Future of Big Data
The data we gather from wearables, smart sensors and many other devices, ensures that the Internet of Things is going to continue to grow. And that growing data will become central for a new and trending concept: cognitive technology.
Cognitive technology not only needs big data, but it also needs a good analysis system. For that, many companies are working on strong, smart algorithms, and have been for a while already. According to Gartner, machine learning is a top trend for 2016. Machine learning is the key element for data preparation and predictive analysis in the businesses of tomorrow.
Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and such terms will be much more significant in the near future, allowing organizations to make accurate analysis of relevant data.
Another important topic surrounding big data is privacy. The new privacy regulations from the EU forces companies to address their privacy controls and procedures which means every company is required to give more importance to the security of data.
It is very clear that data is becoming very important and IoT developers should give importance to that as well. If you want to have;
- A quick development environment with a low cost
- Measurable software and hardware
- Easy and dynamic service/product integration
- End-to-end protection
- Reliable and easy management
- Scalability with the business requirements platform;
You don’t have to wait any more. To put your IoT ideas into practice, you should try the IoT-Ignite Platform for free, today.
