The Internet of Things ...

As the year winds down, I got to thinking about the biggest IT topic that got my attention this year and having recently been asked to explain it to someone, I thought, why not drop it here as my last post of 2015. (drum roll please) : The Internet of Things !  aka  IoT.

So what is it? Well, as best I can explain, it’s the concept of basically connecting any device to the Internet (and/or to each other). This includes everything from cell phones, stoves, headphones, light-bulbs, coffee makers, wearable devices and almost anything else you can think of.  This also applies to components of machines, for example a motor car engine.  So in essence the IoT will be this giant network of connected “things” (which also includes people).  

The relationship will be between people-people, people-things, and things-things.

Now, lest you think it’s all about small ‘things’ think again. Several cities are already planning major overhauls that will allow its citizens to track real-time, things like pollution levels and traffic on the freeways. You know, in case you absolutely need to know if you should breath air while you drive :-)

So what’s driving this revolution? Simple, it’s the low cost of today’s broadband and cellular connectivity. With all that bandwidth available and at a low cost, there are virtually endless opportunities and connections to take place, and a population that is knowledge hungry.

Are there risks and challenges? Sure and none more formidable than ‘how do we secure’ the IoT. Some are wondering if a hacker might target a toaster-oven that is connected to a home network and then be able to access a hard drive on a PC, which in turn contains corporate / private information. This is a hot button topic even today so you can imagine how this conversation and concerns will escalate when we are talking about many billions of devices being connected.  We are also going to need to figure out how to safely store, analyze, and make sense of the vast amounts of data that will be generated by the IoT.

Is it useful? Well, imagine if your medication container could send you a message reminding you that it was time to take your pill? Or the shirt your baby wore could send you an alert if the breathing pattern was abnormal? Or what if your oven could alert you that it was still on after 4 hours? Would it be handy if your garbage-can reminded you that today was collection day? Could it be a lifesaver if the fire-extinguisher under your kitchen counter could alert you when it had passed expiration date? If you answered yes to any of these, then I’ve got good news for you: All the above IoT items are already available, along with thousands of others.

So what‘s next you might wonder? Well, don’t look at me, I’m headed off on a 4 day weekend in a few hours and I’m going to put all my attention into my Christmas shopping and the wife’s famous banana bread baking.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Maybe I’ll even go shopping for a device to put on the .. IoT.