IoT - Herding the Gnats

“Herding Cats”- is THE metaphor used when trying to describe frustrating attempts to coordinate, or control a mob of independent objects moving in a chaotic fashion.  Some believe this idiom originated in an IT department back in the 1990’s, where an exasperated project manager, trying to get a group of software developers to agree on a set of project definitions, milestones, and cost targets, first used the phrase. The image of cats, racing all over the place, captures the level of chaos between those computer programmers. But,  it doesn’t come close to representing the complexity that is created with the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) .

What is the Internet of Things (IoT)? This is the idea of connecting to the Internet, any device with electronics on it. If an object doesn’t have electronics on it, we attach electronics first, then connect it to the Internet.

You know that computers, tablets, cell phones, and smart watches are connected to the Internet. You might be aware that many crock-pots, coffee makers, lamps and door locks are already connected to the Internet. You probably didn’t realize that refrigerators, washing machines, trains, planes, and cars are all connected to the Internet. You almost certainly never imagined that cows, farm fields, people, and entire cities are being connected to the Internet.     

Whoa - let that sink in a minute. That means anything ... EVERYTHING!    

How did this happen? Three key developments are empowering this movement. First, there is the cost and size reduction, as well as an explosion in the number and types of sensors available. These tiny components are making machines more aware of their surroundings. Second, is the proliferation of apps, software, and systems able to analyze the massive amounts of data that these sensors are generating, in real time. Third, is the standardization of IPv6. This is the new version of Internet communication protocol. This protocol promotes the unique identity of every device on the Internet so that Internet traffic can be routed to and from intended devices. With IPv6, we now have opened more than enough addressing capability so that every atom on earth can have its own address.      

What does this mean? We are entering a third stage of computer communication. The first stage, pre-Internet, was people-to-machine communication. The Internet accelerated the movement into Stage Two, people-to-people connectivity. IoT is enabling the drive into Stage Three, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication.  

Those aren’t cats, they’re gnats. These connected devices are everywhere. But, in most cases you won’t even realize they are there. Authorities claim there are already more devices connected to the Internet then there are people on the face of the earth.   CISCO estimates that there will be 50 billion devices connected to the Internet by 2020. Along with that will come $19 trillion in profits and cost savings from IoT over the next decade.

Who is in control? You might imagine that the entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley have this all well-in-hand. But, it is not clear that anyone is truly in control of IoT. In 2014 GSMA released a report claiming that the U.S. is not leading in M2M connectivity. China leads the way with 27% of all global machine-to-machine (M2M) connections, along with a government commitment to invest over $600 billion in future M2M connectivity. The total continent of Europe has 29%, and the U.S. has 19%.

At least two U.S. companies are stepping out into leadership positions in IoT. Jabil, one of the world leaders in end-to-end hardware manufacturing, hosted the e2e conference at their recently-opened Blue Sky Center in San Jose. Industry luminaries were present, including (pictured from left to right below). Scott Gebicke, SVP at Jabil,  Redg Snodgrass, CEO at Wearable World and Robert Scoble, Futurist at Rackspace. They discussed and debated the vast market opportunity of IoT. 

Intel, one of the world’s largest chip makers, is another important US company that has made a significant commitment to IoT. Intel’s solution strategy is enabling Makers to get to market faster.

The Swelling Swarm – There is a lot of excitement and hope for the future of IoT. But, there are also some dark clouds brewing on the horizon. This massive amount of sensors, connectivity, and data is planned to be used for good. Yet, it has people worried. Recent surveys in both Europe and the US show that people have serious concerns about the following areas:

• Who has the data?
• How will it be used?
• Will data on me, be used to market to me?
• Will these devices “just work together?"
• Who will handle security?
• Who will define privacy?
• Once in the field, who will keep them updated?

These are simple questions that will require complex standards, policies, and protocols to be hammered out,

and agreed to, not only by many different companies, but by multiple different industries.

The Big Cats - If you think herding house cats would be hard, imagine what it would be like to herd mountain lions. Independent, large, powerful, and predatory, some big brand companies are working to develop IoT policies, protocols and usage models. Unless absolutely required for operation, however, they aren’t standardizing these models. They want to keep them confidential, and use them for their own competitive advantage. Word on the street is that IoT working groups do not have a solution for this one to date.

IoT is coming fast. Because of the vast diversity and inter-company confidentiality, initially, there may not be a way to fast-follow in the new industries being created. If, however, you consider the approach of understanding the usage models, understanding customers, both their desires and fears, there can be a clear path through the swarm.

Tony Olson is the founder and president of D2 Worldwide, a company that specializes in understanding data, technology, and customers. To learn more about D2, click here.