What is IoT?

The Internet of things (IoT) is an ecosystem that connects physical objects to the Internet. In general it can be defined as a network of networks in which everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data from various sources. This includes both known devices such as computers and mobile phones, but also new devices such as smart meters, cars and fridges. The term was coined by Kevin Ashton in 1999, when working as the Global Product Director of Auto-ID at MIT. In a post he published in 2009 on the day after his birthday, he recalled that "It struck me that my career to date had prepared me perfectly for this new notion of “ubicomp” the convergence of the internet and the physical world. It was exactly what I had been trying to do for more than a decade: create ubiquitous computing. Only now, with the internet and wireless technology, we could actually make it happen."

The IoT has great potential both commercially and in terms of research. The commercial aspect relates to opportunities such as making devices that deliver services (e.g., products) automatically through connectivity to various networks such as smart grids, transportation systems and logistics . Another commercial aspect is reducing costs by using cloud-based information storage and computing resources; i.e., providing services where needed on demand rather than providing them locally. The research aspect relates to the ability to integrate with existing infrastructures for monitoring, measuring and controlling processes in both "smart" cities and industry.

The Internet of Things is sometimes confused, rightly or wrongly, with the Internet of Everything. This latter term describes a trend according to which most, if not all, physical objects that have an impact on daily life will become connected devices that are accessible via the Internet. For example, everything from weather systems through cars to health care equipment is envisioned as becoming part of cloud computing services . However, this is not limited only to consumer-oriented technologies such as Google's Nest thermostat or Amazon's Dashbutton,n but also includes business-to-business examples such as General Electric's Predix platform for the Industrial Internet and smart grids such as those enabled by IBM's Smarter Cities Challenge.

The IoT is about sensing, processing, and communicating data that has been made available through a device or surrounding infrastructure connected to a network. The IoT creates opportunities for people to improve their lives by creating both easily accessible information and new services—from personalized health care to more efficient transportation solutions – based on this information.

In order to create an environment where the IoT can flourish, three conditions must be met:

Devices of any kind need to have low power consumption, which means they cannot rely solely on batteries but instead require connectivity across many of their components in order for them to function properly. This does not necessarily mean connected devices should have "always-on" connectivity, but that they require a continuous connection to the network. In many cases this could be done through existing devices such as cellular modems .?

Devices need to have short boot times when coming out of sleep mode. This means that certain types of security methods may not work well in a world where devices are built with low power consumption in mind and come online in a matter of seconds instead of minutes or hours. The challenge is ensuring these devices can achieve secure authentication without having them remain constantly connected to the Internet.

People expect their personal data to be secure wherever it travels, which requires new ways for people using different kinds of IoT products to securely share the appropriate data with the services they want to use. Today, authentication methods such as passwords do not work well across devices, and implementing strong security on low-power devices is particularly challenging .

The IoT creates opportunities for people to improve their lives by creating both easily accessible information and new services based on this information. In order to create an environment where this can happen, requires conditions must be met: connectivity, short boot times when coming out of sleep mode, and secure authentication without always being connected to a network.