What is a 'thing' in IoT?

What is a 'thing' in IoT?

We often talk about the Internet of Things (IoT) in many different contexts but what exactly is a 'thing'? Some of you who may have followed some of the Twitter discussions I had with Peter Whale may know what I mean. From my point of view, as Peter puts it,  a thing could be ‘anything you want to be a thing’.

Have a look at my latest blog post in CW blog and let me know if you agree or not. 

https://cambridgewirelessblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/what-is-a-thing-in-internet-of-things-iot/ 

Zahid Ghadialy

Principal Analyst & Consultant at 3G4G

9 年

This article from <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/11/is-this-future-of-the-internet-of-things">WEF</a> refers to “The Internet of not-things”. It says: The foundation will be a digital infrastructure that responds to its surroundings and the people in it, whether that means ubiquitous communications, ubiquitous entertainment, or ubiquitous opportunities for commerce. This infrastructure will be so seamless that rather than interacting with discrete objects, people will simply interact with their environment through deliberate voice and gesture — or cues like respiration and body temperature that will trigger the environment to respond. Once such an infrastructure is in place, the possibilities for innovation explode. The power of Moore’s Law is now amplified by Metcalfe’s Law, which says that a network’s value is equal to the square of the number of participants in it. All these Internet-connected “things” — the sensors, devices, actuators, drones, vehicles, products, etc. — will be able to react automatically, seeing, analyzing, and combining to create value in as yet unimaginable ways. The individual “things” themselves will meld into a background of ambient connectedness and responsiveness.

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Robert Machin

Consultant Analyst/ Communicator

9 年

For me, a 'thing' in the IoT is simply a non-animate endpoint on the network. Not a person, and not requiring a human interaction to be active.

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Zahid Ghadialy

Principal Analyst & Consultant at 3G4G

9 年

I wonder if using the terms 'active' and 'passive' thing or 'physical' and 'virtual' thing may help some people understand better.

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Luc Perard

See your software in a whole new light

9 年

Everything is a 'Thing' when you create IoT apps with ThingWorx. A 'Thing' (ex: car) has properties (ex: current speed, VIN, but also color or owner's name). Properties's value can be populated from other 'Things': the car's OBD dongle but also the manufacturer's PLM system or the dealer's CRM system. IoT apps' users are also 'Thing', whose properties can be username, preferred display language, phone number, etc. Database, backend systems, web services are also 'Things' modeled in ThingWorx.

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