Do any of you Sci-Fi buffs out there remember that eighties movie “The Terminator” where the machines were interconnected throughout the planet and decided to take over the world? Well a more subtle version of that type of networking is becoming more of a reality through a concept called “The Internet of Things”.
The Internet of things consists of devices of all kinds such as smartphones, laptops, desktops that are all connected. It also involves people, objects and certain aspects of our own natural environment that are interconnected as well.
It is predicted by technology industry analyst Gartner, that there will be about 26 billion connected devices 5 years from now (2020). Back in 2009 there were about 900 million connected devices.
The concept of devices now surpasses that of our regular everyday desktop computer – sensors in our motor vehicles, street lighting, home heating systems, garage door openers etc. now have the ability to make our dumb devices smart.
Machines can now talk directly to other machines (hence the term machine-to-machine more commonly known as M2M) automating many processes and creating very large amounts of valuable data that can be used by businesses to make key strategic decisions.
For your fitness enthusiasts out there thanks to wearable technologies like smart watches and fitness bands you can track your vital signs while exercising and have all of that data saved within the Internet of Things ecosystem.
Today is the time for technology and telecommunications companies to get on board with this new technology to assist them in making their processes and service delivery systems more efficient as well as creating new ways to monetize their existing networking systems.
Richard the Technology Guy
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