The Internet of Things has become a buzzword recently, but
what is it and what can it do?
The
Internet of Things (IoT) is more of a concept than a physical object. In
truth it is a series of objects that talk to each other using an internet
connection. This can be as simple and convenient as your smartphone being able
to control your garage door or your security system. Someday the IoT will also
include your personal fitness tracker communicating with your doctor or
hospital automatically. IoT is just a series of objects being able to connect
and “talk” to each other and it is taking over as the next wave of internet
development.
This new wave of internet has the potential to connect over 28
billion devices by 2020. That is four times the current population of the
planet and 28 billion might be a low estimate. A Business Wire report
is predicting 212 billion devices in the same time frame at a market value worth
over $8.9 trillion.
The reality of IoT has already begun to filter into our
daily lives. Our cars are connected to the internet, wristwatches are connected
to our phones, and machines in a factory are all connected through Wi-Fi. These
are also the areas where we will see the most growth of connected devices in
the next few months: transportation, consumer devices, and industry.
As the demand for more connected devices increases, there
will be a direct increase in demand for developers and companies like Novel that can engineer solutions and
communication paths for these devices. “The key isn’t the things, but the data these things generate
and the applications that will be built on top of that data,” said Stacey
Higginbotham in a recent
blog
for Gigaom.
IoT
will be generating massive amounts of data, and most of that data will be
stored on a cloud. We’re not talking terabytes, think more about zettabytes and yottabytes of data. Right now, there are very few machines
that can handle that amount of data, but there aren’t 212 billion devices
putting data into a cloud yet so we don’t need to panic right away. In the
meantime, Novel can help companies establish and manage their own cloud by helping
design devices that will collect the data that companies want, and writing
applications that can interpret and utilize that data. Novel can also help
design encryption software to keep data secure and prevent security breaches.
What
businesses can do with the data from IoT connected devices is almost limitless.
Do you want to figure out how to optimize a mechanical process? Or perhaps you
are more interested in research and want to measure a set of variables over a
length of time? Maybe you want to track logistical processes and figure out
where your methods can be improved or strengthened. Novel can help design
devices to measure any type and amount of data that a business could want to
generate and then our developers can write an application that will make that
data useful to the company.
There
is a lot more work to go with this emerging industry, and there will be some
road blocks. If you would like to get started connecting your business, your
data, or develop devices that will be a part of the IoT, please contact Novel here. IoT can help your business research, develop, and
thrive. Don’t be afraid to catch this new technology wave with us.
