Internet of Things Applications

The Internet of Things (IoT) starts with your things—the things that matter most to your business. IoT is about making your things and your data come together in new ways. Tap into data. Uncover actionable intelligence. And modernize how you do business. Welcome to the Internet of your Things.

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Is the Internet of Things the world’s most confusing tech trend? On the one hand, we’re told it’s going to be epic, and soon – all predictions are either in tens of billions (of connected devices) and trillions (of dollars of economic value to be created). On the other hand, the dominant feeling expressed by end users (including at this year’s CES show, arguably the bellwether of the industry) is essentially “meh” – right now the IoT feels like an avalanche of new connected products, many of which seem to solve trivial, “first world” problems: expensive gadgets that resolutely fall in the “nice to have” category, rather than “must have”. And, for all the talk about a mega tech trend, things seem to be moving at the speed of molasses, with little discernible progress year on year.

Part of the problem is perhaps one of semantics. While gadgets are indeed part of the category (and quite often very large markets onto themselves), the Internet of Things (which we define as any “connected hardware” other than desktops, laptops and smartphones) is a much broader, and deeper, trend that cuts across both the consumer, enterprise and industrial spaces. Fundamentally, the Internet of Things is about the transformation of any physical object into a digital data product. Once you attach a sensor to it, a physical object (whether a tiny one like a pill that goes through your body, or a very large one like a plane or building) starts functioning a lot like any other digital product – it emits data about its usage, location and state; it can be tracked, controlled, personalized and upgraded remotely; and, when coupled with all the progress in Big Data and artificial intelligence, it can become intelligent, predictive, collaborative and in some cases autonomous. An entirely new way of interacting with our world is emerging. The importance of the IoT perhaps emerges more clearly when you think about it as the final chapter of “software eats the world”, where everything gets connected.

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I recently completely a deep dive on the Internet of Things (IoT) space for one of my Red Rocket clients, and I was blown away with what I learned.

If we think the consumer internet as we know it is a big deal, IoT will become an even bigger deal, over time. Gartner predicts the IoT industry to be $1.9TN in size by 2020, and McKinsey thinks it could be as large as $6.2TN by 2025, in terms of economic impact. Yes, trillion. Intel forecasted 15BN devices were already connected to the internet in 2015 alone. That’s a lot of demand for embedded smart modules, cloud computing, connectivity, data security, mobile apps and analytics reporting alone.

To be clear, when I talk about IoT, I am largely talking about devices connected to the internet (e.g., think a Nest thermostat), or Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technologies. IoT applications run across these primary sectors: Consumer, Commercial, Industrial, Buildings, and Government. And, get further segmented across these major industries: Retail, Transportation, Security/Safety, IT, Manufacturing, Automotive, Energy and Healthcare, to name a few. Research suggests Manufacturing and Healthcare are the largest two of these industries, in terms of potential and investment to date. From there, it drills down even further. For example, in the Security/Safety space, it splits out into Real Time Alerts, Asset Tracking, Fire Safety, Environmental Safety, Elderly/Child Protection, Power Protection, Supply Chain Visibility and beyond.

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Purportedly, the market opportunity for the Internet of things is gargantuan -- but development in the space clearly isn't paying off yet.

The Internet of things may be hot, hot, hot, according to the Valley, but it’s not paying the bills. In fact, less than 10 percent of IoT developers are making enough to support a reasonably sized team.

That’s one key takeaway from the latest VisionMobile Developer Economics report, released this week. It’s a sobering thought for the companies jumping into IoT as they chase IoT’s purported $11 trillion jackpot.

[ Get the scoop on the Internet of things at its most fundamental level and find out where it's headed, in InfoWorld's downloadable PDF and ePub. | Get a digest of the day's top tech stories in the InfoWorld Daily newsletter. ] As with every other business, the only way companies will realize this value in terms of revenue will be to attack the IoT market with a clear idea of what they’re selling and to whom

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Formed by ex-Apple AAPL +0.68% engineers, Nest Labs develops products designed to bring Big Data and the Internet of Things into our homes via its smart thermostats, fire alarms and security cameras.

The company was bought out by Google GOOGL +1.94% last year for $3.2 billion, which sees its products as central to the inevitable drive towards “smart” homes with connected data systems designed to make our lives more comfortable, while simultaneously cutting down on wasted energy.

This is all possible because of Big Data and analytics – algorithms in the software used by the devices to monitor and record how they are used, building up a profile which allows them to intelligently “set” themselves.

It has proven to be a successful model and the products have sold well since the first Nest thermostat was released in 2011. Now with the launch of its latest products, the Nest Protect smoke alarm system and the Nest Cam home surveillance camera, it is hoping to save lives as well as make us safer.

Uploading and comparing the thermostat data from all of its users can glean accurate pictures of energy use across communities and the wider world. However when dealing with data as personal as information about your home, the importance of maintaining customers’ privacy cannot be understated. Nest’s General Manager for Europe, Lionel Paillet, explained to me how fundamental this is to the company’s operations.

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Sigfox plans to launch its low-cost Internet of things platform in the U.S. this year.

This fall a new kind of wireless network will launch in a metropolis near you. This network won’t connect to phones or tablets. Instead it will provide the wireless links necessary to connect devices, appliances and sensors that make up the Internet of things (IoT).

The company building the network is called Sigfox, and it’s based in Europe (Toulouse, France, to be exact) where it’s already set up networks in France, Spain, the U.K., and five other countries. Sigfox-powered sensors are being slapped on fire hydrants (to monitor water pressure), embedded in home alarms (to alert the authorities when they’re tripped), and even buried in the dirt (to monitor the soil density of farmland). This year, however, it’s moving to its largest country to date, the U.S., where it plans to build networks covering the ten largest cities.

Wireless connectivity that covers a wide swath of land is nothing new for the IoT. In fact, the Internet of things got its start in industrial machine-to-machine communications using mobile operators’ 2G networks to track vehicle fleets and monitor remote equipment. What Sigfox offers, however, is a much cheaper and more efficient alternative to cellular networks, said Thomas Nicholls, EVP of communications for Sigfox. It’s a platform that will make long-range wireless connectivity accessible for any company, device or application.

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Start-ups challenged to innovate as multi-million pound competition looks to harness the power of technology to create the cities of the future…

A £10 million Internet of Things (IoT) fund has been established by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Innovate UK, with the idea of encouraging UK businesses to envision how the IoT could benefit the general public. Forward-thinking entrepreneurs who wish to get involved are required to produce a research and development project, detailing how new technology could benefit the economy, local transport networks or healthcare services. To be eligible for funding the the project must involve at least one local authority, have a specific benefit to the general public and be workable across more than one sector.

"The Internet of Things is rapidly becoming part of our everyday lives. The UK technology sector is renowned for its creativity and pioneering research and development. This competition will be instrumental in discovering new connections between city services and their users," commented digital economy minister Ed Vaizey.

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