IOT – Internet of Things – What Is This ?
Internet of Things – IoT Definition
The amount and types of digital data that we are surrounded with in our day-to-day life is fast increasing day after day, month after month and year after year stupendously and this is simply no such surprise for any person surviving in this techie world of today. Each one of us produces data, fresh data every day, not just professionally but also personally, be it the data we share on our social networks, or on instant messages on Smartphones etc. Can you ideate a picture of different objects communicating and sharing data, just like we people do? Picture the use of IoT in the vehicles and on roads. Road signs forwarding information to coming vehicles for their speed limits etc, and vehicles adjusting their speed accordingly! Washing machines selecting their washing program based on the required information that they receive from the washable clothes themselves and refrigerators notifying the expiry dates of food items. These and many more examples from our daily life can help us know how useful IoT can be for us. This is exactly what the smart future has in store for us!
IoT: Making the Future Smart with M2M Art of the IoT Platform
IoT, Internet of Things, might have gained popularity only in recent times, but in actuality, its origin dates back to the year 1999 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Theoretically, IoT explains the possibilities of objects exchanging data and information; not only PCs, tablets and Smartphones alone doing this talking, but everyday common objects too; exchanging information collected from accelerometers, sensors and GPS systems. This is referred to as M2M, Machine to Machine communication allowing wireless as well as wired devices to communicate. Eying the healthcare segment too, how great it would be that medications packages remind us of taking the pills that we are somehow forgetting.
We Are Almost There!
An estimate by Gartner tells that by the year 2022, an average household will be having more than 500 connected objects. Various IoT applications in the near future will cover multiple industries including healthcare, safety, entertainment industry and nearly every single aspect of people’s day-to-day living. In fact, we do not really have to eagerly wait for this as IoT has already become a reality, and it is at least in the nascent stages.
Data Storage and More
The data that is generated by various applications transmit through the wireless technology, and these applications themselves require being visibly identifiable. Radio Frequency Identification or RFID technology and Near Field Communication i.e. the NFC chips are already enabling objects to have their own distinctive ID and spread various sorts of data and information. Likewise, these objects would be in the need of a unique and exclusive IP address which will help to identify them on the net. All this transferred data and information over the Net can then be collated in a database that is central and is monitored, analyzed, and processed. The IoT is the new driving force for the new age digital data storage, which is also specified as SoE, Storage of Everything.
In a Nutshell
The future possesses an enormous potential that we have in front of us to be explored, used and cherished and this is provided by the innovatory promise of the Internet of Things. Surrounding us in near future will be a billion of small yet smart objects communicating with each other by the exchange of data and information over the net, and furthermore, soon our locales and cities will start becoming data smart too. The Internet of Things would need to use a massive number of fresh IP addresses that will only be attainable by the transitions to the standard IPv6, and this will somehow becomes the catalysts and drivers for new-age solutions for real-time digital data storage and data analysis. Cloud computing definitely appears to be most suited one for supporting the IoT and the SoE, and many firms already are in the race who have already began to provide the customers with some scalable, most efficient and highly reliable systems for managing massive data generated by the Internet of Things.
If it already 2015, and just five years to 2020 with the potential of more than a hundred billion day-to-day objects connected by the IoT, but those who are a little too impatient can readily take the 1st step forward towards the IoT by putting one of such IoT devices.