What is the internet of things or IoT?
What is the internet of things (and why does it matter)?
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
Picture from https://teamarin.net
The internet of things (or as it’s also known, IoT) isn’t new: tech companies and pundits have been discussing the idea for decades, and the first internet-connected toaster was unveiled at a conference in 1989.
At its core, IoT is simple: it’s about connecting devices over the internet, letting them talk to us, applications, and each other. The popular, if silly, example is the smart fridge: what if your fridge could tell you it was out of milk, texting you if its internal cameras saw there was none left, or that the carton was past its use-by date?
Where it’s most common, in Britain at least, is home heating and energy use – partially because the government is pushing energy companies to roll out smart meters (although it has been questioned whether it can be delivered on schedule). They have clever functions that let you turn on heating remotely, set it to turn down the temperature if it’s a sunny day, or even turn off when there’s no-one home. Some can tell the latter with motion-sensing cameras, or simply by seeing that your smartphone (and therefore you) has left the premises.
IoT is more than smart homes and connected appliances, however. It scales up to include smart cities – think of connected traffic signals that monitor utility use, or smart bins that signal when they need to be emptied – and industry, with connected sensors for everything from tracking parts to monitoring crops.
Why does it matter? There’s a reason the government is encouraging energy companies to hand you a smart meter: all that data and automated use is more efficient, meaning we use less energy. Many areas of IoT show such benefits, though some smart gadgets are more about whizz-bang effects than efficiency, which may well be why we’re seeing more smart heating than smart fridges in the UK. (source The Guardian )
Worldwide spending on IoT forecast to reach $772 billion in 2018
- Hardware largest technology category with $239bn on modules and sensors
- By 2021, 55% of spending on IoT projects will be for software and services
- Manufacturing currently leads spending with $189 billion
- Asia Pacific tops the regional spend with $312 billion
(Source: TelecomTV.com)
"By 2021, more than 55 per cent of spending on IoT projects will be for software and services," said Carrie MacGillivray, VP of IoT and Mobility at IDC. "Software creates the foundation upon which IoT applications and use cases can be realised. However, it is the services that help bring all the technology elements together to create a comprehensive solution that will benefit organizations and help them achieve a quicker time to value.”
In terms of vertical market adoption, the industries that are expected to spend the most on IoT solutions in 2018 are:
- manufacturing: $189 billion
- transportation: $85 billion
- utilities: $73 billion
IoT spending among manufacturers will be largely focused on solutions that support manufacturing operations and production asset management. In transportation, two thirds of IoT spending will go toward freight monitoring, followed by fleet management. IoT spending in the utilities industry will be dominated by smart grids for electricity, gas, and water. Cross-Industry IoT spending – which represent use cases common to all industries, such as connected vehicles and smart buildings – will be nearly $92 billion in 2018 and rank among the top areas of spending throughout the five-year forecast. (Source: TelecomTV.com)
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