"IoT" and why "NoT"
Sohrab Modi
Brings over thirty years of experience as a technology executive that drives digital transformation to deliver hyper growth business impact.
Most people today have heard of the emerging Internet of Things (IoT), but given all the large numbers being thrown around its quite astounding, that few people can fully comprehend its meaning.
While Every prediction about the IoT talks about billions of things and trillions of dollars…
..., deriving the value from things in IoT is predicated on the ability to “connect them”
With the astonishing numbers around IoT today, many vendors are re-branding themselves by creating any association they can to being considered as a major player in the IoT marketplace. IoT is about things, Iot is about connected things, Iot is about internet connected things,IoT is about big data, IoT is about predictive analytics,...
IoT now suffers from the same state of (confused) euphoria that many of its technology predecessors did during their infancy (cloud, big data, mobile,,….). While the possibilities around IoT are testing the depths of our imagination, it is also testing the depths of our frustration, where everyone wants to be an IoT player, everyone wants to own the IoT market, and yet no one can actually define what IoT is. The resulting frustration is a creature of our own making; a general lack of understanding of the meaning of IoT. Perhaps our ability to understand IoT rests on our ability to clearly define it.
Defining the IoT/IoE:
While simply connecting “things” provide value, they are not necessarily considered as an IoT. Would one consider electricity flowing through your house “all” connected up to the grid as an IoT? It provides value through connected “things” (lights, fans, air conditioners, …)? - Most people will not consider this an IoT.
It begs the question: where do the bounds of IoT start and what is it that is so disruptive that everyone claims to be innovative IoT players ?
Perhaps IoT is about devices connected to the “Internet”
- Does a smart TV constitute as the internet of things? (as many TV manufactures claim) – but, did we not call these things as PC’s or Mac’s?
- Does a smart car constitute as the internet of things? (as many car manufactures claim) – but, Isn’t this today, simply a tablet or smartphone in a car?
The “I” in IoT: Not all “things” appear as they seem
While the world can disagree on the exact definition of IoT, the one aspect that everyone will agree on at the very minimum is that, these “things” need to be connected (networked) together (under the principle that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole).
Where perhaps there may be some confusion, is in the representation of the “I” in IoT. Does the “I” mean that “every” device “must” be connected to the Internet? or does it mean that every device “can” be Internet “enabled” ?(indirectly connected to the internet).
To answer this I go back to the question: “what problem are we really trying to solve?”. While there is no dispute that the Internet provides tremendous additional value; value can also be created by objects that are connected together, but not directly connected on the Internet.
As an example: consider your ultra-modern car that detects the presence of a kid running out onto the street (through sensors) and automatically slams the brakes while detecting the presence of traffic behind.
- It provides undisputed value.
- It is solutions based (this solution may be of little use to the “Amish”).
- The actions on a connected device (brakes) is a result of collective intelligence.
- The collective intelligence is a result of the data generated from other connected devices “sensors”.
While there was no internet involvement till now, this example could be extended by: automatically reaching out to emergency services over the Internet in the case of an accident. While Internet access provided tremendous additional value to the IoT solution, it was not involved in the previous case.
Emerging from these examples is an important postulation: A recognition that “not all objects (devices) need to be directly connected to the internet to realize the value of IoT/IoE”.
Perhaps IoT/IoE is really a NoT ("Network of things"), and not only an "Internet" of things.
When considering the above definition, one quickly realizes that there is no real difference between IoT and IoE. While Cisco did us all a service by making us cognizant of the scope of “things” (coining the term IoE – internet of everything, to include more than physical devices), they may also have inadvertently shifted the focus on defining “things”.
IoT is not about the definition of “things”. Its about deriving value (from data) as a result of these connected “things”.
Part of the problem with IoT today is that it lacks a clear definition. Rather than pointing out the numerous, explanations for IoT/IoE, I would instead like to suggest defining IoT that enumerates on the differentiated and disruptive value of IoT.
IoT is a solution, for network objects that derive value by enabling a collective intelligence from previously untapped data sources.
- Where objects are physical objects (devices), virtual objects (a piece of code), or logical objects (people, electricity, laws of physics,… ).
Getting to value in IoT is dependent on 2 key requirements:
- Things need to be connected in IoT/IoE: NoT is how we can actually get to 50 billion devices by 2020.
- Data is the key to providing value to IoT/IoE: People pay money for value they see, and untapped data is worth its weight in gold.
The success of IoT will be dependent on the perceived value of the data.
IoT is an investment in connected “things”. A customer will pay for IoT when the benefit they see will far outpace the cost of investment. While connected things provide a great benefit in itself, the true value of IoT gets enabled as a result of the intelligence extracted from the untapped data that IoT is constantly gathering. The fundamental assumption in IoT is that these devices (objects) are generating an unprecedented amount of
- data all the time (volume of data),
- data at different periodic intervals (velocity of data),
- data of different types (variety of data - ex thermal sensing, light sensing, occupancy sensing,...).
Since the predictability of the outcome from data analytics improves as a result of the volume, variety and velocity of the data, IoT and big data complement each other to provide even greater value.
In conclusion: while Sun Microsystems had it right all along when they said that “The network is the computer", I would simply complete that sentence by saying “and the computer is now a NoT (network of things)”.
Retired
9yWe already have networks of things; they may be control systems, M2M networks, even the harness in my car is such a network. What's different is that we are bridging those existing networks (and wiring up previously unconnected devices) with people and data. The ultimate "mash up" and the common backplane we have available is the Internet (so Internet of Everything probably describes it better). That's the backdrop and then we superimpose our use cases or business problems/solutions against that canvas to derive value and like a mash up, we get greater value than the sum of its parts. Nice article and you are correct that there is great value in NoT (Networks of Things) beyond just the things themselves but there is an exponential value more when you broaden it to include data and services from outside that local network. The example Ajay provides around leveraging braking data into the larger ecosystem that includes traffic management, school hours, the police, etc., is potentially incalculable when it comes to even one life saved.
Building Articul8 AI (Enterprise GenAI Company)
9yI or E or N are just alphabet, at the end its nothing but network, Internet itself has word 'net', its a web of wires/wireless connections. So far we were connecting computers/servers to devices like laptops, tablets and smart phones. IoT is just an extension to this network to connect any device, and these devices will define new vertical markets. Example In Retail vertical, A connected beacons in shopping mall sending location based target ads, coupons, discounts to the consumer. Other vertical could be Automotive where cars are sensing machine data and its driver behavior which will help car manufactures to learn from this data to make it more safer car and remind consumer about potential issues in the car to avoid problems (We call it a better Customer Experience, which is monetised) . From Sohrab's example of sudden brakes, it could happen often around school area especially in the school drop times. If car can record the sudden stops on certain locations/timing and pass on that info to local authorities/schools, it won't be surprise that next day there would be parent volunteer or cop standing to control the traffic, which can save someones life. Bottom line its learning from devices i.e. Machine learning. Use Big data and Predictive models to find the value or meaning which can translate to commercial opportunities, Health/Safety alerts/tips etc. possibilities are end less within each industry with IoT, Big Data, Predictive Analytics and Artificial Intelligence. Nice article..my 2 cents.
Fractional BD & Tech Partnerships Exec | Startup Advisor | Cartoonist
9yPerhaps controversial, but I find the whole naming of IoT as a market in itself to be misleading. IoT is technology applied to a bunch of existing markets, and while that technology will lead to incremental revenue from the new use cases the technology enables, I find it hard to think of it as a market. I think of IoT as "how", not "what".
Making Society Better through Software
9yThe real implications are is impact on network infrastructure in the same way electric cars will demand of the electric grid. The network security industry will be having many field days. New programming frameworks will emerge. Good news for the tech industry.
Very well presented, Sohrab