“Smart” Everything – Asseveration of IoT (Internet of Things)

People generally have a common affinity towards “the next big shot”, but it may not be such big. It’s not the imagination solely that takes us to a new form; it is actually the observation that can embrace our future within sight. The buzz encompassing IoT (Internet of Things) is actually whirls around machine to machine communication. IoT is a kind of computing that connects physical objects assigned with IP addresses to a vast network to establish communication between these objects and other internet-enabled systems and device. IoT is built on cloud computing and networks of data-accumulation sensors. The mobile, virtual and instantaneous connection of IoT makes everything around us from home appliance to industrial machine “smart”.

In machine to machine communication (M2M) devices used to connect like device. But making machine “smart” actually refers to sensors, not strictly to M2M. A sensor is not a machine; it gathers data. The IoT comes up combining both machine and sensors. Intersection of gathering data and leveraging it could cater the actual essence of IoT. IoT functions with cloud based application to work on leveraged data.

But why we need so much of connected devices communicating with each other? There are so many examples that can be cited as both requirement and potential. What if a morning could be automated? – If we have an alarm clock that wakes up 6 am and notifies coffee maker to start brewing coffee of our choice and oven to start baking breakfast of choice. What if travelling to office could be automated? – If our car could have access to our calendar to-do list and already have the knowledge of best route to take and have the capability to intimate the official body about late arrival due to heavy traffic jam or other inconvenience. What if your business monitoring could be automated? –If we have intelligent office equipment that can sense when supply is low and automatically reorders more. What if health monitoring could be automated? – If we have an intelligent thermometer that could not only read our body temperature during high fever but capable of inkling physician too to take up necessary measures. Generally being connected is thought in terms of computers, tablets and smartphones. IoT portrays a world where just about anything can be connected and communicate in an intelligent fashion. It is not about alarm clock, coffee maker, oven, car, thermometer etc. This is a fundamental and huge shift. Thus “anything that could be connected will be connected” is the thumb rule of IoT. With invent of Internet of Things, the physical world is becoming one big information system.

Among all the current technologies, perhaps the most challenging one is the IoT providing the most interruption and most convenience. IoT world is expanding in a magnificent rate, from 2 billion objects in 2006 to a projected 200 billion by 2020 according to the statistics. That will be around 26 smart objects for every human being on Earth!