If you had not known, the term “Internet of Things” is about 19 years old, but the idea of connected devices has been around much much longer; since the 1970s actually. At that time, the idea was regularly referred to as the “embedded internet” or “pervasive computing”, but the current term “Internet of Things” was coined by Kevin Ashton back in 1999 during his tenure at Procter & Gamble. The term would unfortunately lay in the shadows until 10 years later.
Though even today, IoT is still in its infancy stage although 2016 was a foundational year. According to a June 2017 report by IDC on IoT investments, cross-industry IoT cases will reach $86 billion by the end of 2017. This would catapult it to be the second largest industry from an IoT investment perspective.
The Internet of Things is reshaping life as we know it from the home to the office and beyond. IoT products grant us extended control over appliances, lights, and door locks. They also help streamline business processes; and more thoroughly connect us to the people, systems and environments that shape our lives.
Various IoT products have gained momentum in the market; including smart refrigerators, home thermostats, and door locks controlled by smartphones. A smart home is full of products that understand your preferences, foresee your everyday needs so that you spend less time micromanaging your house and more time living in it. Smart cities will undoubtedly lead the way in regards to IoT growth and would make way for Smart home technology to become more intelligent, elegant, and secure. There were incredible advances with the release of Amazon Echo and Google Home back in 2016 and both became mainstream appliances for new generation homes. IoT is now disrupting businesses, consumers, and governments. Companies around the world are on track to spend roughly around $5 trillion on the IoT industry over the next four years. One of the creative industry’s new young minds of the web, Jeremy M. Williams of Vyudu Inc. believes that IoT will one day replace the web.
“The physical world and the digital world are merging together as one everyday; and the more our physical products sense and react to our needs, the more alive they become. Like little animals waiting to go wild. Our digital world is now responding and changing along with our physical world, thus we are in essence making our physical world a programmable paradise. The role of platforms will without question become more and more important as the digital world becomes seamlessly integrated within our physical world. Over the next 3-5 years, I expect that we’ll see more and more legacy grade systems such as HVAC (heating, venting, and A/C systems) becoming cyber enabled or in other words IoT integrated. Security will become the the most important component of IoT so the users of tomorrow must make their voices heard by demanding that key security features be included in all smart products. We all need to inform IoT vendors that we are not going to purchase their products without key security features and unrivaled data protection. Products like the Nest Smart Thermostat, WeMo Switch Smart Plug, August Smart Lock, Samsung SmartThings Hub, and the Scanomat Topbrewer are stellar examples of what’s to come. The best is still at least 10 years away and even that will still be only the tip of the iceberg. All we can do is enjoy the ride. ~ Jeremy M. Williams, Vyudu Inc.