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The Internet of Things is not a new word. I am sure you all must have heard the word IoT, also known as the Internet of Things or IoT devices. Today there is a lot of commotion about the Internet of Things, or, IoT, and its impression on almost everything from our traveling to shopping and to the way we do our business.
But, do we know everything about IoT? Is it that important? Or what is the Internet of Things?
The IoT is infiltrating our daily lives. Today, we are standing at the cliff of a new digital era of networking and data connectivity that outclasses everything we have seen come to light from the omnipresence of mobile gadgets and holds amazing potential for customers and enterprise innovations.
Organizations are competing to collaborate in this rapidly exploding technological field. And with the term “Internet of Things”, means that cyberspace can be used for more than just our laptops and smartphones. And we can already see various devices that are going online, and this is what IoT promises to do- bring every single gadget to one network.
In today’s article, we will focus on the Internet of Things and will try to understand every fine detail of this amazing technology.
Let’s begin this journey of understanding IoT, where innovation creates value.
Internet of Things (IoT): Definition
The Internet of Things can be defined as the network of things (physical objects) that are ingrained with sensors, software, and other different technologies for the objective of connecting and exchanging figures with other devices over the internet.
Now, these IoT devices can be anything from your ordinary household gadgets or cosmopolitan industrial tools and gadgets. All thanks to economical computer chips and wireless networks that now from minute things like huge objects, everything can be a part of IoT.
It is not wrong to say that the Internet of Things is creating a world around us that is smarter and more responsive, unifying the digital and physical world.
IoT involves installing micro-sensors on physical objects to make them “smart”, that is, enabling daily use gadgets to shoot the breeze and share information to a network.
Why Is IoT So In Talks Right Now?
IoT is receiving overwhelming interest in the news because we are now at a point where low-built chips with in-built Wi-Fi and 3G/4G networks are smaller, powerful, and cheaper to create.
Moreover, the total cost of designing and creating the software networks mandatory for these devices has declined drastically.
In the past few years, we have seen some amazing user integrations that are now successfully capturing the imagination of the greater community. Consumer drones are becoming mainstream. Smartphones are live streaming house security videos in actual time. There are smartwatches that monitor our heart rates and other health parameters while at the same time sending notifications, emails, photos, and messages.
The consumer side is still maturing in understanding the IoTs. However, organizations have long invested in essential IoT devices and platforms. There are some famous companies that have end-to-end IoT inclusion for sectors like global logistics, agriculture, security, and many more.
Let’s have a glance at the IoT device statistics. It is estimated that over 75 billion IoT devices will be connected to the Internet by 2025. By 2021, there will be more than 26.66 billion active IoT devices.
There are 127 new IoT devices interconnected to the internet every second. Isn’t it fascinating?
Because of low-cost reckoning, big data, analytics, and mobile technologies, physical objects can play a part and hold information with almost zero human intervention. Therefore, in this connected world, digital software can record, analyze, and adjust the interactions between the connected things.
The physical world cooperates with the digital world.
History Of the Internet of Things(IoT)
The journey of the Internet of Things was initiated in the year 1926. Surprisingly yes! Nicola Tesla predicted that- “when wireless is perfectly applied to the whole world, a man will be able to carry one in his vest pocket.”
In 1998, the real Internet of Things was first touched by Mark Weiser. And in the year 1999, Kevin Ashton phrased-
I am fairly certain that the “Internet of Things” will start life as the title of the presentation I made at P & G.
Kevin Ashton was the person who introduced the term “Internet of Things”. However, it took a decade for the technology to embrangle with the vision of Kevin Ashton.
How IoTs work?
Gadgets or physical objects with in-built sensors are linked to IoT platforms, which integrate data from the various devices and touch the analytics to share the beneficial information with devices that are built to address a specific requirement.
There are powerful IoT platforms that can distinguish exactly which data is useful and what can be simply ignored. And this information is used to observe the patterns, make suggestions, and detect possible issues way before they occur.
For example, as I work in a web and software development company, and if I want to know about the development trends, by using Internet of Things technology, I can find out:
- The available sales data to examine which development services are in demand.
- The sales data with supply, so that we don’t lag behind the popular technology.
- The domains where customers last longest.
The information offered by these connected IoT devices will empower me to make a knowledgeable decision about which development services we should focus on, depending on the real-time data, and it will help me save money and time.
With all this information offered by ultra-modern analytics comes the potential to make the entire process more efficient. With smart objects and systems, one can automate tasks, mostly when they are mundane, repetitive, cumbersome, or dangerous.
Advantages Of IoT In An Organization?
The Internet of Things has various benefits for an organization. Some of these advantages are industry-specific, while others are relevant across multiple sectors. Some of the highlighted benefits of IoT enabled organizations are-
- Keep an eye on the overall business process.
- Amplify the overall customer experience.
- It saves plenty of time and money.
- It improves employee productivity.
- Adapt and unite business models.
- Make an informed business-related decision.
- Generate revenue.
IoT platforms are motivating companies and organizations to give a second thought to the way they approach their business and avail themselves of tools to enhance their business plan. In addition to this, it also has applications in the agriculture, infrastructure, and home automation sectors to lead the enterprises toward digital transformation.
What Technologies Have Made Internet of Things Possible
Although the objective of the IoT has been in existence for a very long time, a series of recent advancements in various automation has made it possible.
- Low-power sensor technology: It is affordable and dependable sensors are making IoT technology practicable for more creators.
- Connectivity: An abundance of network agreements for the internet has made things facile to link sensors to the cloud for improved data transfer.
- Cloud computing platforms: The advancement in the availability of cloud computing platforms allows both businesses and users to retrieve the infrastructure they require to scale up without managing all of it.
- Mechanical learning and analytics: With the advancement in ML and analytics, along with the approach to the various vast amounts of data stored in the cloud, businesses can have insight more easily.
- AI: Advancements in neural networks have brought up natural-language processing in IoT devices to make them affordable and viable for home use.
Internet of Things: Fors And Against
Some popular advantages of the IoT are-
- Potential to access information from everywhere on any device.
- Enhanced communication between linked electronic devices.
- Conveying data over a connected server, thus saving time and money.
- Computerized tasks assist in improving the quality of the services and minimizing the need for human intervention.
The disadvantages of the IoT are as follows-
- If there’s a bug in the system, then all the connected devices will likely become corrupted.
- When the number of connected devices augments and information is shared, there is the potential for hacking.
- There is no universal standard of compatibility for the IoT, so it gets difficult for device manufacturers to communicate with each other.
The Internet of Things: Privacy and Security
Since all the IoT sensors collect data on almost everything you do, the privacy and security of the IoT is a massive headache.
Consider a smart home, it will tell you when to wake up, how to brush your teeth (smart toothbrushes), what music to listen to (smart speakers), what kind of food you will eat (smart ovens and fridges), and who visits your home (Smart doorbells).
However, companies do business by selling smart objects, but their IoT business mostly revolves around selling some of the data, too.
Besides, privacy security is still the biggest issue in the IoT. As these sensors collect all kinds of data, and in some cases, it also collects extremely sensitive data. However, keeping data secure is important to earn customers’ trust. However, so far the IoT’s security record has been exceptionally poor. Plus, there are many IoT devices that give very little importance to security, like transit data and more.
The IoT is considered a viaduct between both the virtual world and the physical world, which means hacking will have more nasty real-world repercussions.
Evolution of IoT
As the price of sensors continues to drop, it will become more economical to add more devices to the IoT. The majority of the companies that are engrossed in IoT devices are still at the evaluation stage, mostly because the needed technology is sensor technology, 5G, and machine learning.
There are various IoT platforms and standards, and several vendors, who all want their part. However, there is still doubt about who will win among them. But, one thing is certain in times to come there will be more IoT security mishaps.
Also, as the number of IoT devices continues to rise, our daily living and working environments will be overflowed with smart gadgets. Although assuming that some people among us are ready to accept the security and privacy swap. And some of us will welcome the new age of smart things or products.
And there will be some who will root for the times when the chair is simply a chair.
Final Thoughts
If you are still not excited about IoT, then just look around you and connect the dots. Everything around us is already explaining everything, but only you have to build the ability to listen.
However, one thing is sure our ability to listen will grow dramatically in the near future, and unbelievable innovations will take place.
Today, new technologies are shaking hands with the IoT ecosystem, making it more reliable, economical, and efficient.
Got any questions related to the Internet of Things? We would love to hear from you.
