The biggest brains among us in technology consistently say that the Internet of Things (IoT) is going to be “the next Industrial Revolution”. And the year 2020 draws near.
As an IT company, we had to ask ourselves, “Are they right? Will we inevitably change our lifestyles and will our governments evolve?”
So we started with the basics. Consider-
You get it.
And this is nowhere near the end.
In 2016, billions of IoT signals are being collected from devices on our planet. These devices don’t even have to be “computers”, they can be the simplest of technology.
To really get drive this point home, you need to consider something that applies to your actual life.
Think about these life-changing uses of the expanding Internet of Things.
- A bridge that recently iced over underwent a government funded program to embed ice-detection sensors that communicate with incoming car devices – causing your car to initiate the breaks automatically and potentially save your life.
- Your wife just began labor and could give birth in a few minutes so you leave work and drive over to the hospital but get stuck in traffic because of a car accident. Your car’s GPS real-time data collaborates with other car signals and recommends a faster route to you – shaving off 15 minutes’ total time.
And you can only imagine how many uses these kinds of devices could have for vanity or entertainment.
And ever since 8 years ago, when the first stone-age smartphone was released to the public, the speed at which IoT devices have been produce exponentially increased. This growth has set us on a crash course to 2020, which many are predicting will be the tipping point of device growth.
50 billion devices, to be exact.
Now that we’re in 2016, cheap and efficient computing ability combine with free internet connectivity are making this explosion possible. This allows for the existence of one of our favorite metaphors – “Smart everything”.
You’ve probably heard of the big brands flagship devices like the recent Apple Watch and home control device “Nest”.
The self-learning home device Nest, works to make homes more energy efficient while allowing you to remotely tinker with your home’s different functions. You may call us crazy, but we think this kind of technology is heading in the direction of “smart cities” and that we’ll be hearing more about this quite soon.
Nest and Apple Watch are infinitesimally tiny pieces to an infinite puzzle. Chief of technology at Raytheon, Michael Daly says IoT devices will soon be freed from their silo’s and will be completely connected with other online networks.
And as for what exactly 2020 holds, a BI Intelligence study and revealed the following:
- Just about $6 trillion will be funneled into IoT devices during the next five years.
- For non-profit companies will be the number one driver of IoT solutions. These businesses will adopt them rapidly because of three core reasons 1- Less cost of operation 2- Raising total productivity 3- faster expansion into new markets and better product offering development.
- The governing bodies of the world are generally concerned with increasing their employee efficiency, lowering their operational costs, and making the standard of living better for those they’re governing. They are predicted as the second most powerful force driving IoT solutions forward.
- Consumers will only adopt the most convenient IoT devices as they will be third in driving this growth forward. Regardless, consumers will still be accountable for a significant purchase number of IoT devices in the coming 5 years.
Image credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2e/Internet-of-things.png
By: Meenakshi Vashisht