What is the Internet of Things or IoT?

In this blog chapter, I  explain the view of technology company IBM and Internet of Things (IoT). Let’s start with what exactly is IoT? Before there were Internet-connected umbrellas and juicers, water bottles, and factories — before there was even a modern Internet — there was a humble Coke machine in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that could report its contents through a network. Though it was primitive by today’s standards, it holds a unique distinction: It was, as far as anyone knows, the world’s first IoT device. Necessity, as always, was the mother of invention. One day in the early 1980s, David Nichols, a graduate student in Carnegie Mellon University’s computer science department, was in his office on campus at Wean Hall craving a soda. But his office was “a relatively long way” from the building’s Coke machine, and considering his fellow students’ substantial caffeine habits, Nichols knew there was a good chance it would be empty — or that, if the machine had recently been refilled, the sodas inside would be tragically warm. The idea was born and with a few students they used existing technology, sensors and the Arpanet and wrote a program for the gateway that checked the status of each column’s light of the vending machine a few times per second. If a light transitioned from off to on but then went off again a few seconds later, it knew that a Coke had been purchased. If the light stayed on more than five seconds, it assumed the column was empty. When the light went back off, the program knew that two cold Cokes — which were always held in the machine in reserve — were now available for purchase, while the rest of the bottles were still warm. The program tracked how many minutes the bottles had been in the machine after restocking. After three hours, the bottles simply registered as “cold.”  This story shows that IoT is not something new but was already there in the eighties but today with cheaper technology, faster networks and computers we are now able to implement it on a large scale. 

The example of the first IoT machine provides us with the input for the definition IBM use, The network of physical devices, vehicles, buildings, equipment, applications and other “things”— embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators or something smart and network connectivity that enable these objects to collect and exchange data. Each device can be identified individually which will provide accurate monitoring and management possibilities. 

For consumers, these devices include mobile phones, smart watches, sports wearables, home heating and air conditioning systems. For businesses, these are devices and sensors embedded in manufacturing equipment, the supply chain, and in-vehicle components. The four main functions IoT is used for; Detection, Monitoring, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence. Below the explanation of the functions in a manufacturing environment.

The detection of an event or a "limit breach,” an "event" could be that a production line has stopped due to a "limit breach" that a temperature sensor is reading too high or too low.

Monitor Key Performance Indicators of a condition rather than an event. Examples might be that a production line is only producing 80% of expected volume, or that the temperature has been gradually increasing, even though it has not gone past a limit yet.

Analytics built using the data from a sensor or a combination of sensors. Quality Early Warning Systems or Predictive Maintenance & Quality performance analytics toolsets fit here. Analytics goes past reacting to an event, or preventive actions due to monitoring, and begins to utilize predictive analytics. Analytics can tell "your ____ machine is going to shut down in three hours unless you perform _____ maintenance on it."

Artificial Intelligence tools that can go beyond even the algorithms used in analytics, and learn from watching the data over time. AI requires that IoT data be available for an extended period so that it is possible to learn from it.

The primary market research companies (i.e., IDC, Gartner, Forrester) foresee a high opportunity for IoT especially for IT consulting services and System Integration services and those companies that build solutions in the coming 3-5 years. Expected are that in the coming years we move IoT projects beyond pilots where a focus will be to reduce project failures and improve ROI. Enterprises will broadly use IoT Platforms who provide comprehensive analytics and outcome-based focused functionality. The implementation of 5G wireless connectivity increases the use of real-time IoT data insights.  Due to the privacy law GDPR in Europe, more investments will be made on edge computing to avoid data connectivity to devices related to homes and persons. In commerce environments, IoT in combination with AI will support identification and prediction for products and new product development but also make the IoT more intelligent. Another technology that will be added to IoT is blockchain to ensure immutability and integrity.

sources: 

• IBM.com
• The Coke machine INDUSTRIOUS on Medium, Feb 2018
• www.ibm.com/iot
• developer.ibm.com/iotplatform/
• Institute of Business Value: 
• McKinsey Global Institute The Internet of Things: mapping the value behind the hype
• HBR.com - IoT
• IDC IoT Forecast
• eBook Calsoft Internet of Things