3 Internet of Things "Items" you need to know!
The cloud has allowed the IoT to emerge. What is the IoT? It is a term that describes the growing network of objects that can communicate with each other and complete tasks without any human involvement having to take place. In November 2014, Gartner stated that there will be 4.9 billion connected "things" in use by the end of 2015, Wow!
With all these connected devices, connectivity will be the biggest part of it. 5G is being called the smartest network ever and is required for IoT to be successful.
All of us will need to know about the IoT! Here's 3 items that are in all the IoT space!
Internet of Everything. ABI Research summed it up well by explaining that the IoE has three subsystems: IoT, the Internet of Humans (human input to machines in any form) and the Internet of Digital (generating data and communicating it on for further use).
The Raspberry Pi is a series of credit card-sized single-board computers developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of promoting the teaching of basic computer science in schools.
MQTT. In order to allow IoT data to flow from producers (sensors on the field) to consumers (IT backends, web apps, etc.), MQTT is an OASIS standard that implements a publish-subscribe communication model. It has several QoS levels making it easy to find the perfect tradeoff between reliability and resources/bandwidth usage.
Internet of Things Foosball on BlueMix With Social Linkage!
Yes, the students have done it! This is an Internet of Things Foosball Table designed by Fabian Eitel and Marcel Seibold. In this picture, they are the 2 gentlemen playing against me !!
This table with sensors throughout does the following:
- It tweets the scores.
- It rates the probability of the winning team (my team was not rated high -- even though I did score one point!)
- Others can tweet to cheer you on!
Here you can find our final result in Twitter as a little souvenir. https://twitter.com/TischkickerEhn/status/590534529464467456)
It is a very innovative way to showcase the value of the Cloud. Marcel and Fabian are not hard core coders but were able to get this up and coming quickly because of Bluemix.
How does it work?
Sensors capture the "game" and then send the results to the cloud, where the data is analyzed and stored. Then based on the game, Tweets are automatically sent and the probablity of a Winner Calculated!
What fun!
Santa's Little Helper! Internet of Things!
My take on Santa with help from the Internet of Things!
[youtube=http://youtu.be/p3fZQ1Ix55s]
Internet of Things: Inventors and Operators
As a continuation of the Internal of Things discussion yesterday, our second key idea I’d like to discuss is that there are two basic groups of IoT use cases. One is centered around enterprises and entrepreneurs looking to invent new IoT products or services, and the other focused on those looking to optimize their operations. And the truth is that many of our clients, the businesses who stand to gain or lose the most based on their IoT strategy, represent both roles. They are inventors, and they are operators as well.
Let’s say you’re looking to invent new IoT offerings. You must invent and innovate and improve products with interconnections in mind. Think about the type of data those products are generating or are capable of generating.
What new connections are you making, and how will you capitalize on those connections? How will you use the data? What insights are you able to uncover, and how will you leverage them to do what you do better? What new capabilities will the data enable?
There’s a new app, one of the winners of our SportsHack Challenge this year at Impact, that is capable of mapping crime data to create safe run routes, allowing runners to determine where the safest nearby areas are to run, anywhere in the world. Clever stuff.
And to be clear, all innovations or inventions are not focused on an app or product or service itself. Some of the better, more significant innovations over the last few years are focused on evolving or transforming the way people interact with those things. Or on how products and services interact with other devices or organizations.
An example is how Yarra Trams is using IBM big data, mobile, analytics and cloud technology to improve service reliability and get passengers where they need to be, faster and more efficiently than ever before.
Or maybe you are focused on optimizing your operations, bringing things together to create new value. Doesn’t matter if it’s a global supply chain, a production line, a fleet of rental cars or a server farm. And the irony is that today, a fleet of cars actually isn’t that different from a server farm—just on wheels.
Being an operator is about creating the system using technology from multiple vendors and then analyzing, synthesizing and optimizing, fighting to make it work better, more seamlessly, more fluidly.
The new connected car IBM will be working on with Toyota is an excellent example, where these guys are transforming everyday vehicles to gather all sorts of data that can adjust the suspension to accommodate road conditions, send drivers text alerts in real time about inclement weather and so much more.
As an example, we (IBM) helped the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC WASA) integrate advanced analytics with asset management software to reduce downtime with predictive maintenance on its aging infrastructure. DC WASA instrumented thousands of water meters with automated meter reading technology that enables the Authority to use data to create a deeper understanding of usage patterns to provide citizens with more sophisticated pricing and demand response options.
Or maybe you’re both an inventor and an operator.
The point is simply that it’s important to understand the primary IoT use cases, and it’s also important that you know exactly how you or your clients fit into those use cases to build the right strategy for optimizing the IoT.
Tomorrow I will discuss the level of relationship and hierarchy around technology. But really, this point is less about prioritization and more about understanding how the pieces of your infrastructure puzzle fit together to bring you the best big picture the IoT has to offer. The IoT is the next concentric circle around the cloud. And of course, it is populated by things. But it’s also populated with people.
3 Thoughts on Internet of Things
Now, I’m no Einstein, but I do want to offer you three thoughts in the spirit of this quote. Three key ideas to keep in mind when developing or optimizing your strategy for the Internet of Things.
First, the IOT is both like, and unlike, the Internet. Based on our experience across a diverse set of industries and clients, …
… there is an approximately 70 percent overlap between the two. So there is no question that if you have a highly effective Internet strategy, you’re far ahead of those who don’t. Because that Internet strategy proves that you’re already well equipped for the majority of what the IoT will throw at you.
But it also means there is a 30 percent piece that is unique.
And like most things, the devil of the IoT is in the details. In other words, to be successful moving forward, we must focus on the unique aspects of the IoT. And the truth is that if we don’t respect those differences, failure is inevitable.
OK, then what are the aspects of the IoT that make it unique from the Internet? For simplicity, we’ve categorized those things into four primary areas.
1. Different devices. And more of them. And new ones being invented virtually every day. It is within those devices that the potential to create this common language of the IoT begins; that is the genesis point for unity.
2. Different protocols. Different rules for data exchange between different systems. Again, if we think about the Tower of Babel analogy, the potential exists with the IoT, but if we aren’t speaking the same language, or at least using protocols that are compatible, what good is it to us?
3. Different types of analysis. And of course, different types of data that are all growing at an exponential rate. And then there’s all the historical data, ripe with value, that has yet to be tapped. How will it be analyzed? How can you refine your focus and make this now seemingly unmanageable task manageable once again?
4. And different partners. Yes, of course it is good to be strong in business processes and operations. But achieving IoT success means having the skills and capabilities that neither IT organizations nor industrial organizations have alone. It will require the right kind of partnerships, the right teams coming and working together to achieve a common goal.
So that’s the first key idea, the importance of focusing on that which differentiates the IoT from the Internet and refining your expertise, skills and partnerships to capitalize on those differences. To transform those technical challenges into business opportunities.
We'll see the other 2 ideas tomorrow!!!
A New Video Blog Series on Internet of Things!
Today we start a full video coffee blog series on internet of things.
The Internet of Things Featured at TieCon this week in San Fran!
Happy Monday and welcome to our Coffee Break!
Today we are going to explore the Internet of Things which promises to far surpass the disruption we’ve already seen with the smartphone. You can expect to see vast amounts of data generated opening up whole new industries, like that around the Connected Car:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJQxkcsiiyw&w=560&h=315]
I’m looking forward to explore these theme further this week during my TiEcon keynote!