The internet of things: a second digital revolution

Remember J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony Stark's home computing system, taking care of everything to do with the house, from heating and cooling systems to engine analysis of Stark's hot rod in the garage. J.A.R.V.I.S. was also adapted to be downloaded into the Iron Man Mark 2 and 3 armors, to help Tony navigate the systems. Who is J.A.R.V.I.S ? J.A.R.V.I.S. is a multifunctional software program capable of managing the local environment of Tony Stark's mansion interior. It employs a highly advanced user interface with holographic peripherals, having the voice interface of Siri, the automation made possible by cloud computing and big data, a sophisticated building control system, a manufacturing assistant that puts any 3D printer on the market to shame. In short J.A.R.V.I.S. is quite a sophisticated AI, able to interact with human beings just as a living person. It has the following capabilities. Natural language understanding: being able to understand the intent of the voice command. Knowledge representation: how do we represent what we know about the world and the relationship between them. Planning: if we have a particular goal (e.g. an instruction like "get me home"), how do we break that into a sequence of steps. Perception: How do we process all the signals that we're receiving and combine them into a unified representation of what's going on. Device possesses such capabilities and characteristics is called as Internet of Things(IoT) Internet of Things is an environment of smart small hosting devices (because they get attached with any device and make them smart device) which are Always, Anywhere and Anytime (3As of IoT) connected with each other and sending some data or information which can further be processed over cloud to generate meaningful analytic result that can help a lot or to trigger an automatic action according to the analysis. These small devices are called the "THING" of Internet of Things and this environment comprises of 3 ingredients called Device, Network and Application also known as DNA of Internet of Thing. To become a "THING" of Internet of thing anything should qualify following criteria

1. It should send some sensory data like pressure temperature humidity
2. It should have unique identification so that it will get identify while communicating
3. It should communicate with similar itself and internet gateway as well like Wi-Fi.

What we need to do to convert anything into "THE THING" of Internet of thing

1. now some devices are already smart like your smart phone and sensors are already resides inside them but for others we need to put some sensors
2. IPV6 or 6LoWPAN is already providing unique identification to these devices
3. For communication we need to add some IoT gateway like most popular one out of many CC3200 by Texas Instrumentation.
4. Next front end like a mobile app or website where all the data with analytic result or controlling device user interface front end is available.

Now the thing is does after becoming a "THE THING" it is ok to say this system an Internet of Things? Well I think till it’s not telling the real analytic data that can help you making decision. The analytic result of these things are so powerful that it can predict future too. Many applications not only help you taking decisions but sometimes they themselves decide and instruct you what to do next. Big Data and the Internet of Things are disrupting entire markets, with machine data blurring the virtual world with the physical world. This market matters ,a recent Goldman Sachs report cites an astounding $2 Trillion opportunity by 2020 for IoT and by Forrester its installed base will reach 9 Bn in 2018 , with the potential to impact everything from new product opportunities, to shop floor optimization, to factory worker efficiency gains that will power top-line and bottom-line gains. The company that delivers high quality big data solutions fastest and enables customers to connect people, data and things to transform their industries and organizations will win. There are endless possibilities where these devices can be used so there applications of IoT are wide ranging and require coverage in great depth In brief:

• Smart homes
• Energy efficiency
• Infrastructure handling
• Industrial applications
• Environment monitoring
• Healthcare

Smart Homes: This is one of the most discussed application of IoT. Basically, if you can connect every appliance in your house to the internet, you can remotely manage it. For example, while leaving office, switch on the AC of the car, check what all groceries you have in your fridge, draw the curtains of your bedroom, tell it to switch on lights in 15 minutes, and start recording the next episode of big bang theory. All this while going down the stairs to your car. Companies have realized the potential of smart homes and have started working on it. Infrastructure management: A lot of money and manpower is wasted in doing trivial things in monitoring infrastructure. Checking the traffic congestion for example. Does it really require one poor man standing throughout the day in inhospitable conditions just to monitor the flow of traffic? What if we could take care of how a congestion is caused? If we detect that a road is blocked, and if we connect to the GPS of the cars and suggest the routes that avoid blocked roads, this would really improve traffic congestion. Similarly instead of having people monitoring a power plant, if we could automate the entire process, it would make the entire process more efficient. Industrial Applications: In industries, manufacturing can be taken to a whole new level using IoT. Resource allocation, asset management, supply chain handling can be fully automated. These steps can really reduce the people working in a manufacturing plant. All this steps will really boost manufacturing. Energy and Power: The energy sector will be revolutionized with the introduction of. With the advent of smart grids, poe power thefts can be eliminated totally. Also, the load can be well distributed similar to how the internet usage is cheaper between 2am to 8am. The energy production and power plants can be better managed using IoT. Environment monitoring: The environment conditions and anticipation of natural calamities can be improved. Also monitoring wildlife parks can be done easily by deploying drones and monitoring the data in real time. This is already being done by the WWF. Health-care: The remote monitoring of the patient can be done in real time. This will prove to be extremely useful in regions where super-specialty hospitals are not there. IoT Impact of marketing: The Amazon Dash Button is an excellent example of Amazon's ongoing and wildly successful commitment to cheap, elegant simplicity over costly, power-hungry complexity. Like the original Kindle, this button just does one thing but does it better than anything else. It is a simple button that lets you place your frequently reoccurring orders with the click of a single button. Like in above pic you can order washing powder with a single button. Everyone is sceptic about this product but imagine from the perspective of a FMCG company. If priced right, i am sure companies will promote such innovative products. Internet in any form will provide a lot ways to advertise and boost sales. To succeed in this new world of big data and internet of things that matter, both hardware and software must scale flexibly to keep pace with the speed, diversity and velocity of data, regardless of where it is created. Certainly it will transform future for our industry. So are we ready for this new challenge? Share your thoughts on this. References: http://www.pentaho.com/blog/2015/02/10/a-bolder-brighter-future-for-big-data-analytics-and-the-internet-of-things-that-matter-pentaho-hds Quora/Hitesh Rohilla http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/telecom/internet/jeremy-rifkin-on-the-internet-of-things-and-the-next-industrial-revolution