Internet of Things (IoT) is the most disruptive technology in today’s world. The thought, underscored by many industry veterans was shared by Alur Seelin Kiran Kumar, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at the recently held CII Karnataka ICT Summit 2017.
In his talk, Kumar emphasised the importance of IoT towards building a smart and connected world. He spoke about IoT being a disruptive technology for the future, and stated that it will help create smarter cities. “IoT is one of the most disruptive technologies in the present day connected world, undoubtedly. It will not just induce transformations, but also turn disruptive for several business models,” he shared. Estimates suggest IoT sensors will scale to 200 billion by 2020.
Around the world, countries are driving efforts towards upgrading the infrastructure with embedded devices, in an attempt to initiate ‘smart cities’ program. In India, the Smart City initiative is funded by the government and it will be carried out by deploying public Wi-Fi hotspots and 4G rollout, both undertaking of the telecom industry. However, one of the major roadblocks in the smart city project is a lack of a viable business model and absence of a comprehensive framework.
Industry leaders like Intel, IBM, Cisco, EMC, and Oracle are already investing in smart city projects throughout the country. Intel has projects involving implementation of Wi-Fi, smart parking, air quality monitoring, and smart lighting in the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai, while IBM has integrated smart devices and transformed the mini township of Rashtrapati Bhavan. Cisco also joins the revolution with plans revolving around deployment of its City Digital Platform in Hyderabad. EMC and Oracle are featured on this this list, with their very own smart hospital and smart city initiatives, respectively.
ISRO is credited for the development of ‘Bhuvan Geoportal’, which will act like a Cloud for governmental departments, providing over 30 central ministries and above 20 state governments with standardized set of geographical data and application tools G-governance. “The system will furnish high-resolution remote-sensing data for visualization and thematic layer overlays of Indian region, besides providing an array of citizen centric services,” notes Mr. Kiran. These initiatives will play a major role towards build a smart and connected word.
