Internet of Everything: Where Machine talks to Machine

As technologies matures, definitions and uses of technologies also evolves and change. We can say that first Network Device or Networked Computers were the first example of connected devices sharing information over the cables and sharing meaningful insight to each other. With advent of Internet, this got extended to many computers and devices sharing data. This is the time when Kevin Ashton in 1999 coined the term “Internet of Things”. Rest now become history as now we started adding sensors to the physical devices and started collecting data for different purpose. Now technologies has got matured and so are the applications and their Use cases. The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a network of objects that are embedded with software, sensors, and electronics. These special electronics allow devices, vehicles, buildings, etc. to collect and exchange data, and accomplish tasks that were previously impossible. Though this Internet of Everything started because of propaganda of CISCO and QUALCOM but, largely it mean the same what it was during the Network Computer Era. So, now IoE is considered as super set of Network Devices and IoT. IoE comprises of four key elements including all sorts of connections imaginable:

• People:Here each person are considered as end-nodes connected over the internet to share information and activities. Examples include social networks, health and fitness sensors, among others.
• Devices:Smart sensors, devices, actuators and other items generating data or receiving information from other sources which collects the data. Examples include smart thermostats and gadgets.
• Data:This is the huge raw data analyzed and processed into useful information to enable intelligent decisions and control mechanisms. Examples include temperature logs converted into an average number of high-temperature hours per day to evaluate room cooling requirements.
• Processes:Use of these analysed data and taking action based on this brings value to the whole process. Examples include the use of smart fitness devices and social networks to advertise relevant healthcare offerings to prospective customers.

McKinsey Global Institute’s Disruptive Technologies report Internet of Things (IoT) as a top disruptive technology trend which will have an impact of $6 Trillion on the world economy by 2025 with 50 billion connected devices! Many are predicting 20 or 25 billion connected devices by 2020 The internet of things are about smart, energy harvesting sensors inside you and around you. “A perfect example would be a pacemaker. Today, you can go to the doctor with your pacemaker, who can extract info from it and if necessary adapt your medication. That’s a process with a long feedback loop.” “With M2M, a pacemaker becomes a smart sensor, and it communicates continuously. At home, your pacemaker talks to your internet box and sends the encrypted info to my doctor. And it’s not just miniature, and not just low on power consumption – it has the capacity of extracting enough energy from your body temperature to send a packet of data every ten or twenty minutes.” “In your car, it does the same with an emergency call box. By 2015, every car will have an emergency call box. When you are on a long trip, the pacemaker sends the data over this network to your doctor. Suppose I get a heart attack – the pacemaker sends the info to the cockpit of your car, which will park itself thanks to its smart sensing devices and send an alarm to the nearest emergency room, along with your medical data.”

So, The internet of things will be about the smart sensing of everything around you.

IoE establishes an end-to-end ecosystem of connectivity including technologies, processes and concepts employed across all connectivity use-cases. Any further classifications – such as Internet of Humans, Internet of Digital, Industrial Internet of Things, communication technologies and the Internet itself – will eventually constitute a subset of IoE. So we can rightly say it now as Physical Devices has got matured and transformed to IoX due to their network capability and data processing power.