The time is now
In actual fact, there have been sensors in things for many years. An oven with a thermostat is nothing new. Even so, we are now starting to speak in awestruck tones about the 'Internet of Things' as though it is an animal that has just discovered. There are a number of things we can identify that contribute to the momentum of the IoT.
- Hardware components now cost almost nothing. Sensors are as good as free compared to their cost when they first appeared on the market.
- The energy available to them has become relatively powerful, and we can now build things that run for a long time on battery power.
- Thanks to the new LoRa network technology, it is now possible to get a sensor to communicate with an antenna located 40 km away with minimum energy consumption.
- Computing power and advances in machine learning have reached the point where something like facial recognition is accessible to people on the street. We can now effectively add intelligence to data and extract business value from them.
The smartphone effect
Smartphones are a perfect example of how added value can be created. The combination of things and the internet (neither of which are new) has suddenly become of interest. But the same already happened once before when an ordinary mobile phone was linked to the internet: it led to the rise of the smartphone. All of a sudden, we had the ability to make use of the possibilities offered by software. Creative minds emerged from their shells and developed all kinds of apps for smartphones. With the combination of things and the internet, an ecosphere was created in which it is now possible to do anything with software. Software can add quality to something that previously followed a strictly industrial narrative.
Making enough progress on all fronts was the catalyst. The convergence of all these separate paths resulted in an explosive combination – one that has unveiled a whole new spectrum of possibilities collectively know as the IoT.
