Internet of Everything – Progressing Towards a Smarter World
A couple of decades ago, if someone had to look for information about a particular topic, he/she had to either speak to the experts in the domain or had to visit a library to find books regarding the topic. Today, the internet and search engines have made it effortless for people to look for information regarding anything and everything, anywhere and anytime. The internet has not only powered an information revolution but has also connected people from different parts of the world unlike never before. We’ve progressed from the stage where information was getting digitized to the stage where we are digitalizing communication and even entire economies. Thus, the internet is transforming the lives of people around the world. With the daily use appliances such as televisions and automobiles getting smarter, the world ahead is all
set to grow more efficient and connected.
Internet of Everything – For a Better Tomorrow
Cisco was the company that coined the term ‘Internet of Everything’. According to the company, Internet of Everything works through four components – people, data, process and things/devices. Using these four components, a network is built such that the environment turns smarter and our lives become easier.
People: People play a key role in the network of connected devices. The networks are designed for us. Based on the concept of Internet of Everything, devices and the network is designed in such a way that it can collect inputs from human body and behavior to enable several functions. There are already daily use devices that can record heart rate and sleep. With the developments in technology, this can become more complex so as to provide better convenience, comfort and work for the well-being of people.
Data: Data, as we know, is a set of values of the qualitative or quantitative variables, which can be utilized by devices for better performance. With an estimated 50 billion connected devices existing in the world by the year 2020, data segregation, processing and intelligent usage will become key to the success of the concept Internet of Everything. There can be several sensors and actuators producing different forms of data every second. The data needs to be processed and the right information should reach the right device at the right time.
Process: Processes are the activities within a network that are designed for specific purposes. For instance, a refrigerator can be designed to check the perishability of vegetables and place orders at the grocery in advance such that shop delivers it in time. Here, the process involves sensing the perishability and placement of an order at the nearest grocery. On the side of the grocery, there may be other complex processes which are designed to manage inventory and deliver the orders in shortest duration.
Things: Things are various devices that are connected with one another through the internet. Each of these devices is assigned an IP address and sensor, actuators or other mechanisms are used to draw inputs, process it and communicate the same to relevant devices in the vast network of connected things. As per an estimate by Cisco, there could be 6.58 connected devices for every person in the world by the year 2020. They could create a market worth $ 11.1 trillion by the year 2025, estimates global research organization Software.org. The developments of such huge scale can create up to 4.5 million jobs across the world. Various sectors including health care, home appliances, automobiles and educational institutions can greatly benefit from Internet of Everything.
