Are you ready for Internet of Things coming to your Business?

Internet of Things is gaining steam as it moves from what has been a consumer focus to business use in the next months. But how many devices will we need interconnected to feel satisfied?? will we use all of these gadgets? will they be useful for us, Internet Businessmen?

 

I think it is awesome for business and consumers. It will take awhile to be adopted as the marginal benefits for early adopters will be slow as they workout the process.

The people who will lead the pack are the tinkerers and small business people that are just genuinely interested in technology and its potential. We already have been seeing this with the raspberry Pi & arduino, that has allowed us to do so many cool things.

I have an unhealthy interest in small scale agriculture and the raspberry pi & arduino have given small/hobby farmers the ability to save hours of their time by automating and monitoring tasks like checking water levels, open doors, and dispensing animal feed. The IOT will do many things to help us become more productive, The ones who will benefit are those who are not afraid to try new things and, "just do it".

 

Your passion for this technology is evident, but from my understanding of IOT, it will open the door for a lot of data to be collected. Who is collecting the data, where are they going to store all this data, and what are they going to use it for? If it's used for the wrong purposes, I'm not for it. However, if the data is used strictly to make improvements for the next generation of technology, it can be a great thing, and then I can see its value for businesses.

 

The most important thing is to have as many as possible platforms to be use in business and this is to serve as a medium to reach the users whether if it is desktop, laptop, gadgets like mobile phones, ipod, tablets, etc.

 

the data issue is a real problem. I'm sure there will be companies working to collect data and make this a biz itself. Anyway, talking about IOT in general, this is an impressive opportunity for anyone, since we are just at its beginnings, so less competition. New ways for new ideas for sure.

 

I used to be involved with a company that sold embedded OSes and Networking Protocols to the developers of the "Things" that make up the IoT. The mass accumulation of data is one issue. However, more important is the fact these OSes and Networking stacks are stripped down tremendously to fit on the small processor that a washing machine, for example, might have to keep costs down. This means that security is also stripped down, so these "Things" are VERY vulnerable to hacking. Imagine a hacker turning on your gas stove and leaving the burner unlit so that your house fills up with gas and explodes with the first spark? Or how about a burglar using your own video surveillance cameras to case your home or business and then turn the cameras off when he strikes? The possibilities for hacking are endless and is not really being addressed because no one wants to really acknowledge how vulnerable the devices will be. Scary stuff.
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Look at the large data centres by companies like Facbook, Google, Apple and more... What kind of data do they store!?
Many people, including me, are quite sceptic to this collection.

Example: If you look on a book at the on line book store, then log in to Facebook there are ads showing for this book. For me, this big brother mentality is not at all pleasant. Where is the privacy?
I'd say, these data centres is the large collection of minds, thoughts and characters... Yes, it's good! Of course! But for who!? Me!? Not likely... Google, Apple and Facebook, yes! Very likely!

 

That's embedded systems. It's like traffic lights. A computer doing a certain task. It's not Internet of things!
Unless thy are all connected to Internet and report the doors, the water lever and the feeding of the animals! It could very well be!
If so, yes, Internet of things. If not, no, embedded systems!