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IoT for IT

Alternate Reality

Article from ADMIN 34/2016

By Udo Steinegger

The Internet of Everything, a fully networked and analyzed society, seeks to enhance the quality of life of all people and drive new technologies, products, services, and markets. But where are developments headed, and what are the driving factors, fields of application, and challenges?

To begin, two concepts need to be distinguished: The Internet of Things (IoT) and the Internet of Everything (IoE). You might think that these two expressions describe the same thing: well, yes, but with tiny differences.

IoT describes networking of everyday things that are not yet online (dark assets, e.g., domestic electrical appliances, traffic lights, online classrooms, and fully networked industrial production, in which goods are no longer stockpiled but are automatically delivered and dropped off the production line to reflect the customer's wishes). IoT is about digitization of the non-digital world. In the fully digitized world, sensors collect data (temperature, motion, vital signs) and deliver it to huge data centers. However, this is where the definition of IoT ends.

IoE comprises IoT plus analysis of accrued data, preparation for downstream processing, suitable processes, and production of meaningful reports. Therefore, it is not only about digitization, but about meaningful analysis of the data, which can then be processed downstream for different purposes. As early as 1991, computer researcher Mark Weiser envisaged this scenario, describing it as "ubiquitous computing" [1].

Third Wave of the Internet

Whereas the first wave of the Internet in the 1990s was initially all about extending the infrastructure to private households and commercial users, after the turn of the millennium, the IT industry needed new online services to ensure the future of the Internet as a growth market. Meanwhile, about 88 percent of North American households are online [2], and a certain degree of saturation has been reached. The picture is similar with other Internet services: Almost everyone uses services such as email

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