Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Internet of Things....

It's been a while I posted anything, I am kind of following closely on IoT hardware and software platforms for sometime now. This post is a primer to the up coming post...

For people who are wondering, whats this buzz word is all about ?

 Kevin Ashton coined the term Internet of Things in 1990.

By definition

"The Internet of Things (IoT) is the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices within the existing Internet infrastructure." 


Imagine a world all devices around you can talk to each other, 
  1. A refrigerator ordering to Amazon fresh.
  2. A dresser letting you the type of clothes to wear based on the trend in an industry of work.
  3. A washer order it's supplies automatically when it is over.
  4. Security systems, home automation and so on so forth.
You may be wondering wasn't this already possible in some ways ?

Yes, even today it's possible but the M2M (Machine to Machine) integrations isn't standardized and only big players were able to accomplish with lot of R&D efforts. Think of your refrigerator, your dresser, your TV having an IP Address and exposing services ? That would be one hell of a world to be in :) 
 
Why Iot after 50+ years of Internet existence ?
  1. IPV4 limitation is over come by IPV6.
  2. Cost of Sensors has gone down significantly.
  3. Cost of Bandwidth has reduced drastically
  4. Cost of processing is also down.
  5. Ability to process Big data set
  6. Usage of smart phones.
  7. Easy Wifi access and affordability

 IoT Hardware Platforms ?

 Some of the IoT Hardware Platforms I am following closely, Arduino for example is an open source hardware and software platform. Raspberry pi pretty cool open source project started as an education kit. I have played around with both the devices & their software, Yet to try the other Hardware platforms...

 IoT Software Platforms/Integrators ?

 Below are some of the software platforms I am following closely. Some of them are pure software platforms, some are cloud API providers for your IoT devices and sensors, Some go all the way deployment, connectivity, data ingestion. storage and Big data analytic.