The next big thing: The Internet of Things

BY ADITYA KUMAR SAROJ

President and chief executive of Samsung Electronics, Boo-Keun Yoon, has called on industries to work together to make the Internet of Things (IoT) a reality.

Delivering the opening keynote speech at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas on Monday, Mr Yoon emphasised the limitless possibilities of a "smart" life.

"The IoT has the potential to transform our society, economy and how we live our lives," he said. "It is our job to pull together - as an industry, and across different sectors - to make true on the promise of the IoT."

Mr Yoon announced a timetable for making Samsung technology IoT-enabled. By 2017, all Samsung televisions will be IoT devices, and in five years all Samsung hardware will be IoT-ready.

The Internet of Things on display at this week’s International CES in Las Vegas is dominated by sensors and devices that all use Bluetooth Smart or Bluetooth LE to interconnect. But don’t count out WiFi. “Even though WiFi is a mature technology we are by no means resting on our laurels—there’s a lot of innovation activity,” said Kevin Robinson, Director of Program Marketing at Wi-Fi Alliance, a consortium of 650 member companies worldwide.

“WiFi in general is going to play a strong role in the ultimate success of the Internet of Things,” Robinson told Forbes.com. “Clearly as a technology we’re already ubiquitous in the home. When you look at the types of devices that people are going to interact with the things, you’re looking at things like their tablets their smartphones which all universally adopt WiFi connectivity technology.”

To ride the IoT wave, Wifi Alliance is looking to new technologies, Robinson said. In addition to more than 20 innovation projects currently under way, he cited one, the IEEE’s 802.11ah, a radio specification that uses sub 1 GHz license-exempt bands to extend the range of Wi-Fi networks, provides lower energy consumption, and allows for the creation of large ad hoc groups of stations to share the signal. He predicted wide 802.11ah adoption for IoT."

Well, let's take a look at what IoT is, according to Wikipedia. "The Internet of Things (IoT) is the interconnection of uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices within the existing Internet infrastructure. Typically, IoT is expected to offer advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services that goes beyond machine-to-machine communications (M2M) and covers a variety of protocols, domains, and applications. The interconnection of these embedded devices (including smart objects), is expected to usher in automation in nearly all fields, while also enabling advanced applications like a Smart Grid."

In simpler words, Internet of Things will connect pretty much every electrical appliance to the internet, even your toilets! So, be ready, CES 2015 was just a trailer; Internet of Things is coming to change your lives forever.