By Guest Contributor: dana blouin
Right now we are still at the beginning stages of the Internet of Things; there are a lot of “things” connected in one way or another, but there still has not been a larger, more cohesive Internet of Things built. We are getting there, a little at a time, but we are not there yet. At this stage there are a few issues that are really slowing down the growth of the Internet of Things, once we get past them we should start to see the true value of IoT come to light.
The primary issue stopping the Internet of Things from really taking off is that it’s just not standardized yet. There are a lot of great products out there, but the big issue remains that they do not talk to each other or work on the same platform, and that is something which holds back the larger framework.
There is really only one way to get to the point where everything can talk to each other and work together and that is through standardization. Standards need to be developed and agreed upon in order to move the Internet of Things forward. The issue here is that this process takes a long time. There are a lot of players and moving parts which need to come into alignment. But once we get there I can foresee a boom of acceptance in the IOT space.
The second major issue I see right now which is stopping the Internet of Things from reaching its full potential is that not every connected product that hits the market offers a real service. From where I stand its great to have a product connected, but if that “thing” is not providing me some service or doing something for me then it really has no value to add to my everyday life.
So, lets assume we work past these two issues that I think are holding the Internet of Things back, and we will work past them at some point, probably at some point in the near future. But now that they are out of the way, what is the real value that will emerge from the Internet of Things?
As we begin to connect more parts of our life to the Internet of Things and those things begin to talk to each other and work together they will facilitate us not having to take on so many manual tasks in our day-to-day lives. What will just a small part of that day look like?
Our refrigerator will confer with our cupboard to determine which ingredients are available and send a list of potential recipes to our phone for us to choose from. On the way home from work that day our car will schedule its next oil change and add it to our calendar. When we arrive home the front door will know we have arrived and unlock when we are just a few steps away. As we walk into the house it is at the perfect temperature because the thermostat knows we like it a little cooler downstairs when we first get home. As we walk into the kitchen to start cooking the home sound system turns on some jazz because it knows we like something a little funky when we cook. As we begin to pull the ingredients out of the refrigerator the heath monitor built into our smart watch tells the tablet on the counter to adjust the portion size of the recipe because we did not hit our target exercise goal for the day. As we begin to put the ingredients together the oven turns itself on and begins to preheat. After dinner as we leave the kitchen and move to the living room to watch some TV the lights turn off in one room and on in the other to help us save energy. Then as we settle in to watch a show that the TV recorded because it matched our viewing habits the room dims the lights automatically, saving energy and creating our desired atmosphere.
If we get to the point where my above scenario is an actuality the real value from the Internet of Things will come in the form of us having to spend less time in our day planning for it and more time actually doing the things we want to focus on. And doing it all while our connected devices help us to save energy and money while living a healthier life.
These are the attributes I think the Internet of Things can deliver on, but before we can start to get there we need to work towards standards and openness of platforms. Once we take that first step in helping devices work together on common platforms the rest of the pieces will fall into place, and we will be living better for it.
(This article was first posted on dana blouin’s IoT blog, and has been re-produced here with due permission. All views/opinions/analysis are the author’s and may not necessarily be in consonance with those held by this website.)
– Advertising Message –