THE INTERNET OF THINGS REVOLUTION WILL OUTPACE SMARTPHONES

Intelligence in everything.

At the recent IDF (Intel Developer Forum) held at San Francisco, executives at Intel talked about the trillion-dollar opportunity that tech companies, like Intel, are eyeing as the next technology game changer. Citing how the growth of internet connected devices will reach a whopping 50 billion devices by 2020, the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem is expected to create an opportunity worth up to US$19 trillion while generating as much as 35 Zettabytes of data.

However, IoT is still a relatively new market, experimental and in constant development all over the world. No one knows what the next big thing is, but everyone is getting into the business of discovering new usage scenarios based this very simple idea of internetconnected devices that carry enough compute power to analyze, sense and process data.

The Internet of Things is not an often-used term in the consumer world as most are more familiar with the concept of wearables. Products like smart watches, smart glasses or fitness bands are just some of the better-known internet-connected devices that are making headlines. However, they are only a subset of a much wider group of devices under the IoT umbrella.

Internet of Things covers pretty much everything, from architectural to industrial, and all the way to fashion and healthcare. As long as there’s a product out there that could be enhanced with intelligence, it could be part of the IoT ecosystem.

IoT has gathered much momentum this year as tech companies like Intel has been launching development kits to help hardware and software developers to build products for the IoT space. Development boards like the Gallileo and the recently launched Intel Edison are allowing developers and hackers the ability to integrate compute capabilities into everyday products like clothes, coffee cups, shoes or bicycles.

However, what’s important for now is not what these devices can sense and detect, but where the data might end up. With privacy issues being a major concern, Intel has been working hard to assure developers that its hardware and devices are built and enhanced with McAfee’s security solutions.

Security concerns aside, when IoT devices are given the permission to sense, gather data, analyze and connect to the cloud, their potential multiplies greatly. Vehicles can get more efficient with performance data gathered and analyzed, and buildings can get smarter and more efficient by tracking electricity and water usage. Some of these are already being tested and deployed in selected industries today.

We have just begun to see only a fraction of IoT’s benefits and it’s about to get a whole lot bigger as more tech companies join the IoT revolution. We think it’s going to have a huge impact to the world we live in, so much that it’s even bigger than the invention of the smartphone.