What’s the big deal about IoT?

Internet of things (IoT) is currently one of the most widely discussed topics in the tech world. There are lots of conversations taking place regarding IoT around the world. So what’s the big deal about IoT?  To truly understand the potential of IoT and how it is going to revolutionize the way we live, you first need to understand what is IoT? Simply saying IoT could be defined as a network of physical object or devices which are connected to the internet using unique IP, communicating between each other and other Internet-enabled devices and systems.

Okay, I get it. You don’t understand a thing about IoT from the above definition, do you? Then let’s consider an example. Now let’s think you are at your home ready to sleep, you set the alarm for 5 a.m. when the alarm wakes you up at 5 a.m. you find out your coffee maker had already made coffee for you. So your alarm clock not only wakes you up but also notifies your coffee maker to make coffee for you at the time you wake up. This is made possible by IoT, both the alarm clock and the coffee maker are connected to the internet and communicate with each other. How excellent isn’t it?

For years computing devices relied on us for information, all the data are manually entered by humans. The main problem with this is, our capabilities are limited i.e. we have limited time, we are not good at being attentive for a long time hence the accuracy of the data is questionable. So we are not good at retrieving data from the real world and feed it into the system. But with IoT, the computing devices knew everything about things themselves without human interaction. Since the data is collected independently, the accuracy of information produced by computers would increase hence it results in reduction loss and cost and high efficiency.

Even though the term IoT came into existence way back in the late nineties and the discussion about smart devices date back to eighties, it is only now we truly have a suitable climate for IoT to flourish. Today we have more devices with inbuilt sensors and Wi-Fi and the cost of those devices are also considerably low. Moreover, now mobile data charges are continuously dropping hence the cost of connectivity is less. With the introduction of IPv6, the problem of providing unique IP to all devices is also out of the way. But most importantly the smartphone penetration is high i.e. the number of people who have smartphones is getter very high. Due to these reasons now more than ever, there is perfect weather for an IoT boom.

Having said all the positives, we can’t deny the fact that the growth of IoT will inevitably raise many questions and concerns related to the privacy and security of the data being collected. Even in today’s world data security is a huge concern. Think what will happen with IoT boom, when billions of devices connected together, ensuring data security will be a humongous task. With inter-connected devices hacking into one of your devices will give access to your entire network, so IoT opens up the world to high-level security threats. Moreover, storing and analyzing a massive amount of data produced by billions of devices would also be an issue. 

But as always, we will find a way to overcome these hurdles. Ability to innovate has always been a part of our human spirit. Already groundbreaking practical applications of IoT is revolutionizing many industries such as energy, healthcare, and transportation. With IoT, we are indeed looking into a future which holds lots of promises.

- Kumaran Kugathasan

* Above article was initially published in the "Softocrats Magazine", an initiative which was spearheaded by me when I was the president of Editorial Board at Northshore Computer Society to take technology to a wider audience.