{"id":10395,"date":"2014-03-12T12:07:33","date_gmt":"2014-03-12T12:07:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.journeytothecloud.com\/?p=3681"},"modified":"2014-03-12T12:07:33","modified_gmt":"2014-03-12T12:07:33","slug":"the-internet-of-things-theres-no-stopping-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/icloud.pe\/blog\/the-internet-of-things-theres-no-stopping-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Internet of Things \u2013 There\u2019s no stopping it!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This post was written by ConnectEdu CTO Rick Blaisdell and was originally posted on http:\/\/www.rickscloud.com\/the-internet-of-things-theres-no-stopping-it\/<\/a> . You can follow Rick on Twitter @<\/span><\/span>RickBlaisdell<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Internet of things is coming, be the disrupter or prepare to be disrupted. There\u2019s no stopping it\u201d said Joe Tucci, CEO of EMC, during this year\u2019 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. <\/span><\/p>\n

The term \u201cInternet of Things\u201d(IoT)<\/strong> emerged as a buzzword over the last year to describe the phenomenon of network-connected sensors incorporated into devices that in the past were standalone appliances. Basically, the Internet of things is a scenario in which objects, animals or people are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to automatically transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.<\/p>\n

There are many specialists that say just about every business will become an IoT business, and the benefits are so profound that it is inevitable that this will happen. By connecting devices over the Internet and wirelessly over mobile networks, companies can manage a wide range of new services for their customers. This is why Google announced in January<\/a> that it would pay more than $3 billion for Nest\u2019s smart thermostat and smoke alarm technology.<\/p>\n

The numbers being forecasted for the Internet of Things are truly spectacular. BI Intelligence <\/a>finds that the number of everyday and enterprise devices that will soon be connected to the Internet \u2014 from parking meters to home thermostats \u2014 will be huge: 1.9 billion devices today, and 9 billion by 2018, roughly equal to the number of smartphones, smart TVs, tablets, wearable computers, and PCs combined.<\/p>\n

In the consumer space, many products and services have already crossed over into the IoT, including kitchen and home appliances, lighting and heating products, and insurance company-issued car monitoring devices that allow motorists to pay insurance only for the amount of driving they do.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the top business-to-business and government applications<\/strong> for the IoT:<\/p>\n