'The Internet Of Things' Will Change Virtually Everything About How Large Companies Operate

The IoT will be a diffuse layer of devices, sensors, and computing power that overlays entire business-to-business, consumer-facing and government industries. The IoT will account for an increasingly huge number of connections: 1.9 billion devices today, and 9 billion by 2018. That year, it will be roughly equal to the number of smartphones, smart TVs, tablets, wearable computers, and PCs combined.

In IoT research from BI Intelligence, we look at the transition of once-inert objects into sensor-laden intelligent devices that can communicate with the other gadgets in our lives. This represents a major challenge and opportunity for all large companies. The most valuable IoT applications will almost certainly be enterprise uses.

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• The Internet Of Things, or IoT, represents a major departure in the history of the Internet. The Internet is moving beyond the rectangular confines of smartphones and tablets and helping to power billions of everyday devices, including factory assembly lines, workplaces, and parking meters.
• The numbers being forecast for the IoT are truly mind-boggling. Because it will come to encompass a layer of devices and apps across industries, it will account for an increasingly huge number of connections, 1.9 billion devices today, and 9 billion by 2018, according to BII estimates.
• Market research and tech firms agree that the IoT, especially enterprise uses, will come to drive trillions in economic value as it permeates business life. The really valuable applications may be enterprise uses like the auto insurance industry's early use of monitors to charge motorists for only the amount of time they actually drive.
• The main obstacles to the quick rollout of the IoT are still-immature and fast-changing technologies and standards. There are also challenges presented by the massive scale and uncertain ROI of investment in IoT-type projects. Data security is also a factor.

In full, the report digs into some of the top applications for the IoT:

• Industrial uses including Internet-managed assembly lines, connected factories, and warehouses, etc.
• Connected advertising and marketing.
• Intelligent traffic management systems. This includes toll-taking and congestion penalties, as well as smart parking-space management.
• Waste management systems. In Cincinnati, residential waste volume fell 17% and recycling volume grew by 49% through use of a "pay as you throw" program that used IoT technology to monitor those who exceed waste limits.
• Smart electricity grids that adjust rates for peak energy usage.
• Smart water systems and meters. The cities of Doha, Sa~o Paulo, and Beijing have reduced leaks by 40% to 50% by putting sensors on pumps and other water infrastructure.

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