Internet of Things Then and Now

For some people, the phrase “Internet of Things” is unclear. This week I ran across a couple videos separated by over a decade and both point to aspects of the Internet of Things. In the late 90s Microsoft released a “smart house” video purporting to show the house of the future. This video is surprisingly prescient and worth comparing to a recent video by Cisco, demonstrating the possibilities with their supply chain management tools.

First, take a look at the “smart house” video”:

Many of the future possibilities demonstrated in this video are now commonplace with the adoption of smartphones, tablets, wifi, GPS technology, and more. The internet of things refers to this ongoing interaction between devices not simply in a single location but between locations and even across the world. The adoption and implementation of devices and technologies that can communicate is happening so rapidly that most of us are not even always aware at the level of technological interaction that undergirds our day to day routines. This whole internet of things model is rooted not only the devices and chips but on the wireless communication framework known as IMT-Advanced.

4G technology represents a partial realization of IMT-Advanced protocols that have been in the works for over 25 years via the International Telecommunications Union (for more on the IMT-Advanced see the ITU site). In 2010, IMT-Advanced was declared the technology of the decade because of its long-term impact upon global wireless communication. When we talk about the internet of things we are also talking about the wireless communication protocols that make such communication possible.

Now here is a recently released video by Cisco on supply chain management. While this is not focused upon a home, it still bears a variety of resemblances to the “smart home” video of the late 90s.

The biggest difference between the videos is that the smart home shows a family initiating communication and various technological tools in the home, car and even backpack. The Cisco video shows a series of interactions that are not human based communications but device based communication that is rooted in some type of governance rules. This might be the biggest help to understanding the internet of things.

Step by step we are seeing the implementation of entire chains of communication that are device to device and/or chip that are based on policies and rules of governance that human can manage remotely.

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