The Internet of Things: Simplifying life by connecting devices, people, and businesses.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: TELECOM & TECH

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a somewhat nebulous term associated with a plethora of technological advancements that are helping enhance the lives of consumers and business operations. IoT is essentially a computing concept that encompasses the idea of everyday physical objects--devices, vehicles, buildings, and other items--being connected to the internet and being able to identify themselves to other devices. These interconnected objects, which have unique identifiers, have the distinct capability of collecting and transferring data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

To Josh Lonn, GCI's vice president of wireless products, IoT represents the "ability to enable virtually anything to connect to the rest of the world over the internet." Many people think of IoT as smart refrigerators or self-driving cars, but he encourages people to think small when it comes to IoT. "The path to a Jetsons-like future will be paved with humble services, like those designed to monitor small children or pets, if you're a consumer, or remote machinery or vehicles if you're an enterprise," he says. The beauty of the IoT model is that it eliminates a lot of the grunt work from everyday tasks. A prime example of this is how Apple and Google democratized smart phones for the masses a decade ago. "In much the same way, pioneers in the IoT space are finding ways to automate and simplify traditionally manual, time-consuming tasks," Lonn says.

"Delivering this sort of smarts allows businesses to focus their precious human resources on more strategic or impactful tasks. And for consumers, it just plain makes life easier."

Jim Gutcher of Alaska Communications also appreciates the utility of IoT While IoT got its start in the manufacturing industry, it has evolved to the consumer space to include many things people use in their daily lives, says Gutcher, senior director of product management, marketing, and pricing.

With IoT, interrelated devices collect data and/or perform a function. The devices are connected to the internet, controlled by an application, and have a repository for the data they gather. For example, a fitness monitor collects data, while a smart light bulb takes an action. Regardless of function, a system of interrelated computing devices clearly enhances people's lives. "Connected devices enable us to track our daily habits, monitor our health, manage our home energy use and security, and much more," Gutcher says. "This data gives us the opportunity to make informed decisions in ways not possible in the past."

IoT Requirements

A variety of technologies and devices converge to allow the functionality of IoT A crucial element in the equation is the network--which can be wired or wireless--that is used to communicate between...