INTERNET OF THINGS - AT&T Business · PDF filevice using real-time data sent direct ... The internet of things is changing the way we live as machines, ... platform overseas,” she

Machines and even cows are being plugged in

Trend spotting points to an exciting future

Communications revolutionis a cash bonanzaP03 P08 P12

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Overview

You are on holiday. On the beach. In Greece. The an-noying thought pops into

your head that you’ve left the heat-ing on back home. Normally, the thought would nag at you for the rest of the trip. Images of pot plants wilt-ing would drift into your mind, taint-ing the sweet pineapple taste of that third piña colada. No more. With a few swipes on your smartphone the thermostat can be dialled down remotely. The boiler turned off. Ap-pealing? Google thought the ther-mostat idea was powerful enough to warrant spending $3.2 billion for the market leader Nest.

It is not just thermostats that are getting plugged into the internet through machine-to-machine or M2M communications. Everything is being wired up or connected wirelessly. Rat traps in warehous-es, for example, send an alert via the mobile phone network when they are triggered, making it easier for the watchmen to dispose of the dead rodents.

Toilets at London’s Heathrow Air-port report on their usage (serious-ly). Sensors made by Eurotech count how often each stall is used and trig-ger an alert to cleaning staff when a threshold is hit. Trivial? The pro-ject was done in collaboration with the world’s largest chipmaker Intel, which reports: “The data is then an-alysed in the cloud showing which loos are used more and potentially enabling dynamic signage to direct people to where there are no queues or even to re-purpose space if toilets are superfluous.”

There is seemingly no limit to what can be connected to the inter-net. Even cows. Farmers struggle to identify when cows are in heat. So Deutsche Telekom and French IT firm Medria created a collar for cows to wear, which is connected to the internet wirelessly. Sensors in the collar measure the cow’s movements and transmit the data via the 3G net-work. Cows in heat move about sig-nificantly more than usual, so when the monitoring software registers a cow hitting peak fertility, the farmer and the local inseminator receive an automated text message.

The technology, called Heat-Phone, means farmers no longer need to physically monitor the fer-tility of their livestock. Other devic-es can record the cow’s food intake and body temperature to diagnose health problems.

OBJECTS COMMUNICATING

This is the new internet. Before, humans sent messages to humans. Now we have objects doing the com-municating, hence the nomenclature “the internet of things”. It’s a clum-sy term, abbreviated to the still-not-very-attractive IoT.

Ian van Reenan, co-founder of IoT software firm CentraStage, offers this pleasingly concise definition: “The internet of things is a system in which unique identifiers or codes are assigned to objects, people or an-imals. These unique identifiers then transfer any data they’ve collected about their assigned ‘thing’ over a network, without the need for hu-man involvement.”

Others hanker after something which conveys the devastating im-pact the IoT will have on our lives. Richard Moulds, vice president of strategy at Thales, remarks: “The internet of things – it’s a ridiculously vague term, rather like describing a gorgeous meal as a plate of stuff or

a gripping book as pages of words.” He says the idea that the IoT is com-posed of reactive, passive objects reporting in is not quite right either.

“Think of the IoT more as an army than as a slave or a scout. Just like people in an army, each device performs its own role, co-ordinated from the centre, serving a greater effort. Whether to deliver a smarter city, smarter grid or smarter trans-portation, it’s the system as a whole we should be focused on – the inter-play between the things,” he says.

If this sounds like the birth of a “hive mind” then you aren’t too far wrong. Analysts at Morgan Stanley predict there will be 75 billion con-nected devices by 2020, not too far short of the brain’s 86 billion neurons.

Intimidated? Don’t be. The pupils at Writhlington School in Somerset have used the internet of things to watch how orchids grow. They use a BioBox to observe how changes in the environment affect the orchids.

They recently switched from their own greenhouse to controlling the growing conditions of orchids in Vi-etnam. If schoolchildren can manage to implement IoT technologies, then your firm shouldn’t struggle.

Do you need to engage? Absolute-ly. It’s hard to imagine any facet of commerce which will escape the IoT revolution. Some applications may seem frivolous. Hapilabs’ fork tracks how fast you eat to help you slow digestion to combat overeating and gastro reflux.

More serious is Valley Health’s IoT cardiac care equipment. This con-nects ambulances to regional acci-dent and emergency centres to relay electro-cardiogram data so doctors can assess the patient’s condition in transit. Paramedics can be given ad-vice using real-time data sent direct from the patient’s body.

Life-changing. Energy saving. Cow friendly. The internet of things is a concept with the potential to rede-fine everything about the way we live on this small blue planet.

The internet of things is changing the way we live as machines, objects and animals are communicating through cyberspace, writes Charles Orton-Jones

Publishing ManagerMichael Kershaw

Managing EditorPeter Archer

Production ManagerNatalia Rosek

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Contributors

Distributed in

In accossiation with

75bndevices expected to be connected to the internet of things by 2020

Source: Morgan Stanley

$3.2bnpaid by Google for market leader Nest

Source: Google

Now we have objects doing the

communicating, hence the nomenclature ‘the internet of things’

MACHINES AND EVEN COWSARE BEING PLUGGED IN

For more articles related to internet of things, please visit www.raconteur.net/internet-of-things

STEPHEN ARMSTRONG

Contributor to The Sunday Times, London Evening Standard, Monocle, Wallpaper* and GQ, he is also an occasional broadcaster on BBC Radio 4 and Radio 2.

TOM BREWSTER

Freelance journalist covering information security, whose work has appeared in The Guardian and WIRED, he was named BT Security Journalist of the Year in 2012 and 2013.

JOHN LAMB

Former editor of titles including Computer Weekly and Information Week, he publishes Ability magazine on technology for disabled people.

CHARLES ORTON-JONES

Former Professional Publishers Association Business Journalist of the Year, he was editor-at-large of LondonlovesBusiness.com and editor of EuroBusiness magazine.

EDWIN SMITH

Writer and editor, he contributes to The Guardian, The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, The Sunday Telegraph, London Evening Standard, City AM and Private Eye.

JESSICA TWENTYMAN

Business and technology writer, she contributes to a wide range of publications, including the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal Europe, Director and Retail Week.

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Commercial FeatureCase Study

When Siobhan King-Hughes’ elderly parents-in-law needed help to live at home in a remote part of Ireland, she developed a system that would tell the family how they were doing. “We’d call every day, but some-times there was no answer, maybe because they were in the garden,” Ms King-Hughes, chief executive of e-health company Sensormind, explains. “Whatever the reason, it was the worry, rather than the reality of the situation, that was giving us a lot of stress.”So, Ms King-Hughes, who has worked for a number of technology compa-nies including Microsoft and Oracle, set about developing a prototype sys-tem using infra-red motion detectors to track the couple’s movements at home and report on them in real-time via broadband.With sensors in each room, the sys-tem detected when her in-laws came and went, whether they were sleeping properly and raised the alarm if things went wrong. Ms King-Hughes realised she had a potential business on her hands. So, in 2008 she set up Sensormind and began a three-year development process. The Dublin company com-missioned a Far-East electronics firm to produce new infra-red sensors and dumped the broadband in favour of a four-year volume deal for Vodafone’s M2M service.“We needed something that was ro-bust, standalone, and plug and play, so that customers could just install the system themselves,” says Ms King-Hughes. “We didn’t want to dis-

tract people with bells and whistles. We could have used video cameras for instance, but there would have been a problem about acceptance.”Sensormind systems are rented on a pay-as-you-go basis for €20 a month. “Our contract with Vodafone enabled us to be transparent about costs and gave us the opportunity to use their platform overseas,” she adds.After providing information about the layout of their house, customers receive equipment which they install and test themselves. Carers access real-time information and alerts online, and can even reconfigure the system if the layout of a house changes, for example.Buyers are private individuals, care companies and local authorities in Ireland and the UK. The London Borough of Camden was one of Sen-sormind’s first customers. Overseas markets in Europe, the United States and developing countries, including India, are also in Ms King-Hughes’ sights. “The potential is enormous – there is a tsunami of a problem and governments haven’t really grasped this,” she says.Earlier this year, Sensormind was a runner-up in the mobile health cate-gory of the prestigious Global Mobile Awards. “The e-health business is very interesting – there has been a lot of technology application in this space and misunderstanding about what customers need,” Ms King-Hughes concludes. “Com-panies have come and gone. We have focused on one area, and we really understand.

CARING FOR PEOPLEWITH DEMENTIA

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2lemetry has narrowed its focus to the middleware and analytics layer of the internet of things, providing full interoperability for most of the current and proposed standards, and features a programmable interface to bring on-board proprietary protocols.

Most enterprises are reliant on leg-acy systems, which operate effectively for the purpose for which they were intended. There is little appetite to undergo expensive upgrades to incor-porate new internet capabilities.

This is where 2lemetry’s middleware comes in. It enables legacy systems to continue operating without any inter-ruption, while getting devices online and interacting with new systems. 2lemetry’s ThingFabric platform, for instance, enables customers to bring on board their legacy protocols and start receiving data the same day in whatever format they choose. It’s an open architecture that provides inter-operability for disparate environments.

Quality of service is another factor to consider, and organisations need to ensure they choose the most reliable and secure option for their needs. 2lemetry supports up to QoS 2 (quality of service level 2) for data transmitted through its platform.

A further aspect to consider is the ability of providers to scale up with their customers, particularly where they use the IoT to launch new prod-ucts. Many providers approach all customers with large services-based on-boarding proposals, which can stifle innovation.

2lemetry offers per-device sub-scriptions, allowing organisations to engage in research and develop-ment without it being a hindrance on upfront capital. It’s also important to ensure devices have the capability to integrate with other systems.

An example of an organisation that is already benefiting from the internet

The potential of the internet of things for businesses is huge. For some organisations, it can create entirely new business models. It can also improve efficiency by allowing them greater insight into their data. Other organisations use it to improve cus-tomer service and retention.

There are a number of reasons why it makes sense for organisations to use third-party IoT platform providers rather than attempt to develop the software themselves. The primary advantage is freeing up internal de-velopers to focus on other important initiatives. Drawing on a third-party provider also ensures a quicker time to market using a platform that is already tried and tested.

When delivered via the cloud, such an approach is more cost effective, shifting the cost from a fixed capital to a variable operational expense. The cloud model also provides the capability to dynamically scale without the need for further investments in hardware and software.

Not all IoT platform providers are equal, however. Some have positioned themselves too broadly and have found themselves transformed from technology to services organisations. Others have created technical barriers to adopting their platforms by requiring that you preload proprietary clients on your devices.

Commercial Feature

2lemetry’s ThingFabric

platform enables customers to bring on board legacy protocols and start receiving data the same day in whatever format they choose

of things by leveraging the power of a third-party IoT platform is a fleet mon-itoring company. The company uses 2lemetry to connect its large carrier fleet of vehicles, and deliver system monitoring and geolocation services in real-time for more than 220,000 machines, which are capable of send-ing over 47,000 messages a second during peak periods.

By using 2lemetry’s platform, the company was able to bring on board their proprietary protocol and the leg-acy devices were immediately able to interoperate with the next generation of devices without any changes to the systems in the field. This not only saved them large amounts of upfront capital, but also allowed the business to move the project forward immediately and begin innovating on their next release.

To find out how 2lemetry could help your business visit 2lemetry.com

Get on board a third-party platformUsing a third-party internet of things (IoT) platform enables companies to unleash the innovation that will move their business forward, but choosing the right provider is essential, says Kyle Roche, chief executive of 2lemetry

THE CLOUD MODEL PROVIDES THE CAPABILITY TO SCALE DYNAMICALLY WITHOUT

THE NEED FOR FURTHER INVESTMENTS IN HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

Machine to Machine

NEXT BIG THING IS HEREThe technology of machines connected to each other via the internet represents a significant business opportunity, as John Lamb reports

Many of the world’s biggest companies are investing heavily in machine-to-ma-

chine (M2M) communications in an effort to gain business efficiencies and spice up existing products.

General Motors (GM), for exam-ple, has begun fitting a SIM card to every new car in a programme run by the company’s Onstar service sub-sidiary. The mobile connections are being used to report on the state of each car and how it is being driven, as well as providing drivers with ac-cess to wi-fi and to call-centre opera-tors in event of an emergency.

The motor manufacturer recently signed a deal with AT&T to install 4G LTE standard connections that will give drivers access to much faster data rates, quick enough to stream videos to passengers and provide re-al-time reports on the status of a car. GM expects that M2M will enable it to forge a much closer relationships with the owners of its cars.

The automobile industry is only one business sector that has latched on to the potential of M2M. Compa-nies involved in smart-metering, re-tailing, banking, healthcare, security, connected buildings and consumer electronics have also found innova-tive uses for M2M.

Companies developing vehicle telematics – the application of tele-communications and informatics to cars and lorries – have experienced particularly strong business growth. Truck operators, insurance compa-nies and entertainment firms have developed a variety of new servic-es that are increasingly sharing the same networks.

Enterprises working in e-health, seen as a way of eking out the re-sources of overstretched health ser-vices, are turning to M2M to monitor patients at home, perform remote diagnosis and provide care servic-es. Meanwhile, new applications are emerging in both the connected home and in industry as M2M be-comes more sophisticated.

Mobile networks can provide manufacturers with a flow of data about how a product is working and how it is being used, making M2M both a service and a marketing tool. Marketing can become more scien-tific, based on complete data rather than just samples. The huge amounts of information it is possible to gath-er from M2M devices also open the door to big data applications.

Juniper Research forecasts that there will be approaching 500 mil-lion M2M connections in service worldwide by 2018. “However, we are talking about a fragmented mar-ketplace with many players with dif-fering interests,” says Anthony Cox, author of a Juniper report entitled M2M and Embedded Strategies.

“Revenue per connection is very low compared to standard mobile voice and data services, but con-nection numbers are potentially very high,” he adds. “This means that robust platforms are needed for managing M2M networks efficiently without too much intervention.

“The idea that there is one single M2M industry has always been prob-lematic. M2M consists of a complex range of services that may differ according to the industry sector to which it is being applied. Business models need to be adapted and are very different from the human sub-scriber market.”

OPENING UP MARKETS

Amazon’s success with Kindle, which uses 3G networks to give readers round-the-clock access to its online e-book store, is a textbook example of how M2M can open up new markets. A key part of Ama-zon’s strategy was the relationship it forged with mobile operators, such as AT&T, which gave the retailer a way of distributing its books with little effort from the reader.

“It was a very elegant and simple business model, and started with what does the consumer want and how do we make money out of it?” says Marcario Namie, vice president of marketing for Jasper Wireless, an M2M platform provider.

Most mobile operators have de-veloped M2M platforms to manage customer’s networks of devices, but the technology is not always easy to get right. For instance, GM’s initial car system was offered free for a tri-al period to customers, but only 20 per cent opted to keep the service.

Undaunted, the auto-maker em-barked on its upgraded service, convinced that greater speed and reliability could win customers over. British Gas, which has now installed one million smart meters in UK homes, has had to grapple with the technical challenges of collecting data wirelessly from meters in plac-es with a poor mobile signal, such as flats and basements.

British Gas and its competitors have also had to overcome consumer resistance. Although smart-metering has substantial state backing – the government would like to see all meter readings carried out remotely by 2018 – some customers are leery about energy companies trying to manipulate their use of energy.

A key benefit for companies in-volved in smart-metering is the abil-ity to influence demand by raising rates at peak times and lowering them when fewer customers are drawing power. Because consump-tion can be monitored almost in re-al-time, M2M allows this to be done much more precisely than before.

INFRASTRUCTURE WORRIES

But how prepared are organisa-tions for M2M? Although many of them agree it represents a business opportunity, some have doubts about the ability of their IT infra-structure to cope. More than half of 400 IT chiefs quizzed in a survey commissioned by network control company Infoblox say they see the benefits of M2M, but their networks are already at full capacity and they would struggle to cope with the ad-ditional workload.

However, established businesses may have to move fast to exploit opportunities offered by M2M. “If these innovations haven’t disrupted existing markets already, it’s only a matter of time before they do – and probably less time than incumbents are telling themselves,” warn Paul Nunes and Larry Downes in their book entitled Big Bang Disruption.

The authors see autonomous M2M services, delivered via mobile data connections, as a precursor to the internet of things (IoT), the idea first formulated at the Massachusetts In-stitute of Technology that any object can be given an IP (internet proto-col) address and can become part of the internet.

Commentators are already posting big numbers. According to Gartner Group, the IoT will consist of 26 bil-lion items by 2020, and IoT product and service suppliers will generate revenues of more than $300 billion, mostly in services.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the government was putting £45 million of development cash behind the IoT, double the amount previous-ly committed. “I see the internet of things as a huge transformative development – a way of boosting productivity, of keeping us healthi-er, making transport more efficient, reducing energy needs, tackling cli-mate change,” he said.

There is no shortage of ingenious uses for M2M and the IoT; the onus is now on organisations to develop the strategies that will make those applications a paying proposition.

Mobile networks can provide manufacturers with a flow of data about how a product is working

and how it is being used, making M2M both a service and a marketing tool


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Commercial Feature Interview

Have you ever seen any of the Terminator films? If you have, you’ll be famil-

iar with Skynet, a computer network so advanced that it has developed in ways its human designers couldn’t have foreseen, becoming more pow-erful, learning new things of its own accord and, eventually, achieving self-awareness.

This, in essence, is the concept of “the singularity” or “the techno-logical singularity”, a theoretical moment in the future at which the relationship between humanity and technology will reach a tipping point.

Of course, the Hollywood version of the story wouldn’t be complete with-out a bit of dramatic jeopardy. The twist in the Terminator franchise is that Skynet turns evil and takes it upon itself to wipe out the human race.

Fortunately, when it comes to real life, we can afford to be a little more optimistic. At least that’s the view of Peter Diamandis, co-founder of the Singularity University and the man who established the now world-fa-mous X Prize Foundation, which offers cash prizes to entrepreneurs who achieve audacious technologi-cal goals, such as launching reusable spaceships on a limited budget.

When I call him in the United States, while he’s on his way to a meeting at the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House, he points out that there are a number of ways to understand the concept of the singularity. As a starting point, it can be viewed as a moment in time when the ever-accel-erating rate of technological change will have reached a pace that defies meaningful prediction.

“Right now we can look one, two, three, maybe five years ahead and do a reasonable job of projecting where things will be. But then it gets fuzzy. There is a point in time where

the rate of change will be so fast that we won’t be able to fathom it or pro-ject it,” he says.

Another popular idea, is that the singularity should be understood as the moment at which artificial intelli-gence supersedes human intelligence comprehensively, exhibiting the abil-ity to ask and answer questions that human beings can’t understand.

OUTSOURCED MEMORY

“Then there’s also the notion that we are merging with technology,” he adds. “I have outsourced my mem-ory to the database in my phone, outsourced my spelling to Microsoft Word and we’ve been doing things that humans weren’t biologically designed to do for a while – have a heart valve or knee replacement, travel 700 miles per hour in a jet. That’s all just the beginning of our interface with technology.”

Those who favour a more specif-ic definition, such as Ray Kurzweil, co-founder of the Singularity Univer-sity and director of engineering at Google, have posited specific dates when the watershed moment will be reached – Kurzweil’s is 2045. But Mr Diamandis says this isn’t some-thing he’s focused on; he sees it as a “fuzzy boundary”.

Instead, he prefers to look at practi-cal consequences and the reality that “exponential technology will trans-form every element of our lives glob-ally over the next 20 years”.

“Now, my projection is that this is driving us towards a world of abun-

dance where all our basic needs are being met, where we have ubiqui-tous education, healthcare, access to energy, food and water,” he says.

In his book on the subject, Abun-dance, Mr Diamandis details how improvements to solar power tech-nology, for instance, will mean that our energy requirements can be met indefinitely. The Sun provides the planet with 6,000 times the total amount of energy that we current-ly use. Other comparable advanc-es, he argues, will go a long way to countering the threats and problems – famine, overcrowding, resource shortages, climatic events – that we currently face.

GLOBAL IMPACT

He explains that the idea behind the Singularity University, which was set up in 2008, is to harness and learn about the technologies that have the potential to make a massive global impact. Computing, networks, sensors, artificial intel-ligence (AI), robotics, 3D printing and synthetic biology are some he names.

The university campus in Silicon Valley is visited by different groups of people, from company chief ex-ecutives who want to “get a broad understanding of where technology is going and that over-the-horizon view” to graduate students who take on longer courses to work on projects and incubate companies. In these cases, the goal is to come up with what Mr Diamandis calls “ten-to-the-nine-plus companies”, viable businesses that have the potential to affect more than a billion (109) peo-ple within a decade.

Companies emerging include Modern Meadows, which aims to develop environmentally friendly “stem cell-derived meat products and leathers”, an e-waste recycling

business and a project to launch a 3D printer into space. “Today you have to have billions of dollars of spare parts just in case anything goes wrong. But throw up a 3D printer and some raw material and, if you need something, then you can just manufacture it there,” he says.

Then there’s a company called Matternet, which is working on an infrastructure project that would see a network of aerial drones de-liver packages across Africa. “They realised that to build roads in Africa would cost a trillion dollars or more,” says Mr Diamandis. “So you’re nev-er going to be able to build the road infrastructure that we have [in the West]. They asked whether we can simply skip the roads in Africa and go to autonomous aerial vehicles in the same way that we skipped the copper-wire line generation in Africa and went straight to mobile phones.” He claims that Matternet came up with the concept before Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos started talking publicly about a similar idea.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

But couldn’t there be a flaw in Mr Diamandis’ thinking? At the mo-ment the pace and focus of techno-logical change is largely dictated by economic forces. Projects that have grander goals might be lacking in one important area – the ability to provide return on investment.

“I agree that the venture capital community is focused on apps and near-term wins,” he says. “But I’m seeing things differently. Huge invest-ments are now being driven by the notion that the world’s biggest prob-lems are the world’s biggest business opportunities. People are looking to make a giant impact. Elon [Musk]’s companies – Solar City, Space X and Tesla – are making a huge difference and companies such as Google are making large investments.

“Today, anybody who wants to can make a difference. So the num-ber of potential problem-solvers has exploded and so have the tools. The common person has access to all the information in the world, access to

crowdfunding, access to cloud com-puting, 3D printing. It’s all exploding exponentially, while the number of problems in the world is still reason-ably limited.”

But with such focus being placed on evermore powerful computers, artificial intelligence, robots and the rest, shouldn’t we take more care with this “explosion” of tech-nology and its capabilities, making sure that it is carefully monitored and controlled? To take another line from Hollywood, we may end up re-gretting, as Jeff Goldblum’s character in Jurassic Park says, that “scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn't stop to think if they should”.

“I tend to be far more optimis-tic about the state of affairs than the media or dystopian Hollywood films,” says Mr Diamandis. “It is no different from when fire or the gun was invented. We have a tendency to see the dangers far before they come and we are usually able to solve issues – we’ve had the ability to destroy ourselves for quite some time, but we haven’t.”

At the moment, Mr Diamandis splits his time across the Singularity University, the X Prize Foundation, Planetary Resources (“asteroid de-tections and prospecting”), a genom-ics and cell-therapy company called Human Longevity and a chief exec-utive training programme, A360. But he doesn’t expect to be made redundant by the very technological advances that he has worked so hard to champion. Far from it.

“As computers and AI do more and more of our work, I think we’ll learn what it is to be human. But we’ll constantly be combining, merg-ing and utilising technology – togeth-er we’re going to be doing more and more.” And, reassuringly, he adds: “I have a hard time imagining that we’re going to sit idle and let tech-nology take off without us.”

Latest Trends

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Edwin Smith takes a glimpse of the future in conversation with technology pioneer and futurologist Peter Diamandis

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As the internet grew, analysts sought to understand its impact on traditional commerce. For example, until then retail prices had typically included a 50 per cent bump for dis-tribution margin stacking that the internet had the potential to replace. With global retail valued in the trillions of dollars, the potential represented by the internet was an economy in and of itself – and the drive to retrieve those 50 cents became the initial and pivot-al push to expand the internet’s role in corporate processes even faster.

As this evolution began to show tangible results, these processes hun-gered for access to assets even farther off campus, causing advances in M2M to arrive at an intersection with the emerging cloud space. Cloud technol-ogy enabled machines, sensors and other devices to upload and store vast amounts of raw data to create an anal-ysis base and deliver brand new mod-els for assessing performance, profita-bility, competitiveness and more.

The newest entrants to the work-force never experienced the world before the internet or cell phones. So naturally, business dynamics are changing. These young workers have a totally different perspective on what’s possible, in part because they’re arriving at their desks just as the internet and cellular industries converge to create two revolutionary new spaces – the internet of things and big data.

Traditional corporate decision-mak-ing processes have been structured around hierarchical data-collection systems from the lowest levels of the supply chain, progressively moving up into departments, eventually making their way as performance charts, graphs and red flags into boardrooms. As information technology evolved from standalone mainframes to net-works, including PCs and other types of devices, the time between data collection and its arrival in the board-room dropped significantly. But, with few exceptions, most processes re-mained confined to data from assets inside four walls.

Enter innovators such as Federal Express that revolutionised corpo-rate operations with a truly global deployment of processes touching assets outside the gates. A few years later, with the arrival of 2G cellular telephony, major vendors established departments to develop the radio element of handset technol-ogy into modules that could be em-bedded into machines, cars, alarm systems and more. The birth of ma-chine-to-machine communications (M2M) continued extending the reach of business processes.

Commercial Feature

Executives in the modern boardroom can leverage big data analytics to glean

performance metrics of operations, product changes, launches and more – as they happen

Just as pilots in a glass-cockpit jetlin-er can punch up high-level information from hundreds of sensors and systems into manageable displays, so too can executives in the modern boardroom, leverage big data analytics to glean performance metrics of operations; product changes and launches, and more -- as they happen. What’s more, corporate executives can interact with their assets all the way to the very edge of the supply chain, and view amalga-mated real-time results and data ana-lytics-based predictions and trends.

For the past 12 years, Telit has been at the vanguard of this reinvention of the boardroom. We welcome the world’s new thinkers, and encourage the continued and relentless challenge of boundaries and limitations. Our prod-ucts and services are about simplifying the connection of “things” to the Inter-net of Things as we continue to add val-ue in this business process revolution.

www.telit.com

Does your boardroom function as a glass cockpit?The glass cockpit concept introduced during NASA’s space shuttle programme made it possible for pilots to quickly view data and analysis of conditions from hundreds of systems and thousands of sensors. With its predecessor, they had to fly by hundreds of dials and controls

Oozi CatsChief executive, Telit Wireless Solutions

WILL MACHINES

The world’s biggest problems are the world’s biggest business opportunities

TAKEOVER?

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Ten Things

M2M WORLD OF CONNECTED SERVICES

Source: Beecham Research 2014

COMMERCIAL/

INSTITUTIONOFFICE, EDUCATION,

RETAIL, HOSPITALITY,

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ENER

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HVAC

Turbines

Windmills

Batteries

Generators

Fuel cells

Meters, drills

Digital cameras

Power systems

eReaders

Lights

Games consoles Surgical equipment

Monitors

Telemedicine

Valves

Implants

Pipelines

Fabrication

Conveyors

Planes

Signage

Vehicles

Cash registers

POS terminals

Signs

Vending machines

Tags

Lights

TollsShips

Vats

Assembly/packaging

MRIPDAsTVs MP3

UPS

Transport

Fire & safety

Lighting

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BOWLING, CINEMAS,

DISCOS, SPECIAL EVENTS

HOTELS, RESTAURANTS,

BARS, CAFES, CLUBS

SUPERMARKETS,

SHOPPING CENTRES,

SINGLE SITE,

DISTRIBUTION CENTRES

AIR, RAIL, MARINE

CONSUMER, COMMERCIAL, CONSTRUCTION, OFF-ROAD

TOLLS, TRAFFIC

MANAGEMENT,

NAVIGATIONPIPELINES, MATERIAL

HANDLING, CONVEYANCE

PETRO-CHEMICAL,

HYDRO CARBONS,

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MINING, IRRIGATION,

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APPLICATIONGROUPS

SERVICE SECTORSLOCATIONSDEVICES

POINTERSTO THE FUTURE From in-vivo sensors to the rise of China, Charles Orton-Jones

spots ten trends and applications making the internet of things (IoT) arguably the world’s most exciting technology

Sector map shows segmentation of the machine-to-machine market, including nine key service sectors, main application groups within sectors, and examples of connected devices within each sector

DANGER SIGNS

What happens when something goes wrong? Wil Rockall, director of information protection risk and compliance at KPMG, says: “The biggest risk is that we are blending into a dependency where we all rely on the same technological mono-culture. The impact of a long-term power outage for a major city such as London is already chilling to think about, as we and everything around us becomes more and more connect-ed, the detrimental effects of losing that connectivity become even more apocalyptic.”

MESH TECHNOLOGY

Devices in close proximity relay mes-sages to each other to form a local net-work. For example, Cambridge Silicon Radio’s CSRMesh uses the Bluetooth radio signal found on every smart-phone. The consumer connects to a Bluetooth-smart IoT device, which then sends that message to affiliated devices in a giant chain or mesh. The advantage is range. Bluetooth can stretch 30 metres, but via a mesh, a message can leapfrog devices to cover much larger distances.

INTERNET OF PIGS

Pigs may not be able to fly, but they could tell us a thing or two about body sensors. Swine herds have been fitted with in-vivo sensors to track temper-ature, drinking water flow, CO2, feed rate, ammonia and pH. The trial is being conducted by General Alert and IoT specialist 1248 to improve animal welfare. Chris Dodge of General Alert reports: “We are already working closely with veterinary, agricultural research and farm management com-panies, and looking to expand the range of applications.”

JAMMING THE JAMS

Using the GPS signals on smart-phones, traffic analysis firm Inrix is able to monitor road use. Thus, when drivers request directions they can be directed away from clogged transpor-tation arteries. Delivery firms can use the technology to vary the price of jobs, knowing how long a journey will take and what fuel will be used. The Highways Agency relies on Inrix for traffic management and even where to send snow ploughs after snowfall by measuring average vehicle speeds.

KEEPING TRACK

Billed as a “connected car”, the Nissan Leaf is controllable via a smartphone app. If you want to fire up the air con-ditioning before you get in the car, the app will let you do that. You can turn on the heater, start the engine and, since it is an electric car, program the charging sequence to make use of lower energy tariffs at night. The car sends health reports back to Nissan. BMW’s rival system, Assist, can notify the emergency services when the air bag is deployed, and cut the engine if the car is stolen.

ONE LANGUAGE

A difficulty with the internet of things is the profusion of rival standards, erecting barriers to communication. Cisco Systems, General Electric, IBM and Intel recently came together to form the Industrial Internet Consor-tium (IIC), devoted to creating inter-operable standards. These four firms will hold permanent seats on the IIC’s council, with four other firms invited to join. IIC membership is open to all. The AllSeen Alliance is working to produce open source standards for devices using the Linux computer op-erating system.

CHINA RISING

China rivals the United States, Korea and Japan in the IoT industry. Rob Hyde, director of 360i London, points out that China already accounts for more than a quarter of global ma-chine-to-machine – M2M – communi-cations. The mobile operators’ lobby group GSM Association says this is be-ing driven by collaboration between the Chinese government and the big-three Chinese telecom agencies. “China is in the process of creating connected cities, offering everything from real-time pollution monitoring to trackable public buses,” says Mr Hyde.

1098

2 3 41 THIRST QUENCHER

Europe’s largest brewer Heineken employs sensors embedded in its kegs dispatched to restaurants and pubs. These sensors use the mobile phone network to report on beer and cider levels, as well as temperature and age. When liquid levels fall danger-ously low, the landlord can be sent an emergency notification. The system runs on software provider Jasper’s cloud IoT network and gives Heinek-en a significant competitive advantage over lower-tech beer rivals.

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MAKING UK #1

Prime Minister David Cameron is an internet of things fan. In January he promised to “personally task” the chief scientific adviser to explore what the government ought to be do-ing to make the UK a world leader. He threw in £73 million in funding to put boosters under the research. He also launched a £1-million fund for compa-nies looking to develop IoT technolo-gies. Equally significantly, he has asked Ofcom to set out how the licensed and unlicensed radio spectrum will be uti-lised by IoT-connected devices.

SMART RETROFITTING

A major obstacle to making IoT a per-vasive global infrastructure is upgrad-ing all the existing non-IoT objects. Dan Matthews, chief technology of-ficer at software firm IFS, points out: “Unlike your smartphone that gets replaced every couple of years, that escalator in the store doesn’t. Nor does the boiler in your house. For IoT to succeed with long-lived prod-ucts there has to be a massive wave of retrofitting smart stuff on to old equipment. That will take time – a lot of time.”

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PBPA

As automated, connected machines hit business fleets, it’s become more apparent the network perime-ter has expanded greatly. This brings both risks and rewards. To keep the risks in check and to make the most of the rewards, businesses need to stay on top of their assets.

M2M can play a role in ensuring that expensive cargo remains secure and maintains its value from departure to arrival. Has the perishable food in the container spoiled because of a faulty refrigeration unit or has the cor-rect temperature been maintained throughout? A well-constructed M2M solution can use one set of sensors near the food to measure temperature and another set on the cooler to en-sure that it’s functioning properly.

If firms want to gain that competi-tive edge for moving assets around the globe, they need supportive solutions that help overcome challenges, such as capacity crunch when customers come flooding in, higher operating costs and commodity prices, and a more complex operating environment.

To deal with these unprecedent-ed challenges, organisations need a supplier that has the understanding, solutions and expertise to stitch the vital parts of transport and business together. Companies must have oper-ational visibility as it’s becoming criti-cal for supply chain and transportation industries to know where a shipment is, and the ability to monitor the envi-ronmental conditions of transported cargo in near real-time.

“Companies that ship goods all over the world need the ability to track and monitor the conditions of their assets in near-real time to minimise the risk of damaged, lost or stolen cargo,” says Mike Troiano, vice president, ad-vanced mobility solutions, AT&T Busi-ness Solutions. “We work with supply chain managers in a variety of indus-tries to deploy mobility solutions that help streamline operations, but also help to transform how they interact and communicate with customers.”

HEALTHCARE

M2M and connected devices will power the future of healthcare. Are wearable M2M solutions becoming the technology to watch? The dawn of wearables has opened the door to effective monitoring of a patient’s heart rate, blood pressure and weight, while fitness apps can re-cord distances travelled by runners and calories burned.

Can M2M help to save lives? Yes, but only if the technology solution is right from the hardware, software, to the network. As a case in point, AT&T EverThere uses a mobile personal

Commercial Feature

AT&T M2M technologyMachine-to-machine (M2M) communication is transforming the way we live – and the way we do business

Mike Troiano, vice president, advanced mobilitysolutions, AT&T Business Solutions

connectivity in inaccessible areas, communication across barriers, and simplified installation based on wire-less local area, wide area and sensor networks (https://smartmanufactur-ingcoalition.org/news/frost-and-sulli-van-survey-manufacturing).

In many ways, these factories are already a reality. Right now, M2M solu-tions are being used to monitor, man-age and connect complex systems that link individual machine compo-nents on the plant floor with advanced control systems and manufacturing or enterprise resource planning soft-ware. This allows manufacturers to set up more efficient processes and ulti-mately make better products faster.

emergency response device worn around the neck, which is monitored by a call centre every day of the week. It provides GPS location to the call centre, so if the user needs assistance they can speak to healthcare profes-sionals straight from the device. For the elderly who want to stay in their own house rather than being moved to a care home, this kind of technology is life changing.

Fitness tracking devices that mon-itor your activity – steps, distance, sleep, calories burned, and so on – can be worn on your wrist or clipped to your clothes. These devices can provide very helpful data to the user and have the potential to be linked to healthcare providers or viewed in conjunction with other fitness apps via the AT&T mHealth Platform. AT&T has been working with developers to create brand new applications that utilise health and wellness data.

InterMetro, a business of Emerson (NYSE: EMR), and a leading man-ufacturer and supplier of storage and transport products for the food service, commercial and healthcare industries, is working with AT&T to create “smart” mobile workstations that allow caregivers to access treat-ment information and update medical records at patients’ bedsides.

The two companies will integrate AT&T’s M2M solutions with the Met-ro® AccessPoint wirelessly connect-ed mobile workstations, allowing InterMetro to proactively monitor, troubleshoot and share vital perfor-mance data about the devices. The connected mobile workstations send updates and alerts when systems are in need of service and are enabled to receive software updates from In-terMetro remotely when needed.

Across all points of the supply chain, as well as in hospitals and the home, M2M has the ability to alter and improve the healthcare industry drastically.

devices can let managers know and fresh supplies can be ordered, whether manually or in an automat-ed fashion.

Mr Troiano sums up the opportuni-ty for the construction industry when he talks of “AT&T’s vision of enabling people to operate anything remotely, anytime and virtually anywhere”.

ENERGY

Deciding how the world sources and disseminates electricity has be-come one of the biggest issues of our age. Demand is rising faster than

supply and the energy industry as a whole – from traditional suppliers to those betting on renewables – is desperate to create a smarter grid. It’s only with effective M2M that this will come about.

The technology is out in the real world already. Residential and com-mercial power meters are wirelessly sending real-time data about con-sumption to utilities and operators, meaning more accurate data for billing and, hopefully, less power usage. Pre-pay systems are proving increasingly attractive, allowing homeowners to deal with their bills easily, which saves both the consumer and provider time and resources.

“We’re serving utilities across the country with smart-grid offerings that go beyond wireless connectivity,” says Mr Troiano. “Utilities can now offer their clients more convenient pay-ment options and the ability to monitor overall energy consumption, creating a better customer service experience for everyone.”

The world is really getting behind an M2M-powered energy industry that benefits everyone.

MANUFACTURING

Analysts are clearly excited about the prospects for M2M in the manu-facturing world. Frost & Sullivan are hailing the dawn of “smart manufac-turing”, which will see embedded devices and sensors working within short-range wireless and long-range cellular networks to create “facto-ries of the future”.

Inside these futuristic facilities, the analyst firm predicts advanced robot-ics and enterprise mobility will be on the plant floor, enabling convenient

What kinds of products are likely to come out of these enhanced sup-ply chains? In a recent IDC survey, some 35 per cent of respondents indicated the companies capturing and analysing sensor data were typically those based in chemicals, pulp and paper, metals and other process-oriented products.

The car industry is one of the more prolific users of M2M in the modern world. As 4G LTE networks reach more and more people in the United States, virtually every automobile manufac-turer is working towards a connected car that takes advantage of next-gen-eration data speeds, from voice-con-trolled apps and “infotainment” to advanced diagnostics.

AT&T is working on two major initi-atives to lead innovation in the con-nected car market – a first-of-its-kind connected car centre in Atlanta, called the AT&T Drive Studio, and a modular, global automotive platform titled AT&T Drive. The AT&T Drive Studio integrates AT&T solutions across multiple compa-nies and serves as a hub where AT&T can respond to the needs of automo-tive manufacturers and the auto eco-system at large.

“We’re making a significant com-mitment to lead the future of the connected car with the launch of the AT&T Drive Studio and our AT&T Drive platform,” says Glenn Lurie, president, AT&T Emerging Enterprises and Part-nerships, AT&T Mobility. “Our goal is to be the best carrier for connected car innovation in the world.”

To find out more att.com/m2m.

The technology is out in the real world already

The construction industry was one of the worst hit by the global financial meltdown. Yet it has the chance to rebound with numerous opportuni-ties to increase efficiency. M2M has a big role to play.

By embedding connectivity in their cranes, excavators and other machin-ery, construction firms can determine when repairs are required, how often vehicles are being used, and where they are located. This will help them organise maintenance, decide wheth-er they can streamline operations, and transfer workloads at greater speed and effectiveness. The data gleaned from this will show how to im-prove processes around construction and how field personnel can do their job more efficiently.

Construction sites also need pro-tecting from criminals. What if, in the middle of the night, thieves arrive and make off with the pile driver? Effective M2M solutions can pro-vide alerts when anomalies occur, so security can be sent in. As the embedded devices don’t rely on site electricity, running on battery and using wireless communication, this layer of security will remain switched on even if the power has been cut on site. And if vehicles start moving, construction firms can switch the en-gine off remotely.

Opportunities lie beyond the con-struction site. Tracking of materials using GPS can help firms keep on top of their inventory. When resourc-es are running low, internet of things

GLOBAL M2M CONNECTIONS IN 2013

M2M’s DIVERSE POTENTIALMAJOR DRIVERSECTOR EXAMPLE APPLICATION

Reduced energy costsSMART BUILDINGS Automated monitoring of head, ventilation and cooling

Product informationCONSUMER

ELECTRONICSConnected satellite navigation devices to monitor traffic jams

Proactive maintenanceAGRICULTURE

AND EXTRACTIONRemote monitoring of farm or min-

ing operations and equipment

Cost savingSMART CITIES Street lights that dim when roads are empty

Retail innovationRETAIL Wireless payments

Cheaper, home-based serviceHEALTH Remote monitoring of patients and personal health monitoring

Faster response timesEMERGENCY SERVICES

AND NATIONAL SECURITYDisaster response and critical

infrastructure protection

Regulatory requirementAUTOMOTIVE Emergency calling and accident alerts

Reduced maintenance costsMANUFACTURING Predictive maintenance through improved system monitoring

Regulatory requirementUTILITIES Smart meters and energy demand response

Safety and securityLEISURE Leisure vehicle and boat tracking

Cost savingsCONSTRUCTION Monitoring usage of equipment to improve efficiency and cut fuel usage

Cost savingsTRANSPORT

AND LOGISTICSFleet optimisation and supply-chain

tracking and tracing

If firms want to gain that competitive edge for moving assets around the globe, they need supportive solutions that help overcome challenges

10%

2.8%

of mobile connections in North America are M2M

of all global mobile connections are now M2M

TRANSPORTATION CONSTRUCTION

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Security

DATA MINING

Machine-to-machine communication throws open concerns about data security which must be addressed, writes Tom Brewster

In the sedate Italian town of Bolzano, where broad-band connections are a

rarity and almost a quarter of the population is over the age of 65, hid-den electronic sensors have been re-cording the environments of elderly inhabitants’ homes.

The sensors have been collecting data, such as carbon monoxide and methane levels, as well as tempera-ture and humidity. It might sound creepy, but the overall aim is altruis-tic: to let folk stay in their own homes rather than being forced into care.

Those sensors, using 3G dongles due to the lack of wired internet, first send data through a gateway device that filters all the information from the community, sorting the digital wheat from the chaff. This passes recordings to an IBM cloud data cen-tre, and then out to healthcare pro-fessionals and analysts, who access the relevant information via a mobile or desktop dashboard.

Analytics tools are able to deter-mine normal daily patterns of the programme’s participants and send alerts when anything is amiss, such as dangerous levels of noxious gas or complete inactivity. Not only has this helped care professionals plan visits rather than stick to an unnec-essary schedule, saving them time and money, it has let the retirees of Bolzano get on with their lives.

These little gadgets are a remnant of a pilot project started by the local gov-ernment in Bolzano and IBM. Discus-sions are underway to decide wheth-

er to continue with the project, but it has showed how machine-to-machine (M2M) and analytics technologies can be combined to great effect.

Excitement about layering analyt-ics tools over the internet of things (IoT) has reached fever pitch around the world. Many have been salivat-ing over the prospect of additional reams of data being provided by freshly deployed machines, ripe for mining. Almost every industry, whether healthcare or retail, could benefit from a better understanding of those they serve. And the rise of cheap sensors collecting information on everyday people will provide the more expansive view of the custom-er they so desire.

UNDISCOVERED OPPORTUNITIES

By putting analytics products in place that find patterns in the data, organisations are likely to discover surprising things, opening up op-portunities they never would have thought of, says Nick Jones, of an-alyst firm Gartner. “Anyone who thinks they know everything they’ll be able to deduce from the IoT data their products generate doesn’t un-derstand the potential of the space. I believe most IoT opportunities are as yet undiscovered,” he says.

Yet this might not require so-called big data analysis. And small data M2M projects are also go-ing to open up plenty of avenues for businesses as sensors start to spread, says Dale Vile, of Freeform Dynamics. “Applications that are

more based on capturing exception events rather than logging continu-ous streams are probably going to be more common,” he says.

Businesses are rightly worried that doing both big and small M2M ana-lytics projects would lead to a costly storage nightmare. But according to J.P. Rangaswami, chief scientist at cloud software provider Salesforce, the costs of storage keep coming down, meaning even those without rich coffers will be able to do their own M2M data drilling.

“The price of storage is being demolished as we speak,” says Mr Rangaswami. “Secondly, in envi-ronments where there is connected learning – so you do get patterns, you do get feedback of those knowl-edge bases – the only architecture that can deal with this level of scale is the cloud.” Whether on-premise or off, businesses have options if they’re willing to forego some of the capital expenditure.

Businesses that do make the leap and start mining M2M data will also need to take note of valid security concerns around protecting peo-ple’s privacy, whether it’s legitimate organisations or criminals picking through their information flying be-tween automated machines.

EMBEDDED DEVICES

As embedded devices are so small and have limited memory, they often aren’t capable of running proper se-curity software nor do they include update facilities, so fixing vulnera-bilities simply isn’t an option. That’s why some have fretted over whether these “immortal devices” would be angelic or demonic.

For any business involved in carrying sensitive data from M2M networks to their own facility, end-to-end encryption from devices to

servers is a must. This will prevent hackers siphoning off data passing along the wires or over the air. Reg-ular audits of the software and hard-ware being used will be required to ensure there aren’t any vulnerabili-ties waiting to be exploited.

But to focus solely on privacy is to miss a key point: when it comes to M2M networks that physically change the world around them, public safety is a key issue too, says Josh Corman, a security expert who set up I Am The Cavalry to shine a light on the issue. “Given many of these technologies affect lives, I im-plore people to remember we should design for safety as well as privacy,” says Mr Corman. He gives the exam-ple of connected devices in a hospi-tal, where both privacy and safety have to be considered.

Mr Corman also notes that every M2M device represents another edge of the network perimeter. Just as the rise of consumer smartphones in the workplace has led to difficulties in securing data outside the traditional confines of the business, automated machines handling business data make life more complex for IT. “Most network security is based on the as-sumption of a perimeter and layered controls that filter out attacks,” he says. “With M2M, you can assume no such perimeter.”

This means adopting a similar approach to dealing with the work-place bring-your-own-device trend, he says, wrapping adequate controls around the devices.

The internet of things and machine-to-machine communication are set to revolutionise our day-to-day lives. Stephen Armstrong explores how and asks will it be for the better?

The internet of things (IoT) and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication

still sound a little bit too much like a sci-fi movie for some people. We’ve been hearing talk of fridges ordering your milk since the early-1990s, but we’re still making panicked runs to the corner store when we run out.

Fewer than one in four European companies have any M2M solutions in place, according to Vodafone’s recent market survey, while in the United States it’s fewer than one in five. And yet, for those companies that do know what’s coming, there are literally billions of pounds to be made, here and now.

Take the recent Apple purchase of Beats headphones, founded by hip-hop producer Dr Dre. The $3-billion price tag seemed excessive to many observers, but people close to the deal say it’s the M2M/IoT future that prompted Apple to dig so deeply into its wallet.

“The future of music is live stream-ing anytime everywhere over 4G and 5G,” according to one insider. “The idea of owning a song is going to be history. Beats has great relationships with labels and a very strong curated streamed playlist offering. The deal means Apple can play tracks through your headphones whenever you want to hear them. It saves iTunes basically.”

“We have to be clear about what the internet of things – or M2M – means,” says Jim Tully, chief of re-search at Gartner. “At one level its all around us already – point-of-sales handsets at your table in a restau-rant, ATMs, smart TVs with a set-top box, these are all physical objects with embedded chips that commu-nicate with other machines without human commands.

“The future is more complex; there are huge sales opportunities and cost-saving possibilities for busi-ness, but they come with certain risks, including job losses and secu-rity implications.”

In cost-saving terms, Mr Tully cites the Big Belly bins in Bath. These so-lar power waste bins on the streets of the city have trash compactors and alarm sensors that report when they’re three-quarters full. In Phil-adelphia the bins are credited with saving the city $1 million a year by reducing the number of bin lorries previously on constant patrol.

BIOSENSORS

At MIT’s SENSEable City Lab, meanwhile, director Carlo Ratti is planning a version of this beneath the streets with Underworlds, a near-real-time network of biosen-sors, automata and purpose-built labs to decode the biological sig-nature of cities and help plan pub-lic-health strategies.

Closer to home 24eight slippers have pressure sensors in the sole, which enable health professionals to see if an elderly person has failed to put their slippers on or has fall-en over. Analysing the data, 24eight found they could also identify wan-dering patterns that predict the early onset of Alzheimers.

“The big privacy question we’ll have to deal with is how much of our lives we’re prepared to have moni-tored,” says John Coates, senior re-search fellow at Cambridge Universi-ty and former Goldman Sachs trader, who’s pioneered bio-feedback moni-toring of dealers on trading floors to spot rogue behaviour.

On the sales side, M2M allows companies to keep a sales relation-ship with customers long after initial purchase. In 2013, for instance, the Audi S3 was launched with an inte-grated 4G-capable “infotainment” system, offering streamed movies and music, speech activated social networking and Google Earth GPS sat nav. Downloaded movies offer an untapped revenue stream for car companies. From 2015, most Audi cars will come with an embedded

SIM enabling similar connectivity. Having your car online, of course, makes it vulnerable to hackers.

“Part of what will happen over the next five to ten years is that the very virtual concept of a firewall will less apply to a desktop computer than it will apply to the house or office,” explains Jonathan Bell, technology consultant and former architecture editor of Wallpaper* magazine. “With all these machines, like vend-ing machines or fridges streaming data traffic, you’ll need virtual secu-rity bars around the whole building.”

If that all sounds a bit scary, perhaps you’re ideal audience ma-terial for the world’s first M2M the-atre production – Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde from Bristol-based pervasive games theatre company Slingshot. Director Simon Johnson uses body sensor vests to monitor audience members breathing or heart rate as they move around buildings trying to open doors or turn lights on by controlling their fear. Over time, he hopes, players will feel increasingly alienated from their own body, rec-reating the horror of Dr Jekyll with a beast inside. What could possibly go wrong?

OPPORTUNITIES COME WITH

RISKSConsumers

Sustainable Energy

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SustainabilityOpinion

TRILEMMABy encouraging the efficient use of costly carbon fuels, machine-to-machine technology would not only cut bills, but also reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as Jessica Twentyman reports

The world is caught on the horns of what the World Energy Council has

termed “the energy trilemma”. The vast majority of consumers

want energy that is reliable, afforda-ble and environmentally friendly. But this requires governments and utilities companies to perform an unenviable juggling act in which they must cater for rising demand, iden-tify and exploit new energy sources, and keep prices low, all while reduc-ing greenhouse gas emissions.

Achieving these goals, without making trade-offs along the way, is tricky. Reliable power costs money. Affordable energy isn’t necessarily clean. Clean power may not be the most reliable. And so on.

If greater energy efficiency pro-vides at least part of the answer to this trilemma, as many believe it does, then the internet of things (IoT) may be chief among the technologies to help.

For a start, IoT-enabled energy efficiency could help curb market

WE CAN HANDLE DEVICES, BUT CAN WE HANDLE DATA?

The growth of the internet of things relies on interoperability. Not only is it a necessity, but it is needed on a massive scale, says Suke Jawanda, chief marketing officer of Bluetooth Special Interest Group

Cellular networks provide connec-tion to the internet where wi-fi is not available.

Finally, Bluetooth smart provides the critical connection between the source device and peripheral sensor or other edge devices. This is par-ticularly important where power consumption is a concern, as Blue-tooth smart technology enables ul-tra-low power data transfer.

Bluetooth is a good case study for the explosion in device interoperabili-ty in recent years. Even though it’s al-ready the biggest wireless technology in the world, embedded in the most devices, it’s still the fastest growing. In fact, it took Bluetooth ten years to ship its first billion devices. In 2014 alone, three billion devices will ship and analysts predict this figure will double in the next four years.

These three technologies work to-gether to seamlessly connect things to each other and the cloud. Manufac-turers and third-party developers can count on the wireless technology re-quired for their devices to function to be in their customers’ hands already, and can rest assured in the knowledge that their hardware and associated apps will “just work” with the tablet and smartphones they already own.

The next piece of the puzzle the industry needs to solve is data in-teroperability. A practical example of this would be in the smart home. Consumers want their lighting, heat-ing and security systems all talking to their mobile devices. What is chal-lenging is integrating all the separate applications, which have these sys-tems’ data fed into them, into a sin-gle dashboard for the entire home.

The convenience of having all this data consolidated in one place is really what makes the IoT a truly en-gaging proposition.

The IoT hinges on consumers being able to capitalise on the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) model their connected lives are based on. It is consumers’ BYOD lifestyles which prompted massive device interoper-ability to be unleashed and likewise it is spurring the opportunity for data interoperability. Consumers just want any device they own to work with every other device and the ap-plications they care about.

We’re just starting to see the building blocks of data interoper-ability put into place. Announced recently at their respective devel-oper conferences, Apple Healthkit and Homekit, and Google Fit are the

Three mainstream connec-tivity technologies, wi-fi, and Bluetooth smart and

cellular, have been and still are providing baseline interoperability between devices and the internet, unlocking the benefits of the internet of things (IoT) for consumers.

Wi-fi enables the transfer of large quantities of data from devices to the internet. It allows source devices, including smartphones, tablets and laptops, to connect to the cloud and all the data that provides.

first information consolidation plat-forms emerging that can take data from Bluetooth smart devices and provide the user with a holistic view of the status of their health, fitness or home environment by connecting them to cloud applications via cellu-lar or wi-fi.

With Bluetooth smart, wi-fi and cellular already working together to enable massive device interoper-ability, the stage is set for data inter-operability to be the next disruptive opportunity for developers and ser-vice providers. Together, these two trends will enable consumers to ex-perience the complete set of benefits the IoT can offer.

WI-FI INTERNET OF EVERYTHING

Long the networking technology of choice, wi-fi will be a key enabler of the “internet of everything”, says Kelly Davis-Felner, vice president of marketing for Wi-Fi Alliance

STANDARDS-BASED INTEROPERABLE TECHNOLOGY The IoE will be powered by open, available, industry-standard tech-nologies. The market must have confidence that devices and systems will be able to connect, regardless of product brand. Standards-based wi-fi is interoperable technology – its broad industry support and the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ logo programme have been key factors in the technol-ogy’s massive success.

LEGACY COMPATIBILITY A defining characteristic of the IoE is the longevity of many of the devices deployed. Refrigerators, sprinkler systems, parking meters, automotive telematics and enterprise monitoring systems cannot be replaced every year or two to adapt to changing technology. Over the past 15 years, the wi-fi industry has brought forth a number of significant performance upgrades, while preserving back-wards compatibility.

SECURITY With sensitive government, industrial and personal applications connected to the IoE, industry-standard, prov-en, tested security will be critical to success. Every wi-fi device certified today includes WPA2 security, with government-grade advanced encryp-tion standard and a range of proven user authentication mechanisms.

EASE OF DEPLOYMENT AND USE Particularly in consumer applications, IoE adoption depends on ease of use. Devices must be easy to enable and connect with little or no technical knowledge, and they must be virtu-ally maintenance free. Some IoE de-vices will be stationary, while others will be mobile and need to connect seamlessly in many different nodes. The wi-fi industry has developed tech-nologies to simplify device pairing, network authentication and more.

PERVASIVE CONNECTIVITY The reach of IoE depends upon widely available connectivity for home and mobile applications alike. The hundreds of millions of homes and millions of wi-fi hotspots de-ployed today, and in the future plans of municipalities, transit systems and service- provider footprints, mean that IoE devices will rarely lack for an available connection.

LOCATION AWARENESS Given the vast number of home, en-terprise and public wi-fi networks, wi-fi access points are easily found in virtually all public locations. Of all connectivity technologies in the IoE space, wi-fi is able to deliver the most precise indoor location data for user devices and this enables a range of IoE location-aware services.

INTEGRATION WITH EXISTING TECHNOLOGY IoE systems will interact with all the user-centric wi-fi devices in use today, including smartphones and tablets, computing and peripherals, and home entertainment systems. Consumers, in particular, expect to integrate all connected devices on a single home network – specifically on wi-fi.

ROBUSTNESS The advanced capabilities enabled by internet control of devices must not come at the expense of an in-creased susceptibility to failure modes. The connectivity technol-ogies in use must be reliable and robust, even in disaster scenarios, and connectivity for emergency control must be available for mis-sion-critical devices when internet access is disrupted.

Wi-fi connects things to one another and links those objects back to the

user-facing devices people already have to enjoy and manage their lives. As the pace of innovation in electronics continues to accelerate and as the universe of connected devices explodes, wi-fi will become more useful than ever. For the in-ternet of everything (IoE) to realise its tremendous potential, a number of disparate elements must come together in a powerful symphony. Several key components will align to form a foundation for innovation and enable the network effects upon which a fully realised IoE depends.

demand for power. Many custom-ers would be happy to lower their consumption, after all, if it meant lower bills. But to do that they need more information on how and when they’re using power, and how much it’s costing them.

Smart domestic devices and apps that can communicate this data wire-lessly to customers could make all the difference in encouraging them to turn down their central heating or use a ceiling fan less often.

That’s why search engine Google paid $3.2 billion in January for Nest Labs, a four-year-old startup that makes smart thermostats for the home, allowing users to turn down or switch off their heating from any-where, using a smartphone app.

At Apple, engineers are hard at work on a software platform that will enable iPhone-owners to use their smartphone as a remote con-trol for lights, security systems and other appliances.

SMART METERS

Many utilities companies, mean-while, are now installing smart meters in the homes and offices of residential and commercial cus-tomers. As of April, for example, California-based utility company

Pacific Gas and Electricity (PG&E) had rolled out smart meters to al-most 4.7 million of its electricity customers and more than 4.1 million gas customers.

“When people understand how they use gas or electricity, then they have clear direction on how to opti-mise their own usage, with positive effects for their monthly bills and for the environment,” says Jim Mead-ows, director of smart grid research at PG&E.

Smart meters also mean in-creased visibility for utilities com-panies into their own operations, so as well as contributing to more energy-efficient demand patterns in “smart homes”, the IoT will help utilities to improve control supply patterns in the “smart grid”.

This involves instrumenting their networks with intelligent sensors to forecast demand, track customer usage patterns and prevent outag-es, says Rod O’Shea, Europe, the Middle East and Africa internet of things marketing director at chip-maker Intel.

To do this is particularly impor-tant, he says, in a world where pow-er production in most countries is moving from a centralised structure, dominated by a handful of provid-ers, to a more distributed model, in which smaller wind farms and even domestic solar-panel installations play a role in feeding the grid.

“The complexity of managing this model is clearly very tough without insight and many utilities companies are already struggling to understand where power is produced. Instru-menting smart grids can give them the information they need to under-stand what’s flowing through their networks and how it might be most efficiently stored and allocated,” says Mr O’Shea.

But while more efficient man-agement of supply and demand in energy grids will make a huge con-tribution to achieving environmental goals, the IoT’s sustainability poten-

tial actually reaches much further, says Andy Hobsbawm, co-found-er and chief marketing officer of EVRYTHNG, an IoT company that works with big brands, such as Uni-lever, LVMH and Diageo.

TAGS AND SENSORS

Virtually any product that can be equipped with smart tags or sensors, which wirelessly connect it to the internet, can now become “intelligent”, he says, creating a direct communications bridge be-tween its manufacturer and the end-customer.

“When a manufacturer knows how, when and where a customer uses its product,” he says, “then that makes it possible for them to com-municate how the product might be used more sustainably throughout its lifetime, and disposed of respon-sibly at the end of it.”

It’s an interesting proposition, with implications for countless com-panies worldwide and their custom-ers. The owner of a smart printer, for example, can be educated on how to use less paper or ink. The owner of a washing machine can be advised to use it on a lower setting for certain loads. And these smart products, says Mr Hobsbawm, will be the basis of the “sharing econo-my”, where a manufacturer is able to allocate usage of a single product – a power drill that might otherwise be gathering dust in a garden shed – by multiple customers, who are able to book time using it via a mo-bile app.

Some manufacturers might ini-tially balk at the impact this could have on their revenue models, Mr Hobsbawm concedes. But in an in-creasingly digital economy, he says, every firm needs to be thinking about how it wraps physical prod-ucts in an information-based layer of value-added, revenue-generating services. And it’s up to customers to use this information better to man-age their own carbon footprint.

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