“The IoT (Internet of Things) can help businesses be more productive and efficient” says Phil Goldstein, web editor for BizTech – “but they need a plan to integrate disparate technologies whilst addressing protection needs against malicious actors”
Steve Darrah, Director of National Solutions at Intel, says that “IoT can be used to improve efficiency and profitability, drive safety and increase worker productivity”
For example:.
- Retailers can use radio frequency identification tags to track inventory
- Healthcare providers can use wearables to track the vital signs of seniors in long-term care and predict if a person is going to suffer a heart attack
Link Simpson of CDW, an international IT company, notes that IoT technologies work in combination with other systems e.g. in the event of a fire, an office with IoT sensors can:
- Call the fire service
- Shut down elevators
- Take control of digital signage in the office
- Turn on video cameras to find workers and feed the images to the firemen on site
- And lock or unlock doors to direct traffic out of the building
However, Simpson cautioned about one major hurdle to afflict the IT revolution ever since it began mid last century – different technologies running on different protocols and programming languages often cannot talk to each other
But the good news is that this can now be accomplished using ‘modern network gateway technologies’
He concluded: “IoT is really no longer just about the data and the information you can pick up from sensors – it’s about transforming your business processes”