Internet of Things…
People today are always connected. Connected to computers, smartphones, tablets, and other products, fleets, infrastructures, markets, and people. The connection of everyday physical objects being connected to the internet and other devices is known as the Internet of things (IoT).
Through connecting to the internet, greater compute capabilities are integrated and with data analytics, meaningful information can be extracted. Soon, we will witness billions of devices connecting to the internet creating intelligent systems. These systems have started and will continue to transform our businesses, lives, and our world in various ways. By the end of this article, you will further understand what is the internet of things and why is it here to stay?
Is IoT here to stay?
As you might have already noticed, the physical world around us is becoming one big information system. While technology costs go down, and smartphones are more and more accessible to the mass. IoT has the perfect setup to be embedded with various industries and within the homes of many. It opens up many opportunities and connections to take place and we can start by educating ourselves on its impact.
A trending word nowadays is “Smart Cities” with countries in the Gulf like Qatar, UAE, and KSA already implementing smart cities, we can take that as an example to better understand IoT.
Governments have been devising long-term plans and visions over the past years. Examples of which are The Saudi National Transformation Program 2020 and the “2030 Vision”, Qatar National Vision for 2030, launched in October 2008 aiming at “transform Qatar into an advanced society capable of achieving sustainable development” by 2030…. On the other hand, the UAE, leaders in Smart Government Initiatives in the region has already transformed many of its emirates to smart ones (such as Smart Dubai), and has topped it with its latest announcement of Artificial Intelligence Strategy for 2031, along with a set of additional strategies and milestones for 2040, 2050, etc…
IoT and Smart Cities…
Bigger investments had to be made in the days to set up a smart home, unlike today. There has been a significant change in purchase concerning smart-home technology as more instruments reinforcing IoT are becoming more accessible to the general mass. IoT devices are bought off the shelf and connected accordingly to suit the specific need.
Simple examples of IoT in everyday use are the sensors embedded into almost every device like our cars, light bulbs, fridges, ovens, tea kettles, and so on. Traffic polls, pollutions polls, and video analysis, as examples of IoT on the road.
But how is IoT designed, built, and approved?
A secure and scalable IoT is guaranteed through a design and build IoT reference architecture. We can make sure that the devices are safely managed and protected while communication is based on encryption and authentication fundamentals.
Why does this matter?
When we integrate devices such as mobile phones, cards, sensors, and wearables we compromise in the data’s security as these devices fall under threat of being hacked and corrupted. Consequently, we abide by mutual authentication processes crucial to end-to-end security of IoT.
What about the data…
With the speedy advancement in IoT, new challenges are created within the content services industry. Data produced is growing and so is the demand for additional applications. As a company in the content management industry, Intalio is in charge of developing robust software to service such apps.
Intalio IoT enabled solutions for smart cities
Our content services platform uses data gathered from IoT enabled applications for smart cities (since we are using it as an example in this article) to provide a safer, smarter, and healthier community.
Consider an event, seminar, concert happening in your city. An IoT enabled solution could provide fast enrollment services to prevent long waiting queues, using bio-metric integration and recognition for Faces, Fingerprint, and Car Number Plates. Public buildings, parks, warehouses, and other venues, would all be equipped with safety based solutions controlling attendees, local and foreigners whether workers or tourists.
The data gathered from those connected devices and IoT enabled solutions are used to optimize their end-to-end information lifecycle management, using real-time analysis, decision-makers get actionable insights to help identify recurring trends enhancement or complex issues, all through Intalio analytics that provides powerful automatic analysis, exploitation, and functions for large volumes of content, formats and heterogeneous sources.
