Aftermath: IoT 2014

Year 2014 was year of IoT breakthrough. It’s undeniable: 2014 was the year when the electronics industry decidedly and collectively moved forward to push the Internet of Things (IoT).

“Internet of Things” got more push. The Internet is expanding into enterprise assets and consumer items such as cars and televisions. The concept of “Internet of Things” will evolve a step toward The Internet of Everything. Gartner identifies four basic usage models that are emerging: Manage, Monetize, Operate, Extend. The Internet of Things (IoT) will evolve into the Web of Things, increasing the coordination between things in the real world and their counterparts on the Web. The Industrial Internet of Things will be talked about. IoT takes advantage of mobile devices’ and sensors’ ability to observe and monitor their environments

It’s undeniable: 2014 was the year when the electronics industry decidedly and collectively moved forward to push the Internet of Things (IoT). Year 2014 took IoT term to mainstream media. For evidence, look no further than the myriad mergers and acquisitions among chip vendors, system companies, and software vendors this year — many in the IoT space: Google’s acquisition of Nest Labs, Samsung’s picking up SmartThings, Facebook buying Oculus and Intel acquiring Basis Science. They tie the common threads of IoT and wearables together, and an unstoppable market movement emerges.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is increasing the connectedness of people and things on a scale that once was unimaginable. Connected devices outnumber the world’s population by 1.5 to 1. The pace of IoT market adoption is accelerating. Many companies tried to get slice of that business opportunity. For evidence, look no further than the myriad mergers and acquisitions among chip vendors, system companies, and software vendors this year — many in the IoT space. Beyond the usual reasons for consolidation (economy of scale, eliminating competition, expanding revenue), many companies scrambled to make deals specifically to get IoT technologies and products that were missing from their portfolios. Google’s acquisition of Nest Labs in January 2014 started the year, Samsung’s picking up SmartThings, Facebook buying Oculus (VR company), and Intel acquiring Basis Science (smartwatch startup). Those tied the common threads of IoT and wearables together. And many other chip vendors and sensor algorithm companies also jumped on the IoT bandwagon. Sensors, MCUs, and wireless connectivity are three obvious building blocks for IoT end-node devices, and security is also becoming important.

Internet of Things deployment in the enterprise has increased 333% since 2012. Nearly 65% of its survey respondents have deployed IoT technologies in the enterprise in 2014, compared to only 15% in 2012.  At the same time 36% of IT managers and CIOs were still unfamiliar with the term “Internet of Things.

Car of the future is M2M-ready and has Ethernet. Many manufacturers taking an additional step to develop vehicle connectivity. One such example is the European Commission’s emergency eCall system, which is on target for installation in every new car by 2015.

Connected car concept  really took off:Increasingly, Connected Cars (and especially electric cars) are taking advantage of the rise of smartphones, and apps are available to interact with the car from any distance: Users can unlock their cars, check the status of batteries on electric cars, find the location of the car, or remotely activate the climate control system.

On January 6, 2014, Google announced the formation of the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA) a global alliance of technology and auto industry leaders committed to bringing the Android platform to cars starting in 2014. The OAA includes Audi, GM, Google, Honda, Hyundai and Nvidia. Android Auto was announced on June 25, 2014.

Smart Home Systems Are on the Rise article tells that most automated technology is found in commercial buildings that feature automated lighting that changes in intensity depending on the amount of sunlight present. Some of these buildings have WiFi incorporated into their lighting systems. There will be new and affordable technology on the market, but people today are still reluctant to bring automation to their homes.

Think home automation is just for the über geeky? It’s going seriously mainstream. CES 2014 was full of smart home and IoT. Google made a big investment in smart home, spending $3.2 billion dollars to buy Nest Labs, the company behind some of the highest profile home automation/IoT products now available. At CES, meanwhile, Samsung announced its Smart Home initiative, which will give you control over TVs and appliances from your Galaxy smartphone. Hubs that control everything around the house, which you access via your always-present phone or tablet, are readily available for the tech-savvy homeowner.

Many other chip vendors and sensor algorithm companies jumped on the IoT bandwagon, in hopes of laying the groundwork for more useful and cost-effective IoT devices. Sensors, MCUs, and wireless connectivity are three obvious building blocks for IoT end-node devices. IoT controllers seen at Electronica 2014:

  1. NXP Semiconductor
  2. Cypress Semiconductor
  3. Atmel
  4. Freescale Semiconductor
  5. Semtec
  6. Neocortec
  7. Microchip

 

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