Telecom Solutions - The Internet of Things

Many of us are familiar with the term “Internet of Things” but may not stretch the concept to understand how this will play a major part in the present and future world of telecommunications.

IoT – as it is abbreviated – is a term that has been around since 1999. As soon as “identifiers” – in the form of radio frequencies, barcodes and QR codes – became attached to objects, these objects could be traced, tracked and monitored. It is estimated that 26 billion devices will have some kind of embedded identifier by the year 2020. Up until recently, devices that could be identified were mainly collecting data, lots of data. What does this mean to a telecommunications company? As technology improves within the telecommunications industry with the massive deployment of fiber optic infrastructure and high speed broadband equipment, this data could be accessed faster allowing real time decision making. Time is money and customers demanded faster access to information, which forces constant upgrades to this telecom infrastructure. 

But, as with everything, things are changing. Where once the data was collected and decisions were made in a reactive mode, now data has been coupled with logic and patterns to make proactive decisions. Google recently acquired the Nest product line which, based on patterns of usage, will intuitively know when you come home and adjust the temperature of your house. Once all of our devices (doors, appliances, etc.) have been equipped with “identifiers”, you could walk into your home at the end of the day and your favorite music may come on, a fire lights in the fireplace and a glass of wine has been dispensed from your smart refrigerator.  It would be awesome if somehow these devices could have the children fed, bathed and put to bed but that’s another blog entry……

So, what is the industry doing to prepare for the continued onslaught of data? Just today, IBM and AT&T announced a partnership to develop products and services to address the growth of the Internet of Things. AT&T, one of the world’s largest telecommunications providers and IBM, a software services giant, both recognize that there is immense value in the data that can be gathered by “things”. This data is already being used by major utilities in the further development of the Smart Grid. As we stretch our imaginations to dream up what can be done in the not too distant future, there are already great minds out there putting these plans in place.

-Suzanne Beck

VP Business Development

Telecom Solutions - Telamon Corporation