Where are we headed with the Internet of Things (IoT)?

Last week’s terrace talks covered one of the fastest growing areas in tech, Internet of Things (IoT), a term which was first coined in 1999. Nihal Kashinath, the founder of IoT Bangalore group, spoke on the impact and the scope of IoT in India and how it is shaping the world.

Nihal gave us a 101 on IoT. IoT is such a broad term. It is mostly associated with the future way of living, something you see in sci-fi movies. But IoT is not just about making our lives easier or future ready. It also helps businesses make smarter decisions and thereby more profits. We were surprised to hear about the life saving solutions that IoT can build.

Today, about 7 billion devices are connected in the IoT sphere. It is expected to grow to 50 billion devices by 2020 and capture a market worth $19 trillion. Tech giants are embarking into the world of IoT. One of the examples is Google purchasing Nest, one of early innovators in the field of Internet of things.

IoT is present in all aspects of our day to day life. Be it household tech like Amazon Dash button, or making way into our kitchens like wifi enabled crockpots to life saving equipments like Lively. It’s amazing how small devices with just sensors and communication radios can make your life so much easier.

I digress, but here’s a brilliant story of a father who hacked Amazon Dash to track his baby’s data.

IoT development and usage, in Nihal’s opinion, is limited due to these factors –

• Lack of sustainable energy
  • Power sources need to have higher capacity, so that they can be used on a longer basis before recharging.
  • Battery packs and power sources need to be as small as possible with maximum capacity
• Network connectivity
  • Wifi, bluetooth and cellular network are primary connectivity modules used today.
  • These networks are huge battery hogs. Therefore new connectivity tech is surfacing today.
• Security challenges
  • Since IoT affects every aspect of our lives, it’s very important that it remains secure from hackers and breaches.
  • Any intrusion and malicious activity can lead to our privacy and sensitive data being compromised.

Nihal wrapped up the talk with a small discussion on how one can be a part of the IoT community in India. IoT Bangalore hosts a bunch of community projects, meetups and workshops to actively promote Internet of things. These events are perfect for anyone who wants to jump start with IoT.

Nihal’s talk was a wonderful way to reacquaint with the magic of technology and how it will soon be taking over and helping us in even the most mundane aspects.

Terrace Talks is an opportunity for us to meet and learn from some of our peers. It’s an informal session where we pick someone’s brains, learn from their experience and have a productive chat. If you’d like to be a part of the next session, please join our Meetup group.