OK 2015, Now What?

Once again after a couple weeks off and the calendar odometer flipping another year, I'm sitting here with a blinking curser wondering what to write about. And the thing that pops into my head are Things. The Everythings. While 2014 was the hype year for the Internet of Things (IoT), according to many 2015 will be the year that IoT...and really the Internet of Everything, becomes mainstream. It is occurring this week at CES where tons of smart cars, smart kitchens, smart watches, smart televisions, smart wearables, smart appliances, smart healthcare devices, smart robots, smart belts and anything else that has a sensor, a chip and is connected to the internet will be on display. I wonder if terms like smart aleck and smarty pants might soon be in vogue.

While the Hover skateboard originally slated for 2015 is still in the works, there is a massive amount of info related to Things and how they are going to change society, change how we live and change us, as people.

Business Insider has a fascinating slide deck showing the most important ways the Internet of Everything market will develop, the benefits newly connected devices will offer consumers and businesses, and the potential barriers that could inhibit growth. IoT will be the largest device market, by far, and will soon be larger than the PC, tablet, and smartphone markets combined. The software to run IoT along with systems to make sense of all that data will be huge. Areas like enhanced customer service and improved use of field assets have already been realized by early adaptors. Moving forward, new business models will blossom and services will become more important than simple products. How they all work together will be key.

IoT is not without it's challenges. Threats to data security, physical security, the security of devices, regulations, privacy, encryption, authentication and a host of other issues all need to be addressed before this can really take off. Anyone remember the Cloud a couple years ago? Themes are the same. While consumer devices seem to be the focus today, businesses will benefit with greater operational efficiency along with helping them manage plants, property and equipment.

Trend Micro also has a good IoE 101 article with 5 easy steps to explain IoT and IoE to folks. Over on LinkedIn, Jeremy Geelan has put together a great list of the many various, although not exhaustive, IoT events for 2015. He's revised it once already and just might again as more arrive. Over on Computer Business Review, they have their Top 6 Wearable Predictions for 2015 and Gartner is predicting that by 2017, 30% of the wearables will be invisible to the human eye.

No matter what, all these things will need a robust, scalable and intelligent infrastructure to handle the massive traffic growth. If you thought our mobile phones & tablets generated a lot of traffic, our Things will be a multitude of what mobile contributed. Get ready now...