 "The third platform")
Not too long ago, in a bygone era now retrospectively dubbed the 'first platform', machines ruled the IT world. Largely invisible to the public, computers churned away in back-offices of commercial enterprises or government establishments, handling daily transactions and number crunching to produce reports, all served by IT programmers and operators.
The advent of personal computers, and internet heralded the era of 'second platform', putting a human face on all things digital. And now with the advent of social media, anyone can fire off a rapid succession of messages on a variety of devices, and upload a stack of images, which potentially the whole world can view. That has created a lot more interaction, along with a lot more information, defined by social interaction, mobility, cloud, big data, and, of course, the next label in line, the 'third platform'. To add to that, a whole range of other, smaller, but intelligent machines have joined the conversation and have been making their voices heard.
Devices joining the conversation
We live in a world where billions of connected devices, from smart cards to intelligent packaging, generate huge amount of data. Consider this: By the time your friend has posted on social media that she has just bought a wide-screen TV at the electronics store, the rewards card that she used to pay for the device has already sent that information to the central system along with the four other items in their shopping card that she didn't tell you.
In an another scenario, by the time that you have received a text message that your package is about to arrive at your office, en- route the GPS tracking system on the truck, has already sent a thousand messages to the logistics centre, which is now busy calculating the most efficient route for the next 10 deliveries. These machine-to-machine (M2M) conversations have primarily served as a means to reduce cost and improve operational efficiency. To add to the list of terminologies, the term Internet of Things (IoT) has been introduced by industry analysts in acknowledgement of the next level of machine engagement with its environment.
Clear path to business value
As machine data blends with human data, organisations are looking for innovative ways to harness ever-increasing amounts of data and use it to drive smarter decisions, enable new services and business models and reduce costs.
For example, when fire sensors in a warehouse detect an alarm situation, the intelligent IoT device can trigger the water sprinkler, take a snapshot from the security camera and send an emergency message to local fire station and warehouse manager, pass along security access information via a mobile device in addition to recording the alarm data for analysis. This ability to correlate high-velocity data generated by millions of devices from multiple types of sensors has earned the term 'fast data'. With billions of internet-connected devices generating big data and fast data, the business opportunities opened up by the device-to-data centre world are the next big thing.
Common language from the edge to the data centre
The key to gaining real business value from M2M services, or more broadly IoT, is effective communication among all elements of the IT architecture. This requires an integration platform that acts as a bridge to manage data between the edge devices or things (machine-centric or human-centric) and enterprise applications in the data centre. Major players in the IoT Industry, including Oracle, have joined hands to evolve a common platform called OneM2M. Oracle Java embedded technologies are a key part of this platform and it helps bring intelligence to a wide range of connected devices. While devices talk in their own language and are often only understood by their peers, the Java platform offers the possibility of a more standard, low cost, flexible language for IoT devices.
Real business benefits
Smart meters installed by utility companies help consumers get real-time information on energy use and give them the ability to manage their energy consumption, save money and reduce emissions. Telemedicine, powered by intelligent monitoring systems, enables remote patient monitoring and facilitates tracking of patient vital signs from their home, such as blood pressure levels, and blood-sugar levels. This 24/7 monitoring allows people to remain in their own homes without hospital visits, giving them greater independence as well as reducing costs while at the same time allowing for faster emergency response to sudden medical emergencies.
Gartner estimates the total economic value from the Internet of Things across industries will reach $1.9 trillion worldwide in 2020. Incredible advances in devices, sensors and M2M connectivity represents an unprecedented opportunity and the time is now ripe for businesses to invest in the right technology to make it happen.
Shailender Kumar
Managing Director, Oracle India
