The Power of IoT: A new “Systems Approach”

Internet of Things (IoT) is much more than the verbiage describing the interconnectivity of many “smart” sensors and devices. IoT’s advocates argue that its real power of IoT, and its value, derives from the fact that it allows all those “end points” to seamlessly communicate together, enabling improved intelligence and bringing simplicity to services in everyday life. From mobile payments to smart home technology, IoT applications can enable new and faster communications that can revolutionize the ways we live and interact with our world.

By 2021 a growing number of research organizations and international agencies (such as ISO and ITU) expect that connected “things” will outnumber humans by 5:1, with an estimated 40 to 50 billion connected devices “turned on”. Much like the mobile-communications revolution, this IoT revolution now presents an in-credible opportunity for companies – but only those who are prepared for it. Those companies are geared up to deliver significant, enduring, and transformational business impact, and provide additional value to their customers.

Building real IoT solutions that solve real problems – that is easier said than done. To assess the real situation, on the ground, let’s first identify what companies across a variety of industries see as the “big problems” that IoT can solve, thereby creating opportunities for deployments which benefit actual people. It’s on this basis that tangible products will be made and tested, resulting in (potentially) profitable business opportunities.

Companies large and small, head-quartered in countries across the globe, are concluding that cities are a superb practical point of focus – the place where IoT deployment should be focused. Why cities? For the past century, the global population has continued to shift from rural to urban areas; it’s now predicted by the United Nations that 64 percent of the developing world and 86 percent of the developed world will be urbanized by 2050.

San Francisco provides an ideal urban landscape and fertile ground for driving the IoT innovation discussion into real action. California’s Bay Area now hosts the headquarters of the largest number of Fortune 500 companies of any city in the United States. This rather small region is home to more than 200 leading start-ups which are focused on IoT. To encourage IoT solutions and business, the City of San Francisco’s government has been busy integrating a new telecommunications network throughout the downtown core that enables faster connections, requiring less data usage for connected devices.

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