Internet of Things

The phenomenon of connected machines is sometimes called the Internet of Things, the Internet of Anything, the Internet of Everything, or M2M (machine to machine). But no matter what the name, the growth of technology related to objects, which never before were network- and computer-enabled, is projected to have far-reaching technological, societal, and economic impact.

The strongest examples of the impact of the Internet of Things are in the industrial sector. Embedded software, sensors, and network connectivity promises to improve the way factories, data centers, oil wells, and cities, airplanes, cars, and even homes are maintained because data can be collected continuously with alerts issues proactively to prevent failures and outages.

According to Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group, 50 billion devices will be connected by 2020, up from 2010's 12.5 billion. By 2020, data production will be 44 times greater than it was in 2009, and by 2020, more than one-third of the data produced will live in or pass through the cloud, according to Computer Sciences Corp.