2016 International Conference on Intelligent Control Power and Instrumentation (ICICPI)
Review and Study of Internet of Things: Its the Future
Sanjeevani Bhardwaj
College of Information Studies, University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland, USA
sanjeevani2491@gmail.com
Abstract - Internet of things represents a groundbreaking vision
of technological, economic and social significance. This paper is
designed to help technology enthusiasts navigate the dialogue
surrounding the same, be well versed in IoT and understand its
potential to change everything we know to be true today.
In this new era of technology, Internet of Things (IoT) has the
true potential to make computing ubiquitous a concept
introduced by Mark Weiser in early 1990s. Machine to machine,
computer to objects, environment to computers, intelligent systems
The internet of everything, is where the potential seems to be
endless. IoT can be seen as a universal global neural network of
connected things in the cloud where smart machines interact and
communicate with other machines, objects, infrastructure and the
environment. As a result of which, exponential amount of data is
generated and processed into actions that has the ability to
command and control things making our everyday life much easier.
This paper concludes with a discussion around social and
commercial issues likely to surface when Internet of Things
becomes a household reality.
Keywords Internet of things; Cisco Internet Business Solutions
Group; Radio frequency identification; If-This-Then-That; Enterprise
Resource Planning; Customer Relationship Management;
Technology Stack; Internet Protocol Version 6; Software-defined
networking
I. INTRODUCTION
We are in the new era of computing technology that many are
calling Internet of Things (IoT). Call it what you want, but its
happening, and the potential is huge [1]. The Cisco Internet
Business Solutions Group (IBSG) says, IoT is a point in time
when more objects will be connected to the Internet than people
[2]. The term Internet of Things got popular by the work of the
Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), which in 1999 started to design and promote the idea of a
cross-company Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
infrastructure.
In 2003, there were approximately 6.3 billion people on Earth
and 500 million devices connected to the Internet. Divide the
number of connected devices by the world population, we find
that there was less than one (0.08) device for every person. Cisco
IBSG estimates IoT was born sometime between 2008 and
2009 (Fig. 1). Today, IoT is on the cusp of exponential growth.
Looking to the future, Cisco Internet Business Solutions Group
(IBSG) predicts there will be 25 billion devices connected to the
Internet by 2015 and 50 billion by 2020 [2]. Fundamentally, the
978-1-5090-2638-8/16/$31.002016 IEEE
Alok Kole
Dept. of EE, RCC Institute of Information Technology
Kolkata, India
alokkole123@yahoo.co.in
society cares about IoT because it will inherently transform the
way people, companies and institutions are going to interact with
the objects surrounding them in their personal, social and
economic lives. Even if we consider the above projections
modestly, IoT applications will represent a fundamental shift in
how humans engage with and are influenced by the same, raising
new issues and dimensions of challenges in society, economy,
technology, policy and law.
We have established that the Internet of Things represents a
very broad set of complexes concepts coupled with different
perspectives. The key concepts that serve as a foundation of what
IoT entails include the definition on IoT, connectivity models,
enabling technologies, potential, security, privacy, interoperability,
legal, emerging economy and development issues.
Fig. 1. Internet of Things Was Born Between 2008 & 2009
Connected products offer exciting opportunities for new
functionality, very high reliability, a much higher product
utilization, and capabilities that cut across and transcend traditional
product boundaries. This new nature of applications has also
started to disrupt the value chain system, increasingly forcing
major companies to rethink and revolutionize everything the do
internally [3]. The growth of IoT combined with new ideas around
product utilization is transforming the structure of the industry and
the nature of competition. As a result of which, companies are
navigating towards new and competitive opportunities as well as
bigger threats resulting in reshaping the industrial boundaries and
creating entirely new industries from ground up.
Many companies and industries are being increasingly forced
to think about the underlying question - What business am I in?
[3]. Answering this questions will ultimately raise a new set of
strategic choices related to how to leverage its value, how the
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 2016 International Conference on Intelligent Control Power and Instrumentation (ICICPI)
abundant new data can be utilized and managed to generate
meaningful insights and actions and the pivotal role industry
leaders play as the business boundaries are pushed out to a new
horizon.
In order to take the right foot forward and leverage the
capabilities of cloud computing with IoT, todays companies
have a big challenge ahead of them to fundamentally rethink
their orthodoxies around Value Creation and Value capture (Fig.
2) [4]. Value Creation refers to performing those activities that
increase the value of a companys offering and encourage the
customers willingness to pay/buy. This by the book definition is
the heart and soul of any business model [4].
Identifying enduring customer needs and manufacturing well-
engineered solutions were the pillars of creating value for
traditional product based companies. Comparing the world
market scenario, competition is largely a feature-versus-feature
warfare. Companies can now track those products, which are in
use makes. So, it becomes possible to respond to generic
customer behavior [4]. For example, products and services from
Nest thermostats [5] to Philips Hue Lightbulb [6] to If-This-
Then-That (IFTTT), bring the new ways of value creation with
IoT to light.
Fig. 2. Internet of Things requires a mindset shift
Albert Shum, [7] Partner Director of UX Design at
Microsoft, says, Business models are about creating experiences
of value. And with the IoT, you can really look at how the
customer looks at an experiencefrom when Im walking
through a store, buying a product, and using it and ultimately
figure out what more can I do with it and what service can renew
the experience and give it new life. Just like value creation,
empowering a company/industry with cloud computing generates
the idea around Value Capture, the monetization of customer
value [4].
Traditionally, value capture has been very simple. Set the
right price in order to maximize profits from product sales and
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you are all set. However, making money in this new era of
connected world is not just limited to product sales. Other revenue
streams increasingly become possible after the initial product sale,
including value-added services, subscriptions, and apps [4]. This
can easily exceed the initial price.
II. USES OF IOT
The internet is filled with numerous examples and real-life use-
cases of Internet of Things: To name a few - Smart Cities [8],
Home Automation, Automotive automatic monitoring and
software upgrades for vehicles, etc, Health care - Remote or Real-
Time monitoring of patients [9].
Connecting with your largest stakeholder customer is a
whole new way of doing business Different services and the
technology behind the services that help get into the hands of the
user has different meaning to everyone (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3. Different Services, Technologies and Meanings
This newfound power of real time communication with the
customer will have grand opportunities for companies ready to
exploit it. Networking giant Cisco predicts that IoT will present an
opportunity worth $14.4 trillion for industries worldwide within
the next 10 years [10]. This will also increase global corporate
profits by 21% [10]. The caveat is to build a safe and impenetrable
network, which can reduce energy consumption while
withstanding the demand. This engineering feat will definitely
require years of research and innovations.
III. REASONS FOR GROWTH
The underlying reason is - everything needed for Internet of
Things to work, is now in ready. Firstly, the biggest change in
business technology over the last few years has been the rise of the
smartphones. According to Gartner, in the year of 2013, around
1billion smartphones were sold around the world [11]. This was
the single reason that unleashed the power of Internet from
desktop to peoples hands.
 2016 International Conference on Intelligent Control Power and Instrumentation (ICICPI)

Secondly, cloud applications such as CRM, email etc. can V. USE CASE EXAMPLE AND CHALLENGES
now be accessed from any mobile device be it a phone or a tablet. Internet is flooded with news about new and upcoming startups
People can literally run their business from their phones now. based on IoT. Big players like Microsoft investing quite
Businessmen can now access the applications they need without substantially in the IoT business. At Microsoft Convergence
being restricted to a network or anything else for that matter [10]. 2015, Satya Nadela, its CEO laid the framework regarding IoT
The final push came with the adoption of social networks and across Windows and Azure that will provide a comprehensive IoT
communities as a way of receiving information, collaboration and offering to their customers and partners. This is one such example
ensuring that the right information flows to the right people [10]. where big industry leaders and companies are investing in IoT as
they understand its high potential.
IV. BUSINESS VALUE
Some of the primary issues in development and early adoption
Internet of Things is new wave in the Era of Internet, which is of IoT devices across the boards can be categorized into:
setting industries up for new heights and challenges. One of the interoperability, protocols, standards and conventions. Some
biggest challenges is and will continuously be to be able companies can see creating a proprietary ecosystem of compatible
understand their customers, how they use a certain product or IoT devices as a market advantage. On the other hands, it limits
services, which features are they using more or vice-versa, how the interoperability and promotes user lock-in to their particular
can a company provide them a better quality product and service. ecosystem.
This is a completely data driven approach [12]. The most
important change that works in favor of this approach is that
businesses will be collect and analyze this customer information
in real time in order to answer the questions listed above, without
the need for a human intervention to collect and enter it or the
data volume limits that this process usually entails. And that
means the product design and marketing strategies can be built on
a much more accurate and real time data.
The hard challenge behind the smart & connected products is
that companies need to build an entirely new technology
infrastructure, consisting of a series of layers known as a
Technology Stack (Fig. 4).
It is made up new hardware, embedded software, a cloud
including software running on remote servers, security tools, a
gateway for external information sources, connectivity and
integration with enterprise business systems and tools that
connects the data from smart, connected products to other
business systems (for instance - ERP and CRM systems) [3].
Any products mechanical and electrical parts with embossed
sensors, processors and connectivity ports/antenna is referred to
as Physical Components. To give an example - In a vehicle, these
include the engine, tires, and battery etc. Smart Components
consist of the sensors, microprocessors, data storage and
warehousing infrastructure, software, and an embedded
Operating System (OS) and an enhanced Graphical User
Interface (GUI). Connectivity Components refers to the Fig. 4. The New Technology Stack
connectivity-ports, antennae and protocols that enable
wired/wireless communication between product and the cloud. In Another major challenge is the integration of software-defined
order to understand it better, connectivity can be categorized into networking (SDN) with IoT. SDN can create the much needed
three types: One-to-One, One-to-Many and Many-to-Many. What paradigm shift by enabling a robust programmable wireless
connectivity does is it enables the idea of relaying of information network hosting an array of physical devices and applications [13].
between the product/object, the manufacturer, user and the cloud. Other factors like cost constraints and time-to-market can
Some features can now exist and can be controlled from factor into device operability and design. Considering a globally
outside the device, in what is now known as the Product Cloud competitive, there is a significant first-mover advantage. The
[3]. The product cloud consists of the top layer; also know as the companies also need to take into consideration the technical risks
Application Layer. Beneath that is the Algorithms and analytic of developing a new product, lack of standards and best practices
engine sitting on top of the platform. A big data warehouse and above all the risk of device behaving badly or not in the
system supports that platform managing the historical product expected way.
data. VI. CONCLUSION
Internet of Things promises a revolutionary and full-
interconnected world with relationships between objects,

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 2016 International Conference on Intelligent Control Power and Instrumentation (ICICPI)

environment, computers and people more tightly coupled than

ever. Endless opportunities are waiting for those who are ready to
explore the new territory and take on the challenges.
While IoT has the power to revolutionize the way we live
today, numerous challenges stand in the way of the vision
becoming a reality conventions, manufacturing, interoperability,
security and privacy and emergence of new economy. The need
of the hour is to device a way of managing and distributing the
abundant data/information to the right sources so that data can
quickly be converted into actionable insights.
With the next generation mobile evolution and growth of
devices with communicating capabilities, IoT will emerge as an
ideal and highly influential platform by providing real-time data
and computational power to support revolutionary new
applications.
With the right technology in place, a company will be very
much part of the after math of a product sale as it is before that
since the product will continue to provide insightful data
helping them understand and ultimately serve their customers
better. IoT definitely is the next evolution in the era of Internet
and it has the power to change the world and make it a better
place to live.

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