Can the 'Internet of Things' live up to its hype?

Alan Murray recently shared in this space his enthusiasm for a technology revolution known as the Internet of Things. He, like others, clearly detects the smell of money in the air, and he cited a recent 186-page report by Tata Consulting Services to validate that there’s a really big business development afoot. Tata found, for example, 26 companies that will spend at least $1 billion this year on initiatives related to the trend.Something big certainly is going on, and I’m particularly intrigued by the proliferation of more powerful and less expensive sensors for all sorts of applications that weren’t possible just a few years ago.