Internet of Things: bigger than your average smart TV

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been one of the most prominent IT buzz words of 2015. Whether you are talking about thermostats you can set before you get home, beacons wirelessly suggesting items to buy in your high street clothing store or wearable gadgets like the Apple Watch, IoT is more than just hype. It’s here to stay if consumers have anything to say about it.
However, there is a lot more to IoT than first meets the eye; it is much deeper and has the potential to affect much more than our lives on a personal level. In fact, Gartner has predicted that over 25 billion ‘things’ will be connected by 2020, and this is not just limited to our wearables and smart fridges; this includes connectivity on a bigger level, by linking whole cities, improving sustainability of fuels, and making workplaces ever more productive.
One example of how IoT is developing on a bigger scale comes from our partner, Cisco, in iland’s birthplace of Houston, Texas. Cisco worked with Houston Methodist Hospital to improve communications and patient care using IoT and wireless technologies. Using the Cisco platform, Houston Methodist was able to wirelessly connect over 300 users and 600 devices to speed up and create efficiencies in communicating and reacting to patient care.