Integrating intelligent communications into every “thing”

The Internet of Things is moving from infancy to maturity and from limited implementation to large scale, enterprise-wide adoption. It is reaching a tipping point where ‘things’ need to incorporate intelligence and control as well as connectivity. The first generation of the Internet of Things was mostly built by retrofitting connectivity to previously un-connected devices or connecting purpose-built IoT devices to central systems through linear communication channels, says Alon Segal, SVP Software & Services, Telit. For example, initially, ‘Things’ like credit card readers were not connected. They were then connected via landline, then by Wi-Fi and finally by cellular. At each stage it was recognised that powerful centralised business and information systems could deliver more value by gaining more immediate access to the remote edge devices. Solution development was driven from the center to the devices at the edge.