COLUMN talking point
We are your network
Now that the age of the Internet of Things is upon us , network design will become your primary source of value . Justin Martin-Lawrence of Habitech looks at the factors at work .
There are four certainties in life : death , taxes , faster broadband and larger Internet . It ’ s inevitable that the Internet will become ever more meaningful to the lives of billions , because everyone , save the most ardent cave dwelling luddite , is addicted to its goodies . Alongside ‘ raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens ’, today ’ s Maria Von Trapp would no doubt be adding Google , Facebook , the iPhone7 and Spotify to her favourite things .
I ’ m picturing Matt Damon being hammered into his Cryo-suit in the film ‘ Elysium ’, the sentient component of a vast network connected machine , part man , part robot , dependent on the grid for his superhuman powers . In the same way , your customer will come to rely on an all-pervasive Internet of Things ( IoT ). Installers ignore this at your peril : you will be called upon to engineer insurance against data saturation by integrating faster more reliable access to the Internet in every home and business .
The bounteous potential of IPv6
Out there , an enabling IoT network infrastructure is sliding inexorably into place . The Internet ’ s next generation IPv6 protocol is geared to boost spectacularly the number of unique IP addresses necessary to communicate over the Internet from 4.3 billion ( IPv4 ) to around 340 trillion , trillion , trillion . This is a very big number indeed , big enough says Google to give everyone on Earth their own list of billions of IP addresses and offer the IoT virtually infinite room to grow into the foreseeable future . Putting it in perspective , if IPv4 ’ s address space were the size of a golf ball , IPv6 ’ s would occupy a space equivalent to the size of the sun ! Such a mind bending leap in capacity will allow the IoT device cosmos of computers , phones , TVs , watches , fridges , cars , etc to talk to each other online at a machine-tomachine ( M2M ) level and also to permit the introduction of ever more innovative IoT functionality on a sensory level through the cloud .
Recently I came across an article in Wired magazine by technologist Daniel Burrus , which nails the true potential of the IoT . In it he says , ‘ The IoT really comes together with the connection of sensors and machines . That is to say , the real value that the IoT creates is at the intersection of gathering data and leveraging it .’ Giving the example of a ‘ smart ’ bridge in Minnesota , studded with sensors to monitor structural stress , he explains how the analysis of sensory
data through cloud based applications can be used to avoid catastrophe . Similarly the connection of sensors in smart pills and patches is turning the Internet into a lifeline - even your smartwatch Apps are helping you to avoid the risks of overexercise : I ’ ll use mine one day !
In industry , sensors are monitoring machines to guard against breakdown and in farming to monitor crops . Before too long billions of them will be turning entire cities ‘ smart ’ by boosting the efficiency of traffic schemes , energy use and refuse collection .
The ‘ Things ’ are everywhere
You don ’ t need special powers to see a vision of the future , use your eyes – it ’ s all around you . Through the roll out of smart home energy meters , smart TVs , phones , IP cameras and countless enabling Apps , the Internet is guiding our instincts and actions . And because it combines both amazing M2M and often life saving sensory potential , it will become ever more necessary to the quality of life we expect and demand . We ’ re all hooked , so for the health and quality of your business if nothing else , it ’ s about time you gained further proficiency in hooking it up in the homes and businesses of your customers .
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