IoTComplete

This Internet of Things (IoT)…Well, It’s Just Amazing!

IoTWorld + JAS + JP 5-2015

By www.IoTComplete.com’s Jimmy Schaeffler

(May 12, 2015, San Francisco, CA) –

San Francisco’s multi-storied Moscone Center West opened its doors, and primed its escalators, for hundreds of visibly charged techies May 12-13, for the 2d annual IoTWorld conference and exhibition located a few blocks south of Market Street (See, http://iotworldevent.com/main-conference-program/). The two photos at right and below help describe the author’s day in The City, one wearing his first set of Virtual Reality Eyewear, the other cajoling with a good friend and former college roommate of the author’s two sons.

Connected Mobility

These IoT World highlights include the author’s focus for the visit, which was as the conference chairman for another Iot-related event, scheduled for the Santa Clara Convention Center (SCCC), October 26-29, 2015, called Connected Mobility 2015: The Future of Transportation, where mostly car and truck vehicle-change is headed (See, www.connectedmobilityusa.com).

Thus, displays and sessions that featured eMobility (e.g., the future of transportation in the realm of energy and efficiency…think Tesla), as well as iMobility (think interconnectivity and the Internet…something much closer to IoT), were visited and tracked.

Key companies contacted in this “connected mobility” realm included Samsung, Honda, Bosch, Toshiba, Intel, Innova Uev, Epson/nGrain, Silicon Labs, Frontline, and the investment banker, Stifel Nicholas.

Opening General Session

Main IotWorld 2015 SFO event sponsors included IBM, Microsoft, Bosch, Dell and Intel.

The opening general session Tuesday, May 12, was specifically sponsored by Samsung, and featured several vendors with whom Samsung is now collaborating. Some highlights include:

• San Francisco City Chief Information Officer (CIO), Miguel Gamino, outlined the City By The Bay’s steps toward embracing the Internet of Things. This is important because municipalities typically own and control rights of way. This is true not just for auto and other vehicles, but also for things like electricity. Mr. Gamino mentioned an SFO city goal of offering Internet connectivity on every wall plate in every home within the San Francisco footprint. See slide below for guidance.
• Samsung’s CSO, Young Sohn, said that for his $200/year sized company, preceded by the personal computer, the Internet, and the Smart Phone, Samsung sees today as what it calls the “Internet of Things” era. Via Samsung’s newly-introduced Artik platform, Samsung described optimizing the Internet of Things to help people make better use of information to save and make more money, and to make things we do and items we use safer and more efficient. Specific IoT global challenges included a) shifting demographics (e.g., an aging population in countries like Japan; b) urbanization (e.g., with projections that very soon half the world’s population will reside in urban locales), and c) the “obvious” effects of climate change.
• Other Samsung-affiliated companies introduced as core to the Samsung IoT commitment were Boogio, Massimo Banzi, Temboo, and Weenat.

Exhibits, Including Epson and NGrain

Once on the Exhibit floor, I was introduced to my first serious demonstration of virtual reality eyewear, this time in the form of glasses with picture-in-screen for use in technical learning, developed by a company called NGrain (which is a partner of Epson). See, http://www.ngrain.com/.The eyewear and the demo were impressive, and it is hard to see how such a device cannot be effective being involved in quite a few business and educational environments. See the photos below, for exhibits of both this eyewear device and a close family friend who also attended the IotWorld event on behalf of his San Francisco-based new tech company.

Indeed, the more I see…the more I like: This Internet of Things (IoT) stuff, well, it’s just amazing!

Can IoT Play A Role In Radio- and TV-Related Devices, Usage, Spectrum, and The Like?

By IoTComplete’s Jimmy Schaeffler

(March 2, 2015; Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA)

For the past several decades, TV has been the center of my professional life. Specifically, as it relates to IoTComplete.com’s sister company, The Carmel Group (www.carmelgroup.com), it got its start 20 years ago assisting companies that wished to transition from a broadcast and cable world, to that including a satellite-telco pay TV video component. Today The Carmel Group’s transition includes a “new media” world (e.g., a new video world of broadband, streaming media, and Over-The-Top (OTT) content opportunities).

The Carmel Group’s IoTComplete.com is today reaching out to all forms of spectrum-based technology – including audio and video providers – to assist them in their transition to a world where embedded sensors in and on devices, measure and transmit data for analysis, reporting, and other uses, to a computer server that can serve that processing and calculation chore globally. The goal is to improve audio- and video-related efficiencies, pricing, revenues, and safety.

Telecom Play

This begs the question: Just what is the opportunity of the Internet of Things to become involved in tomorrow’s worlds of audio and video and data distribution? Actually, the answer is simple: The opportunity is…and I’m trying to avoid hyperbole here…substantial.

Which begs the next question: Why?

IoT + Video Events

Yet before tackling that question of Why IoT and Audio/Video have a future life together, readers are notified that the author will be conducting two events in the months ahead that will deal with this topic and question, and give them a chance to observe it firsthand.

First on the calendar for Tax Day, Wednesday, April 15, 2015, at the National Association of Broadcasters’ NAB 2015 Show in Las Vegas, Room S-222, is a Super Session entitled “Broadband and The Internet of Things: Realities and Myths.” Joining Mr. Schaeffler on stage as a panelist and commentator will be former Republican FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, Esq. Other panelists include XG Technology CEO, George Schmitt; Google’s Director of Smart Connected Vehicles, Andreas Mai; and Paul Donahue, Chairman of the Southern CA-based tech firm, MelRok, and co-founder of HD Radio. MelRock is a provider of a patented Universal Internet of Things platform for energy and media. The website link that describes this NAB 2015 event in deeper detail is http://nab15.mapyourshow.com/6_0/sessions/session-details.cfm?ScheduleID=141.

The second event dealing with the Internet of Things is the national cable show, rebranded in 2015 as INTX 2015, in Chicago, IL, May 5-7. The author is helping NCTA bring a super-connected IoT vehicle to the INTX Exhibition floor for display all days of the show, and a general keynote to the company that brings that vehicle (Note: if there is a vehicle company that has impressive eMobility and/or iMobility vehicle displays, and would like to entertain a general session keynote address at INTX 2015, please contact me at the email in the Contacts + Feedback page of the www.IoTComplete.com website).

IoT and the FCC

The Internet of Things also ties in nicely with the growth and developments in and expansion of broadband across the world, and especially across rural America. Deemed a basic right by many, a robust and reliable Internet connection, by landline, wireless, or even satellite, has grown fundamentally important to a decent quality of life in our country today.

Once that connection is established, basic data delivery is important for Internet of Things purposes, such as that sensor tacked on to the inside of a farm fuel tank, telling the petroleum supplier automatically, daily, and without human effort, when a truck should roll to refuel that tank and keep that farm running. As opposed to sending a worker out in to minus degree weather to manually check that measurement, the IoT does it cheaper, it is more efficient, and it is safer. As more concern arises about the security and safety of everything, the connection might well be used to send a live audio, but increasingly a live video, of the contents of that tank….which is on tiny among many such examples of where data, audio, and video will collaborate with the Internet of Things!

It is the job main of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to help the United States make best use of the spectrum that is required for these purposes. Spectrum management is in its early stages today as it relates to the Internet of Things. Along the line, themes of localism, diversity, and competition prevail among many FCC employees.

McDowell + IoT

Former FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell, Esq. is a partner with the law firm of Wiley Rein in Washington, DC. At a Satellite Broadcasting & Communications Assn. Leadership Luncheon organized and moderated by the author during the 2015 CES in Las Vegas, one question bore down on the idea of the Internet of Things and the future of video distribution. Mr. McDowell opined that with IoT uses such as movies we will watch via devices implanted inside our eyeballs 1) there will be privacy concerns, 2) totalitarian regimes will hate it, and 3) consumers will be greatly inspired by it. Using the ultimate metaphor, McDowell likened the Internet to Things to “…something like fire (For the good and bad)…it can warm you and cook your food, but also it can burn down your teepee.” It will also be fascinating to see how the current FCC folks intermingle that localism, diversity, and competition with the Internet of Things.

Want More?

As noted above, between now and June, two additional events will tackle the idea of video providers learning how to use this new “fire,” called the Internet of Things. We’ll see you at NAB 2015 in Las Vegas April 15, then we’ll see you at INTX 2015 in Chicago May 5-7.

A Sampling of Some Big and Small Participants In The Internet of Things

(February 9, 2015; Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA)

by IoTComplete’s Jimmy Schaeffler

The Internet of Things (IoT) has created a lot of interest from some quite important people and companies. These range from the tiniest single entrepreneur, to the hugest and biggest companies of them all, e.g., those such as Cisco and Apple. From that pool, IoTComplete here offers up an eclectic, yet fairly representative, grouping below of various IoT players, intended to get our IoT reader newcomers a bit more comfortable with who’s in and who’s doing what.

Sample Silos

A handful of industry types jump to the forefront when one begins describing groups and types of businesses that have or will naturally gravitate toward early and eager implementation of the Internet of Things. Note that the following listing is far from complete, nor is it intended to be so. Rather, it is just a great sampling of some great IoT industry sub-sectors, all of which are expected to lead the way toward IoT becoming significantly more efficient, cost-effective, and valuable to human beings and their endeavors.

These “IoT Stakeholders,” let’s call them, include 1) the Smart Home, 2) Vehicles, 3) Health, 4) Industrial, and 5) Cities.

• Smart Home: Within the Smart Home of The Future (which in many aspects is already here), lights; heating and cooling; movement in, out, and around the home (also known as security and privacy), in the form of cameras, floor sensors, and motion detectors; and audio and video delivery and creation, are part of the everyday future of tomorrow. Key companies include Google/Nest, AT&T, Arris, Charter, Cisco, Apple, LG, Samsung, GE, Kwikset, and Magnavox.
• Vehicles: Also known as “Telematics,” the Internet of Things in today’s and tomorrow’s moving cycles and bikes, trucks of all sizes, and every available automobile (from built in IoT functionality, to that added to existing vehicles in the aftermarket phase), is being embraced as eMobility (focused on energy and efficiency and electrical sues) and iMobility (focused on inter-connectivity and how the Internet is so critical to the future of transportation) more and more rule the day. Key entities involved include governments and the big auto manufacturers/Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) — such as Arynga, Jaguar/Landrover, GM, BMW, Nissan, Kia, and Audi/VW — and other random suppliers, such as Expedia, Baron, Inrix, IBM, and Panasonic.
• Health: Wristwatch-like arms bands that measure human vital signs and other information is one of the most obvious and earlier examples in this field of IoT at work. These appendage-related devices typically collect data, such as temperature, or heart rates, and convey that to other devices wirelessly, which in turn can offer results and suggestions toward more efficient, perhaps cheaper, perhaps safer, and almost always more valuable practices and lifestyles. Many other examples come from imaging,  records and data collection, surgery, and daily in-hospital patient care. Entities in this realm include Apple, GE, Cisco, and Intel.
• Industrial: This is a pivotal area, where really big IoT applications will come in. Thus, be it a power station that in an IoT simulates and prepares for the obvious electrical grid failure (and thus limits the ultimate effect and cost of the real failure), or a monitoring device on a farm that automatically measures how quickly a tank depletes, and then automatically conveys that depletion to the liquid supplier, there is great common sense and wisdom and practicality supporting IoT here. Examples of entities forcing the change here include GE, Bosch, Cisco, Ericsson, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, and Qualcomm.
• Cities: Metropolises make up yet another huge set of current future IoT users and providers. Traffic and utilities are but a couple of the obvious IoT makers and shakers. The safety, efficiency, cost-efficiency, and day-to-day management of large fleets of town and city fleet vehicles is but another. Indeed, if the entire future of IoT involved only towns and cities, that alone would be a future business worth trillions of dollars! Current stalwarts among this group include most large cities, some remarkably innovative smaller cities (See, www.intelligentcommunity.org), and companies such as Xerox, GE, Intel, Philips, Cisco, and IBM.

Future www.IoTComplete.com articles will zero in on each of these particular silos, and sets of specific industry players, with a wider and often more-detailed view of trends, opportunities, challenges, gaps, balances, and takeaways. Stay on top of IoT developments, changes, and openings, both personally and professionally, by turning to the www.IoTComplete.com website regularly for additional articles, news, information and coverage of events, consulting opportunities, litigation matters, conference speaking and sponsorship, and a lot more of the Internet of Things!

by IoTComplete’s Jimmy Schaeffler

Developing a viable Internet of Things, like just about every technology that preceded it, is not going to be an easy task. Challenging it from the outset will be a series of questions, concerns, and obstacles, some of the key of which are noted here below

1. Who controls IoT’s “Big Data”? 
2. Will The IoT Infrastructure Be Adequate?
3. Will There Be A Lack of IoT Standards?
4. How Will We Create/Maintain IoT Data Quality?
5. How Can We Maintain Adequate + Timely IoT Business Integration?
6. How Do We Manage Government Policy and Regulations re: IoT?
7. How Will We Create/Engender Best IoT Uses and Practices (.e.g., Relevant and Place/Geo Sensitive)?
8. When Will The Business and Consumer Communities Be Ready For Primetime IoT?
9. Which Companies Will Dominate IoT?
10. Is The IoT Right For You, Is It Right For Your Company?

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