Since two weeks, KPN (the Dutch telecom company) is offering a nationwide network to link your devices to the Internet of Things. From this moment, the Internet of Things will greater it’s impact on the Dutch society and the economy. But what is the Internet of Things?
IoT refers to all devices which can be connected to the world-wide web. Obvious examples are smartphones, laptops and televisions, but it also possible to link your coffee machine, washing machine or a jet engine to the internet.
Analysts predict that in 2020 there will be between 26 billion devices connected with each other (forbes.com,2017). All these connected devices will lead to a new world of possibilities.
The connected devices will make our life much easier and more automatic: When your car has access to your agenda and automatically calculates the route to your next appointment and can notify the other party that you’re late when the traffic is heavy. Furthermore, your coffee machine can notify that your alarm is set at 06:30 a.m. and makes coffee for you at that time. These kinds of features increase safety (since you don’t have to text in the car that you’re late) and saves time. The coffee machine can present you a cup of coffee in the morning due to your alarm and is able to order new cups online when it knows that it’s running out of cups. Beside these ‘personal’ profit, IoT will also increase maintenance processes for companies since a connected jet engine can notify that parts break down and can notify the maintenance engineer. Cars can make maintenance appointments in the future at the car dealer. IoT combined with Big Data Analyses will show what the weak spots of a jet engine or a car are, so the manufacturer can improve these parts of the specific machine.
We are still at the beginning of an automated society and there will be much more innovations based on the Internet of Things. I’m really curious what the future will bring us!
