By now, we all know the basics of the Internet of Things (IoT). Everything will be connected to every other thing using the internet. The “things” that will be connected are embedded computing devices with special purpose programming for a single application (heart monitoring implants, biochip transponders on animals, smart thermostat systems etc.), systems and services. Connecting all these devices, services and systems will theoretically lead to a level of automation for a variety of fields that’s never been seen; healthcare, education, manufacturing, building operations, energy, security, etc.
So where is the value? Connecting or integrating devices generally has two benefits or value propositions. One value is integrating two or more systems to provide functionality that none of the systems or devices could provide individually. The other benefit is acquiring data from devices and analyzing or mining the data for developing and gathering information. This is essentially what many astute facility management groups are now doing; integrating building systems to provide more functionality and deploying analytic software applications to improve the performance of building systems.
