Machines to talk to one another... and control your world

Every machine in your possession could soon communicate to one another, then relay the messages to you.

With the fizzling out of social media, which almost marks the end of the first evolution of the internet, the second phase is emerging under the internet of things (IoT).

“It seems strange to say, but we live in a very unconnected world today. While this statement might seem counter-intuitive, given the ever-increasing digital connectedness of our lives, most of the objects that we use on a daily basis are not connected — not to one another, not to us, and not to the internet,” says Sandeep Kishore, a corporate vice-president of HCL Technologies, a global engineering and research firm.

People are connected everywhere with their gadgets — there are smartphones, personal computers, and wearables (like watches and Google Glass), which are connected through the internet and link people to one another.

In the second phase of the evolution, objects, animals, and people will be provided with unique identifiers and the ability to automatically transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. The internet of things, which will ride on smartphone technology, marks a convergence of wireless technologies, micro-chips, and the internet.

The second internet evolution will be even more stunning than the first. Since 2008, more than 30 internet-based platforms have been introduced to our system, integrating our daily lives. They include Instagram, iPad, Foursquare, Kickstarter, Google Chrome, Apple Store, Twitter, and Groupon.

The world driving wanton consumption of the internet is that of the millenials, a term coined to describe individuals born in the 1980s and afterwards.

“In the workforce, millenials will be more than 50 per cent by 2020. Currently, the average person carries three or more devices,” said Intel’s Christian Morales in a recent presentation in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Brazen as the situation may seen, technology companies, governments, and industries are seeking more; they want us not only to be connected to our gadgets, but also to have our gadgets connected to one another so that everything is interconnected.

Picture this: You have a job interview in Westlands and you usually depart from Nairobi’s South C estate at a certain time. The company announces that it will delay the interview for two hours. You are asleep and not aware of the development.

Your smartphone captures the delay from the company’s website, then shares the information with every valuable item in your household. This includes your car, alarm clock and, perhaps, your watch.

Your car readjusts the time according to the Uhuru Highway-Westlands road traffic, then the alarm clock pushes in extra minutes before it wakes you up.

Once in the car, the audio system reminds you of the probable questions you might encounter during the interview, runs you through all the unread messages in your Outlook, and gives you the facial features of the traffic officers you may run into.

The interviewer will be informed of your arrival, the lapel of your jacket will survey the building, and Google Glass will give you directions to the interview room.

At home, the refrigerator will remind you that it is half empty and list the items to buy from the shopping mall.

This is the world we are heading to. According to global estimates, IoT will be a Sh634 trillion market by 2020.

To tap into the opportunistic market, global firms are channelling their resources by introducing new business divisions or buying out existing firms with similar agenda. For example, Microsoft recently looped into Azure Intelligent Systems Service (AISS), a new cloud platform that will allow users to capture and manage machine-generated data from sensors and devices.

Others like Texas Instruments, Zebra Technologies, and Jasper are pumping millions of dollars into the cause that will see everyone and everything connected.

Intel announced that it was co-funding a consortium for IoT with AT&T, Cisco, General Electric, and IBM.

The Industry Internet Consortium (IIC) will support open interoperability standards and common architecture for connecting legacy devices to the cloud and enabling end-to-end analytics.

Already, Intel is intent on re-architecting its cloud with computing solutions that will continue to be a major driver of the evolution of the data centre for emerging approaches to big data.

In Kenya, the firms that have rolled out cloud technology in anticipation of the new wave include Safaricom, in partnership with Seven Seas Technologies, Microsoft’s Temenos T24, and KDN-InfoConnect.

The world, according to unverified statistics, is home to 1.5 trillion “things”. Cisco, based in California, says 99 per cent of those “things” are not connected. IDC, a global research firm, predicts that 212 billion devices will be connected by 2020, which is approximately 20 items around you.

Unfortunately, with the rush to connect the world, tech firms have been accused of disregarding or showing little concern for the security and privacy of companies and individuals.

In a presentation dubbed “A Case Study in IoT Failure – IZON”, Zach Lanier, a senior security researcher at Duo Security, says the firm had found 19 vulnerable accesses that could be detrimental to the venture. These include unencrypted storage of customer data, information leakage, poor password security, and poor mobile security in a single IoT device.

This can cause road accidents on the highway, your house door may jam, or equipment that was once docile could prove fatal, or even kill you.

“The internet of things is different. We are embarking on an era where the things we own will be as vulnerable as our PCs, but now they interact with the real world via sensors and actuators. They have eyes and arms and some of them, in the not-too-distant future, will be able to climb the stairs and punch you in the face,” Jim Stogdill, head of O’Reilly’s Radar and Strata businesses, says.

Also, in terms of privacy, people will be exposed, as objects will collate tidbits of worthless information about you; your buying habits, what you eat, when you cheat, and your health problems.

Still, IoT is the biggest — and scariest — technological advancement in recent years.

The world should be ready to usher in a more connected era — where devices share intelligence with humans and can communicate with one another.