On the road to the Internet of Things

Thomas Kiessling, chief product and innovation officer at Deutsche Telekom, explains how the internet of things will revolutionise our working and home lives

The Internet of Things is increasingly taking on more shape: connected vending machines, cars, smoke alarms, street lighting and parking spaces are just a few examples. For 2014, several trends are on the horizon, which will enhance our lives, at home and at work.

The most visible change will occur in the consumer market. In 2014, many companies that previously concentrated only on the B2B market will be moving towards a wider range of networked solutions for all areas of life. This underlying trend will see the market for consumer-facing applications gain fresh momentum. Alarm systems for the smart home, fitness armbands and wristwatches with an emergency call function will become more common as we embrace the Internet of Things.

The future will be shared

Another change in living and working is reflected in the growing culture of sharing. This applies to both digital goods and connected items and machines. Take a simple bicycle lock, for example. The main purpose of this item is to protect the bicycle from theft. With a connected bicycle lock, bicycle owners can allow their friends to unlock and ride the bicycle. Similar to car sharing, it is also possible to start a business that encourages the sharing of bicycles such as the Boris Bikes in London. The networking of objects is an important basis for sharing offers of this kind. For bicycle sharing, the users must know where to find available bicycles. GPS receivers and an app that shows all available bicycles on a map can assist with this.

Other new businesses are growing as the availability of smaller and lower cost sensors increases. As a result, more and more "smart" items are hitting the market to measure different parameters such as temperature, light and pressure in their surroundings and inform the user of changes.

Even a simple everyday item such as a table may soon be connected due to advances in sensor technology. Today, no one would consider integrating a piece of furniture in their smarthome landscape, if the necessary box has the size of a cigarette packet and costs up to £100. But it would be a different matter if the box were a 10p coin-sized device that cost only £1.

One connection - many opportunities

The question of which devices should be smart and which should not depends on the benefits in use. But, at the time the devices are connected, new opportunities for additional services will open up. Take the automotive sector, for example. The EU has ordered that by 2015 all new cars must be equipped with an emergency call (eCall) system. The technology behind eCall leads to a wide range of further opportunities – from entertainment systems and usage-based insurance to predictive maintenance.

Today a car produces about 10Gbit of data per hour. A year ago, analysing such large amounts of machine data was nearly impossible. Today we have the know-how and products with which we can manage the evaluation on a massive scale. The performance data and wear and tear of individual car components can be observed precisely, for example. Machine learning algorithms are already forecasting when the vehicle needs to be serviced and the evaluation of vehicle data shows manufacturers exactly which parts wear out fast, creating an entirely new basis for car development moving forward.

Connecting the web and the internet of things

In the next step we have to combine data from different sources. The destruction of data silos will generate entirely new services. Here is an important interface between the internet and the Internet of Things. It is not just a matter of connecting machine data. Combining it with data from the internet such as data from social media has especially great potential.

But the structure of the internet and especially of the Internet of Things is complex. By no means do all things that take part in it need to be rebuilt from scratch. All that is required in many areas is to upgrade the existing base. Old interfaces must be understood and served by appropriate modules. For that, cooperation with industry experts such as from the automotive sector or the vending industry is especially indispensable. The aim of developing appropriate solutions for each industry can only be realised along the value chain by means of partnerships that speed up networking and drive the market.

Thomas Kiessling is chief product and innovation officer at Deutsche Telekom