The Internet of Things Everything: It’s Inevitable Prof. Thomas H Lee EngX, 4 Dec. 2014
Jul 07, 2015
The Internet of Things Everything: It’s Inevitable
Prof. Thomas H Lee EngX, 4 Dec. 2014
4 million cellphones are sold each day.
250,000 text messages are sent each second.
(ITU)
wired-wireless crossover: Dec 2001
We’ve Cut the Cord
There are now >6 billion mobile subscriptions.
• There were ~0 in 1981; 20 years later we became a mobile species.
2014: Wireless subscriptions will exceed the earth’s population of 7 billion.
Mobile Miracles
1st Age of Wireless: Station-to-Station
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o M
arco
ni, c
. 190
2
Killer app: Maritime comms.
• Famously enabled rescue of Titanic survivors in 1912.
Station-to-station mode limited to kiloscale.
2nd Age of Wireless: Station-to-People
Expensive transmitters, but cheap receivers. Enables megascale reach and beyond.
Advertising makes startups like NBC/CBS much more valuable than wireless telegraph companies.
iPod, v0.0
E. Howard Armstrong and Marion on honeymoon, Dec. 1923
(Columbia Univ.)
iPod, v0.0
3rd Age of Wireless: People-to-People
(Ass
ocia
ted
Pres
s)
Rapidly achieved gigascale connectivity. There are clouds on the horizon, however…
Tea Leaves Tell a Tale
Voice-data crossover occurred last year We are now a mobile digital species.
Voice
Data
Q2 2013
End of the 3rd Age of Wireless
The 3rd Age is Long in the Tooth
New-subscription revenues have plummeted, marking the end of a phase of wireless history.
Adding things to the conversation will take us to the terascale.
It’s not just an Internet of Things, it’s the Internet of Everything (IoE).
• People-to-people, people-to-things and things-to-things.
• Wireless and wired.
• Nets of nets/webs of webs.
The IoE is the 4th Age
To connect a trillion devices, we first need to design and fab them.
A trillion devices can’t all be battery-powered.
A trillion devices constitute a large “attack surface”.
Many Challenges
Automated design tools as a “workforce multiplier.”
Field-programmable things arrays (FPTAs) to reduce the number of different chips.
RF-powered modules to supplement energy harvesting.
Low-power configurable security engines.
Possible Solutions
No Batteries!
Univ. of Washin Thing 1 Thing 2
5G tower
iThing
To Configure and Control
To Access Content
To Monitor and Alert
To Interact
Examples of Uses for the IoE
Courtesy of Ayla Networks
Smartphones/phablets will be the remote control for your universe.
Healthcare Example
Nelvin C. Cepeda, Union-Tribune – March 30, 2009
Patient ingests sensor which beams data to phone, then over network.
Remote monitoring (and
even control) is extremely
compelling for healthcare.
West Wireless Medicine Institute launched in March 2009 to develop these
kinds of technologies.
Healthcare Example #2
Future smartphones will have sensor suites to monitor health and communicate results.
Star Trek “Tricorder” is a driving vision for many.
Qualcomm sponsoring $10M prize.
Massive data collects will inform in new and powerful ways, and present
compelling business opportunities.
Qualcomm
Why Carriers will Embrace the IoE
Many applications served by low data rates. • Example:
Home Automation Logic unit says, “I’ve closed the garage door, Dave.” “Open the garage door, HAL.” “I’m sorry, Dave, I can’t do that.”
Great value will come from network effects, but not all communications
will need to go through basestations. • IP-based platforms will dominate, but… • Point-to-point technologies (e.g., Bluetooth, NFC) will also be very
important.
Can the IoE Truly Get Big?
“It’s hard to make predictions, especially about the future.” – Mark Twain, Niels Bohr, Yogi Berra, etc.
• High correlation between certainty and foolishness in
predictions. Nevertheless…
How Big?
The worldwide semiconductor industry generated about $300B in revenues in 2013.
The diet and weight-loss industry is a $60B business in the U.S. alone.
IoE: Plenty of Visions and Work to Do
Extremetech
Qualcomm Cisco
“The future’s so bright,
I gotta wear shades.” -- Timbuk3