Inevitable. Inextricable. Imminent.

Greeting Netizens.  Since you are reading this blog, you obviously belong to the “Internet of Persons,” a growing global population of 2.5 billion of your fellow human beings.   But as sentient surfers, you are not alone.  Joining you on the internet is a far more vast and increasingly ubiquitous army of connected objects, of variously autonomous devices, in a word, of “Things.”  Billions and billions of them, forming the Internet of Things (IoT).

Look around your office, your home or your school.  The most obvious networked Things are your phone, tablet and computer.  Next you will encounter computer peripherals, home entertainment devices and increasingly, your car.  But don’t stop there.  Investments in smart energy bring your thermostat, HVAC, pool and spa heaters, electrical plugs and light switches, even individual light bulbs and sockets onto the IoT.  At clinics and hospitals and in homes, connected Things encompass diagnostic equipment, patient monitors, surgical and pharmacy robots, drip machines and other apparatuses of modern medicine.  The same goes for manufacturing, food production and processing, arts and entertainment, sports (think NASCAR cams and smart hockey pucks).  Ditto for practically every aspect of human endeavor.