Isn't this the Internet of Things?

[DJackson]

Having spent the last few months dabbling with HA, it dawned on me that this is essentially the "Internet of Things" that's supposedly only just coming into existence.
I've written a much longer blog post about it at http://ukstartups.com/internet-of-things/
Would appreciate your thoughts.

Is Home Automation and IoT the same thing or is there a difference that I'm missing?

[PIR]

Is Home Automation and IoT the same thing or is there a difference that I'm missing?

The value of "the internet of things" lies in its interconnectedness. That is the value of a network grows exponentially with the number of other networks it connects to. If you substitute "networked device" for network and you see the analogy. Home automation systems as I understand them are closed or semi-closed systems akin to the carrier networks of companies like BT. And as they're based on proprietary technology they don't play well together.

Given that the "internet of things" will be driven to be open standards based by the power of the "law" I've tried to describe above controllers for these devices, or clusters of them will also be a device in the internet of things and be capable of controlling them via well defined apis. Having seen what open standards and open source has done for computing, networking and databases I'm excited by what lies ahead in the future. It will be far more powerful, flexible and manageable than the crude proprietary systems that are out there right now. It'll just need time to evolve and mature.

Also, the potential for these types of devices in the future is much more powerful than what probably any of us can imagine right now. I can foresee how these devices might self organize based on loose policies and determine optimal configurations and/or behaviours - kind of like how the nest thermostat learns but distributed learning across the entire house. That kind of technology is some way away I imagine but would take maximum advantage of the distributed architecture of the "internet of things".

BTW, do I spend any time thinking about this? No, because the internet of things is little more than a marketing term right now.

Regards,
David

[kemik]

The internet of things is all well good as a marketing/media spin on connected devices
However the challenges are always going to be compatibility/extensibility to allow multiple manufacturers products to seamlessly integrate. Plus the Wife and Kids (WAF) factor. You can spend a whole load of money and get all the latest and greatest but if it needs a techie to operate then its a #FAIL

I agree with comment 3 on your blog that Control4 have really good products here and now that address the WAF factor due to being able to control everything thats integrated from TV displays, standard form factor style remotes and of course iPad/Android tablet and phone apps.

[BertieBark]

I recently attended and IoT technology day and every speaker started with 'My opinion of what IoT is...." It's basically a buzz word at the moment until some sort of standard is introduced.

[hazymat]

It's basically a buzz word at the moment until some sort of standard is introduced.

I worked a brief stint at a tech marketing firm, before "the cloud" was a household phrase. It was just a buzzword back then. Truth is, it's still only a buzzword. But one that means something very specific to a lot of people, right?

It's a phrase that doesn't require standards to be introduced (and one that won't ever have a single 'de-facto' standard) because it's a 'genre' rather than a 'technology'.

Nothing wrong with that though, is there?

[BertieBark]

Well I'm not gonna knock they IoT phrase too much, as I am using it myself as a marketing buzzword. I do think that the general concept of IoT would be greatly enhanced by some sort of standards. I mean people will always want to do their own thing which is great and creates innovative new ideas, but some kind of baseline would be good. I'm wondering if Apple's HomeKit might lead things in that direction.

[DJackson]

The comparison with "cloud" was one I was going to make. I started what is now called a SaaS or Cloud company (KashFlow) before those terms existed. I've seen the terms come along as buzzwords/marketing hype and evolve into something more meaningful - although there's still a lot of "cloud washing" going on.

I think IoT is in the same place "cloud" was 6 years or so ago.

Standards would be great for better interoperability, but I'm not sure we'll get much further then the proprietary protocols we have today - there's not enough commercial reason for the required collaboration.

Anyways, I've just published the follow-up post on Vera vs Fibaro

[chris_j_hunter]

FWIW, ISTM, IoT is something we've come to realise will happen, even though we've not quite worked-out what it will be ...

best review of where we are, now, seems to be here :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things

there's already an IoP (Internet of People) - facilitated by PCs, tablets, smartphones, servers, clouds, IP, etc - so maybe there will be some parallels ... maybe IoT will be be just an extension of IoP, maybe they're both part of the same thing ...

[Hot]

Having spent the last few months dabbling with HA, it dawned on me that this is essentially the "Internet of Things" that's supposedly only just coming into existence.
I've written a much longer blog post about it at http://ukstartups.com/internet-of-things/
Would appreciate your thoughts.

Is Home Automation and IoT the same thing or is there a difference that I'm missing?

Home Automation consists of two components Internet of People (IoP or big data) and Internet of Things (IoT or small data)

Big Data is about the Internet of people (IoP); various devices are connected to the Internet and tracked to provide information regarding how, when and where they are used.

In comparison Small Data is generated by the Internet of Things (IoT), which relies on sensors to collect it. Small Data will be processed by sophisticated algorithms, it will be combined, analysed, interpreted and sent back to the micro-controllers in that same environment for action determined by the algorithm.