M2M & IOT
It is the intent of this book to provide a comprehensive step by step understanding of M2M/IOT (hereinafter referred to as IOT) in so much as it relates to real world applications and solutions that the reader would be able to go out into the real world and build their empire.
Although IOT solutions are technical in nature you do not need not be an electrician, engineer or scientist to create a solution and make money with IOT.
A basic understanding of electricity and logic however are a pre-requisite. For those readers that have absolutely no aptitude for technical things and are still at the stage of figuring out how it is possible to watch one show on Television while taping another on a VHS tape should probably stop reading now. Alternatively if you are a propeller head and are looking for ultra-technical information relating to the forensics of a TCP packet ….this also is not for you. It does contain technical information in so much as what is required to construct an actual real world IOT solution and the bits and pieces that will make it work but not the why & how these pieces do what they do. You do not need to know exactly how an internal combustion engine works to sell cars.
IOT will become the biggest technical advancement on the planet. It’s proliferation will generate trillions of dollars of revenue and cost savings as well as dramatically contribute to the reduction of green house gas emissions. It could potentially be a vehicle that would allow for the global equalisation of wealth due to its low entry point cost.
If the expression “give a person a fish and they will eat for a day, but teach them how to fish and they will eat for a lifetime” has any relevance, it would be that being able to create an IOT solution will guarantee the architect a lifetime of abundance and then some.
Once you have read through this and really understand the breadth and depth of IOT and what it can do, you will never look at a door, a motor, a machine, a signal light, a lake, a forest or simply the world the same way ever again. It is for all intense purposes “virgin territory”. There are industries that have yet to be created simply through the use of an IOT solution.
While the title of this book implies that IOT will be a 37 Trillion dollar industry, it is just the authors opinion and the author reserves the right to be off by 20 Trillion dollars in either direction.
Where did IOT come from?
Unless you are a werewolf that has been reared by wombats in Tasmania
you have probably heard the term M2M & or IOT. In fact the carriers and hardware manufacturers have been beating on the IOT drum so loud that even the werewolves are not immune to the hype.
So what exactly is IOT? Well if we do a quick search on Google there are hundreds of descriptions, other than simply the acronym “Machine to Machine”. There is M2H which is “Machine to Human” there is IOT “Internet of Things” which I think is a great term if you work on Wall Street.
For our purpose I am going to declare that they are all the same and use IOT from now on.
Machine to Machine, well that’s great! One machine talks to this machine and the other machine talks back they conference in another machine and perhaps they schedule a lunch date.
Let’s get rid of some common misconceptions about what IOT is not, it is not a bunch of robots conspiring to take over the world, it is not even two machines that are colluding with each other, it is not even one machine that can make any kind of conscious decision. It is the ability to collect raw data (locally or remotely) process the data and analyse it then be able to view it in an intelligent manner so we can make decisions based on it.
The simplest example is to see when some thing is either on or off. Like a machine or perhaps the status of a gate. The most basic building block of an IOT solution is a switch. It is either on or off. That’s it.
Ok so how do we get a piece of the pie? First lets understand that IOT is not new, the acronym is, however the concept has been around since Marconi monetised radio. Although he did not invent it he knew how to make money with it. That brings us to where we are today. Let’s take a look at a very basic example of an IOT solution that could have been created in 1898(not a typo) using Nikola Teslas invention of a remote control boat . Using his initial design and not limited to the inherent challenge of the charged condensers (batteries) you could use the basic design to let you know when a gate for livestock was left open. This is a very practical application for farmers as when the gate is left open they lose livestock. This solution is being sold today and is readily available.
The purpose of this example is not specific to a “Remote Gate Monitoring” system but more so to understand why IOT is rapidly being implemented. In the example of Nikola Teslas remote control, the cost to implement it at the time would have been astronomical. In short the value of the information derived from a gate monitoring system in 1898 would not even scratch the surface of the cost to implement it. Fast-forward 118 years and now it is feasible and commonplace.
What has changed is that the Value of the information far exceeds the cost to acquire it. This is the single most important aspect why M2M is a business model that now works. IOT is not just a technology that lives in a vacuum, it does not exist by itself. It is there because the information that can be derived has significant value over the cost. While not all IOT solutions are predicated on some form of monetization the majority are. Show me an M2M solution that does not have either an academic, safety/security or financial benefit and I will show you something that exists in theory but not in reality. If you are able to clearly differentiate between theoretical and real-world practical applications you will be much closer to your slice of the pie! For our purpose we are going to concentrate on IOT solutions that can be monetized.
