Cloud and Mobile are changing the way we do business.Traditionally, cloud computing has been perceived as a great leveler in business. The cloud has allowed small and medium businesses to compete on a more level playing field with their enterprise rivals by removing the need for upfront capital investments that had previously proved prohibitive for smaller businesses.
The diagram below demonstrates only some aspects of the impact that Cloud will eventually have on business expansion, management and operations. Obviously, the business of Government is to provide basic services to the people which also will slowly but surely improve through the effective use of cloud.
Once the cloud is done with transformation of businesses and governments, the next logical iteration of cloud will be what is called Internet of Things (IoT) today. The basic fundamental holding IoT together is connectivity, a world in which machines with intelligent sensors are hooked up to the web, and able to deliver a stream of constant data. But in order to do this most effectively, proper utilization of cloud computing will become a vital component. The progress chart given below shows how cloud and internet of things will be evolving in the near future. It is the ultimate connectedness between machine and man.
If you observe closely, Internet of things cannot exist without Internet of Services (IoS). Because every sensor, device or accessory would be communicating with each other and connected control systems through a web of services. If you analyze this in more detail at least in theory Internet of things should be able to provide these four basic following services.
- Get direct data from sensors, accessories, devices (It is a web service essentially)
- Send control instructions to things connected to internet to perform actions (Again a web service)
- Use system generated data for analysis purposes for optimization/better design (Analytical Software)
- Create a more autonomous environment (M2M) where machines can interact between themselves without much human interaction. (Integration web service)
These four main services that Internet of things will provide will be mentioned again and again in this article so please do remember them while reading the rest of the article.The Internet of Things still has some way to go before we reach this point, but it’s getting there and cloud computing will be driving it every step of the way.
In theory IoT and IoSare really great concepts but every coin has two sides. Manufacturers through these connected sensors will build more tailored/individualized stuff for us and sensors will also remember our preferences, configurations and choices. Now let’s talk about the dark side. A distributed but “intelligent” network of ordinary devices could threaten normal commerce, personal privacy, and even human life should malicious types figure out how to hack it. Devices on the Internet of Things generally fall into one of two categories: sensors and controllers.
Sensors monitor anything that can be measured: temperature, location, power, hydro flow, radiation, atmospheric pressure—you name it. More sophisticated sensors can also watch and listen to their surroundings. Link them all to the Internet of Things and suddenly you have a nervous system for much of the planet.
Many of those other devices are the controllers. These are the gadgets that act on the world around them—actuators, switches, servos, valves, turbines and ignition systems, just to name a few. (You may recognize some of these controllers as common elements of critical infrastructure such as power plants and transportation systems.) Though fewer controllers are connected to the Internet than sensors, engineers are rapidly redressing that imbalance.
In the real world there are serious security concerns about any implementation of IoT and IoS. May be we will end up using modified versions of Frequency Hopping and ECCM which are essentially military technologies but these implementations will be tricky to say the least in the physical world.
Where other companies are more focused on building an internet of things, HALKAR’s focus remains to build truly great web services which should be able to plug and play into any physical world element. Software Agents/Services smart enough to understand any connecting device, accessory or sensor and after reading that machines configuration automatically start the provisions of above mentioned four basic services of Internet of things.In an ideal optimized Internet of Services system, neither the end device/sensor should matter nor is the way it is communicating with the other sensor (Blue Tooth, IPv6, Wi-Fi Direct etc.)
Nature has also build an internet of things and services around us. Every living being on the planet is connected through massive versatile ecosystems but their control systems are essentially decentralized. We call them nervous systems in any life form.
Nature’s way is the way our Internet of Services should be built. What I essentially mean is that out of these four major services mentioned above, No. 2 should be slightly modified and it should run in safe mode. What it means is that you will be able to send limited control instructions to things at a basic level but shouldn’t be allowed to make configuration changes through any web service. System or configuration settings should be decentralized and physical human presence with biometric authentication must be required to change any operating system parameters.
In my opinion, Internet was not built while keeping security in mind and that’s why cyber space has become the next battlefield. Let’s not make the same mistake with Internet of Services and Internet of Things. It’s time to take security more seriously to minimize the odds that malefactors can wreak havoc via the smallest of our devices.By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. We, humans prefer to learn wisdom by experience and that’s why we are yet to understand the complexity of connectedness in natural ecosystems. And that’s why Ralph Waldo Emerson said “A man is a god in ruins”.
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