In the future, most of the inanimate objects around us will have an IP address and will be connected to the internet. That is the vision of the future according to the “internet of things”. Where once the internet was about connecting people, the future of the internet is connecting things, devices that will “talk” to each other to perform tasks and collect information without any need for human interaction.
The internet of things isn't a new concept: firms such as Fujitsu, Cisco and Oracle have been talking about it for some time. And the devices themselves have slowly been making their way into the market, propelled by a rise in the popularity of mobile computing, cloud services and ever-falling prices for technology.
Fujitsu Technology Solutions’ chief technology officer Dr Joseph Reger spoke at this year’s Fujistu Forum in Berlin about the possibilities the internet of things created for consumers, business and society as a whole.
“It was 2008 – five years ago – when the number of things, devices, on the internet surpassed the number of people on the internet,” explains Dr Reger. “Currently we have about 10 billion devices on the internet; by 2020 we’re going to have 50 billion of them. That’s 50 billion that have an address, that communicate with each other, that pass on information, collect information.”
He speculates that even a 1 per cent improvement in the current infrastructure for industry would lead to trillions of dollars in cost savings, giving a compelling reason for governments and companies alike to look at the technology.
From healthcare to road maintenance, the applications for these connected devices are limitless, and are already being seen in Ireland to a certain degree.
Long-distance relationships
There are already wifi-enabled lightbulbs on the market, allowing you to control your home lighting system from outside the house.
Wireless monitoring of patients allows hospitals to collect data that can contribute to treatment, from heart rate and temperature to how often patients take medication. It builds up a health profile that enables it to pinpoint potential problems before they happen and decide the most suitable treatment.
Dr Reger says the potential benefits for the country as a whole are vast. For example, inexpensive sensors can be deployed on the road network to predict when bridges and roads need maintenance, based on weather and traffic data.
“It requires a little bit of investment at the beginning in ICT. But in the long run it pays off big time because it reduces the maintenance cost, and it increases the availability of the traditional infrastructure as well as the new one,” he says. “I have an opinion that every business, every activity and everybody will be touched by this new opportunity somehow. If a business cannot figure out today how, they haven’t thought about it long enough.”
The idea of these interconnected devices is still in its infancy, but already it is branching out. The notion of smart devices and sensors has gone beyond your standard lightbulb or smart TV. The latest addition to the lineup of smart devices is dust. More specifically, smart dust that contains sensors to monitor everything from the weather to the workings of the human brain. But although the possibilities are exciting, the security implications of the internet of things may be worrying for consumers and businesses alike, with the risk that some of this information may be abused.
Earlier this month, security firm Symantec identified a new worm it said could infect these connected devices. The worm, known as Linux.Darlioz, targets Linux – the operating system many of these connected devices run on. So while the work itself isn't a major threat to servers, it's another story for your home Blu-ray player or connected TV, particularly if they have an embedded web server.
Security researchers have already shown the vulnerabilities in smart TVs, injecting JavaScript into browsers on the devices that allowed them to control parts of the system such as the built in cameras, presenting privacy advocates with a dilemma. It's a whole new set of internet connected devices to worry about, but the advice remains the same: make sure your devices are updated to the latest version of firmware available.
Privacy fear
Further than that, though, is the privacy fear. "To be very useful, all these situations will have to deal with different sources of data including personal information. One of the great strengths is using profiles, information available about the person," explains Dr Reger. "People are uneasy about that. This is a process that needs to be managed, and technologies will have to be developed that protect particular aspects of it, even though we all know that the conventional internet is also most useful if we are prepared to provide some personal information.
“All these nice things, these location based services, come at the cost that you tell some service at the time where you are. All this convenience is connected in some way to personal information. We need to have conversations about it – what kind of information will be provided and what you would like to protect.”
However, despite some recent high profile privacy incidents – the scandal over the US Prism programme being fresh in people’s minds – Dr Reger said he wasn’t sure this would slow down the growth of the internet of things.
He noted that it depended on a multitude of factors including age, culture, country and the type of service involved. Worth taking into account is the upcoming generation, which is more relaxed about privacy online, having grown up with the culture of “sharing”, than those of us who did not.
"The Facebook generation cannot be serious about private information because they have already provided everything that's needed," he said.
