What is IoT?

The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—“things”—that are
embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and
exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet. These devices range from
ordinary household objects to sophisticated industrial tools. With more than 7 billion connected
IoT devices today, experts are expecting this number to grow to 10 billion by 2020 and 22
billion by 2025. Oracle has a network of device partners.

Why is Internet of Things (IoT) so important?

Over the past few years, IoT has become one of the most important technologies of the 21st
century. Now that we can connect everyday objects—kitchen appliances, cars, thermostats,
baby monitors—to the internet via embedded devices, seamless communication is possible
between people, processes, and things.

By means of low-cost computing, the cloud, big data, analytics, and mobile technologies,
physical things can share and collect data with minimal human intervention. In this
hyperconnected world, digital systems can record, monitor, and adjust each interaction between
connected things. The physical world meets the digital world—and they cooperate.

What technologies have made IoT possible?

While the idea of IoT has been in existence for a long time, a collection of recent advances in
a number of different technologies has made it practical.

• Access to low-cost, low-power sensor technology. Affordable and reliable sensors are
making IoT technology possible for more manufacturers.
• Connectivity. A host of network protocols for the internet has made it easy to connect
sensors to the cloud and to other “things” for efficient data transfer.
• Cloud computing platforms. The increase in the availability of cloud platforms
enables both businesses and consumers to access the infrastructure they need to scale
up without actually having to manage it all.
• Machine learning and analytics. With advances in machine learning and analytics,
along with access to varied and vast amounts of data stored in the cloud, businesses can
gather insights faster and more easily. The emergence of these allied technologies
continues to push the boundaries of IoT and the data produced by IoT also feeds these
technologies.
• Conversational artificial intelligence (AI). Advances in neural networks have brought
natural-language processing (NLP) to IoT devices (such as digital personal assistants
Alexa, Cortana, and Siri) and made them appealing, affordable, and viable for home
use.

What is industrial IoT?

Industrial IoT (IIoT) refers to the application of IoT technology in industrial settings, especially
with respect to instrumentation and control of sensors and devices that engage cloud
technologies. Refer to thisTitan use case PDF for a good example of IIoT. Recently, industries
have used machine-to-machine communication (M2M) to achieve wireless automation and
control. But with the emergence of cloud and allied technologies (such as analytics and
machine learning), industries can achieve a new automation layer and with it create new
revenue and business models. IIoT is sometimes called the fourth wave of the industrial
revolution, or Industry 4.0. The following are some common uses for IIoT:

• Smart manufacturing
• Connected assets and preventive and predictive maintenance
• Smart power grids
• Smart cities
• Connected logistics
• Smart digital supply chains

Unlock business value with IoT

As IoT becomes more widespread in the marketplace, companies are capitalizing on the
tremendous business value it can offer. These benefits include:

• Deriving data-driven insights from IoT data to help better manage the business
• Increasing productivity and efficiency of business operations
• Creating new business models and revenue streams
• Easily and seamlessly connecting the physical business world to the digital world to
drive quick time to value

What are IoT applications?

Business-ready, SaaS IoT Applications
IoT Intelligent Applications are prebuilt software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications that can
analyze and present captured IoT sensor data to business users via dashboards. We have a full
set of IoT Intelligent Applications.

IoT applications use machine learning algorithms to analyze massive amounts of connected
sensor data in the cloud. Using real-time IoT dashboards and alerts, you gain visibility into key
performance indicators, statistics for mean time between failures, and other information.
Machine learning–based algorithms can identify equipment anomalies and send alerts to users
and even trigger automated fixes or proactive counter measures.

With cloud-based IoT applications, business users can quickly enhance existing processes for
supply chains, customer service, human resources, and financial services. There’s no need to
recreate entire business processes.

What are some ways IoT applications are deployed?

The ability of IoT to provide sensor information as well as enable device-to-device
communication is driving a broad set of applications. The following are some of the most
popular applications and what they do.

Create new efficiencies in manufacturing through machine monitoring and

product-quality monitoring.

Machines can be continuously monitored and analyzed to make sure they are performing within
required tolerances. Products can also be monitored in real time to identify and address quality
defects.

Improve the tracking and “ring-fencing” of physical assets.

Tracking enables businesses to quickly determine asset location. Ring-fencing allows them to
make sure that high-value assets are protected from theft and removal.

Use wearables to monitor human health analytics and environmental

conditions.

IoT wearables enable people to better understand their own health and allow physicians to
remotely monitor patients. This technology also enables companies to track the health and
safety of their employees, which is especially useful for workers employed in hazardous
conditions.

Drive efficiencies and new possibilities in existing processes.

One example of this is the use of IoT to increase efficiency and safety in connected logistics
for fleet management. Companies can use IoT fleet monitoring to direct trucks, in real time, to
improve efficiency.

Enable business process changes.

An example of this is the use of IoT devices for connected assets to monitor the health of remote
machines and trigger service calls for preventive maintenance. The ability to remotely monitor
machines is also enabling new product-as-a-service business models, where customers no
longer need to buy a product but instead pay for its usage.

What industries can benefit from IoT?

Organizations best suited for IoT are those that would benefit from using sensor devices in
their business processes.

Manufacturing

Manufacturers can gain a competitive advantage by using production-line monitoring to enable

proactive maintenance on equipment when sensors detect an impending failure. Sensors can
actually measure when production output is compromised. With the help of sensor alerts,
manufacturers can quickly check equipment for accuracy or remove it from production until it
is repaired. This allows companies to reduce operating costs, get better uptime, and improve
asset performance management.

Automotive

The automotive industry stands to realize significant advantages from the use of IoT
applications. In addition to the benefits of applying IoT to production lines, sensors can detect
impending equipment failure in vehicles already on the road and can alert the driver with details
and recommendations. Thanks to aggregated information gathered by IoT-based applications,
automotive manufacturers and suppliers can learn more about how to keep cars running and
car owners informed.

Transportation and Logistics

Transportation and logistical systems benefit from a variety of IoT applications. Fleets of cars,
trucks, ships, and trains that carry inventory can be rerouted based on weather conditions,
vehicle availability, or driver availability, thanks to IoT sensor data. The inventory itself could
also be equipped with sensors for track-and-trace and temperature-control monitoring. The
food and beverage, flower, and pharmaceutical industries often carry temperature-sensitive
inventory that would benefit greatly from IoT monitoring applications that send alerts when
temperatures rise or fall to a level that threatens the product.

Retail

IoT applications allow retail companies to manage inventory, improve customer experience,
optimize supply chain, and reduce operational costs. For example, smart shelves fitted with
weight sensors can collect RFID-based information and send the data to the IoT platform to
automatically monitor inventory and trigger alerts if items are running low. Beacons can push
targeted offers and promotions to customers to provide an engaging experience.

Public Sector

The benefits of IoT in the public sector and other service-related environments are similarly
wide-ranging. For example, government-owned utilities can use IoT-based applications to
notify their users of mass outages and even of smaller interruptions of water, power, or sewer
services. IoT applications can collect data concerning the scope of an outage and deploy
resources to help utilities recover from outages with greater speed.

Healthcare

IoT asset monitoring provides multiple benefits to the healthcare industry. Doctors, nurses, and
orderlies often need to know the exact location of patient-assistance assets such as wheelchairs.
When a hospital’s wheelchairs are equipped with IoT sensors, they can be tracked from the IoT
asset-monitoring application so that anyone looking for one can quickly find the nearest
available wheelchair. Many hospital assets can be tracked this way to ensure proper usage as
well as financial accounting for the physical assets in each department.

General Safety Across All Industries

In addition to tracking physical assets, IoT can be used to improve worker safety. Employees
in hazardous environments such as mines, oil and gas fields, and chemical and power plants,
for example, need to know about the occurrence of a hazardous event that might affect them.
When they are connected to IoT sensor–based applications, they can be notified of accidents
or rescued from them as swiftly as possible. IoT applications are also used for wearables that
can monitor human health and environmental conditions. Not only do these types of
applications help people better understand their own health, they also permit physicians to
monitor patients remotely.

Reference:
https://www.oracle.com/in/internet-of-things/what-is-iot/