When the term ‘IoT’ was first coined back in the late 1990s, few people really understood the power of the internet to change life as we know it. Back then, broadband was still in its infancy. Most people were using dial-up and DSL for their internet access. To them, the IoT was as foreign as Google. How things have changed since then. Neither Google nor the IoT is strange anymore.
Google is not strange because almost all of us use it multiple times per day. It has become so common that the word ‘Google’ is now a verb. But what about the IoT? It is not nearly as ubiquitous as Google – or is it? It’s actually more ubiquitous than most of us know.
Working in the Background
Let’s say you are a Houston resident who just moved into a brand-new high-rise building featuring all the latest tech. Your building includes a wi-fi café. You love this space because you can go there to meet with friends and get some work done during the day. In fact, that café is one of the reasons you chose this particular building.
What you might not know is that the entire building is connected to the IoT. Though it’s all working in the background, the building utilizes the IoT and a range of smart technology devices to control everything from the temperature in the café space to all the lights in the hallways, elevators, and so forth.
The technology that makes your building such a wonderful place to live works without you having to think about it. Most of it is being controlled by smart technology that relies on the IoT to do what it does. Your daily experience in the wi-fi café is but a small sampling of what it does for your building.
Broadband Is Everywhere
The IoT is also no stranger these days thanks to the explosion of broadband. Do you remember the days of DSL and dial-up? If so, you know that the smart devices you now have in your home would never have operated back then. Internet access was just too slow. Vivint Smart Home says it is a good thing that internet speeds have increased.
Today’s incredibly fast download speeds are powerful enough that we don’t even need broadcast or cable television. We can stream flawless, HD signals that make yesterday’s television seem monolithic. Streaming is but one example of the IoT in your average Houston home.
Thanks to the IoT, you can protect your Houston home with a video doorbell and a selection of wireless cameras that keep an eye on key areas of your property. It is the IoT that makes your smart thermostat smart and your electronic locks keyless. It is the IoT that lets you bring up your video cameras in the mid-afternoon to watch your kids arrive home from school.
From Car to Refrigerator
The thing to remember about the IoT is that it does what it does even if we don’t recognize it. And that’s the key. The IoT is no stranger in 2020 because it powers so much of daily life. We may not recognize all the ways in which it impacts us, but that does not lessen its impact. From car to refrigerator and everything in between, the IoT is humming right along.
By the way, do you know what IoT stands for? It stands for the ‘internet of things’. Every device and product you own that accesses the internet in any way, shape, or form is part of the IoT. And now you know why it is not so strange anymore.