The Importance of Software on the Internet of Things

As the Internet of Things is starting to become a commercial reality, underlying technologies like RFID, sensors, QR codes, and more are becoming less significant. Bo Begole, a principal scientist and manager of Ubiquitous Computing, pointed out that algorithms are more interesting now than sensors. Begole’s group are putting more emphasis on technologies like predictive analytics, context engines and “Behavioral Ware” nowadays.

In the late 80’s and 90’s, UbiComp is all about creating machines that were aware of the environment. However, sensors didn’t exist or they weren’t that cheap then, making it really difficult for the company. More over, how sensors detect the environment before is not yet known to many. But that is no longer the situation. With accelerometers and gyros found on the iPhone and Android, the world of sensors is not hard anymore.

But the underlying question here is: What does the state mean to the users? What’s significant about the situation? The software side of the Internet of Things is where a big part of the innovation is happening. PARC, HP, IBM, Cisco and others are working on developing algorithms that will give sense to the explosion of data coming from sensors. And that is where manufacturers are trying to focus on. Is it really the algorithms that make other people interested?

View Article Source »