What is IoT?

The world is changing rapidly, and as part of that change, there is an ongoing movement toward automation. This automation stems from the following primary areas:

• The availability of cheap hardware – that is, microprocessors and system boards
• The availability of Wi-Fi and other wireless platforms
• The ability to cheaply transmit and store data

As we know, access to knowledge, no matter how simple, can increase performance and productivity simply by removing the time barrier to obtain that information. Take, for instance, the weather report; at one time, this report came out once, maybe twice a day, outlining what the upcoming days’ weather would be like. Now, we simply access the current weather and forecast from our phone. But where does that information come from? It comes from a series of sensors and activities that produces a dataset, accessed in real time from your fingertips.

Let’s dig a little deeper into this, starting...