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The IoT is a term developed to describe a wirelessnetwork of “things”
containing embedded technologythat communicate without human interaction.
Forexample, a “thing” can be a wireless blood pressuremonitor, a sensor on an
assembly line or an RFID tag ona piece of clothing in a store.
According to Gartner, there will be nearly 26 billionwireless devices
connected to the Internet by 2020.Considering that in 2009 that number was less
than 1billion devices, it seems clear that the Internet isexperiencing explosive
growth of connected “things.”
So far, IoT technology has been mostly adopted by themanufacturing industry
using machine-to-machine (M2M)communication. However, with rapid innovation of
IoTtechnology, more and more industries are takingadvantage of this new way of
life.
Here are three such examples of how businesses arebecoming “smarter” by
adopting IoT. Each presents newmarket opportunities for entrepreneurs innovating
withtechnology to improve services, connections andcommunication:
1. Healthcare
With the potential to improve the health, safety and careof billions of
people, healthcare is one of the mostpromising industries for IoT. With
wi-fi-enabled medicaltools and devices, hospitals are able to collect, recordand
analyze data faster and more accurately. This helpsmedical staff perform
diagnosis and treatment andundoubtedly improve standards of care.
Health monitoring and wearable devices for patients arebecoming extremely
popular, as they’re able to transmit apatient’s real-time, vital-sign data from
their home tomedical staff. Such Wi-Fi powered devices include“things” such as
glucometers, scales, heart rate andultrasound monitors.
Furthermore, wearable devices are gaining attentionamong the elderly and
those with chronic illness. Withthe push of a button, a person is able to alert
the medicalstaff of an emergency situation.
Additionally, fitness bands such as the Nike NKE 2.73%Fuelband or Fitbit
measure whole-body movementthroughout the day — transmitting the data wirelessly
tothe user’s computer, tablet or smartphone. This trendalso has the potential to
impact the way health insurancecompanies operate.
2. Manufacturing
Machinery and manufacturing was one of the firstindustries to take
advantage of IoT technology. Currently,billions of wireless devices and sensors
are networklinked in factories around the world. Industrial networksmake
day-to-day operations “smarter” in many ways. Toexecute a “smart” manufacturing
system, businessesintegrate IoT sensor-based technology into theirprocesses and
systems.
After installing IoT technologies, King’s Hawaiian wasable to produce an
additional 180,000 pounds of breadevery day, doubling its previous output. The
companyinstalled 11 connected machines into a new factory thatgave the employees
the ability to access both historicaland real-time data to monitor performance.
The systemis connected to the Internet, so it can be controlled andmanaged from
a remote operations center.
IoT has the potential to make manufacturing faster, moreefficient and more
profitable.
3. Retail
The convenience of online shopping provides a hugeadvantage over
brick-and-mortar stores. As such,ecommerce giants such as Amazon AMZN -0.38%
havebeen growing at a phenomenal rate. With advancementsin IoT technology,
in-store retailers now have anopportunity to level the playing field by tracking
inventoryand consumers in real time.
Mobile IoT technology has breathed new life into brick-and-mortar stores by
giving them the tools to create amore personalized shopping experience. Today,
thesestores are able to collect a consumer’s location,demographic info and
shopping history for an enhancedshopping experience. With real-time data,
salesassociates can make personalized recommendationsand/or offers on the fly to
increase the chances of makinga sale.
Furthermore, retailers are adopting the use of radiofrequency
identification (RFID) tags to identify individualitems in a store. RFID tags
work similarly to barcodes,but they can be used wirelessly. With tags, brick
andmortars are able to efficiently track inventory andcontinuously update
merchandise information. Salesassociates are also able to give advice and
makesuggestions in the moment, giving them a competitiveedge over their online
counterparts.
The future of IoT
With billions of devices coming on board the Internet ofThings, Gartner
estimates that IoT product and servicesuppliers will generate incremental
revenue exceeding$300 billion, mostly in services. There’s no shortage
ofpredictions on how the market will evolve, but it’s clearin the years ahead,
IoT will revolutionize our entire globalecosystem.
物联网这个术语描述的是“事物”之间的无线网络，这些事物都采用嵌入式技术，无需人为介入就可彼此通讯。这个“事物”可以是无线血压监测仪、传感器、生产流水线，或是商店里衣服上的射频识别标签。
据高德纳研究公司(Gartner)预计，到2020年，全球将有近260亿台无线设备联网。考虑到这个数字在2009年还不足10亿，物联网显然正在经历爆炸式增长。
迄今为止，物联网技术主要是由制造业在机器对机器(M2M)通信上所采用。然而，随着该项技术快速革新，越来越多的行业开始利用这种新的生活方式。
以下是通过物联网技术让行业变得“更智能”的三个例子。每个例子都向创业者展现了通过技术创新来改善服务、增强联系、促进交流的全新市场机遇。
1、医疗保健业
鉴于医疗保健水平的提高有助于改善数十亿人的健康、安全和医护问题，这是物联网前景最广阔的行业之一。在联网医疗工具和设备的帮助下，医院能够更快、更准确地收集、记录和分析数据。这有助于医护人员进行诊断和治疗，护理水平也必然会大大改善。
供病人使用的健康监测和可穿戴设备变得十分流行，它们能够把病人的生命体征数据从家里实时发给医护人员。这类联网设备包括血糖仪、体重秤、心率和超声波监测器。
此外，老年人和慢性病患者也越来越关注可穿戴设备。在紧急情况下，他们只需要按下按钮，就能及时通知医护人员。
此外，如耐克(Nike)的Fuelband或Fitbit等健康腕带可以全天测量全身的活动状况，并通过无线网络将数据传到用户的计算机、平板电脑或智能手机上。这一趋势还有可能改变健康保险公司的运作方式。
2、制造业
机械和制造业是首批利用物联网技术的行业之一。如今，全球的工厂中有数十亿台无线设备和感应器已经联网。工业网络在许多方面让日常运营更加“智能化”。为了打造“智能”的生产系统，许多公司在生产流程和系统中采用了基于感应器的物联网技术。
在采用物联网技术后，面包公司King’sHawaiian每天能多生产出18万磅面包，是之前产量的两倍。该公司在新工厂中安装了11台联网机器，使得员工可以根据历史数据和实时数据，监控生产状况。该系统与互联网相连，这样就可以在远程营运中心对其进行控制和管理。
物联网有提高生产速度和生产效率、扩大利润的潜力。
3、零售业
比起实体商店，网店购物的便捷是个巨大的优势。正因如此，亚马逊(Amazon)等电子商务巨头正在以惊人的速度不断增长。而随着物联网技术的发展，实体零售商如今有机会以实时跟踪存货和顾客的特性在竞争中扳回劣势。
通过移动物联网技术，实体零售商得以营造更加个性化的购物体验，这让他们重获新生。如今，这些商店能够收集顾客的地址、人口信息和购买记录，进而改善购物体验。在实时数据的帮助下，销售助理可以在忙碌中为顾客提出个性化的推荐和提议，增加销售的成功率。
此外，零售商开始用射频识别标签来识别店内的商品。射频识别标签与条形码的原理类似，但它们可用于无线环境中。使用这种标签，实体店就能有效地追踪库存，并持续更新商品信息。销售助理也能够立刻给出建议，这让实体店在与网店的竞争中拥有了优势。
物联网的未来
高德纳估计，随着数十亿设备加入物联网，物联网产品和服务供应商将会产生超过3,000亿美元的增量收入，其中大部分在服务领域。关于物联网市场将如何发展的预测有很多，但确定无疑的是，在未来几年中，物联网会我们的全球生态系统带来革命性的变化。
embedded:v.把…嵌入，埋入( embed的过去式和过去分词 )
ultrasound: n.超声; 超声波
chronic: adj.慢性的; 长期的; 习惯性的; 痼
incremental: adj.增量的;增量式;渐进;增加的
prediction: n.[气]预测，预报; 预言; 预言的事物
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发表于 2016-7-10 18:15:41