Is the Internet of Everything the pinnacle of convergence? Yes. Yes it is.

It’s where mobile, IoT / M2M, cloud and big data converge.

Where? The smart refrigerator. Again (link).

IoT / M2M

The smart refrigerator generates data. It generates sensor data: the temperature and energy consumption. It generates event data: the door is opened and the door is closed. It generates application data: a grocery list.

Mobile

The mobile / tablet application manages and monitors the smart refrigerator: turn the temperature down and lock the door. It reads the grocery list. It updates the grocery list.

Big Data

Sensor data. Event data. Application data. It’s a lot of data.

What could the data be used for?

  • Improve energy efficiency.
  • Improve user experience.

The smart refridgerator will increase or decrease the temperature. It will increase the temperature on Monday evenings. It knows I need cold beverages during Monday Night Football.

It will add items to the grocery list. It will add a gallon milk to the grocery list. It knows I will run out within a few days.

Cloud

It’s the glue. It enables the enterprise to connect with billions of mobile phones / tablets, things and machines connected to the Internet from seven continents. It requires a global infrastructure. Amazon has data centers in 10 regions, 27 availability zones and 52 edge locations.

Internet of Everything

What happens when mobile, IoT / M2M, cloud and big data converge? It results in new business models. At Couchbase Live [NYC], attendees were introduced to B2E and E2B: business to everyone and everything to business. I think credit cards. Everyone has a credit card, and everything accepts a credit card. I’ve used my credit card with parking meters, vending machines, taxis and more.

Let’s assume the smart refridgerator is manufactured by GE, it’s purchased at Abt Electronics with an extended protection plan and groceries are purchased AmazonFresh. The smart refridgerator…

  • purchases groceries from AmazonFresh on behalf of the consumer.
  • notifies GE when it needs repair on behalf of the consumer.
  • notifies Abt Electronics when it needs repair on behalf of the customer.

As a result…

  • GE sends parts to Abt Electronics.
  • Abt Electronics schedules a day and time for repair.
  • Abt Electronics sends a request to the smart refrigerator.
  • The consumer approves the request.
  • The smart refrigerator reminds the consumer on the day of repair.

The Internet of Everything enables things and machines to connect with multiple business on behalf of consumers. In fact, things and machines act as proxies for consumers. It’s BCB, business to consumer to business, with things and machines functioning as proxies between businesses on behalf of consumers. It’s like Apple and Facebook. The consumer is the proxy between Apple / Facebook and the business that build applications for their respective platforms. However, the difference is the consumer will be proxied by things and machines in the Internet of Everything.

Author

Posted by Shane Johnson, Director, Product Marketing, Couchbase

Shane K Johnson was the Director of Product Marketing at Couchbase. Prior to Couchbase, he occupied various roles in developing and evangelism with a background in Java and distributed systems. He has consulted with organizations in the financial, retail, telecommunications, and media industries to draft and implement architectures that relied on distributed systems for data and analysis.

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