A New Perspective On The Internet Of Things

According to Davor Sutija, chief executive officer at Thinfilm , about a trillion sensors are required to power the billion connected devices expected to power the Internet of Things. To meet demand for the sensors, the Norway-based maker of organic semiconductors and printed electronics has developed an alternate approach to the Internet of Things. At the heart of Thinfilms approach is a tweak to the existing definition of the Internet of Things. This definition, propagated by large corporations such as Cisco and IBM, puts a network at the heart of the technology. It consists of an ecosystem of connected devices with sensors and intelligence built into physical objects. These devices will talk to and monitor each other, regardless of distance or power consumption. If the Internet of Things is just a massive machine talking to itself, then a billion or so microcontrollers (or computers embedded within consumer devices) is fine, explains Sutija. But, such an Internet of Things is a complex entity on several fronts because it requires a reimagining of the product manufacturing process to integrate microcontrollers into each product. The discussion becomes important when one considers that most stories about the Internet of Things focus on the product and not on the infrastructure that powers the product. Whether it is Apples A7 processor or Samsungs curved smartphone screens, the Internet of Things is as much about advances in ubiquitous computing as about electronics. Both the examples I referenced earlier are possible due to the development of new materials and processing power of printed electronics. For example, the LG and Samsung smartphone screens are new variants of plastic substrates encased in rigid glass.
For the original version visit http://www.forbes.com/sites/rakeshsharma/2014/02/18/a-new-perspective-on-the-internet-of-things/