At the intersection of Big Data and IoT

"Internet of Things (IOT)" and "Big Data" are two seemingly overused cliches in the technology world today. Corporations and investors alike are flocking to garner a piece of both these pies. But are they worth the hype? I've thought about it for sometime now, and have come to believe that at the intersection of these two worlds is where the gold mine is.

Let me explain.

Welcome to the Data driven world

Nicholas Negroponte, in his 1995 book "Being Digital" wrote

Anything that can be converted from an atom to a bit, will be.

These words, profound back then, turned out to be prophetic - sort of a Moore's Law for data, if you may. The Digital revolution in the last 20 years or so has spawned mounds of data from a growing variety of usage models. The analysis of this data, and conversion to meaningful information generates insights. Insights, in turn, lead to improvements in products and processes to positively impact quality of life. Data analytics will strive to replace "intuition" and "experience" towards a more objective decision making process. Data, thus has the power to not only enrich but also save lives as fields like health wake up to its power.

Thanks to the Internet of Things

The Internet has been the key to the massive proliferation of data. Easy access to data, made possible by faster broadband and remote access. Even more important is the growing number and type of devices connected to the Internet. The Internet, accessed through computers in its early days, is now available to phones, tablets, watches, TVs, and a bevy of other devices at homes and offices.

These devices, or "things", by themselves may be integral to your life performing everyday tasks you would take for granted. When these "things" are connected, they magically transform themselves as a part of the "Internet of Things". They generate data, feed the internet, and are capable of acting on remote insights and instructions.

At the intersection

The Nest thermostat is a good example of a device re-imagined as part of the IOT wave to instantly improve the quality of your life. However, automating its functions with an intuitive user interface is not really the end game here. The usage data across geographies generated as the Thermostat becomes your home automation gateway.

In essence, Big Data is enabled by the Internet of Things, and the area of intersection is life-changing to say the least.

The first step is to get these things in place. The data harvesting possibilities once the IOT is functional are endless. In the case of the Nest thermostat (or any other smart gateway), capturing the consumer imagination and enabling the connected home is a precursor to quality of life improvements that will be made possible through Big Data & Analytics.

The thermostat and the home gateway are concepts we can grasp easily. The success of this vision is also evident in the multi-billion dollar acquisition of Nest by Google, and the spate of other acquisitions and high valuations in the home automation and control space. It, however, gets far more interesting and impactful as we apply these concepts to influence our lives beyond just automating your home gadgets. Verticals such as health, education, remote access, traffic management, automotive safety that have deep societal impact will benefit from the junction of these cliches.

Imagine a more accessible, low cost, results-driven health care...

Imagine Waze on steroids...

Imagine customized online education instantly accessible to remote world locations...

Life as we know is about to change thanks to the IOT and Big Data!

I am personally very excited as I imagine this future and definitely look forward to being a part of this transformation. I am sure some of you have similar thoughts. l'd love to hear from you. Please feel free to chime in here.