Via Business Insider:
On June 6, 2012, a brand-new version of the Internet was turned on.
Chances are you didn’t notice anything different that day, as we switched over to Internet Protocol Version 6, or IPv6. Engineers worked for years so the new Internet could be turned on without causing problems.
But in the coming years, this new Internet will change your life dramatically. It will lead to the realization of a concept called “The Internet of Things,” where everything—not just computers—gets connected.
Points:
- “The size of the new Internet is what will lead to the Internet of Things. Any object can be tagged with a microprocessor or sensor that takes on an IP address and connects to the Internet—from dog collars to railway cars.”
- “Today, the Internet of Things is in its early stages and is mostly used to monitoring things from afar.”
- “Devices will talk to each other and grow autonomous. This is often called machine-to-machine technologies (M2M).”
- “This will alter how managers run companies, getting rid of hierarchical decision makers—the classic role of the boss.”
- “The M2M sector is a $121 billion business today that will grow to $948 billion by 2020.”
- “Issues such as privacy, reliability, and control of data still have to be worked out.”