Dear Readers,
As 25 years ago the Internet was
invented no one could imagine
which influence this communica-
tion network would have to our
daily life. Nowadays when I walk
through Schwabing, a part of Mu-
nich where I live, I realise that
most people I see on the streets –
especially the youth – are looking
in their smartphones and wiping
the touch screens while walking –
connected to the Internet. This
proves that the ubiquitous con-
nectivity to the Internet of people, everyone, everywhere und anytime,
became reality yet. But this is only a snapshot of today s world. The
evolution of the Internet keeps going. One new Megatrend affecting
especially the embedded industry is the Internet of things (IoT). Ac-
cording to Wikipedia “The Internet of Things refers to uniquely iden-
tifiable objects and their virtual representations in an Internet-like
structure. Equipping all objects in the world with minuscule identifying
devices or machine-readable identifiers could transform daily life”
and also the industry. The fourth industrial revolution called Industry
4.0 and based on the possibilities enabled by the IoT is just one
example. Additional fields of applications include: waste management,
urban planning, environmental sensing, social interaction gadgets,
sustainable urban environment, continuous care, emergency response,
intelligent shopping, smart product management, smart meters, home
automation and smart events
According to Gartner there will be nearly 26 billion devices on the In-
ternet of Things by 2020. According to ABI Research more than 30
billion devices will be wirelessly connected to the Internet of Things
(Internet of Everything) by 2020. Cisco created a dynamic „connections
counter“ to track the estimated number of connected things from
July 2013 until July 2020. This concept, where devices connect to the
internet/web via low-power radio, is the most active research area in
IoT. A criticism is that the Internet of Things is being developed
rapidly without appropriate consideration of the profound security
challenges involved and the regulatory changes that might be necessary.
In particular, as the Internet of Things spreads widely, cyber attacks
are likely to become an increasingly physical (rather than simply
virtual) threat.
But despite the problems this show: the race to enter the IoT market
and succeed with new applications is already on! Hence due to the
multitude of applications the IoT and its influence for the embedded
industry was the main topic at this years embedded world exhibition
and conference. Nearly every exhibitor launched products suited for
this emerging market whether microcontrollers, microprocessors,
digital signal processors, small form factor boards like COMs, as well
as associated hardware, software and development tools. Our embedded
world review (starting page 10) highlights some examples.
As you can see – the IoT could be able to open up a new era and
bright future for the embedded industry. But the future must show
which ones of the multitude of applications are valuable for the user
and will succeed at the end.
Yours sincerely
Wolfgang Patelay
Editor
3
April 2014
V
IEWPOINT
