Introduction:
For quite some time, Cisco and Qualcomm have used the term Internet of Everything (IoE) to describe what almost everyone else refers to as the Internet of Things (IoT).
Qualcomm says on its IoE web page
“When smart things everywhere are connected together, we will be able to do more and be more. This is the Internet of Everything (IoE), a paradigm shift that marks a new era of opportunity for everyone, from consumers and businesses to cities and governments….”
“Qualcomm is creating the fabric of IoE for everyone everywhere to enable this Digital Sixth Sense.”
Cisco defines the Internet of Everything (IoE) as bringing together people, process, data, and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before – turning information into actions that create new capabilities, richer experiences, and unprecedented economic opportunity for businesses, individuals, and countries.
But is that the same as the IoT? And how do they both relate to Machine-to-Machine communications (AKA M2M)?
Network Gives Value to “Things” at Cisco:
Cisco devoted several sessions to the IoE at its flagship Cisco Live conference this week in San Francisco, CA:
- ITMGEN-4113 – Delivering Value in an Internet of Everything World
- BRKNMS-2703 – Managing the Internet of Everything
- BSAIoT-2400 – The Transition to the Internet of Everything: Architectures and Use Cases
- GENKEY-2400 – The Internet of Everything Ecosystem – Bringing IT and OT Together with the Internet of Things
- BRKIOT-2020 – The Evolution from Machine-to-Machine (M2M) to the Internet of Everything: Technologies and Standards
- ATE-CL342 – What Does the Internet of Things Mean to You?
- PSOIoT-2000 – How will the Internet of Things Help your Business?
We liked this statement from one of the above IoT session abstracts: “The value of the Internet of Things is realized through networked connections of physical objects and devices. These connections are crucial for the transition to an Internet of Everything…” But what exactly does that mean?
At Cisco Live, CEO John Chambers said the Internet of Everything (IoE) has changed the way the world looks at data and technology. Future IT industry growth will come from the IoE, which is generally referred to as the sharing of data between smart devices over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.
Chambers said:
“The simple concept, as you move forward with IoE, is that you have to get the right information at the right time to the right device to the right person to make the right decision. It sounds simple, but it is very, very difficult to do, and is almost impossible to do without our architecture….”
Mala Anand, Sr VP of Software and Service Platforms at Cisco, attempted to clarify the difference (from Cisco’s perspective) between the Internet-of-Things and the Internet-of-Everything at the Cisco Live session titled: The Internet of Everything Ecosystem – Bringing IT and OT Together with the Internet of Things .
Ms. Anand opined the Internet-of-Everything begins with the Internet-of-Things, which she explained is the movement driving connectivity into devices that were previously not connected. “The Internet-of-Everything is a paradigm with a promise of business transformation at scale,” she said. The “business transformation and value at stake” includes: asset utilization, employee productivity, supply chain/logistics, customer experience, and innovation.
Ms. Anand outlined three types of Internet-of-Everything connections:
- machine-to-machine, a.k.a. M2M (i.e. robots, sensors, etc.)
- machine-to-people
- people-to-people (i.e. social networking)
This world of IoE creates a different level of complexity with hyper-distributed environments, according to Anand. She stressed the need to build a partner ecosystem that drives interoperability and support for a platform that can drive new sources of value and business models. Indeed, Cisco partners Intel, NetApp and EMC also spoke at this Cisco Live session.
Anand reiterated previous forecasts made by Cisco executives – that the Internet-of-Everything will evolve into a $19 trillion market (“value at stake”) in the next few years.
IoT = IoE at Qualcomm?
During his opening keynote at TiECon 2014, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf made no such distinction between IoE (the term they use) and IoT (mainstream term). Steve implied that Qualcomm believed that the Internet of Things (IoT) was the same thing as the Internet of Everything (IoE).
He said IoE was an extension of Qualcomm’s existing business as it requires both mobile connectivity and wireless LANs (e.g. WiFi, Zigbee, etc).
Note that Qualcomm now owns Atheros Communications- a leading chip maker for WiFi and other wireless LANs.
“Qualcomm is building a portfolio of products to enable the Internet of Everything (IoE),” Steve Mollenkopf said. “Scale is very important to deliver on the very large surface area that will exist for the IoE,” he added.
What about “wearables?” “Health monitoring and wireless healthcare in general is a great, but different opportunity for Qualcomm. What’s needed is for the health care industry to fully embrace innovation in the IT industry. The supply chain for wearables is an opportunity for Qualcomm,” Mollenkopf added.
IoT – A Top Disruptive Trend Giving Rise to Multiple Market Segments:
McKinsey Global Institute’s Disruptive Technologies report calls out the Internet of Things (IoT) as a top disruptive technology trend that will have an impact of as much as $6 Trillion on the world economy by 2025 with 50 billion connected devices! Many are predicting 20 or 25 billion connected devices by 2020.
For sure, IoT will be a huge market, but not monolithic. Each vertical industry will have its own opportunities and challenges. Lack of industry standards, security (business), and privacy (consumer) are the biggest obstacles for IoT to overcome and be successful. These issues must be resolved for IoT to reach it’s promise and potential.
We’re still not sure if IoT and IoE are two acronyms for the same term or something different. We’ll let the reader be the judge of that.
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