Have you ever heard about ‘IoT’? ‘IoT’ is an abbreviation of ‘Internet of Things.’ IoT refers to a technology or an environment in which a sensor is attached to an object and information is exchanged on the Internet in real time. Most of the things you can see easily around you are connected to the Internet. Up to now, human intervention had to be involved when Internet-connected devices exchanged information. But with the emergence of the IoT era, devices connected to the Internet are able to communicate gradually with each other on their own without human’s help.
Now, let’s look at some of the actual IoT cases that have been adopted. First, there are incubation rooms and sterilization rooms that contribute to maintaining optimal environments by monitoring the environments in real time in factory-style facilities and houses. Second, IoT improves spatial comfort by monitoring the environmental conditions of the facility, which prevents and manages risks for the elderly and the weak by detecting the location and movement of patients. Third, there are some cases in which IoT has been applied to products that can be supervised with smartphones. For instance, Google’s ‘Google Glass,’ Nike’s ‘Fuel Band’ for health care, and Fitbit’s ‘Smart Weight’ synchronize weight records via Wi-Fi. Finally, the Disney Parks, some of the most popular amusement parks in the U.S., have installed a number of sensors. These sensors provide real time information to users about which lines for rides are shortest, where guests are physically located moment to moment, etc.
IoT needs to be more activated for sure, but IoE has now come out, which is the evolution of IoT. IoE is an abbreviation for ‘Internet of Everything.’ It’s easy to think of IOE as a top level concept that includes IoT. These differences are very simple. You can just think that IoT is just one area of technology, but IoE should be understood as the lifestyle in essence. It’s because IoE is “a series of processes that people take and connect to objects by sending the information they need in place based on big data that creates values from the vast amount of data accumulated on the web.” It is now time for the Internet of Things, not just things, but everything that exists in the world, to be connected and interacted simultaneously.
