Silicon valley has been the innovation capital of the world since the 70s and lately the innovation engine has been running faster than ever. And, this time the theme is experience. The focus is the value of transformation that experience offers - efficiency, entertainment, savings or additional revenues. The developments and transformations are happening in many areas to enable experience.

Internet of Things

Top of the list is Internet of Things (IoT). IoT is nothing but an intelligent and invisible network of things that communicate directly or indirectly with each other or the internet to enable experience. The things (as in Internet of things) typically employ some kind of embedded technology that allows them to sense conditions such as pressure, humidity, temperature, motion, number of people in an area, amongst others. And then a technology allows them to connect to other things or the cloud so that they can send the information as well as be programmed.

There are many standards and proprietary solutions used for connecting things to each other or to the cloud: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Active RFID, loWPAN, EtherCAT, NFC, RFID to name a few. The choice of technology is usually dictated by the physical characteristics of the environment, such as the presence of wood, concrete, metal and others, the density of sensors, desired range, and data rates.

These things create many opportunities for businesses. Retail businesses can create loyalty programs for customer retention, clinical laboratories can use temperature sensors to maintain the precise temperature required for transporting clinical samples to ensure their viability, department stores can use weight sensors to refill shelves, senior care facilities can use for monitoring residents and many more. And, of course it creases opportunities for businesses to create new IoT solutions.