A world of smarter, connected devices

Enterprises have recognized significant changes in the opportunities in the Internet of Things. In a world of smarter connected devices, products such as home lighting, home cameras, heating and air-conditioning systems, entry access systems and personal monitoring devices are set to become increasingly integrated into new and innovative services. Such services will include home environmental settings that respond to the proximity of home owners to the home, access and security cameras that work in unison to enhance home security, and home lighting which responds to home owner preferences and interacting intelligently with TV and audio sources.
Two important building blocks appear in most M2M and IoT solutions: the devices and, where necessary, a gateway. Depending on the nature of the M2M and IoT application, devices may either connect directly via some wide area network to the enabling platform, or as is the case in home solutions, connect via local area networks to a home gateway (or controller). In either model, the build of the device will need to include capabilities to transfer data across a range of networks using different protocols, recognized either by the receiving platform or gateway. In the rich home environment of protocols these may include Zigbee, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Z-Wave as well as a range of proprietary protocols.