Internet of Things key terms explained for distance MBA in Information Technology

Cloud, mobile, analytics, social, information security, and Internet of things (IoT) are the key technologies which will have disruptive impact on the businesses and future. Currently desktop and servers are connected to internet. Internet of things (IoT) is a kind of extended internet. With IoT “anything” can be connected to internet which has its own IP address. (IP stands for Internet Protocol.) “Anything” indicates even an intelligent device can connected to the internet.

Interest in remote monitoring and real-time monitoring is flourishing in IoT making this one of the fastest-growing use case categories. – Bain and company report

Reference: www.ncta.com
Let us try and understand some buzzwords related to this fast growing technology Internet of Things(IoT).

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network where various devices or sensors are connected to each other and to other systems like cloud. These sensors and devices are called “things”. Things gather data and send it to the internet or cloud where this data is processed to take decisions or generate insights.

Edge Computing

With cloud, lot of computing power is concentrated at the server. Edge computing a different paradigm which is opposite of the cloud. Edge computing is a distributed computing paradigm. Here the processing power is made available at the locations of end user or source of data rather than at central location like cloud computing. In the context of IoT, edge computing means more processing power and intelligence at the level of sensors or embedded devices.

Industrial Internet of things (IIoT)

Industrial Internet of things or IIoT is a network of many different kinds of industrial devices connected by communications technologies. Using these industrial grade systems, companies not only monitor things (end devices) and collect data but also can generate valuable insights for smarter business decisions.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard which we use daily between our mobile phone and ear piece or speaker. Bluetooth operates in the 2400-2483.5 MHz range within the ISM 2.4 GHz frequency band. It is designed for continuous streaming of data making it suitable for wireless headsets, keyboards, speakers etc. Power consumption is little more compared to BLE.

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)

Bluetooth low energy(BLE) is a newer version of the Bluetooth standard which is designed for less power consumption. It is commonly used for pairing health-tracking wearables with users’ cell phones. Typical uses of BLE are in blood pressure monitor equipment, fitbit like trackers and location trackers on common household devices.

BLE is designed for applications that do not need to exchange large amount of data. These devices can run for longer duration with less power and are economical too.

ZigBee

ZigBee technology is an IEEE 802.15.4-based specification. This protocol is designed for communicating small amounts of data over a short distance. Important consideration is low consumption of power. It is used for creating personal area networks for home automation, medical devices, and small scale projects.

WiFi

WiFi is a local area network (LAN) which is used to provide network access within a limited range. You must have seen and used this at home, coffee shops, airport etc. It is a network connected in star topology. There is a central hub and all the other devices are connected to it directly. This makes it easy to connect and remove devices from Wifi network. The average range for Wifi to operate is between 30 to 100 meters. Secondly it consumes lot of power.

6LoWPAN

6LoWPAN is an acronym that combines Internet Protocol (IPv6) and Low-power Wireless Personal Area Networks (LoWPAN). With 6LoWPAN protocol, a small device with limited processing power can transfer data on wireless channel using IPV6.

Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT)

Narrowband IoT is a low power, wide area (LPWA) technology standard developed by 3GPP. NB-IoT designed specifically for indoor coverage, low cost, long battery life, and high connection density.

Machine to Machine (M2M)

It is a term used to demote communication between two devices or machines without human intervention.

Wearables

These are intelligent or smart devices which can be worn by humans. Example of wearables is a fitness band.

SBC

SBC is acronym for Single Board Computer. It is a computer made on a single board instead of multiple boards.

SoC

SoC is acronym for system on a Chip. SoC is a single integrated circuit or a chip that contains all the required circuits which are needed to build a complete system.

Why these terms are important for a pursuant of distance MBA

With internet of things (IoT), many systems are becoming more and more intelligent. It can be used in many industries to drive more automation and quality. An aspiring manager pursuing distance MBA needs to be well-versed with these terms to take an advantage of the latest technology.