5 Invisible IoT Applications

The Internet of Things is already having a real-world impact, as these five real-world examples attest.

Brian Buntz

July 20, 2016

5 Slides
Technology is at its best when it becomes "invisible."

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Cool new technologies seems to fade into the background as they gain adoption. Roughly a century ago, electricity began to gain widespread acceptance in the United States. Now, it is nearly everywhere, yet we take it for granted—just as we do computing, wireless technology, GPS, and the cloud. The Internet of Things is undergoing the same transition—fading into the background as it becomes indispensable.

The more unobtrusive the IoT is for consumers, the more successful it will become, says Robb Henshaw, Head of Global Communications, IoT Cloud at Cisco Jasper, which has just published a blog post and infographic on the subject. “Businesses across industries have already harnessed the power of IoT to create value-added services that enhance our lives in ways that aren’t totally obvious to the average consumer,” he says.

Indeed, IoT technology shouldn’t constantly remind us that it is there. “The more we can benefit from enhanced experiences and new services enabled by IoT without having to consciously think about how those services are delivered, that is what will lead to IoT’s ultimate success,” Henshaw explains.

Click on to see five examples of IoT connectivity selected by Cisco Jasper that are becoming invisible:

About the Author

Brian Buntz

Brian is a veteran journalist with more than ten years’ experience covering an array of technologies including the Internet of Things, 3-D printing, and cybersecurity. Before coming to Penton and later Informa, he served as the editor-in-chief of UBM’s Qmed where he overhauled the brand’s news coverage and helped to grow the site’s traffic volume dramatically. He had previously held managing editor roles on the company’s medical device technology publications including European Medical Device Technology (EMDT) and Medical Device & Diagnostics Industry (MD+DI), and had served as editor-in-chief of Medical Product Manufacturing News (MPMN).

At UBM, Brian also worked closely with the company’s events group on speaker selection and direction and played an important role in cementing famed futurist Ray Kurzweil as a keynote speaker at the 2016 Medical Design & Manufacturing West event in Anaheim. An article of his was also prominently on kurzweilai.net, a website dedicated to Kurzweil’s ideas.

Multilingual, Brian has an M.A. degree in German from the University of Oklahoma.

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