The Internet of Everything

Internet of Everything (IoE) is a relatively new term and is often confused with the Internet of Things (IoT).  According to CISCO, Internet of Everything brings People, Process, Data and Things together in order to make networked connections relevant and valuable before and turns information into actions creating new capabilities, experiences, and opportunities for everyone - individuals and businesses.  The term was coined by CISCO and is also used by numerous firms now as well.

The advancement in big data, analytics, and smartphone technology are resulting in our environment becoming ‘Internet of Everything’. Internet of Everything is a bigger picture where the internet of things fits into. It describes a scenario where objects have sensors, connected over public or private networks, that can measure and assess their status.

Let’s understand the Internet of Everything in depth!

By now it is understood that the Internet of Everything is essentially the integration of people, processes, network, and data. It is the Internet of Things combined with data from humans, business processes, and various data structures. Let us elaborate these four constituents of the Internet of Everything:

1. People:  Humans connected using devices in order to give insights about the personal and professional aspects constitutes ‘People’ in ‘IoE’. When these data are connected to the enterprise needs, they can divulge details for business prospects and can be used to track the performances of the team.
2. Processes: Internet of Everything impacts the business processes and ensures that the right data is delivered to the right person or to the right machine at the right time. The data referred here is an insightful piece of information.
3. Data: As the number of data sources increases, it is also vital to classify the data according to the categories and analyze it for richer insights. Data, when combined with the analytics, can help the businesses in the decision making processes.
4. Things: Internet of Things is a part of the Internet of  Everything. It is the connectivity of devices which sends and receives the information across various networks. Every signal generates data that has to be collected, efficiently summarized and correctly analyzed.

How the Internet of Everything is Different From the Internet of Things?

There is a lot of confusion between IoE and IoT, but, let us take a look at how they are different from each other. The basic difference between IoE and IoT is in the number of pillars for these concepts.

• IoT, on one hand, focusses on the physical objects only. On the other hand, IoE focuses on the four components as discussed above, namely, People, Processes, Data, and Things.
• IoT essentially is about the interconnectivity of the objects that can send and receive data. On the other hand, IoE relates to the numerous technologies and people as the end-nodes.

Both of them are different terms, but there are some similarities as well. For example, Both IoT and IoE are distributed systems. They do not have a single centre. Each node in the system will work as a management centre and perform independent tasks. The other  similarity is about security issues. These distributed systems are still highly vulnerable to cyber attacks and penetration. The network becomes more vulnerable if more devices are connected to it. Decentralization is an advantage as well as even if a couple of nodes are affected, whole system doesn’t fail. But, it also makes it more vulnerable.

But, not everyone is convinced. Everyone doesn’t agree that the Internet of Everything and the Internet of Things are different. For example, Qualcomm is a major tech player believing that IoE and IoT are essentially similar. In their own words, IoE is defined as “When smartthings everywhere are connected together, we will be able to do more and be more. This is the Internet of Everything (IoE), a paradigm shift that marks a new era of opportunity for everyone, from consumers and businesses to cities and governments”

Closing Thoughts

The Internet of Everything has the potential to impact our lives in a way we have not even imagined.  From healthcare to manufacturing, from marketing to advertising, the Internet of Everything will inevitably change it all. This overall digitization will create millions of intelligent and automated hardware pieced. Its range is growing rapidly. A future of connectivity is arriving. This future will not dramatically change our lives, but, the process has started. The process to provide us with better services and to create far better products.