It’s clear that IoT is the buzzword of the minute. Maybe the buzzword of the year. Everyone’s talking about it, mentioning it, making predictions about it and claiming to be a player in it. I am among those, but I have the background and the history to back it up. But after reading this article  from Electronics Weekly.com, I’m just aggravated. It is annoyingly titled “The Internet of Things is Not Happening” which is just plain wrong. It then quotes an ARM Senior Executive who says:

“The embedded market is by the far biggest opportunity for ARM and the industry right now,” said the ARM executive.

This reflects the growing use of processor-based systems in applications ranging from automotive and medical systems to smart grid and smart factories.

And that’s my WTF moment. The embedded market. Like, processors embedded in cars and medical devices and factory floors, etc. Do you see the disconnect here? Either the writer of the article hasn’t the first clue what the Internet of Things is, or the ARM executive doesn’t. I guess it could be both, but I don’t really want to point fingers here. (Ok, so I just pointed fingers.)

This seems to be the common misconception about the “Internet of Things” : It’s all about consumer devices and wearables and home-automation so everything else isn’t the IoT.

Those are cool aspects of the Internet of Things, to be sure. Those are the flashy, sexy, visible parts of the IoT, sure. Those are the fun things that everyone wants to work on and show off. But that’s not all that IoT is. At least it better not be. Some people are trying to differentiate the “Industrial Internet of Things” as IIoT, but really, that’s just a segment of the market. 

The Internet of Things is connected, addressable devices.  So the embedded market is part of the Internet of Things. In fact, I’d say that the embedded market is going to be the largest part of the IoT. Yes, wearables and consumer devices like home automation, home security, etc. will be great markets, and will be huge. But as I said before, even in every person on the planet wears 6 devices, that’s still only 18 billion devices. When you start talking about the dozens of processors in your car, in your kitchen, and the hundreds or thousands in factories, etc., well, that’s where you get to the trillions of devices that make the IoT truly interesting.