What is IoT?

The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—“things”—

that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of
connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet.
These devices range from ordinary household objects to sophisticated industrial
tools. With more than 7 billion connected IoT devices today, experts are expecting
this number to grow to 10 billion by 2020 and 22 billion by 2025. Oracle has a
network of device partners.

Why is Internet of Things (IoT) so important?

Over the past few years, IoT has become one of the most important technologies of
the 21st century. Now that we can connect everyday objects—kitchen appliances,
cars, thermostats, baby monitors—to the internet via embedded devices, seamless
communication is possible between people, processes, and things.

By means of low-cost computing, the cloud, big data, analytics, and mobile
technologies, physical things can share and collect data with minimal human
intervention. In this hyperconnected world, digital systems can record, monitor,
and adjust each interaction between connected things. The physical world meets the
digital world—and they cooperate.

What technologies have made IoT possible?

While the idea of IoT has been in existence for a long time, a collection of recent
advances in a number of different technologies has made it practical.

Access to low-cost, low-power sensor technology. Affordable and reliable sensors

are making IoT technology possible for more manufacturers.
Connectivity. A host of network protocols for the internet has made it easy to
connect sensors to the cloud and to other “things” for efficient data transfer.
Cloud computing platforms. The increase in the availability of cloud platforms
enables both businesses and consumers to access the infrastructure they need to
scale up without actually having to manage it all.
Machine learning and analytics. With advances in machine learning and analytics,
along with access to varied and vast amounts of data stored in the cloud,
businesses can gather insights faster and more easily. The emergence of these
allied technologies continues to push the boundaries of IoT and the data produced
by IoT also feeds these technologies.
Conversational artificial intelligence (AI). Advances in neural networks have
brought natural-language processing (NLP) to IoT devices (such as digital personal
assistants Alexa, Cortana, and Siri) and made them appealing, affordable, and
viable for home use.
What is industrial IoT?
Industrial IoT (IIoT) refers to the application of IoT technology in industrial
settings, especially with respect to instrumentation and control of sensors and
devices that engage cloud technologies. Refer to thisTitan use case PDF for a good
example of IIoT. Recently, industries have used machine-to-machine communication
(M2M) to achieve wireless automation and control. But with the emergence of cloud
and allied technologies (such as analytics and machine learning), industries can
achieve a new automation layer and with it create new revenue and business models.
IIoT is sometimes called the fourth wave of the industrial revolution, or Industry
4.0. The following are some common uses for IIoT:

Smart manufacturing
Connected assets and preventive and predictive maintenance
Smart power grids
Smart cities
Connected logistics
Smart digital supply chains
tractor
Unlock business value with IoT
As IoT becomes more widespread in the marketplace, companies are capitalizing on
the tremendous business value it can offer. These benefits include:

Deriving data-driven insights from IoT data to help better manage the business
Increasing productivity and efficiency of business operations
Creating new business models and revenue streams
Easily and seamlessly connecting the physical business world to the digital world
to drive quick time to value
What are IoT applications?
Business-ready, SaaS IoT Applications
IoT Intelligent Applications are prebuilt software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications
that can analyze and present captured IoT sensor data to business users via
dashboards. We have a full set of IoT Intelligent Applications.

IoT applications use machine learning algorithms to analyze massive amounts of

connected sensor data in the cloud. Using real-time IoT dashboards and alerts, you
gain visibility into key performance indicators, statistics for mean time between
failures, and other information. Machine learning–based algorithms can identify
equipment anomalies and send alerts to users and even trigger automated fixes or
proactive counter measures.

With cloud-based IoT applications, business users can quickly enhance existing
processes for supply chains, customer service, human resources, and financial
services. There’s no need to recreate entire business processes.

What are some ways IoT applications are deployed?

The ability of IoT to provide sensor information as well as enable device-to-device
communication is driving a broad set of applications. The following are some of the
most popular applications and what they do.

Create new efficiencies in manufacturing through machine monitoring and product-

quality monitoring.
Machines can be continuously monitored and analyzed to make sure they are
performing within required tolerances. Products can also be monitored in real time
to identify and address quality defects.

Improve the tracking and “ring-fencing” of physical assets.

Tracking enables businesses to quickly determine asset location. Ring-fencing
allows them to make sure that high-value assets are protected from theft and
removal.

Use wearables to monitor human health analytics and environmental conditions.

IoT wearables enable people to better understand their own health and allow
physicians to remotely monitor patients. This technology also enables companies to
track the health and safety of their employees, which is especially useful for
workers employed in hazardous conditions.

Drive efficiencies and new possibilities in existing processes.

One example of this is the use of IoT to increase efficiency and safety in
connected logistics for fleet management. Companies can use IoT fleet monitoring to
direct trucks, in real time, to improve efficiency.

Enable business process changes.

An example of this is the use of IoT devices for connected assets to monitor the
health of remote machines and trigger service calls for preventive maintenance. The
ability to remotely monitor machines is also enabling new product-as-a-service
business models, where customers no longer need to buy a product but instead pay
for its usage.
map
What industries can benefit from IoT?
Organizations best suited for IoT are those that would benefit from using sensor
devices in their business processes.

Manufacturing
Manufacturers can gain a competitive advantage by using production-line monitoring
to enable proactive maintenance on equipment when sensors detect an impending
failure. Sensors can actually measure when production output is compromised. With
the help of sensor alerts, manufacturers can quickly check equipment for accuracy
or remove it from production until it is repaired. This allows companies to reduce
operating costs, get better uptime, and improve asset performance management.

Automotive
The automotive industry stands to realize significant advantages from the use of
IoT applications. In addition to the benefits of applying IoT to production lines,
sensors can detect impending equipment failure in vehicles already on the road and
can alert the driver with details and recommendations. Thanks to aggregated
information gathered by IoT-based applications, automotive manufacturers and
suppliers can learn more about how to keep cars running and car owners informed.

Transportation and Logistics

Transportation and logistical systems benefit from a variety of IoT applications.
Fleets of cars, trucks, ships, and trains that carry inventory can be rerouted
based on weather conditions, vehicle availability, or driver availability, thanks
to IoT sensor data. The inventory itself could also be equipped with sensors for
track-and-trace and temperature-control monitoring. The food and beverage, flower,
and pharmaceutical industries often carry temperature-sensitive inventory that
would benefit greatly from IoT monitoring applications that send alerts when
temperatures rise or fall to a level that threatens the product.

Retail
IoT applications allow retail companies to manage inventory, improve customer
experience, optimize supply chain, and reduce operational costs. For example, smart
shelves fitted with weight sensors can collect RFID-based information and send the
data to the IoT platform to automatically monitor inventory and trigger alerts if
items are running low. Beacons can push targeted offers and promotions to customers
to provide an engaging experience.

Public Sector
The benefits of IoT in the public sector and other service-related environments are
similarly wide-ranging. For example, government-owned utilities can use IoT-based
applications to notify their users of mass outages and even of smaller
interruptions of water, power, or sewer services. IoT applications can collect data
concerning the scope of an outage and deploy resources to help utilities recover
from outages with greater speed.

Healthcare
IoT asset monitoring provides multiple benefits to the healthcare industry.
Doctors, nurses, and orderlies often need to know the exact location of patient-
assistance assets such as wheelchairs. When a hospital’s wheelchairs are equipped
with IoT sensors, they can be tracked from the IoT asset-monitoring application so
that anyone looking for one can quickly find the nearest available wheelchair. Many
hospital assets can be tracked this way to ensure proper usage as well as financial
accounting for the physical assets in each department.

General Safety Across All Industries

In addition to tracking physical assets, IoT can be used to improve worker safety.
Employees in hazardous environments such as mines, oil and gas fields, and chemical
and power plants, for example, need to know about the occurrence of a hazardous
event that might affect them. When they are connected to IoT sensor–based
applications, they can be notified of accidents or rescued from them as swiftly as
possible. IoT applications are also used for wearables that can monitor human
health and environmental conditions. Not only do these types of applications help
people better understand their own health, they also permit physicians to monitor
patients remotely.

trends
How is IoT changing the world? Take a look at connected cars.
IoT is reinventing the automobile by enabling connected cars. With IoT, car owners
can operate their cars remotely—by, for example, preheating the car before the
driver gets in it or by remotely summoning a car by phone. Given IoT’s ability to
enable device-to-device communication, cars will even be able to book their own
service appointments when warranted.

The connected car allows car manufacturers or dealers to turn the car ownership
model on its head. Previously, manufacturers have had an arms-length relationship
with individual buyers (or none at all). Essentially, the manufacturer’s
relationship with the car ended once it was sent to the dealer. With connected
cars, automobile makers or dealers can have a continuous relationship with their
customers. Instead of selling cars, they can charge drivers usage fees, offering a
“transportation-as-a-service” using autonomous cars. IoT allows manufacturers to
upgrade their cars continuously with new software, a sea-change difference from the
traditional model of car ownership in which vehicles immediately depreciate in
performance and value.

Make the best business decisions with Oracle IoT

With Oracle Intelligent Applications, you can extend your supply chain, ERP, HR,
and customer experience (CX) applications to the digital world. Leverage
intelligent, predictive algorithms and digital twins to improve operational
efficiency, boost worker productivity, enhance CX, and create new business models
and opportunities.

What is IoT?
The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—“things”—
that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of
connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet.
These devices range from ordinary household objects to sophisticated industrial
tools. With more than 7 billion connected IoT devices today, experts are expecting
this number to grow to 10 billion by 2020 and 22 billion by 2025. Oracle has a
network of device partners.

Why is Internet of Things (IoT) so important?

Over the past few years, IoT has become one of the most important technologies of
the 21st century. Now that we can connect everyday objects—kitchen appliances,
cars, thermostats, baby monitors—to the internet via embedded devices, seamless
communication is possible between people, processes, and things.

By means of low-cost computing, the cloud, big data, analytics, and mobile
technologies, physical things can share and collect data with minimal human
intervention. In this hyperconnected world, digital systems can record, monitor,
and adjust each interaction between connected things. The physical world meets the
digital world—and they cooperate.

What technologies have made IoT possible?

While the idea of IoT has been in existence for a long time, a collection of recent
advances in a number of different technologies has made it practical.

Access to low-cost, low-power sensor technology. Affordable and reliable sensors

are making IoT technology possible for more manufacturers.
Connectivity. A host of network protocols for the internet has made it easy to
connect sensors to the cloud and to other “things” for efficient data transfer.
Cloud computing platforms. The increase in the availability of cloud platforms
enables both businesses and consumers to access the infrastructure they need to
scale up without actually having to manage it all.
Machine learning and analytics. With advances in machine learning and analytics,
along with access to varied and vast amounts of data stored in the cloud,
businesses can gather insights faster and more easily. The emergence of these
allied technologies continues to push the boundaries of IoT and the data produced
by IoT also feeds these technologies.
Conversational artificial intelligence (AI). Advances in neural networks have
brought natural-language processing (NLP) to IoT devices (such as digital personal
assistants Alexa, Cortana, and Siri) and made them appealing, affordable, and
viable for home use.
What is industrial IoT?
Industrial IoT (IIoT) refers to the application of IoT technology in industrial
settings, especially with respect to instrumentation and control of sensors and
devices that engage cloud technologies. Refer to thisTitan use case PDF for a good
example of IIoT. Recently, industries have used machine-to-machine communication
(M2M) to achieve wireless automation and control. But with the emergence of cloud
and allied technologies (such as analytics and machine learning), industries can
achieve a new automation layer and with it create new revenue and business models.
IIoT is sometimes called the fourth wave of the industrial revolution, or Industry
4.0. The following are some common uses for IIoT:

Smart manufacturing
Connected assets and preventive and predictive maintenance
Smart power grids
Smart cities
Connected logistics
Smart digital supply chains
tractor
Unlock business value with IoT
As IoT becomes more widespread in the marketplace, companies are capitalizing on
the tremendous business value it can offer. These benefits include:

Deriving data-driven insights from IoT data to help better manage the business
Increasing productivity and efficiency of business operations
Creating new business models and revenue streams
Easily and seamlessly connecting the physical business world to the digital world
to drive quick time to value
What are IoT applications?
Business-ready, SaaS IoT Applications
IoT Intelligent Applications are prebuilt software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications
that can analyze and present captured IoT sensor data to business users via
dashboards. We have a full set of IoT Intelligent Applications.

IoT applications use machine learning algorithms to analyze massive amounts of

connected sensor data in the cloud. Using real-time IoT dashboards and alerts, you
gain visibility into key performance indicators, statistics for mean time between
failures, and other information. Machine learning–based algorithms can identify
equipment anomalies and send alerts to users and even trigger automated fixes or
proactive counter measures.
With cloud-based IoT applications, business users can quickly enhance existing
processes for supply chains, customer service, human resources, and financial
services. There’s no need to recreate entire business processes.

What are some ways IoT applications are deployed?

The ability of IoT to provide sensor information as well as enable device-to-device
communication is driving a broad set of applications. The following are some of the
most popular applications and what they do.

Create new efficiencies in manufacturing through machine monitoring and product-

quality monitoring.
Machines can be continuously monitored and analyzed to make sure they are
performing within required tolerances. Products can also be monitored in real time
to identify and address quality defects.

Improve the tracking and “ring-fencing” of physical assets.

Tracking enables businesses to quickly determine asset location. Ring-fencing
allows them to make sure that high-value assets are protected from theft and
removal.

Use wearables to monitor human health analytics and environmental conditions.

IoT wearables enable people to better understand their own health and allow
physicians to remotely monitor patients. This technology also enables companies to
track the health and safety of their employees, which is especially useful for
workers employed in hazardous conditions.

Drive efficiencies and new possibilities in existing processes.

One example of this is the use of IoT to increase efficiency and safety in
connected logistics for fleet management. Companies can use IoT fleet monitoring to
direct trucks, in real time, to improve efficiency.

Enable business process changes.

An example of this is the use of IoT devices for connected assets to monitor the
health of remote machines and trigger service calls for preventive maintenance. The
ability to remotely monitor machines is also enabling new product-as-a-service
business models, where customers no longer need to buy a product but instead pay
for its usage.

map
What industries can benefit from IoT?
Organizations best suited for IoT are those that would benefit from using sensor
devices in their business processes.

Manufacturing
Manufacturers can gain a competitive advantage by using production-line monitoring
to enable proactive maintenance on equipment when sensors detect an impending
failure. Sensors can actually measure when production output is compromised. With
the help of sensor alerts, manufacturers can quickly check equipment for accuracy
or remove it from production until it is repaired. This allows companies to reduce
operating costs, get better uptime, and improve asset performance management.

Automotive
The automotive industry stands to realize significant advantages from the use of
IoT applications. In addition to the benefits of applying IoT to production lines,
sensors can detect impending equipment failure in vehicles already on the road and
can alert the driver with details and recommendations. Thanks to aggregated
information gathered by IoT-based applications, automotive manufacturers and
suppliers can learn more about how to keep cars running and car owners informed.
Transportation and Logistics
Transportation and logistical systems benefit from a variety of IoT applications.
Fleets of cars, trucks, ships, and trains that carry inventory can be rerouted
based on weather conditions, vehicle availability, or driver availability, thanks
to IoT sensor data. The inventory itself could also be equipped with sensors for
track-and-trace and temperature-control monitoring. The food and beverage, flower,
and pharmaceutical industries often carry temperature-sensitive inventory that
would benefit greatly from IoT monitoring applications that send alerts when
temperatures rise or fall to a level that threatens the product.

Retail
IoT applications allow retail companies to manage inventory, improve customer
experience, optimize supply chain, and reduce operational costs. For example, smart
shelves fitted with weight sensors can collect RFID-based information and send the
data to the IoT platform to automatically monitor inventory and trigger alerts if
items are running low. Beacons can push targeted offers and promotions to customers
to provide an engaging experience.

Public Sector
The benefits of IoT in the public sector and other service-related environments are
similarly wide-ranging. For example, government-owned utilities can use IoT-based
applications to notify their users of mass outages and even of smaller
interruptions of water, power, or sewer services. IoT applications can collect data
concerning the scope of an outage and deploy resources to help utilities recover
from outages with greater speed.

Healthcare
IoT asset monitoring provides multiple benefits to the healthcare industry.
Doctors, nurses, and orderlies often need to know the exact location of patient-
assistance assets such as wheelchairs. When a hospital’s wheelchairs are equipped
with IoT sensors, they can be tracked from the IoT asset-monitoring application so
that anyone looking for one can quickly find the nearest available wheelchair. Many
hospital assets can be tracked this way to ensure proper usage as well as financial
accounting for the physical assets in each department.

General Safety Across All Industries

In addition to tracking physical assets, IoT can be used to improve worker safety.
Employees in hazardous environments such as mines, oil and gas fields, and chemical
and power plants, for example, need to know about the occurrence of a hazardous
event that might affect them. When they are connected to IoT sensor–based
applications, they can be notified of accidents or rescued from them as swiftly as
possible. IoT applications are also used for wearables that can monitor human
health and environmental conditions. Not only do these types of applications help
people better understand their own health, they also permit physicians to monitor
patients remotely.

trends
How is IoT changing the world? Take a look at connected cars.
IoT is reinventing the automobile by enabling connected cars. With IoT, car owners
can operate their cars remotely—by, for example, preheating the car before the
driver gets in it or by remotely summoning a car by phone. Given IoT’s ability to
enable device-to-device communication, cars will even be able to book their own
service appointments when warranted.

The connected car allows car manufacturers or dealers to turn the car ownership
model on its head. Previously, manufacturers have had an arms-length relationship
with individual buyers (or none at all). Essentially, the manufacturer’s
relationship with the car ended once it was sent to the dealer. With connected
cars, automobile makers or dealers can have a continuous relationship with their
customers. Instead of selling cars, they can charge drivers usage fees, offering a
“transportation-as-a-service” using autonomous cars. IoT allows manufacturers to
upgrade their cars continuously with new software, a sea-change difference from the
traditional model of car ownership in which vehicles immediately depreciate in
performance and value.

Make the best business decisions with Oracle IoT

With Oracle Intelligent Applications, you can extend your supply chain, ERP, HR,
and customer experience (CX) applications to the digital world. Leverage
intelligent, predictive algorithms and digital twins to improve operational
efficiency, boost worker productivity, enhance CX, and create new business models
and opportunities.

benefits of iot
Real-time asset/resource visibility
Reduced costs
Improved operational efficiency
Data-driven insights for quick decision-making
End-to-end, remote monitoring and management of assets/resources
Real-time, predictive and prescriptive insights
Improve end-customer experience