Kevin Ashton, co-founder of the Auto-ID Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), first mentioned the Internet of objects in a presentation to Procter & Gamble (P&G) in 1999. Attracting the attention of P & G's senior management, Ashton called his presentation the "Internet of things" to combine the new cool trend of 1999.MIT professor Neil Gershenfeld's book Things Start to Think also came out in 1999. He did not use the exact term, but provided a clear vision of where IoT is headed.
IoT has evolved from the convergence of wireless technologies, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), microservices, and the internet. Convergence helped break down the silos between operational technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT), enabling analysis of deconstructed machine-generated data for predictions for improvements.
Although it was Ashton who first mentioned the Internet of things, the idea of connected devices has existed since the 1970s under the pseudonyms built-in internet and common computing.
The first internet device, for example, was a Coke machine at Carnegie Mellon University in the early 1980s. Using the web, programmers can check the condition of the machine and determine if there will be a cold drink waiting for them if they decide to go to the machine.
IoT evolved from M2M communication, that is, machines being interconnected over a network without human interaction. M2M refers to connecting a device to the cloud, managing and collecting data.
Taking M2M to the next level, IoT is a sensor network of billions of smart devices that connect people, systems and other applications to collect and share data. As its foundation, M2M offers the connection that makes IoT possible.
The Internet of things is also a natural extension of controller control and data collection (SCADA), a category of software application programs for Process Control, data collection in real time from remote locations to control equipment and conditions.
SCADA systems include hardware and software components. The hardware collects the data and feeds it to a computer where SCADA software is installed, where it is then processed and presented on time. The evolution of SCADA is such that the last generation of SCADA systems will evolve into first generation IoT systems.
However, the concept of the IoT ecosystem did not fully come to its senses until mid-2010, in part because the Chinese government said it would make IoT a strategic priority in its five-year plan.
