Ready or Not, The Internet of Things (IoT) is Changing the Internet Landscape

Smart Everything

Virtually anything with a sensor will soon be connected with the internet. There’s already thermostats that let you control your home from an Apple Watch, TV’s that can listen to you and complete tasks, and a growing number of household items that add convenience by connecting to your world.

Whether it’s a refrigerator scheduling an appointment with a repair specialist right before it breaks down, or your car telling you where it’s parked, the world is changing. Convenience, and the rush for companies to up the level of convenience in their products is driving a new era in consumer electronics.

To many technologists, this wave is similar to the one where computers began to pop up in household devices. Microchips started coming standard inside of blenders and alarm clocks, two devices that were traditionally dumb mechanical systems.

Homes and Offices Evolving Before Our Eyes

So what does this mean for the things we come into contact with every day? The places we call home and work have to upgrade to keep up with the demands of innovation. With an increasing number of devices accessing the internet, routers are becoming an even bigger focus. The type of technology used in a router, and the marketing materials on the shelves in electronics stores used to revolve around the speed of a router and the generation of its wireless antennae.

Now the focus is beginning to pivot to the amount of bandwidth the router has. Can it handle connections from multiple devices? In addition to simple information pings, can it handle streaming Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime to multiple rooms in the house at the same time? My doorbell as a video system on it that transmits to my smartphone. If someone rings the doorbell, will my downloads on my computer suddenly begin to crawl?

All of these things impact businesses and homes. Internet Service Providers are scrambling to keep up with the bandwidth requirements, investing billions in additional fiber optic lines and additional server space. As servers continue to scale, new hosting companies, like QEPT are jumping into the game.

Along with the Internet of Things (IoT), the internet of commerce is exploding. After all, where do consumers like to purchase this new technology? Online of course! More and more brands are launching websites and creating content for their clients to consume online.

Again, all of this information being exchanged requires server space. Thankfully the market is responding and scaling accordingly. As the scale grows, the costs of operating hardware becomes smaller and smaller. This allows for the competition necessary to keep prices low, even as demand for infrastructure skyrockets.