Gartner defines the "Internet of Things as the network of physical objects that contain embedded technology to communicate and interact with their internal states or the external environment." In 2009 2.5 billion personal devices "things" were connected. By 2020 it is estimated that will grow to 30 billion "things".
The sheer diversity of Internet of Things applications that have emerged to date is very broad, but many applications that appear to be completely unique share an underlying functionality that is essentially common across the different applications.
Much of business value of the Internet of Things is not in the devices themselves, but in the data aggregation, data-processing and decision-making activities that take advantage of the data streams coming from the devices or from the ability to control the devices via the internet. According to Gartner the Internet of Things will be a $1.9 trillion business by 2020. Gartner sees the potential size and diversity of the Internet of Things as creating immediate opportunities for IT leaders.
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