By LAURA LOREK
Reporter with Silicon Hills News
The Internet of Everything is already here, said Leah Lewis, managing director of Cisco Consulting Services.
“It’s happening today,” Lewis told a packed ballroom during the Thursday morning keynote address at InnoTech San Antonio.
Today, every company is a tech company, Lewis said. And change isn’t constant, it’s instant, she said.
The applications of smart devices connected to the Internet seem endless. They include everything from a smart bra that senses temperature and blood flow to detect breast cancer to the University of British Columbia’s “smart concrete” that contains sensors and can send out alarms if a bridge has too much weight on it.
Both Google and Apple are creating smart contact lenses, Lewis said.
Google’s contact lenses are targeted at diabetics. The lenses can measure the blood glucose level in tears and send alerts when it’s time to take insulin. Apple is creating smart contact lenses that allow you to control your iPhone.
Just last week, Delphi Corp. announced its self-driving Audi Q5 travelled 3,500 miles from San Francisco to New York with the car doing almost all of the driving on its own.
To do that, the car has got to have radar and multiple sensors, Lewis said.
Lewis also recounted how her son, a college athlete who competes in Ironman Triathlons, uses technology through his Garmin watch to track his training.
“This watch blows away our little fitness apps,” she said.
The watch monitors her son’s swimming pace and stroke length. It also monitors his stride length, distance and running pace and even the torque in his pedals when he is biking. The data is all uploaded to his trainer. The trainer reviews that data and designs programs to help him improve.
Fitness isn’t the only area where the Internet of Everything is having a huge impact. Cities are adopting the technology to save money, create jobs and make cities more efficient and responsive to citizens.
For the last four years, Cisco has partnered with the City of Barcelona in Spain to create a smart city. City officials now track water, lighting, parking, transportation, waste and they’ve created 47,000 jobs in the process, Lewis said.
“Parking creates a lot of congestion in cities,” Lewis said.
In Barcelona, city officials have installed smart sensors in the concrete in parking spots that alert citizens via a mobile phone application that a parking spot is available, she said.
Smart devices and sensors create wide ranging applications for cities, manufacturers and industries such as the oil and gas industry, Lewis said. Leak detection on oil pipelines through sensors is just one application, she said.
Retailers are also starting to use sensors to detect customers inside stores and send discount coupons to their smart phones. Smart carts will some day allow people to pay for their groceries and other items with their mobile phone and make checking out super speedy. Sensors also help retailers track products, inventory and product placement, Lewis said.
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