Where's the IoT? with Twilio

Posted by
Sandra Mueller

Where's the IoT? with Twilio

On this weeks’ episode of Real World IoT with 151 Advisors, our host Ken Briodagh sits down to talk with Evan Cummack about the current state of the IoT. Evan is the Principal Product Manager for Twilio's Programmable Wireless product line. He has been with Twilio since 2011, has developed multiple new products and consulted with many of Twilio's largest customers on global communications solutions. Twilio is a global development platform providing APIs for various forms of communications, catering to customers and developers alike.

The Current IoT

Evan starts out with a bold statement, arguing that the IoT isn’t really what we all think it is. Today most of the IoT is just many connected devices on the same network or M2M devices. Comparing this to what we thought the IoT should look like, with any device talking to any other device and a completely open network with no intermediary humans or machines, goes to show that our IoT isn’t really there. What we see today is more of a closed system and is still very useful, but certain devices are only able to communicate with the organization that holds ownership and everything else seems to work in that same aspect. Ken argues that stating the systems are closed and the systems don’t talk with each other leaves out the mobile component. As an example, if you are in an intelligent transportation system, your phone is communicating with that system getting information of where you are and where you need to go and how much you need to pay. Despite having to download an application, the things are still interconnected. Ken and Evan do agree that most of what we call IoT is actually these multiple networks rather than a large open ecosystem, however, Ken believes that this is, in fact, a good thing. With the way the internet was built and is now, the ideal IoT world of all things interconnecting and loads of data being transferred from city to city is not feasible. The public internet is far too privatized, but one of the way to mitigate that is to have a private internet which only connects publicly when necessary, minimizing data dumping and risk. Everyone can then build the internet for their own needs.

Looking Ahead

As the cost equation goes down, connectivity can be justified for simpler things like usage and maintenance applications. Once this starts, many opportunities can be gained and this will, in turn, change the picture for the IoT. Ease of access and ubiquity are important, but the infrastructure for this is still quite a way out. It has a huge importance in changing the world around us which is why it must be pursued and simplified. Nearing the end, both Ken and Evan talk about how we all essentially still live in the text-based internet, just slightly dressed up. Interfaces like voice and video and natural interfaces are going to be very transformative in the way we use the Internet and IoT in the future. Twilio wants to bring these kinds of things to their community, providing tools to build these changes and new applications within the IoT. Ken states, “The best case scenario for the IoT is invisibility. It should be a facilitator. It should be the plumbing in your house that just works and we don’t have to worry about it.”

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