It’s been more than 40 years since Ray Tomlinson sent the world’s first email. Something along the lines of ‘QWERTYUIOP’ to himself. He doesn’t remember exactly. Twenty years later, the first website went live. A page dedicated to the explanation of the World Wide Web. Eighteen months down the line, Ted Leonsis typed and sent the first AOL Instant Message to his wife.
The year was 1993. The Internet era as we know it had officially begun.
A mere two decades on, 19 billion devices now access the Web, with that figure set to increase exponentially to around 30 billion by the year 2020, according to Gartner. This is the age of the Internet of Things (IoT). Simply put, a network where everyday appliances and devices are connected via the Internet.
The industrial and economic impact of this step-change has been studied by analysts for the best part of a decade. The proliferation of networked industrial mechanisms will ultimately enable automated organisations to track, harness, analyse and exploit real-time data in the workplace.
In a few short years, the reality of this environment will be studied in Dubai, if the emirate realises its vision of becoming the region’s first ‘smart city’. With more than half the world’s population living in cities, the need for significantly improved urban management systems is critical. A smart Dubai will see thousands of sensors placed across the city collecting, managing and analysing real-time data.
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