Cities First to Benefit From Internet of Things, If We Can Write Better Software

by Dan Patterson, TechRepublic

A panel led by Google chief Internet evangelist and former ACM president Vint Cerf at a New York University event this week discussed how city dwellers could be the initial benefactors of the Internet of Things (IoT).

The group deciphered and interpreted some of the technical challenges related to posed by potentially billions of connected devices. “We don’t know how to write software without bugs,” joked Cerf, “we’ve been trying for 70 years.” While technologists should be excited about the potential of a future loaded with IoT devices, Cerf cautioned developers should temper expectations with the reality of networking complexity.

Cerf said although a future of multitudinous IoT devices is exciting for technologists, networking complexity will be a major challenge. Potential benefits of an IoT architecture cited by the panelists include linked devices that send data back to cities, and a smart electrical grid that boosts urban efficiency by permitting metropolitan areas to optimize how energy is used and distributed. The latter application could prevent and mitigate the impact of brownouts, and enhance energy demand capabilities.

The panel also agreed device data networked at a large scale will help inform and protect urban residents by improving city service monitoring capabilities, while local open data access through application programming interfaces (APIs) could potentially empower third-party developers to create applications that fulfill granular neighborhood-specific needs.

Connected neighborhoods will enable improved communication with city service providers, as well as easy access to regulation and data, local ombudsman and advocates, and library and educational facilities, according to the panelists. Among the challenges Cerf raised are those related to API access to and control of data, standards and interoperability, and integrity of personal data.  Read the report.