How Did We Get Here? – A Brief History of IoT

As a leading provider and pioneer of IoT solutions in Asia, Overdrive IoT’s mission has always been to equip people with the technology to enhance the way they work and live. Our fully integrated solutions have enabled fleet managers to monitor and track their vehicles’ routes through GPS trackers on their mobile devices and facility managers to proactively respond to emergency situations with the help of smart sensors.

As IoT-integrated technologies are and will continue to be a defining feature of our digital world, it is almost strange to think that IoT was only in its infancy just 20 years ago. So, let’s take a look back in time and see how the Internet of Things came to be and how it will continue to evolve.

A Brief Timeline of The Development of Internet of Things

The late 1800s

In Mark Twain’s 1898 short story, The London Times of 1904, an invention called a ‘telectroscope’ was all the rage. It was a phone system that enabled a global network of knowledge sharing, allowing people to share information about practically everything and keep track of each other’s daily activities. Sounds familiar? That’s because the story was an early discussion of the concept of the Internet. Since the mid-1800s, when the telegraph and telephone were invented, humans have been theorising and perfecting technologies that allowed machines to communicate with one another, laying the groundwork for the Internet of Things (IoT).

The 1960s – 1970s

The conception of the Internet of Things would not have been possible without the invention of the Internet. It was originally developed by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the 1960s to allow academic and military information to be shared easily between different state departments. Back then, it was known as ARPANET.

The 1980s-1990s

Further research into perfecting ARPANET and advances in semiconductor technology contributed to the emergence of the digital Internet that we know today. Many innovations were also made during this period that experimented with using the Internet to operate ‘things.’ One of them was the 1982 Internet-connected Coca-cola vending machine at Carnegie Mellon University. Micro-switches were installed in the vending machine’s system, and the programmers used the Internet to check the amount of Coca-Cola bottles available and whether they were cold enough to help them decide if it was worth the trip there.

The 2000s

The word “Internet of Things” was only coined in 1999. Kevin Ashton, a technologist, came up with it to demonstrate how RFID (Radio-Frequency IDentification) tags could be used to link objects to the Internet and establish an information-sharing network for an enhanced supply chain management system. That was when companies and governments all over the world began funding research into IoT solutions powered and enabled by RFID, Bluetooth, wireless sensor networks, and GPS trackers.

Though IoT technologies grew in popularity in the 2000s, it wasn’t until 2011, after the invention of the IPv6 – a network layer protocol that exponentially increased the number of usable Internet addresses – that it became mainstream. Smartwatches, home surveillance systems, pacemakers, environmental sensors, car tracking devices, and even self-driving cars were all made possible thanks to IoT.

The Future of The Internet of Things

Whether it is fleet management systems that help boost productivity and efficiency of commercial vehicles to fitness trackers that monitor your health, IoT is set to revolutionise the way we work, live, and play. In fact, it is estimated that there will be 21 billion IoT devices by 2025 – nearly 3 times the human population. Moreover, the continued development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and 5G networks has created the potential for almost endless uses for interconnected devices. As such, it is safe to say that our digital future will be led and defined by the Internet of Things.

Overdrive wants to help prepare your company for the digital world with IoT solutions! Contact us today to find out more.