The future of the Internet of Things will depend on how much real value can be realized from highly connected systems.  I enjoyed reading the Information Week article “Internet of Things: 8 Cost-Cutting Ideas for Government,” which reported on a Cisco study, “Internet of Everything: A $4.6 Trillion Public-Sector Opportunity:”

The virtual connection of data from people, processes, and things — the Internet of Things, or as Cisco calls it, the Internet of Everything (IOE) — promises a world of new economic opportunities. Now a new study has put a value on that opportunity and concludes that the public sector could see as much as $4.6 trillion in IOE-related savings and revenues worldwide over the next decade.

Eight areas with the most potential value are listed below, with potential 10-Year Value shown in parentheses:

1. Smart Parking ($41billion)
2. Water Management ($39 billion)
3. Gas Monitoring ($69 billion)
4. Chronic Disease Management ($146 billion)
5. Road Pricing ($18 billion)
6. Telework ($125 billion)
7. Connected Learning ($258 billion)
8. Connected Militarized Defense (1.5 trillion)

Those are big numbers!

The estimate is separate from $14.4 trillion in additional value Cisco predicts the private sector will derive from new efficiencies and services resulting from data linkages over the Internet.

“If you look back a decade from today at the impact of the Internet of Everything, I predict you will see it will be five to 10 times more impactful than the whole Internet has been today,” said Cisco CEO John Chambers

Whether or not Cisco is completely correct in its analysis is somewhat beside the point.  There are huge opportunities for innovation and application ahead of us.