The ‘Internet of Things’ comes to rural America
Frankly, up until about a year ago, I didn’t really know what it meant or how important it was, myself. Still, I’ve been hearing more and more about IoT and decided to do a little research. Here’s what I found:
IoT is short for Internet of Things. The term refers to the network of physical objects — or things — that feature an Internet Provider (IP) address for connectivity and the communication that occurs between those things and other Internet-enabled devices and systems.
Think cars that connect to your smartphone, household appliances and systems that can be controlled remotely, and so forth.
According to Microsoft — which we all would expect to be at the forefront of such endeavors — IoT offers greater efficiencies and productivity to a variety of businesses including heath care, manufacturing, transportation and retail.
You can add agriculture to that list, as well. Actually, many producers have been tied into IoT systems for some time now.
For example, John Deere launched its FarmSight services around six years ago, in 2011. Those services covered three key elements: John Deere machinery, AMS precision farming technology and dealer services. Read more…