The internet of things (IoT) is heralded as a development that can deliver dramatic changes in the way we live. It is recognised as an enabler that will increase efficiency in a number of areas, including transport and logistics, health, and manufacturing. The IoT will assist in the optimisation of processes through advanced data analytics, and be the catalyst for new market segments by capitalising on its cyber-physical characteristics, giving rise to cross-cutting applications and services (Miorandi et al. 2012).

The evolution of the IoT

The idea of connecting ‘things’ to the internet extends much further back than the use of the term ‘Internet of Things’. In the early 1980s students at Carnegie Melon University fitted internet-connected photosensors to a soft drinks vending machine, which allowed them to count the number of cans that were being dispensed. This enabled anyone with access to the internet to determine how many drinks had been dispensed, and thus how many were remaining (Vetter 1995). Even before the first webpage was created, John Romkey and Simon Hackett introduced a toaster that was connected to the internet in 1990. Romkey’s presentation at the 1990 Interop Conference featured an internet-connected Sunbeam Deluxe Automatic Radiant Control toaster, and arose as the result of a challenge at the previous year’s conference from Dan Lynch, President of Interop, to Romkey. Lynch had promised Romkey centre stage at the event if he succeeded. The toaster was connected using TCP/IP and had a Simple Networking Management Protocol Management Information Base (SNMP MIB) controller; its one function was to turn the power on or off. The first use of the term ‘Internet of Things’ came much later, and is widely attributed to Ashton (Ashton 2009), when he used it as the title of a presentation at Procter and Gamble in 1999.