A new book on the Internet of Things

This book is an essay on the future of the Internet and the - now necessary - contribution of both sciences of complexity and cybernetics in information systems to meet the new challenges of sensory technologies (NFC, RFID, Barcodes, GPS, etc.) and open value chains. This essay discusses the particular impacts on economics, sociology and governance...

ABSTRACT :

The Internet is a constantly evolving ecosystem. His last variation?... Objects, which are gradually becoming full actors in our organizations. It is this new trend as the “Internet of Things” book will tell and explain. The authors lead a reflection on the deeper meaning of the concept, as well as on key issues arising.

The change is imminent, firstly due to the increasing complexity of processes to deal in computer systems (notably through the proliferation of event and contextual data) on the other hand the rise of object-actors , at very subsidiary levels, are able to react - as processing management operators - to these events.

Result of a meeting between a professional of Supply Chain and RFID, and a visionary expert of information systems, the book is structured in the form of questions and answers, illustrated with diagrams and charts. It is aimed at both professionals (technophiles warned), and less specialist readers who want to develop their knowledge in these matters or understand the impact of this new Internet at a socio-techno-economic level.

This book is therefore an essay on the future of the Internet and the - now necessary - contribution of both sciences of complexity and cybernetics in information systems to meet the new challenges of sensory technologies (NFC, RFID, Barcodes, GPS, etc.) and open value chains. This essay discusses the particular impacts on economics, sociology and governance...

Buy it (in French for the time being): http://www.boutique.afnor.org/LIV7DetailLivre.aspx?&nivCtx=LIVZLIVZ1A10A201A206&ts=6787150&CLE_ART=FA091668

The Internet of Things extends Web 2.0 but clearly raises the question of our ability to develop ever more powerful tools. Either objects, with their associated software intelligence, become "actors / partners" acting under our control: that is to say not only assistants but especially counselors, policy makers, organizers or economic agents... Or we must prepare for the digital chaos.

This revolution in progress, deeply calls into question our 'old' social, economic or technical models: get ready for a change of the same nature as that which took place between the vision of the cosmos from Newton to Einstein (relativity) or Max Planck (Quantum), but also the consequences of this change (moving from the gun to the atomic bomb)! ".

About the authors:

Philippe Gautier is the executive director of Business2Any (www.business2any.com). This company is specialized in the designing of complex decentralized and distributed systems and software. He has a long experience as a Chief Information Officer which, among other things, allowed him to be the first to implement all EPCGlobal standardized technologies in Europe (including RFID UHF GEN2, EPCIS and ONS) in a pilot innovative and at an operational level to manage - in a semi-open loop - the traceability of pallets amongst various logistics players in the supply chain. He got the price of innovation “GS1 2005”, the SME Award 2006 (Le Monde Informatique) and two trophies for "CIO 2007" (01 Informatique): "Winner SMEs" and "Jury Special Prize”. Finally, he is a founding member of the SEI (IES France: Internet European Society).

Laurent Gonzalez has worked for twenty years on the theme of the supply chain and logistics in Europe, initially for corporations and then as an independent consultant. During this experience, he became aware of the prominence of information systems in the global supply chain. Past ten years, Laurent Gonzalez specializes in RFID technology, first for a standardizing organization then for its integration in the companies’ supply chain. He was a founding member of Filrfid (http://www.filrfid.org/), the French Association of “RFID integrators, advisors and software editors”; and represents the Association at the European level. He is also author of “RFID. The stakes for the companies” (AFNOR Editions, 2008). Laurent Gonzalez also follows the work of the European Commission Working Groups on the Internet of Things, smart cities, Smart Grid...

They have said about the book...

"Here is a landmark book in the history of the understanding of the technological, economic, legal and societal stakes or issues of the Internet of Things. The authors had the courage to analyze this concept ... to show us, so teaching (through developed questions and clear and precise answers), that the Internet of Things is perhaps the new paradigm which Human societies will soon be confronted and whose evolution will heavily impact the future of the global economy and the representation mankind has of his place on Earth. ... The real revolution is ... that the objects - the "Cyberobjets" - are called to become new players, autonomous actors of the global economy. ... This book is so far the best explanation and the best presentation of "governance" of the Internet of Things. It addresses accurately and without taboos the issue of identifying objects, particularly in revealing issues related to the problem of "naming". He wisely recommends substituting a "control of objectives" to the current "control of means" that currently monopolizes the debate on societal issues in the Internet of Things. ... The authors also show that ... the Internet of Things also involves private information systems, community, etc.., hence a major risk of collapse – potentially leading ... to "chaos" - in the digital world which may well be unable to ensure the integration of increasing numbers of applications, including mobile. ... What is also fascinating and inspiring, is the positioning of the authors at the confluence of technology, business and philosophy. The convening of relevant authors as diverse as Homer, Henri Laborit, Lamartine, Karl Popper, Teilhard de Chardin, Boris Vian, and many others, to illustrate their arguments and conclude their work by asking clearly the key issue of the Internet of Things: the advent of "Cyberobjets" is almost the unexpected opportunity for mankind to escape the doom that promises the juxtaposition of ecological, financial, energy and society crises. To catch this opportunity, we must dare to reinvent the future by perpetuating the usefulness of objects by adding to them properties of self-learning and self-healing, that is to say to give them a kind of intelligence. The Internet of Things could then provide an alternative economic model that would no longer depend on the current “market economy” based on the increasingly rapid obsolescence of objects."

Gérald Santucci,

Head of Unit “Internet of Things and Future Internet Enterprise Systems - Enterprise Networking and RFID" at European Commission (Direction of "Information Society and Media")- author of the book's foreword.

''The systemic perspective adopted by this book opens a much broader perspective, the only, I think, which allows the use of the word "internet " next to the one of "objects ". This perspective is that of an almost infinite combination of interconnections, combinations, collaborations between "objects" (their properties, their presence, their internal logic ...), the information they produce, capture and broadcast, systems that produce or recognize them…. and human beings, as they are in the same network, Internet. ... It is not too early to take a serious interest in the Internet of Things, in which the book provides a valuable introduction. Want it to be read as both a contribution to reflection and a call to action. "

Daniel Kaplan,

General delegate of Fing (author of one of the book afterwords).

"The prostheses that the Internet of Things will bring us will be among those we already have. There is no need to think of crutches, jointed limbs and wheelchairs: everyday life, "normal" one, is based on a wealth of artifacts. <...> To prepare for the dissemination of communicating objects, remind yourself of your learning: how it happened when you learned to drive? As you use a word processor? A spreadsheet? Remember your first bike lesson: that fear of falling, you refuse to look in the corners and that made you fall in the ditch outside. <...> It is exciting to explore the distant future but it is urgent to take care of the near future. Accordingly, the Internet of Things appears as a natural step in the computerization of the economy and society, the deployment of digital technology. "

Michel Volle,

Economist (author of one of the book afterwords).