The Internet of Things: Driving Efficiency

The IoT, or Internet of Things, has achieved celebrity status today. It seems everywhere we turn, “everybody wants to get into the act” (1). IoT partnerships, products, strategies, visions, and pontifications are rolling out in rapid succession across many industries. In general this is positive. The IoT holds great promise as a means for us all to be better stewards of the planet, and its people.  This is because the IoT asserts that virtually every thing can be connected to a network, or manifest perpetual connectivity (2), enabling the opportunity to optimize resources in a technology-driven world.  

How can society leverage our connectivity [to networks] in ways that enable a digital transformation in efficiency?  Some ways are obvious, such as accessible home air conditioning thermostats that allow remote control to lower energy usage. Or, appliances, doors, and windows that are connected to the Internet to allow control from miles away to lock up, turn off the stove or iron, start the oven, or even allow someone to enter your home.  In an industrial setting, hundreds of millions of dollars can be saved by connecting assets, such as pumps, valves, turbines, and robotic arms, to health status monitors, ensuring the right amount of energy is used and no maintenance activity is wasted.  And this is just the beginning.  The potential for scale is immense.

It gives me great personal satisfaction to help HPE contribute to the IoT industry, and manifest these sustainability efficiencies for our customers. This week at HPE Discover in Las Vegas, we created a new product category called “Converged IoT Systems” and launched two new products, the Edgeline EL1000 and EL4000 (3). These Edgeline Systems are designed to provide powerful yet highly efficient analysis and control of the many things in the IoT—for example tools, manufacturing machines, and energy grids. With better control of these industrial assets, we can lower energy and material resources required for businesses and research facilities to execute their missions.

And the Edgeline Systems themselves are energy efficient and compact. They are built with the highest performing energy efficient processing modules in the industry, resulting in quick insights into the status and control of operations. Our Edgeline Systems sport a small footprint, thus requiring less materials to build and deploy. They are also shock and vibration resistant and operate over expanded temperature ranges, making them durable and long lasting.

HPE sees the IoT as not only a way to help our customers be more competitive, but also a way to contribute to the sustainable and efficient use of our natural resources.  Leveraging IoT as an enabler of sustainability reflects another way HPE is enlisting innovation to drive efficiency and advance Living Progress.

(1) Jimmy Durante, https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Jimmy_Durante
(2) “7 Principles of the IoT”, http://blog.iiconsortium.org/2015/07/the-7-principles-of-the-internet-of-things-iot.html
(3) “Converged IoT Systems”, http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2460783/hpe-unveils-industry-first-converged-iot-system-with-edgeline-el1000-and-el400