By Ryan Michael Cunningham, Comcast Corporation
The term the Internet of Things, IoT, was coined in 1999, the same year IEEE 802.11 b standard was released, and the beginning of the age of the internet. At the time the IoT was strictly conceptual, but as the connected home continues to explode through improvements in cellular, Wi-Fi, cable standards, IoT continues to become more relevant. Despite the growing interest in IoT, the lack of conformity throughout the industry is resulting in a kludgy user experience, in most cases, requiring each device to be connected to individual hubs, which are subsequently connected to the home gateway. Previously IoT implementations created awkward user experiences discouraging the average consumer from fully immersing themselves in the technology, and restricted the customer base to technology-savvy individuals. Driving conformity in IoT by consolidating the hubs into the gateway, gives the end user to the ability to easily commission and control their video, Wi-Fi, and IoT devices through one interface.
More importantly, the gateway provides insight into the entire connected home ecosystem through a constant flow of data provided by connected clients, allowing different subsystems in the home to coexist, and improve performance. In summary, consolidating IoT infrastructure and services into the gateway can significantly improve customer experience by driving coexistence performance between individual subsystems through the gateway.