The Buzz Surrounding the Internet of Things - Assignment Example

Introduction to Information Systems By (Name) Course Course Instructor Institution City/State Date Question 1: The Internet of Things Article: The Buzz Surrounding the Internet of Things This article highlights the issues of internet of things and mainly the enthusiasm and buzz that comes with it (Burrus, 2014). According to this article, the internet of things mainly covers increased machine-to-machine communication. The article highlights the foundations of internet of things noting that internet of things is mainly build on aspect of cloud computing and networks that deal in gathering of data. According to the article internet of things should not only be confined to machine-to-machine communication rather the aspects of devices like sensors ought to be brought out. Thus, the author reiterates that internet of things incorporates machine and sensors. Hence, the article affirms that the real value of internet of things is in bringing together data gathered and at the same time leveraging the same data. Further, from the article, it is noted that the cloud-based application are very instrumental in leveraging of data. Further, it is noted that the internet of things usually does not function without the various cloud-based applications in the interpretation and transmission of data that comes through all the sensors. However, it is the cloud that enables that ensures the applications are able to work for an individual any given time any place (Burrus, 2014). Target Just Opned a Space to Show Customers the Beauty of the Internet of Things In this article, coverage of one of the biggest retailers is given as they set up an Open House to show individuals the beauty of Internet of Things. Target is to take advantage of the various successes of Internet of Things and bring the different connected homes gadgets into the present state (Weiss, 2015). As a way of expanding and being a leader in Internet of Things, Target set up a place, an Open House adjacent to its retail store. This is poised to be a retail space or a part lab and at the same time a meeting pointing for the community that is connected by home tech. As part of new items that come handy with internet of things, the Open House is to sell approximately 35 connected home products. Some of these products have not been present in the traditional stores and they include the August smart door lock, smart doorbell, Nest and Sonos. As part of a move to give the customers a real feel of home and an experience of the gadgets when used at home, the experiential store has some of the acrylic furniture designed to fit just like in the home. This gives a clear portrayal of how the technology would fit exactly in the everyday lives of individuals. In the future, the space is poised too to host the tech talks, be meeting points for the industry and place to launch products and have demos. The open house is additionally to help Target decide on which of the connected home products to be carried in-store as well as the retail strategies that need to be implemented in the future. The chief strategist and the company at large are very optimistic about the value addition that will come with internet of things. The Open House is to be very significant in testing the trend for both the company and the guests. Thus, the Open House that has been set up by Target is a revelation on the beauty of Internet of Things. 8 Ways the 'Internet of Things' Will Impact Your Everyday Life This article covers the 8 ways in which the internet of things will affect the daily lives of individuals and states that the impact will be greater than the industrial revolution (Mehta, 2014). According to this article, several dumb objects will start to be connected and will be able to send signals from one to another and even give alerts to the phones (Mehta, 2014). The internet of things has hit headlines once with connected rackets and crockpots being in the headlines. Most of the companies at the moment are making the gadgets to be in a network so that they can interact within a shared platform, some of these companies include Cisco, Panasonic and Sharp. Among the impacts on the lives, first is tuning of the car to different things such as changing of oils, low pressure and hence one is able to have the car communicate with the mechanic and book appointment and ultimately confirm this by just a click. Second is that internet of things will ensure that health can easily be monitored. In the event that a prescription is running low, an appointment is made with the physician through connected RX bottles. Things like sugar levels of persons can be remotely monitored. Additionally, the consumption of energy by appliances can be monitored using internet of things. Driving is to be a lot safer and traffic lights are to adjust real time with the traffic conditions thanks to the internet of things. Internet of things is also crucial in grocery lists, as they will be used in the smart refrigerators where they will be able to sense when an individual is running low on the staples such as eggs or even milk and then automatically work a plan of increasing the population in the store. The other impact will be seen on the morning alarm, as the internet of things will decide when things turn off (Mehta, 2014). Additionally, internet of things will be critical in monitoring the baby in terms of their activities, breathing, and even temperature. Additionally, they will affect the things that are on the body and this will include monitoring the workouts and sleeping patterns as well as what individuals wear and hear (Mehta, 2014). Question 2 : 2 IOT items to be integrated into the design of Peter’s house which a billing system incorporates for tracking purposes In his house, Peter will need the WeMo as one IOT to integrate in the house as it is able to track and has a billing system. Through the smart oulets like WeMo Peter will be able to instantly turn on and off any plugged in device from any point they are. Through this, the parents will be able to save money and ultimately conserve the energy over time through elimination of the standby power. They additionally will be able to measure and record the use of power in any device and even ultimately increase the lifespan of the different gadgets through efficient use and proper scheduling. The other item that Peter needs to integrate in his house design is the Zuli Smartplug as part of Internet of Things. The smartplug is made up of sensors that are able to monitor the energy usage and then communicate wirelessly to a smartphone and also sense an individual’s location. The Zuli Smartplug has an on board energy meter processor that ensures the provision of accurate real-time energy information of any device that is plugged in. Zuli usually analyze how the device is used and then estimates the monthly bill that is based on the usage patterns that it records, the price of energy at the time and the zip code of the place. Thus, this will be very handy for Peter and the family as the more, the usage the more accurate the estimate becomes. Question 3: The stakeholders affected by the tracking system Stakeholders normally are individuals who are able to affect or are affected by an organization, strategy or even a project (Bresciani, 2004, p. 206). Stakeholders affected can either be internal or external, senior or junior, power or non-power. Some of the stakeholders that are affected by the software tracking system include vendors, regulatory, management team and business customers (Bresciani, 2004, p. 218). Peter and the family falls under the category of business customers. All of these stakeholders need the project for communication especially through the tracking system. Question 4: Proposal of a Software Development Methodology Given the time limit, the software development methodology that will be applicable within the six months is the waterfall methodology, as the software development process needs to be very direct. In this method, the projects are managed when there is segmentation or division of tasks in phases different steps and stages. This is illustrated below: When applying this methodology, one assumption that is made is that the main defense systems have been developed. Additionally, given that the tracking systems have been identified and cost factored then this is the best method applicable. Through this methodology, there is some order in terms of sequence that is used to develop the software. Further, through the development, there is adequate documentation and design review that is done through the methodology, this ensures that the project remains of high quality, reliable, and there is proper maintenance by the developers (Dybå and Dingsøyr, 2008, p. 847). First, there is analysis of the various requirements that are required for the development of the tracking software. Sufficient time is allotted at this point to have interviews with the major stakeholders. Time and budget constraints are taken into consideration at this point. The project then proceeds to software development where there is the software requirement specifications. The project then proceeds to software development part where the interactive prototype is designed and ultimately winds up testing of the software. Testing of software incorporates the clients’ requirements and any bugs that arise in the tracking software are fixed at this point. After testing there is software maintenance where the software is released to the server of the client (Dybå and Dingsøyr, 2008, p. 850). Enhancements are still made at this point in the tracking software. Question 5: How Peter or his wife could retrieve information from the tracking system The tracker upon getting information generates a unique number that it uses to store any piece of information and this is done in an email, phone storage, tracker system storage and the hard drive. When Peter wants to retrieve particular information then they just search through using the tracking number that is generated. For each of the response, let say bill for a given month, the tracker auto generates a number, which Peter can use to track it. The tracking numbers are also stored in a database or excel files from where they can be tracked from in the future. This can be done easily by use of clipboard manager that is in-built into the software to retrieve the various clipboard entries made when tracking. Question 6: Draw a swimlane diagram and Spreadsheet Question 7: Benefits and value added items of the tracking system to IS and consumers Several benefits come with the use of tracking system to IS and consumers. Through the tracking system, there is cost cutting, improved efficiency, and reduced wastage. Additionally, there is reduction in time that is wasted in doing maintenance as the tracker helps to give real time information concerning the gadgets. Moreover, there is increased productivity for the consumers who use the tracking systems as the time spent on the different gadgets is saved and used elsewhere (Bahl and Padmanabhan, p.781). Also, there are several value added items of the tracking system to IS and consumers. First, in the tracking system, one value added item is the ability to print bills and give bill estimation. Additionally, the tracker also has the other aspect of added energy saving mechanism, as it is able to turn on and turn off. Moreover, the tracker has added value item of keeping the consumer alert on any possible danger. Reference List Bahl, P., & Padmanabhan, V. N., 2000, RADAR: An in-building RF-based user location and tracking system, In INFOCOM 2000, Nineteenth Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies. Proceedings. IEEE (Vol. 2, pp. 775-784). Ieee. Bresciani, P., Perini, A., Giorgini, P., Giunchiglia, F., & Mylopoulos, J., 2004, Tropos: An agent-oriented software development methodology, Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, 8(3), 203-236. Burrus. D., 2014, The Internet of Things Is Far Bigger Than Anyone Realizes. Burrus Research. Retrieved from on 12th September, 2015. Dybå, T., & Dingsøyr, T., 2008, Empirical studies of agile software development: A systematic review, Information and software technology, 50(9), 833-859. Mehta. P., 2014, January, 8 Ways the 'Internet of Things' Will Impact Your Everyday Life. Retrieved from on 13th September, 2015. Weiss. G, 2015, July, Target Just Opened a Space to Show Customers the Beauty of the Internet of Things. Retrieved from on 11th September, 2015. Read More