There is a fair amount of press about the concept of the “Internet of Things” — or as it is commonly abbreviated, IOT. The concept of IOT is simply defined as a network of physical devices.

Analysts are tripping over each other to estimate how pervasive this trend will be. One predicts 20 billion devices to be connected by 2020, while another counters that it will be 30 billion. Certainly this seems like a phenomenon! Still, for those of us involved in BAS, this seems like a rehash of the same trend played out over and over again. Remember when it was called M2M (machine to machine), and back before that when we just called it controls? After all, is IOT really any different than what we have been doing with networked — and in many cases, internet-connected — controls for the last several decades?