The Hype Behind the Industrial Internet of Things

Bracewell lawyers Jonathon K. Hance and Jeremy Dunbar join co-authors Joel Bagnal, Ashok Choudhury, Mark Soloman and Mark Thirman in discussing the hype behind the “Industrial Internet of Things” (IIoT) in the February issues of The Licensing Journal.

The term “Internet of Things” (IoT) was coined at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab in 1966 by researcher Kevin Ashton as a last minute PowerPoint addition. The phrase has since become confusing for many, but the best description of IoT is as a system of sen­sors, incorporated into consumer and industrial devices, which in turn are connected to a network (either the Internet or, in many cases, a private network) to monitor, manage, locate and collect real-time data.

Perhaps IoT’s most promising application is to industry—the so-called “Industrial Internet of Things.” IIoT generally refers to “the proliferation of industrial systems, machines and devices capable of interact­ing with the physical environment, people and other devices.”

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