BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:The Internet of Things - Will it Change our Lives? - Hugo Fiennes\
 , CEO and founder of  Electric Imp
DTSTART:20150122T183000Z
DTEND:20150122T200000Z
UID:TALK54056@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Tim Wilkinson
DESCRIPTION:The "Internet of Things" (IoT) is a much publicised topic in r
 ecent years\, but just what is it? Is it simply a communication network? T
 his talk will bring you up to date with the latest thinking. It will explo
 re the relationships between applications\, end users\, device manufacture
 rs and the communications providers\; and look at the requirements that th
 e IoT is likely to place on the communications networks. The presentation 
 will include the current thinking on who will use the IoT\, who will gain 
 the most benefit\, aand who will make money from it. Hugo will then look i
 nto the future and assess how the IoT will mature in time.\n\nIn early 201
 1\, Hugo Fiennes\, CEO and co-founder of Electric Imp\, was remodeling a b
 athroom in his home and wanted to add a strip of RGB lights under a cabine
 t to light the floor. His plan was to connect them to WiFi so they could d
 isplay all sorts of ambient information - the hourly weather forecast\, da
 ily calendar\, stock prices - all indicated with color changes along the s
 trip that could be seen at a glance.\n\nIt turned out to be a bigger proje
 ct than Hugo imagined and after much frustration with the available tools\
 , he decided that there really should be a better\, simpler way to integra
 te connectivity. Besides the fact that it was pretty tough for any hobbyis
 t to make a useful networked device\, the same issues were facing commerci
 al entities. Businesses who tried venturing into Internet connectivity usu
 ally ended up reinventing the wheel at great cost\, resulting in products 
 that were expensive\, fragile and often communicated to nothing more than 
 a smartphone app.\n\nWhat was needed\, Hugo concluded\, was to take the be
 st implementations of hardware\, firmware and cloud service\, consolidate 
 them into a powerful Internet of Things-inspired platform\, and let them b
 e applied to any device in the world.
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre 1\, Cambridge University Computer Laboratory\, J 
 J Thompson Avenue\, Madingley Road\, Cambridge
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR