Big technology conferences provide an opportunity for high-level executives to get really in-depth about their areas of interest at a theoretical level. But attendants can sometimes be left wondering – well, so what? Luckily, Cisco’s World of Solutions has provided a range of real-world applications for its technology;
1. In the home…
One demonstration featured a mock-up of a typical living room, with a TV, seating and lighting fixtures. Automatic lighting was triggered as the family member carrying the connected device entered and, as they sat down on the lounge chair, the TV flicked on with their favourite programme pre-selected. The system was set up to respond to the arrival of further family members – a child arriving could trigger a channel flip to suitable programmes, while the TV could also switch automatically to accommodate a pre-scheduled WebEx chat.
2. In the school…
Cisco demonstrated the handy Proximity app, which allows students that arrive late to class to review previous slides without disrupting the class or falling behind. More controversial, perhaps, was the facial scanning technology, which was aware of which students had scanned in as they arrived at school and could also recognise people who weren’t allowed to enter the school and create an alert.
3. In city infrastructure…
Parking offenders beware: your time is coming to an end. Cisco demonstrated technology to track parking spaces and provide real-time information to both city authorities and drivers about availability. Most interesting of all was the ability to facilitate the forces of supply and demand, with the authorities able to customise the price of specific parking spaces at particular times according to availability.
4. In transport…
The Cisco Connected Transportation Solutions were also on show at the conference, demonstrating an IoT approach to rail travel. Train passengers can connect their mobile devices to a single wi-fi network whether at the station or on the train. The travellers can then access scheduled train arrival and departure times and alerts on delays, as well as share travel updates with others. The built-in analytics works with information from sensor networks built into the infrastructure and GPS.
5. In healthcare…
Healthcare is considered one of the great frontiers for the IoT, with possibilities ranging from remote monitoring to improved collaboration. Demonstrated at the World of Solutions as well as during John Chambers’s keynote, Cisco Extended Care is the telehealth collaboration platform allowing remote engagement with patients and care teams, where doctors can remotely share patient information from a sensor with each other.
