2014-03-12 Internet of Things - Craig Hartman

Loyola University Water Tower Campus (Chicago/Michigan Area)

111 E. Pearson Street, Chicago IL 60611

Beane Ballroom (13th Floor, Lewis Towers) Campus map

Admission: Free, General Admission, open to the public

The Internet of Things (or IoT) refers to systems that communicate with each other in an Internet-like structure. This term was introduced by Kevin Ashton in 2009 although the concept had been discussed earlier; it gained greater attention when radio frequency identification (or RFID) tagging became a reality. Looking at the success of the current day internet, where networks of computers connect to each other (hence the term inter-net), the assumption is that if all objects were equipped with identifiers, they could be managed in a similar fashion. Besides using RFID, the tagging of things may be achieved through such technologies as near field communication (e.g. Bluetooth), barcodes, QR codes, and digital watermarking.

Equipping all objects in the world with tiny machine-readable identifiers could change our lives, much like futurists imagined (think of TV's "The Jetsons"). For instance, business may no longer run out of stock or generate waste products, since relevant parties would know which products are required and consumed.

According to Gartner, there will be nearly 26 billion devices on the Internet of Things by 2020. But that is not just one point of view; according to ABI Research, more than 30 billion devices will be wireless connected to the Internet of Things by 2020. Cisco has created a dynamic "connections counter" to track the estimated number of connected things from July 2013 until July 2020. Thus the concept, where devices connect to the internet/web, is the most active research area in industrial networking.

As a Senior Executive Director with Cisco, Craig Hartman is responsible for helping to catalyze and accelerate customer business impact from technology investment across the Manufacturing and Energy (M&E) Sector. The M&E Sector is made up of multiple industries; Manufacturing (CPG, Discrete & Process, High Tech and Life Science Verticals) and Energy (Utilities/Smart Grid and Oil & Gas Verticals). He draws upon years of strategic consulting experience where he assisted companies through business transformation and development of technology transformation strategies. His areas of expertise include; Corporate Strategy, Digitization Strategy, Business Architectures, Organization Transformation, and Business/IT Alignment.

Before joining Cisco Systems, Craig worked at A.T. Kearney, a leading global management consulting firm, as a Senior Principal in their Technology Strategy Practice. While at A.T. Kearney, Craig assisted Fortune 500 clients, such as Federal Express, Philip Morris, EDS, and Hewlett-Packard; in developing business and organizational transformation strategies. In addition, Craig assisted in the development of a book on the digital economy titled "Mastering the Digital Marketplace."

While there will be light refreshments available, feel free to "brown bag" it and bring in food from the outside to eat during the social hour.

Reservations:

Due to the speaker being unexpectedly unavailable, the March meeting is canceled. We will attempt to reschedule this topic as soon as possible.