As we enter 2015, our experts make bold predictions about what the year will hold in terms of technology trends. Here, Lucas Betés, Digital Marketing manager and blog editor for UK & Ireland shares his thoughts on what lies ahead.
Did I just want to get a Star Wars reference into my blog title? Well yes, a little bit. But more importantly as someone blissfully ignorant of the sheer brainpower that goes behind tech development I’m living in hope of what the Internet of Everything (#IoE) can bring us in 2015. So perhaps a not so ‘new’ hope, but an exciting one none the less.
When I was at school wasting hours becoming the class Snake champion on my indestructible Nokia 3310 if someone had described my current phone and tablet capabilities to me I would have been understandably dubious. “Yeah right…” the younger and squeakier voiced me would have said “and then I’ll pick up my tricorder and hoverboard my way to work.”
Yep – I was a very sarcastic child. And that was the last movie reference I promise.
But the point is that these things often come around much quicker than we think possible and here at Cisco we are lucky enough to be at the forefront of making this happen.
So, my guesses on IoE enabled initiatives of 2015:
- A UK city starting down the road to smart traffic control. Cisco have already helped places such as Hamburg, Barcelona and Chicago with Smart City projects and it is surely just a matter of time until more UK cities get involved. And let’s face it I doubt there is one of us that commutes by car that doesn’t want this to happen yesterday. The last traffic jam anyone?
- Climate change solutions – this has got to be a big winner for IoE. Having seen Sarah Eccleston’s work on connecting Elephants to the internet it is easy to imagine the possibilities of monitoring, highlighting and mapping climate change through connected devices and sensors. I’d be amazed if people aren’t already doing this. I remember being up in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games and speaking to some of the students there about attaching sensors to drones to create 3D pollution maps. Very cool and very possible.
- The resurgence of wearables (and I don’t mean fitness bands!) Specifically for me though the next wave of augmented reality wearable devices. And don’t count out Google Glass, I’d be amazed if they don’t have a surprise for us in 2015. Those guys have been suspiciously quiet for way too long… [update: Google Glass ‘graduates’ from the lab and Microsoft launch the HoloLens]
Enjoy this post? Why not read more predictions for 2015, here.
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