Spinfote s06 Emerging Technologies eMagazine

HyperTech Magazine Information Technology Class S06Emerging Technology:



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This issue of Hypertech E-magazine features five game-changing emerging technology trends within the next decade from 2015 identified by the Gartner Hype Cycle Report (Michael Kassner, 10 Things, Gartner’s Top 10 Technology Trends for 2015: All About the Cloud, Nov. 3, 2014):

• Risk-Based Security

• 3D Printing

• Smart Machines

• Internet of Things

• Computing Everywhere

In Kassner’s report, there is an interesting trend based on the past 3 years as shown in the following chart:

These trends result in the identification of Gartner’s top 10 strategic technology trends for 2015, viz.:

Computing everywhere (first year on list)

• Mobile-device proliferation is an obvious trend. Gartner thinks there will be a shift of focus from devices to how the user and device interact in different environments and contexts.

1. Internet of Things (fourth year on list)

• Gartner has chosen to reemphasize its four basic“usage” models: Manage, Monetize, Operate, and Extend. It also reiterates: Do not focus too closely on the IoT, but take in the entire picture. Hung LeHong, vice president and Gartner fellow said, “This expanded and comprehensive view of the internet is what Gartner calls the Internet of Everything.”

2. 3D printing (second year on list)

• Gartner believes that 3D printing will continue to grow at an incredible rate for the foreseeable future. Businesses must be alert and reevaluate their market position based on what impact 3D printing will have on their products and cost structure.

3. Advanced, pervasive, and invisible analytics (first year on list)

• Gartner said that embedded systems (IoT) will only add to the crush of structured and unstructured data already filling company databases. The amount and variety of data will demand more advanced analytics than are currently available. A Gartner researcher said, “The value is in the answers, not the data.”

4. Context-rich systems (first year on list)

• Gartner thinks the next step will be to ingrain intelligence into IoT devices that will interact with the advanced analytics mentioned earlier, resulting in systems that will not only report, but also respond to environmental conditions. According to Gartner, “Context-aware security is an early application of this new capability, but others will emerge.”

5. Smart machines (second year on list)

• The combination of advanced analytics and context-rich embedded systems will evolve into smart machines. Prototypes of autonomous vehicles, advanced robots, and the like will bring in the most disruptive smart-machine era in the history of IT.

FOREWORDBy Prof. Gary A. Grey

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6. Cloud/client computing (sixth year on list)

• “Cloud is the new style of elastically scalable, self-service computing, and both internal applications and external applications will be built on this new style,” Cearley said. “While network and bandwidth costs may continue to favor apps that use the intelligence and storage of the client device effectively, coordination and management will be based in the cloud.”

7. Software-defined applications and infrastructure (second year on list)

• Expanding the digital environment to include the entire physical world will require flexibility -- something existing hardware-controlled networks don’t have. Software-defined networks, storage, data centers, and security will be required to make it all work.

8. Web-scale IT (second year on list)

• Gartner believes that organizations will start incorporating global-class computing into the company setting. “The first step should be DevOps -- bringing development and operations together in a coordinated way to drive rapid, continuous incremental development of applications and services.”

9. Risk-based security and self-protection (first year on list)

• Gartner is following the lead of security pundits and reassessing what security means. Rather than working toward complete protection as in the past. Gartner and others suggest security positioning through risk assessments is a more realistic goal -- and it won’t impede progress. Gartner also brought up an interesting concept: “Perimeters and firewalls are no longer enough; every app needs to be self-aware and self-protecting.”

The 5 emerging technologies in this issue interact with each other resulting in a lot of innovative dynamics that impact all industry sectors. The report on Risk-Based Security delves into the application of this trend in Project NOAH in the area of climate change and disaster risk reduction. The report on 3D Printing which impacts the very process of creating things in the field of manufacturing, technology, and healthcare among many sectors is expected to be one of the most disruptive technologies which can benefit not only the biggest companies but small to medium businesses. The rise of Smart Machines which results from embedded technology with advanced artificial intelligence in the form of autonomous vehicles and human-like robots is expected to parallel the disruption caused by Internet of Things and Computing Everywhere technology trends due to mobile and wearable technology.

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Each report conducts a SWOT analysis of the technology trend , a cost-benefit analysis, and ethical and nation-building implications of the technology trend.

With this new level of computing power from these disruptive technologies comes a new set of problems for executives. The challenge for CEOs/CFOs/CMOs/ CIOs and enterprise architects is that once they can make everything smart, what do they want to use it for? This results in having to answer all these big philosophical questions before they make a deployment.

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I. Technology Description

A. Risk-based security

For years, security concerns have been a major driver of IT spending. Every new threat or perceived risk to network infrastructures encourages new vendors and new technologies, each offering another layer of security to respond to a particular threat. Collectively, organizations spend an enormous amount of time and resources deploying and managing security solutions to block malware, protect data, and keep critical business services operating. Yet most organizations remain inadequately protected against evolving and dangerous cyber threats.

One fundamental reason for this disconnect is the sheer complexity of the security management challenge. Each new layer of network devices and security tools adds more information to review and additional management tasks. Network operations and security teams are overwhelmed trying to determine whether existing countermeasures are properly configured to protect. Time is critical as well. Even ‘real time’ detection is not fast enough to avoid a data breach or unauthorized access to sensitive corporate data. As the costs of stolen data and damaged reputations soar, information executives must take steps to augment security response plans with proactive risk prevention.

Fortunately, risk-based security management solutions exist today to make sense of the volumes of data about networks and risks. Incorporating data collection, network mapping, risk modeling and analysis — automated risk-based solutions help bond together the protection technologies already in place, reducing security management costs and increasing the ability to identify and eliminate risks before they can be exploited.

Integrating automated risk-based analysis into daily security and operations procedures is critical. Automation allows for effective analysis of and response to potential attacks against complex network infrastructures. By repeating the analysis as often as necessary, organizations can minimize overall risk exposure and better protect their core business services and valuable information.

A. Real case: Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards)

The Philippines has been at the receiving end of typhoons, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and earthquakes. Major disasters such as the earthquake in Moro Gulf with a magnitude of 7.9 in 1976 that claimed the lives of 4,700 lives, and the most destructive cyclone ever recorded in the Philippine history, Typhoon Yolanda (with international name, Haiyan) which struck the country in November 2013. Overnight, over 6,200 died, injured and went missing mostly in Tacloban and neighbor provinces. These

two are to date, the most notable disasters that ever hit the country in terms of most number of fatalities and cost of damage in recent years.

With continued development in urban and rural areas as well as the country’s growing population, it can be expected that damage to infrastructure due to the calamities and flooding will persist even more unless the government implements appropriate measures to rectify this.

In 2012, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in collaboration with the University of the Philippines (UP) launched the multi-billion public-private project, Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (Project NOAH), in response to President Aquino’s challenge to put in place a responsive disaster-prevention program. This uses advanced technology that enhances current geo-hazard vulnerability maps that would provide a 6-hour lead-time of any impending disaster or flooding to vulnerable communities.

In its own website, it states that: (http://noah.dost.gov.ph) “NOAH’s mission is to undertake disaster science research and development, advance the use of cutting edge technologies and recommend innovative information services in government’s disaster prevention and mitigation efforts. Though the use of science and technology and in partnership with the academe and other stakeholders, the DOST through Program NOAH is taking a multi-disciplinary approach in developing systems, tools, and other technologies that could be operationalized by government to help prevent and mitigate disasters.

The Project NOAH website can be accessed through any Internet browser by typing the URL http://www.noah.dost.gov.ph. It can also be searched using Google by typing Project NOAH and clicking the first entry on the list of results. Once the Project NOAH website opens, a Google map of the Philippines will show up on the home page. (Figure 1)

Risk-based Security

Figure 1: Web interface of the Project NOAH’s website

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NOAH’s immediate task is to integrate current disaster science research and development projects and initiate new efforts within the DOST to achieve this objective. Presently there are nine (9) component projects under the NOAH program, namely:

1. Hydromet Sensors Development

2. DREAM-LIDAR 3D Mapping

3. Flood NET – Flood Information Network

4. Strategic Communication

5. Disaster Management using WebGIS

6. Enhancing Geohazard Mapping through LIDAR and High-resolution Imagery

7. Doppler System Development

8. Landslide Sensors Development Project

9. Storm Surge Inundation Mapping Project

10. Weather Information Integration for System Enhancement (WISE) NOAH’s DREAM-LIDAR 3D Mapping

The MTSAT and processed images show the temperature of the cloud formations (Figure 2). During instances when there are cyclones within the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR), clouds are often seen swirling around the eye of the typhoon or storm.

The current NOAH Program team is composed of the scientist-leaders of these projects. The country’s warning agencies: PAG-ASA and PHIVOLCS are also represented.

Within two years, NOAH shall provide high-resolution flood hazard maps and install 600 automated rain gauges and 400 water level measuring stations for 18 major river basins of the Philippines, namely:

1. Marikina River Basin

2. Cagayan de Oro River Basin

3. Iligan River Basin

4. Agno River Basin

5. Pampanga River Basin

6. Bicol River Basin

7. Cagayan River Basin

8. Agusan River Basin

9. Panay River Basin

10. Magaswang Tubig River Basin

11. Jalaur River Basin

12. Ilog-Hilabangan River Basin

13. Agus River Basin

14. Davao River Basin

15. Mindanao River Basin

16. Tagum-Libuganon River Basin

17. Tagaloan River Basin

18. Buayan-Malungun River Basin

The other river basins of the Philippines will follow soon after the work on the 18 major river basins is completed

The hazard maps are produced with computer simulations that reflect flood-prone areas discernible at a local scale or community level. Such maps are necessary for localized emergency response, identification of evacuation and access routes, road closures during disaster events, siting of key rescue facilities and comprehensive land use planning. The initial output of Project NOAH is focused on the Marikina Watershed. As of July 6, 2012, streaming data from the automated rain gauges and water level sensors, flood hazard maps overlain on Google Maps, graphical satellite radar and Doppler data forecasts, and translated rain intensity and volume measurements in terms of warning and evacuation level alarms, hours or days ahead of the flood event, are accessible online. The output on the Marikina Watershed will serve as the prototype of the efforts done by NOAH and will be replicated for the entire Philippines. Information generated shall also be transmitted using other media and communication channels. Through the use of advanced science and technology, NOAH aims to improve disaster management capacity of local government units and assure homeland security by reducing casualties and property loss from extreme hazard events.”

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For the project to be able to work properly, it relies on combined technology, using weather satellites, Doppler radar stations, unmanned weather posts, rain gauges, stream gauges that track rainfall and river depths, as well as manned ground weather stations needed to verify all this information, according to Inquirer, 2014. Information is streamed to the DOST every 10-15 minutes, which enables weather forecasters to survey the affected areas virtually in real time. This creates a buffer of time for the LGUs and their disaster response teams, allowing them to move residents in threatened areas.

In a continuous effort to help more and more Filipinos with the use of this program, SMART Telecommunications and DOST launched last October 2012 the mobile application of Project NOAH. It was initially made available for Android devices, and eventually in Apple devices.

Figure 3: Project NOAH mobile application in Android phones

“The DOST Info board was also launched during the event. The Info board service is Smart’s web-based text broadcast facility that helps manage dissemination and gathering of weather and disaster-related reports within the DOST community.

The DOST Info board was also launched during the event. The Info board service is Smart’s web-based text broadcast facility that helps manage dissemination and gathering of weather and disaster-related reports within the DOST community.

Risk-based Security

Figure 2: Philippine Area of Responsibility

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The Info board, powered by Smart, has already been made available to other government agencies, flood-prone communities, as well as schools and universities all over the country.

The Flood Patrol, an Android mobile-based application developed by the Ateneo Java Wireless Competency Center (AJWCC), also had its public debut during the NOAH mobile app launch. It extends the flood monitoring and flood mapping service of DOST’s Project NOAH.

The flood-reporting tool is part of the Philippine Flood Hazards Map 2ebsite found at www.nababaha.com. The web interface allows users to report flood data, which includes the location, date, time, flood height and comments. Users may choose to identify themselves or report anonymously.

In similar fashion, Flood Patrol allows citizens to report floods in their areas. At the same time, users can also view existing flood reports based on historical inputs. In addition, the mobile version allows users to take a picture of the flooding in their area. These pictures are stored in the web server for access by proper authorities.

The reports coming from the web and mobile applications are used as crowdsourcing data for flood analysis and disaster management.

To support the DOST’s Project NOAH, Smart and sister-firm Sun Cellular will allow DOST to install automated rain gauges in 600 of their cell sites in target river basin systems.

Smart network services are also being used to transmit pertinent weather data for analysis and formulation of DOST’s grand flood warning system.

Backed by the country’s largest network, Smart’s mobile services have remained resilient amid the country’s worst disasters, making it a reliable partner of the government in critical disaster preparedness programs.”

II. SWOT Analysis

STRENGTHS

• Location-specific flood hazard maps

• Weather forecasting and flood warning systems helped reduce loss of lives

• Farmers can plan ahead and adjust planting schedule

• Barangays flood hazard maps

• Accessibility to Filipinos with computer and Internet

• Other government agencies like DPWH can rely on Project Noah for information needed in planning their infrastructure projects.

• Empowering local leaders

WEAKNESSES

• Limited channel during strong typhoon when the electricity is out and telecommunication is down

• Not accessible to Filipinos with no computer and Internet

OPPORTUNITIES

• Readily available local contingency plans in small barangays

• Major campaign of Project Noah so more Filipinos will know about it and use it for disaster awareness and preparedness

THREATS

• Virus that might affect the accuracy, quality and reliability of the data

• People that can hack into Project Noah and alter or delete data

III. Business/ Industry/ Education Applications

Filipinos are used to facing typhoons, floods and other calamities. According to National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC), there are about 20 typhoons that pass by the Philippines every year. Before Project Noah, Filipinos rely their fate to the higher being, we are not big on preparedness and preventive methods.

Agriculture and fisheries are highly dependent on climate conditions. Project NOAH gives data and information to the agriculture industry on when to plant and where to plant. Farmers will now be able to plan ahead and schedule farming at the right time. This way, they will be able to avoid typhoon, floods, and drought. Department of Works and Highways (DPWH) partnered with Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in its infrastructure planning for roads, bridges, and flood control projects. The tools and data of Project NOAH will be a great help in planning of future infrastructure projects. It will ensure the resiliency and structural integrity of projects.

Project NOAH will be able to provide historical data of typhoons, floods, geo hazards, and other calamities for research purposes and studies that can help mitigate risk of upcoming disasters.

IV. Cost-Benefit Analysis

The Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) is a systematic approach to estimating the desirability of activities based on the difference of the expected benefits and the foreseeable costs of implementing it. To simplify for project

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proposals, the Net Present Value (NPV) is taken which represents the breakeven point of the CBA and a positive value will be worth implementing.

In terms of Risk-Based Security, the factors are changed a bit. Cost is cost, the amount of resources, which have to be expensed to implement the security system. The benefits will be subject to three conditions (1) Cost savings due to prevention, (2) Cost savings from recovery, and (3) the probabilistic nature of risk. This means that the traditional CBA will not work because security is a “cost center” that does not generate revenues and we will need to use expected values to approximate how much value security has.

This difference is caused by the uncertain nature of security. It is logical to spend to prevent a loss, but if the conditions to make the loss happen do not materialize then you have effectively wasted money. The opportunity cost is the potential earning value of the money spent on security, you could forego safety and invest in production to produce more profit in the hopes that nothing bad happens. This is where Murphy’s Law comes in, “everything that can go wrong will go wrong” so security is still a must.

For a security system, the Total Cost of ownership will have to be limited to the figures that are measurable in terms of cost and savings. For a project like NOAH, the cost and savings can be summarized in the image below,

with no clear demarcation because it would be unfair to put a price tag on human life.

An investment of PHP 2 billion was provided by both the public and private sector to get this project off the ground and champion the following components: 1

1. Distribution of Hydrometeorological Devices in hard-hit areas in the Philippines (Hydromet) - Automated rain gauges, water level monitoring stations

2. Disaster Risk Exposure Assessment for Mitigation – Light Detection and Ranging (DREAM-LIDAR) Project – 3D mapping of key locations

3. Enhancing Geohazards Mapping through LIDAR – LINDAR technology

4. Coastal Hazards and Storm Surge Assessment and Mitigation (CHASSAM)

5. Flood Information Network (Flood NET) Project – Information processing and broadcast

6. Local Development of Doppler Radar Systems (LaDDeRS) – Doppler radars

7. Landslide Sensors Development Project – Landslide detection technology

8. Weather Hazard Information Project (WHIP) – Information broadcast platforms

Aside from the asset investments in 2012, the new allotted investment of PHP 1.5 billion in 2014 would continue expanding the service well into 2016. There is also an additional PHP 900 million provided for “Resource assessment” which focuses on valuing areas for prioritization and possibly business use.

As for saving, we are looking at very subjective measures; the greatest of these are people’s lives. From 2000 to 2011, it has been said that we’ve receive 1.7 million family casualties and a total of PHP 60 million worth of material damages.

Cost Benefits

Before Project NOAH

1,823 casualties annually (2011)PHP 10.6 billion annually (2011)

Project NOAHPHP 875 million a year

583 family casualties annually (2014)PHP 8.4 billion annually (2014)

We can see that Project NOAH was well worth its cost by the prevention it provides. For that amount, the Philippines managed to save an approximate 700 people

Do project

Bene

fit

Cost

Don’t do Project

NPV

Standard Cost-Benefit Analysis

Do project

Savi

ngs

Cost

Don’t do Project

Opportunity cost

Security Cost-Benefit Analysis

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and reduce damages by PHP 2.2 billion in a matter of two years in operation since 2012; bar statistical anomalies like super typhoon Yolanda which pulls down performance significantly. This figure is even bolstered by the earning capacity of the people saved, where around 25% of the economic damage is due to lost income.

Return on Investment Theoretical NPV Actual NPV (3 yrs.)

= 1.5=NPV (2.4%, -3.5,2.2,2.2,2.2)

NPV = PHP 2.73=NPV (2.4%, -3.5,4.5, -12.2,2.2)

NPV = – PHP 8.49

We can see that Project NOAH is an economically good move for the country with direct monetary benefits on top of saving lives. Strategically it would be wise to continue with this project; however the group is concerned about the effects of Risk-Based security principle being the cornerstone of this project and its further development will make it much less efficient. A key factor in this case is the nature of disaster preparation, which currently is most effective 6 hours prior to the event2, which means that even though people can be evacuated, there is a diminishing marginal return on the property damage that has to take the brunt of the storm even with NOAH. Even if the disaster was known well beforehand, reinforcing infrastructure will require another set of resources, which can’t be mobilized immediately.

Without maximizing the use of resources via the Risk-Based Security concept, there will be much greater overlap between functions and less valuable objectives are pursued. The opportunity cost may outweigh the benefits it provides and ultimately it might lose support from the people who do not directly benefit from the large investment.

V. Ethical Implications

1.) Quality of Data / Reliability

Project Noah runs mostly on computers, satellites and other technological advancements. The project has been deemed reliable. No matter how reliable the project runs

there are still instances that it can fail. As much as it can save lives if the quality of the data becomes low it can be catastrophic at the same time. It can cost lives and money as well.

2.) Security and Privacy / Misuse of the technology

Satellites and tracking devices are used in Project Noah to ensure the best possible results. Satellites and tracking devices could be catastrophic in the hands of someone who has other intentions other than using these things for the common good. They can track the location of an individual through the use of these devices. They can read and absorb personal information using these technologies.

3.) Corruption

Every project the government has, people always wonder if there is someone other than the masses benefiting from it. Just like the case of SMARTMATIC, the purpose and the intent of the government for buying PCOS machines was to eliminate election fraud and minimize the time in counting for the results but there are allegations that the results can be tampered and some have benefitted from it.

Maintenance of the project also carries a hefty cost, if the government or someone from the implementing agency tries to gain something from it, then the project will not be maintained properly and the project can fail and can cause the deaths of many.

4.) Freedom

People may feel that freedom is being deprived from them when they feel that they are being monitored. Areas that are prone to calamities and disasters are the one who are being monitored closely. Residents of those may feel uncomfortable under those circumstances knowing that they are being watched and monitored 24/7.

2012-2014:PHP 2,000,000,000

2015-2016:PHP 1,500,000,000PHP 900,000,000 Resource assessment

Total:PHP 4,400,000,000

• People’s Lives• Infrastructure damage reduction• Damage recovery time

Total:Priceless + 2.2b/year

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VI. Implications in Nation-Building

Community Building

Communities can benefit from this program. They can use different strategies on how to prepare for an oncoming calamities and disasters. Community planners can also come up with different strategies on starting a community to make sure that it will be safe through the use of Project Noah.

Casualties

Casualties have decreased since the launch of Project Noah. Communities, especially those on the hard hit areas had devices better evacuation plan and strategies whenever there are calamities. The local government can now locate areas that are extremely dangerous to have communities, thus deaths can be avoided and lessen.

Cost Effective

Projects like these can cut cost as the residents of the affected areas can easily prepare whenever there are calamities. People now can decide on having back up plans for such situation. Having projects like these can help a person decide where to reside, materials to be used in constructing his home and etc. Plans for home and businesses can now be very thorough, as people want to make the most out of their investments.

Response and Preparation

Local authorities and residents can now prepare and respond if calamities will happen. They will have proper evacuation plans, temporary shelter, foods and medicines for their residents. By preparing and responding early, many lives can be saved and deaths could be avoided.

References:

htt p : / /s m a r t . co m . p h /a b o u t / n ews ro o m / p re s s -releases/2012/10/17/smart-dost-launch-noah-mobile-app

http://www.gov.ph/2012/07/06/speech-of-president-aquino-at-the-launching-of-project-noah-july-6-2012/

http://www.dost .gov.ph/index.php/knowledge-resources/news/34-2014-news/565-project-noah-sows-seeds-for-agri-use-going-beyond-disaster-preparedness-and-hazard-identification

http://www.gov.ph/2014/01/15/dpwh-to-use-dostsups-project-noah-and-dream-data-sets-for-planning/

https://www.gnsegroup.com

www.cm.com

http://noah.dost.gov.ph/

Valu

e

Time

Benefits

Costs

No-longerRisk-based

NOAH

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HyperTech Magazine Information Technology Class S06Emerging Technology: Risk-based Security

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I. TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION

A. Technical Environment

3D Printing or Additive Manufacturing is a process of creating a solid 3D model through the process layering from a digital file. An object is printed layer by layer, from a software to the printer using a 3D printing material. Traditional printers only print with ink or ribbon in a flat surface like paper. This technology redefines printing by creating customized objects from shoes, clothes, ceramics, buildings, food or even functional body parts. The most common material used is plastic but other raw materials like metals, dry cement and cells can be also be used in 3D printing. It’s believed to be the next industrial revolution where it will change the landscape of manufacturing and how people do things.

3D printing technology has been existent for more than 30 yrs. It was used by manufacturing companies to rapidly create prototypes before the release of the final product. Industries saw the potential of the growing technology of 3D printing for consumer, automotive, construction and healthcare. According to Technavio Insights, the market size of 3D printing was almost $2.58 billion in 2014 and it’s expected to grow at $16.51 billion in 2019. The growth rate is at 39.39% and forecasted to be at 48.42% in 2019. North America was the main driver for innovation followed by the Asia Pacific region.

3D Printing Process:

B. Trends in the Technology

The capabilities of 3D printers has rapidly evolved. In a Mckinsey article by Cohen, Sargeant and Somers, they have discussed how 3D printing technology has rapidly evolved. 3D hardware became more complex as it can build larger objects at a faster speed with greater quality, high precision and low cost. It looks to become the alternative from the conventional manufacturing process. This technology would transform manufacturing flexibility. The economic effect of this technology will be significant since it will cut waste cost from

manufacturing, shorten lead time and develop more complex products that were not achievable before.

In 2012, Forbes also released an article for the 10 Trends to Come in 3D Printing in a guest article by Vivek Srinivansan and Jarrod Bassan.

1. 3D printing becomes industrial strength

• 3D printed components will become part of airplanes, automotives and appliances. These printed objects are lighter and fuel efficient.

2. 3D printing starts saving lives

• 3D medical implants will be used to save lives and improve quality of life of the sick. 3D printing enables customization of body parts from prosthetic limbs, bone implants and orthodontic devices. Research and Development for printing from soft tissue to functional body parts or organs are in place. Currently, pharmaceutical companies and nano-medicine are developing drugs from this technology that exactly prints the arrangement of molecules of drugs to elicit the preferred drug interaction.

3. Customization becomes the norm

• 3D printing technologies will offer customized products at the same price as the competitors standard products. Customization will be preferred as it fits client’s exact specifications.

4. Product innovation faster

• Rapid prototyping will enable faster product development. 3D printers reduce the time to turn concept into reality. It will help companies focus on design of products.

5. New companies develop innovative business models built on 3D printing

• Emergence of 3D public companies will flourish.

6. 3D print shops open at the mall

• New branches and stores that offers 3D printing services will open at the malls. It will be a local 3D print shop where clients can pick up customized products from their own to retailer’s designs.

7. Heated debates on who owns the rights emerge

• Intellectual property rights issues and cases will arise since 3D products can be replicated easily.

8. New products with magical properties will tantalize us

• There will be new products and that can only be made using 3D printers that can be desirable and have distinct competitive advantage. 3D printers can control material production at a nano scale.

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9. New machine grace the factory floor

• 3D printers will be integrated to manufacturing processes and not just limited to prototyping.

10. “Look what I made!.”

• Children will bring home 3D projects from schools. Digital literacy which includes web and app development, electronics, collaboration and 3D design will be included in school curriculums. As 3D printing costs continues to decline, more schools will sign up for the program.

C. SWOT Analysis

1. Strengths

Wide Range

Since the technology for 3D printing is on the constant process of improvement, a range of 3D printers, along with 3D printing materials are currently available. The availability of different types of printers has also caused a boost for other printers and materials to be developed as well. This does not only indicate the different printers available in the market, but more importantly, the wide range of printers and materials available has also proven that the limits of 3D printing are still far beyond its full capacity and that it will continue to develop and progress.

Mass Customization

3D printing offers a unique and convenient solution for both the innovative and creative mind. 3D printing has effectively decreased the time it takes to turn a concept into something concrete. 3D printing takes just about any idea and turns it into something that can be real, something that can be developed and something that can open new possibilities for innovation and creativity altogether. In its most literal sense, 3D allows you to create just about anything that your mind can conceive.

Provides Economic and Entrepreneurial Opportunities

While the next hobbyist can admit to having the capacity to purchase and make use of a 3D printer, the limits for commercial and economic opportunities for entrepreneurs seem to be limitless. Innovators are given a medium to concretize ideas, allowing them the ability to deliver it to the global market in a shorter amount of time. This reduces the cost and time that comes with the conceptualization of a product.

2. WeaknessesDependence

In order to maximize the potential of a 3D printer, technical knowledge is a necessity. At the same time, since 3D printing is a constantly emerging technology, the user is limited or bound by the availability of materials, suppliers, sellers and other products currently available. Also, since there is a range of 3D printers, the maintenance and support for each type varies, which in turn can cost the user not only inconvenience, but also time and money.

Production TimeThe time to produce a single 3D printed product is indefinite. Factors that go into the estimation time of a product’s completion include dimensions, materials and the time needed to assemble different parts if needed to name a few. Therefore, in certain applications, this may not prove to be a weakness, but in critical applications such as in the field of health and medicine where time is of the essence, 3D printing has a lot of improvement to undergo before it can efficiently carry out all of its intended purposes and functions.

Product QualityDue to the number of materials available for 3D printing, and the fact that there are different types of printers, the quality of a 3D printed product remains in question. Although basic product can be proven to be of good quality, the quality of complex products still has a lot to improve on. An example of this application is the 3D printing for bicycle parts made out of carbon. In some applications, 3D printed products are limited to be used as prototypes instead of being final products ready for usage.

3. Opportunities

Active DevelopmentEven though 3D printing has existed for a number of years now, it is far beyond reaching its full potential as a technological breakthrough. Current types of 3D printers and materials undergo constant research and development in order to improve the efficiency of the printers and the quality of its products.

GreenThe development of 3D printers and its materials has also gone into a direction that is better for the environment in two aspects. The first is that, 3D printing has reduced the need for products to be shipped and delivered from manufacturers to their users or distribution points. This reduces the emission of toxic gases and the use of fuel necessitated by delivery through vans, cars, and airplanes to name a few.

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DemandThe demand for 3D printers and materials is two-fold in such a way that a demand is created both by manufacturers who might use the product for commercial purposes, and users who have a different purpose for the printers and materials altogether. Different industries can benefit from owning and using a 3D printer. This shows that there will be a steadily increasing demand for 3D printers.

4. Threats

Intellectual Property Rights Since users are given the capacity to instantly come up with a physical product, the notion as to who created or thought of what first becomes an issue. Usually, before a product is created, multiple processes have to take place before a product becomes patented or before property rights are given to the rightful creators. Since 3D printing gives its users a capacity to design and create a product at any given time, the issue becomes more complex.

Intense CompetitionThe breakthrough that is 3D printing is pushing a lot of brands to manufacture their own printers and to make materials available. This causes a competition in the price of 3D printers and supplies. At the same time, 3D printed products are becoming competitively priced despite the lack of consistency between the prices of the printers and its materials.

Ethical Issues3D printing poses a number of ethical issues especially in specific applications. An example of this is its direct application in the field of health and medicine. While 3D printing can improve lives and do wonders for fields such as prosthetics, an ethical issue comes into play when 3D printing is used to replicate organs and the like for a different purpose. In cases such as these, the problem of identity theft can arise. In terms of 3D printing tissues or organs for the body, the fact that 3D printing with regard to this application cannot always guarantee success is an ethical issue in itself.

II. BUSINESS/INDUSTRY/EDUCATION APPLICATIONS

3D Printing technology has been adopted by various industries such as aerospace, automobile, architecture, and healthcare among others.

Manufacturing IndustryManufacturers of electronics and consumer products account for the major share in the usage of 3D printing technology. Electronics industry manufactures components such as mobile antennas and micro

batteries. 3D printers are also being used to manufacture toys and jewelries.

Automotive IndustryThis industry is the second largest end-user of the technology. 3D printer is being used to manufacture metal automotive parts.

Healthcare IndustryThe usage growth in this industry was driven by increased use in tissue engineering, prosthetics and implants.

AerospaceBoeing has already started using 3D printing technology to manufacture interior parts of an aircraft. NASA used it to build rocket engines and parts for its satellite.

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C. Financial Analysis (ROI, Payback Period, Return on Assets, Return on Equity, etc.)

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HyperTech Magazine Information Technology Class S06Emerging Technology: 3D Printing

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Architectural IndustryThe architectural industry uses this technology to turn their designs and blueprints into tangible model. This allows them better plan and make necessary changes for specific projects

III. COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS

A. Cite Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – Capital Investment, Hidden CostsCapital investment which is the actual printer amounting to US$80,000 or Php3,551,680 plus the Intraoral Scanner used to capture precise dental impressions priced at US$15,000 or Php665,940 and lastly other incidental costs for Shipping, Taxes and Other Fees estimated to about US$14,250 or Php632,643 giving us a total of Php4,850,263 as our total cost of owning the technology.

B. Cite Direct and Indirect/Strategic BenefitsOne of the benefit this technology could offer the industry is reduced waiting time for patients of more than 4 days to just overnight (depending on the demand and the printer) thereby increasing efficiency by more than a 100%. This was made possible by the technology since it eliminates manual modeling which is considered

as a bottleneck in the work stream of the dental healthcare industry.

Another important benefit offered by 3D printing is the

ability to produce items cheaply as there’s an increasing

array of materials is becoming available for use in 3D

printing, and they are decreasing in cost.

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IV. ETHICAL IMPLICATIONSAs the healthcare industry continuously search for better ways to innovate their practice, 3D printing technology comes into picture. 3D printed medical models can reduce the length of time procedures are performed. Its ability to print highly customized human organs and casts poses ethical dilemmas.

Safety and Acceptance3D bioprinting facilities allow manufacturing of tissues and organs made out of a person’s stem cells. Safety of complex enhanced organs will be always a concern. One FDA’s main concern is that the skin of the bioprinting skin might be stronger than human skin.

Columbia University Medical Center used the capacity of a 3D printer to devise materials that could be used to replace certain body parts like the meniscus, the knee’s protective lining, infused with human growth factors that prompt the body to regenerate the lining on its own. Though the study was a success, the material’s durability for long term use should still be proven. The material was tested on sheep to determine its safety. Simple tissue and organs like bladder or skin are easier to develop but highly complex organs like heart and liver are extremely challenging. Several tests should be done to assure its safety. A regulating body should be institutionalized to approve if newly generated tissue or body parts are safe for human use.

Acceptance of the religious sectors will also come into play. Some may argue that only God can create things to prolong the lives of people.

Intellectual Property RightsDuplication of things which are patented and copyrighted are is easy. Some plans or designs are shared online. Plans may be altered or unsafe plans may be distributed online. The market is facing dilemmas in terms of patent enforcement, copyright disputes and regulations.

V. NATION BUILDING IMPLICATIONS The technology will completely transform or even revolutionize many industries. It will transform the future of manufacturing with its ability to eliminate processes such as cutting or drilling. The global 3D printing market in 2025 is expected to reach billions of revenue potential.

Countries like United States and China are likely to benefit from the 3D printing opportunity based on their level of investment, government catalysis and manufacturing potential in the 3D printing market. 3D bioprinting is continuously growing with reasonable number of vendors. The healthcare industry is will benefit greatly through research and developm

References

Technavio Insights. (2014) Global 3D Printing Market 2015-2019. Infiniti Research Ltd. Available [online] Euromonitor

Asian Age (2014) 3D Printing is Coming. Asian Age Holdings Ltd. Available [online] Euromonitor

SKBKS. A House Business Research & Consultancy (2014) 3D PRINTING. Vol. 10 page 11 Available [online] Euromonitor

Cohen, D. et al. (2014) 3-D printing takes shape. Mckinsey Quarterly. Available [online]http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/manufacturing/3-d_printing_takes_shape

Srinivasan V. and Bassan J.(2012) Trends to Come in 3D printing. Forbes.com Available [online]http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2012/12/07/manufacturing-the-future-10-trends-to-come-in-3d-printing/

Manners-Bell, John and Lyon, Ken. (2014). The Implications of 3D Printing for the Global Logistics Industry. Available [online] <http://www.supplychain247.com/article/the_implications_of_3d_printing_for_the_global_logistics_industry >

Griggs, Brandon. (2014).The next frontier in 3-D printing: Human organs. Available [online] http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/03/tech/innovation/3-d-printing-human-organs/

TechNavio Insights. (2014). Global 3D Printing Market in Healthcare Industry 2015-2019.

TechNavio Insights. (2014). Global 3D Printing Market.

TechNavio Insights. (2014). Global 3D Printing Materials Market.

(2014) Meniscus Regenerated with 3-D Printed Implant Personalized scaffold promotes tissue regeneration in sheep. Available [online] <http://newsroom.cumc.columbia.edu/blog/2014/12/10/3d-printed-meniscus/>

Digital Dentistry. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://www.stratasys.com/industries/dental

Ventola, L. (2014, October 1). Medical Applications for 3D Printing: Current and Projected Uses. Retrieved February 16, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4189697/

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INTRODUCTION

There has to be a better way, this is an inventor’s/entrepreneurs’/technologists’ state of mind. Finding answers, solving problems, figuring out clues, and simply making lives to be better.

With the need for historical data from shopping centers became a concern, P-O-S systems were invented, when businessmen needed to track their hectic schedules PDAs came about. With the demand on more security and class, they made cars a little bit smarter. Then there’s making a home commodity turned to an everyday necessity, smartphones. All of them, Smart Machines.

Smart Machines are intelligent devices that use machine languages and technology to perform traditional human activity. This includes machines like robots (labor), cars (transportation), computers (thinking), and a lot more.

I. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

Technical Environment

A smart machine is an intelligent device that uses machine-to-machine (M2M) technology.

M2M communication is often used for remote monitoring. In product restocking, for example, a vending machine can message the distributor when a particular item is running low. M2M communication is an important aspect of warehouse management, remote control, robotics, traffic control, logistic services, supply chain management, fleet management and telemedicine. It forms the basis for a concept known as the Internet of Things (IoT).

Key components of an M2M system include sensors, RFID, a Wi-Fi or cellular communications link and autonomic computing software programmed to help a networked device interpret data and make decisions. The most well-known type of M2M communication is telemetry, which has been used since the early part of the last century to transmit operational data. Pioneers in telemetrics first used telephone lines -- and later, on radio waves -- to transmit performance measurements gathered from monitoring instruments in remote locations. The Internet and improved standards for wireless technology have expanded the role of telemetry from pure science, engineering and manufacturing to everyday use in products like home heating units, electric meters and Internet-connected appliances. Products built with M2M communication capabilities are often marketed to end-users as being “smart.”

Currently, M2M does not have a standardized connected device platform and many M2M systems are built to be task or device-specific. It is expected that as M2M becomes more pervasive, vendors will need to agree upon

standards for device-to-device communications.

Various types of smart machines, include:

• Virtual reality assistants (e.g., Siri).

• Intelligent agents (e.g., automated online assistants).

• Expert systems (e.g., medical decision support systems, smart grid).

• Embedded software (machine monitoring and control systems).

• Autonomous robots (including self-driving vehicles).

• Purpose-built smart machines (such as neural computers).

Trends in Smart Machines

Smart Machines, very much synonymous to technology, has left everyone in this planet in anticipation of what else can be invented. Smart Machines are being conceptualized left and right to further fill in the shoes of more traditional work. In an Article from Gartner.com, 2014’s top 10 strategic technology trends basically describes where smart machines are at. Mobile Devices have become more diverse now being able to use for data management, communication, and user interaction. Mobile Applications are engaging in expanded user interface model including audio, and video tools to further connect people across the world. The internet is no longer on your personal computers but are now everywhere, your phone, televisions, and even on cars; the possibilities are limitless. Cloud is getting bigger, which is soon to be an area of enterprise services.

Smart Machines are not any far from the earlier mentioned technologies. They are set to be more contextually aware, more intelligent, and smarter. They are set to perform more tasks relative to human activity. This is now an area people can invest in more, as eliminating human work is the future.

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A. SWOT Analysis

S-trengths• Smart machines can boost work efficiency and

productivity

• Can provide higher profit margins for businesses.

• Smart machines will handle tasks that previously required human judgment, creating competitive-advantage opportunities.

• Smart machines will enable enterprises to gain competitive advantage by lowering costs, servicing variable demand more effectively and delivering higher-quality outcomes — when compared with employing humans only

• A machine’s absence of human needs, such as wages, sleep and food, is a clear advantage over human workers

• A smart machine’s lack of susceptibility to emotional weaknesses such that smart machines are without bias.

W-eaknesses• High Initial Cost of Investment for technology.

• Smart machines do not possess creativity and originality.

• Smart machines do not possess benevolence and dexterity.

• Ongoing Maintenance Cost

O-pportunities• Opens new technical jobs for humans, possibly

operators and technologists

• Create an alliance with smart machines to optimize human talents.

• Rise of technology is directly proportional to smart machines capability.

• Social Entrepreneurship

T-hreats• Major impact on the job market.

• Humanist Activities

• Ethical Challenges for enterprises

• Rise to ethical and societal challenges that can negatively affect an enterprise’s brand, public perception, employee perception and corporate social responsibility

Possible Strategies for Smart Machine Companies

S(3,5) – O(1,2)• Programmable Smart Machines will require

highly specialized knowledge to be able to function correctly and maintained properly. Open opportunities to widen knowledge and have avenues to possibly learn the technologies

W(2) – T(2)• Companies to spark initiatives that encourage

humanist activities with the use of smart machines. Like how social interaction is encouraged thru smart machines

S(7) – T(4)• Each Smart Machine company should highlight

the value these give to companies given the products and service that they produce.

S(1,3) – O(4)• Encourage creation of smart machines geared

towards social entrepreneurship causes

W(1) – O(1)• Encourage automation, and advancement on

past and existing machines for possible reuse possibly leading to lower investment costs

II. APPLICATIONS

A. Business Applications

The way personal computers has changed the business scene is almost synonymous to how smart machines have. Maybe not as sophisticated as personal computers did, but smart machines are right up there. The advantage smart machine has over personal computers is that it has made business more accessible. Let’s just take again our smart phones as an example, my excel spreadsheets are now available thru my phone rather than bringing my personal computer or laptop. The e-mails we send are also available now on phone. As they say Smart Phones are compact personal computers.

The world of mobile applications have extended the reach of smart machines further. Smart Machines has made business available in just few taps. Just look into your mobile application store, go to Categories and then choose business. Everything you need to run your business or become a business is now within reach.

Everything now has to be on the go, smart machines now have the capability to increase revenues and drive overhead costs down. Products are being invented left and right to make these possible, an example of which is Smartender by Smart Bar USA encouraging bars in the United States to drive their revenues with an interactive product that produces the exact mix for hundreds

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of cocktails without spending costs for additional bartenders.

A. Industry Application

The Smart Machine Industry is a complex Industry. It includes all human capabilities that can turn into machines. If you think about it, every industry now takes hold of any smart machine that can be beneficial for them.

According to CFO.com, businesses will initially be using the computational powers of a smart machine to replace jobs that rely on pattern recognition, data gathering and distillation, and computational algorithms. Next will be those in transportation/logistics, production labor and administrative support.

Car Manufacturers like GM have imported or built robots which can perform what 10 or 20 people can. (http://www.newsday.com/classifieds/cars/bmw-general-motors-among-manufacturers-using-robots-for-efficiency-1.6680097). This has placed humans at a less riskier environment given the heavy loads supposedly be carried

Algorithms can be used in trading; according to an Economist article titled “Dutch Fleet”, with the advent of trading algorithms using ultra-fast computer systems, there are some trading firms in Amsterdam that formerly rely on traders, now uses smart machines. One firm has a peak of 3,000 trades in 60 seconds.

It is also possible that Human Resource will be handled by smart machines, since algorithms can predict things like employee turnover and future job performance, they are better than the human supervisors and managers. There is also an analysis of 17 studies on applicant evaluations wherein equations outperform human applicant selection decisions by 25%. With this, future organizations may be managing its people driven by predictive analytics

B. Education Application

Smart Machines has revolutionized the education system; from speech recognition enabling non-physical appearance of professors to the non-use of paper and pen.

The ability of smart machines to coexist with other technologies has enabled learning to be comfortable, and easier for students and teachers alike. Smart Pads and Smart Phones have large enough memory to be able to store in presentation pair it up with blue tooth devices and project it to a wider screen for students to see. Nowadays the pen and the paper or not as used as 10 years ago, where notes are written to their phones or there tablets. This typical human work is now smart machine enabled. And with speech recognition, voice enabled lectures, learning in itself is done in a smarter way.

III. COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS As an Introductory Example, the iPhone. It was all over the net that the 16GB iPhone 5S costs apple about $199 to build and retails $649 which is a 30% markup + taxes. (http://www.cnbc.com/id/101058725#.) According to Business Insider, based on the said costs on the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ there’s a profit of about 73% and 75% respectively. (http://www.businessinsider.com/analysis-iphone-6-plus-costs-prices-and-profits-2014-9) Great margins for a Global Company, good news for its investors.

A. Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – Capital Investment,

Hidden CostsAccording to an article in Harvard Business Review, Foxconn, world’s largest contract manufacturer employs more than One Million workers in China. The company installed 10,000 robots in 2011 called Foxbots, and currently installing them not at a rate of 30,000 per year. A robot that can perform jobs like spraying, welding and assembly costs $20,000 each. And following Moore’s Law, that forsees performance leap of 40% per year, an upgraded type robot called Baxter that currently costs

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around $22,000 each may costs only $5,000 in the near future. And this will cost lower than paying the lowest-paid workers in least developed countries. This may be the reason why Foxconn intends to add one millions of robotic workers in the future on top of their current employees.

B. D irect and Indirect/Strategic Benefits

45% of American occupation was predicted by Oxford researchers to be automated within the next 20 years. But instead of being threatened, we should consider that using “smart machines” to automate repetitive, manual tasks allows people to progress to more skilled labor, work fewer hours, and experience greater job satisfaction overall because they feel more empowered. Companies will no longer waste their best employees’ time on manual data entry and syncing up tedious processes. Automation adds to human efficiency as it paves way to better-informed and better performing business landscape.

C. Financial Analysis (ROI, Payback Period, Return

on Assets, Return on Equity, etc.)

1. Payback PeriodDr. Steve Rapp (2007) said, the general formula used to calculate payback of investments in smart machines, especially with robotics, is as follows:

P = C / (W + I + D – (M +S))Where, Payback period (P) equals the total costs of the installed smart machine divided by the amount of wages of displaced workers (W), plus savings from the use of the machine (I), plus depreciation of the machine (D), minus new maintenance costs (M) and new human staffing costs (S).

In Rapp’s (2007) example, he shows that the system costing $150,000. Salary and other costs of replaced workers is at $29,000. The savings from the use of the machine is around $15,000. Depreciation of $25,000 based on a 20% depreciation. Maintenance costs and new staffing costs are $10,000 and $29,000, respectively. Payback period will be 5 years.

2. Return on Investment

Dr. Steve Rapp (2007) said that investment return for the purchase of smart machines is calculated, as follows:

ROI = 100 x {[W+I+D-[(C/N)+M+S]]/C}

Where ROI is the annual percentage return on the investment and N represents the useful life of the

machine, in years. In the example given by Rapp (2007), he shows that using the same figures, and holding the useful life of the machine at 8 years, the Return on Investment shall be at 7.5%.

IV. ETHICAL IMPLICATIONSWithout a doubt, Smart machines made our human lives as easy as possible. But what’s the cost? Let’s use the concept of Utilitarianism. It is a general term for the view that actions and policies should be evaluated on the basis of the benefits and costs they produce for everyone in society. It is a theory that says that we should strive to do what is best for everyone in society, and that we do what is best for everyone when we take into account all the benefits and harms that everyone will bear as the result of actions. Going back, the cost of having smart machines is the increasing unemployment rate.

It is true that computer technology has taken over many tasks formerly performed by humans, but this does not necessarily mean that it has eliminated jobs overall. Since the 1970s, automated teller machines have taken over tasks from bank tellers, word processing software has reduced the need for typists, voice mail has replaced switchboard operators, accounting and logistics software has taken over work of bookkeepers and clerks, and desktop publishing has taken over work of typographers and compositors. But these changes have also increased demand for the services affected, offsetting the job losses associated with automation.

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Share of Workers Using Computers (2001)Annual Job Growth Rate

(1982 - 2012)Scientific, engineering and computer occupations 85% 2.1%Administrative and sales occupations 69% 1.2%Healthcare occupations 55% 2.5%Manufacturing production and maintenance

occupations30% -1.1%

ALL OCCUPATIONS 51% 1.1%

While the workforce as a whole grew 1.1 percent per year, the occupational groups that used more computers grew faster, not slower. In particular, administrative and sales occupations — the group that includes bank tellers, typists, bookkeepers, etc. — grew a bit faster than the workforce despite the effect of technology on many jobs within this group. In other words, the jobs were displaced to other occupations within the group; the new technology created offsetting increases in demand. This displacement has its costs: the new jobs require skills and education that many mid-wage workers lack and this contributed to growing economic inequality. But computer technology did not replace workers in these occupations overall.

As long as technology continues to address major unmet needs, machines do not determine our fate. Just because machines take over some human tasks, that does not mean the end of jobs. We do, however, need to figure out how workers can develop new skills and how entrepreneurs can create new business models to generate the new demand that will provide growing employment.

V. NATION BUILDING IMPLICATIONS

First humanity had tools, then added force to them, and had the machine, now humanity is adding intelligence to machines and will get robots and intelligent computers. We build artificial intelligent systems because intelligent systems help humans better than tools or machines to live more comfortably. Eventually, these artificial intelligent systems will free humans of all material worries.

Since smart machines perform the same functions as humans and can have the same outputs, it really thinks, although it is not simulating thought. An artificial intelligent system needs a randomizing of its actions, so that it can learn better responses; you could call these randomized actions a kind of free will.

Smart machines and robots is expected to redefine society through what is called the next “industrial” revolution. Recently, robots are being deployed as receptionists,

banking assistants and even prison guards, while technology allows amateurs to do what professionals once did. The upside of this is addressing issues such as caring for ageing populations. While the downside are huge job losses. Yet we know that the next wave of smart machines will also create new kinds of jobs for humans. The challenge will be to ensure a workforce that is ready and skilled for them.

Many countries such as Singapore is now working on a 10-year-mast-plan, which will focus on developing smart communities driven by intelligence, integration, and innovation. The goal is to establish Singapore as a smart nation that taps the potential of infocomm and media (ICM), and that nurtures innovative talent and enterprises. This is bring about economic growth and social cohesion, and better living for the people.

The infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) looks at various initiatives to encourage students of Singapore and the general public to get involved in one of the technology sectors (ICT). The government has appointed institutions to provide courses that are all benchmarked towards the ICT Learning Roadmap for students as part of the Co-Curricular Activities of the Infocomm clubs in school. These courses focus on the ICT domains of Application Development; Cyber Security; Business Analytics; and Robotics & Maker.

The widespread use of artificial intelligent systems will bring prosperity and wellbeing to the population of our planet. Intelligent Systems as robots, as intelligent automation and as advisor programs within computers, will do all the work that we do not wish to do. We will be free of material worries and will be able to enjoy life.

But this is a new “industrial revolution” and the transition from a society based on work to one based on leisure has to be handled carefully. Widespread unemployment can be avoided by spreading the available work between all that are willing to work. The method is a reduction of weekly working hours. Finally work per week will be so low that a different means of income and maintaining purchasing power, has to be found. This may be the “social dividend” Each citizen would be a shareholder of the state and receive a monthly dividend. The funds for this would come mainly from the profits of the robotized factories.

A robot with a main objective of pleasing human beings is of great help, but a robot with a main objective of its

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own survival is very dangerous. Since they will be thinking much faster and more accurately than we, they will, for their own purposes use all available resources and we would be helpless. Such a robot should be illegal and should be destroyed as soon as detected.

Other implications

The relentless march of technological innovation has transformed the way humans communicate. Soon it will change the urban landscape. The next generation of buildings is set to become a lot smarter, with the increasing convergence of new data streams, sensor technology and breakthroughs in building material science.

Buildings are getting greener and industry players say they will get a lot smarter too in the not so distant future as new technology integrates with building design. Nations are getting ready with its projects for newer technology, such as Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative, with greater use of data analytics, and a range of infocomm and media technologies.

Smart phones can control house switches, washing machines or ovens, and in the United States these machines are also intelligent enough the the fridge can tell humans that it’s time to buy a new carton of milk because they are running out. Or the moment a human steps in, the machine remembers what the human have, the music he likes or the lighting level he prefers and it will automatically turn it on to accommodate what the human want. Nations are certainly keen to explore all these ideas and tap on the latest and newest technology to keep up with what the market wants.

Sensor Technology - offer optimised energy usage solutions in commercial buildings. Sensors are used to detect aircooling systems, when there are heavier people workload in a particular floor or area, more air-con cooling capacity will be directed to that location to make it coolor. In the same way, when meeting rooms are empty, the system may detect that there’s no need to blow cool air over there. Developing a system that can automatically detect all these, will save a lot of cooling load and yet at the same time can provide comfort for the occupier.

“Living and breathing” structures in smart urban infrastructure- A network of sensors will be built to provide real time data to the building system, allowing it to respond accordingly to environmental changes. And the city will be seamlessly linked by cable cars. Skyscrapers of tomorrow could comprise modular components which can be rearranged and assembled by robots. The buildings will also be able to harness energy and convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.

Solar paints- paint buildings with solar technology, so all buildings being able to harness technology, the effect that will have on the sustainability of the buildings, the look and feel of these buildings will be both amazing and productive.

Buildings for food production - Develop facades and skins of buildings that can not only act as energy storage elements, but also act as food generation element.

Other sustainable building functions include rainwater collection, recycling and energy generating lifts in all buildings.

CONCLUSION

With the speedy developments in robotics, scientists and other experts are now alarmed with the growing concerns in human safety and in ethics. As robots become more intelligent and very humanlike, the responsibility and the blame if robots injure someone became harder to decide.

As early as 1940, Isaac Asimov (an American author and professor of biochemistry), developed the three laws of robotics: (1) A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; (2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and (3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second Law.

These laws basically keep robots from harming people, but other experts opposed and raised the fact that “programming a real robot to follow the three laws would itself be very difficult”, “the robot would need to be able to tell humans apart from similar-looking things such as chimpanzees, statues and humanoid robots”.

The stated laws makes the robot safe but experts and other scientists are also considering the possibility of robots to develop feelings. Can they be given certain rights? If robots will eventually develop emotions, can they marry humans and be allowed to own a property?

Robots alarming features like its ability to recognize human expressions of emotion and be humanlike raise concerns to many especially when David Hanson, an American scientist developed a novel form of artificial skin that bunches and wrinkles just like human skin, and the robot heads he covers in this can smile, frown, and grimace in very human-like ways. They say that these robots are designed that way to encourage human beings to form emotional attachments to them. And as some observes, we will see ourselves as more machine-like in the long run.

US Military also posed moral questions in robots. They say that if robots will be granted more rights and entitlements, the specialness will be diluted. And if robots are designed not to harm people, this will not apply to military plans to be fully automated by 2020.

A lot of moral and legal questions are being raised by the developments in robotics. Ethicists, experts, lawyers and techies are all on the look to it. Everyone should be challenged and work closely in developing the technology with safety.

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References:

http://www.hgs.k12.va.us/Engineering_and_

Robotics/Robotics/FlashPaperVersion/ROB_

Chapter12.html , Rapp, Steve. Justifying the use of

the Robots,

http://ww2.cfo.com/people/2014/12/smart-

machines-new-human-capital/

http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2605015

https://hbr.org/2014/12/what-happens-to-society-

when-robots-replace-workers

BBC News: “The ethical dilemmas of robotics”, Dylan

Evans, March 9, 2007

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Internet of Things (IoT)

What is IoT? The Internet of Things (IoT) is a scenario where people and objects are very much interconnected. This level of interconnection enables them to transfer data over a network via unique identifiers and without the need for face to face interaction. A unique identifier (UID) is a numeric or alphanumeric string that is linked to a single entity within a given system. UIDs help other entities within the system access or interact with a particular entity.

According to http://www.cisco.com/web/solutions/trends/iot/overview.html, the volume of connected devices in the world has outnumbered its population with a ratio of 1.5 to 1. An accelerated pace of IoT market adoption is driven by the following:

• Growth in analytics and cloud computing

• Increasing interconnectivity of machines and personal smart devices

• The proliferation of applications connecting supply chains, partners, and customers

There are five important aspects that are essential in the dynamics of Internet of Things namely:

• Sensors: It measures the environment and systems that comprise the device.

• Wired or wireless connectivity: This is in order to gather the data and address it back to the corresponding data center.

• Bandwidth: Sufficient capacity handles the enormous flow of data.

• Large storage architectures: Architectures for storage are made to capture that data and ensure back up.

• Data analytics: It is the process that the data flow and mined for insights and decisions.

Technical Environment

To give an overview of the Internet, how it works, who administers it, and why it is inherently insecure. It should be clear that the Internet, although now a fully commercial entity, is still a community comprised of many ISPs, enterprise networks, and home users, all tied together by a collection of consensus-led management organizations, technical protocols, and a few large but critical services (such as domain name servers). Tremendous advances in technologies such as fiber optics, data storage systems, and desktop computing

have allowed new and exciting applications such as e-shopping, chat, multimedia conferencing, streaming video, online gaming, and file sharing to touch the daily lives of the everyday person. However, in the end, all of these advances still utilize the same inherently insecure TCP/IP infrastructure developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Fortunately, the same innovation has led to a whole industry whose purpose is to enable users to inhabit the electronic world of the Internet with a comfortable level of assurance that the information that they want to keep private can stay private. Technologies and products such as firewalls, virtual private networks, virus scanners, intrusion-detection systems, and authentication systems are all important tools that can be utilized by organizations to help secure their resources. However, security requires more than block boxes and new software. Users must be “street smart” and educated about the things they can do to prevent security compromises. Similarly, organizations should consider information security to be a critical issue and should ensure that it is considered in business planning and investments.

Understanding and Connecting to the Internet

What we now call the Internet began as a government-funded network called the ARPANET (named after ARPA, the Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Project Agency, which is now known as DARPA). Actually, the government funded the original Internet “backbone,” the core that connected all of the edge networks. The edge networks were owned and maintained by universities, research organizations, and government agencies, all interconnected by the ARPANET (and later the National Science Foundation–funded NSFnet) backbone. This internetworking of many IP networks through a core backbone gave rise to the popular term Internet. The modern Internet is built from a collection of privately built and operated backbone networks that are interconnected at major demarcation points around the world. The companies that own and provide access to these networks are called Internet Service Providers, or ISPs.

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Internet Service Providers

ISPs come in many sizes. The “big names” in the industry—AT&T, MCI/UUNET, and others—operate global high-speed backbones. Smaller, regional-based ISPs might serve individual countries or states. Although they are less common than they were in the mid-1990s, many small ISPs also provide dial-up or specialized access to the Internet. This hierarchy of ISPs are follows:

Internet Service Provider hierarchyTo get “on the Internet,” the first thing you must do is contract with an ISP that provides physical access to the Internet. Nowadays, physical Internet access comes in many forms, with examples including these:

• Dial-up modem—Thisis an access that establishes low-speed connections (tens of kilobits per second, up to about 56Kbps) using an analog modem over a normal phone line.

• ISDN—Integrated Services Digital Networks, or ISDN, is a technology that never really caught on in the United States, although it had more success in some European countries. Narrowband ISDN provides two 64Kbps channels that can be used for voice, fax, or data. Some ISPs support ISDN and allow users to “strap” their two 64Kbps channels together to form a 128Kbps connection to the Internet.

• DSL—Digital Subscriber Loop is an always-on “broadband” connection that also uses normal phone lines. The advanced technology allows the phone line to be used for both normal telephone conversations and full-time Internet access. High-speed data flows from the Internet to the end user, while a lower-speed connection is provided for outbound traffic. This type of “asymmetric” service works on the assumption that the typical consumer user spends a lot of time downloading information and actually sends very little data.

• Cable modem—Cable television service providers have recently began offering their own “broadband” Internet access. Like DSL, cable modems offer asymmetrical connections to the Internet, providing a high-speed download capability.

• Satellite modem—Some satellite TV service providers offer “high-speed” downlink connections from the Internet. Like DSL and cable modem access, these connections are asymmetric and usually require that a dial-up modem be used for the client-to-provider uplink connection.

• Frame Relay—In the commercial world, businesses often contract with ISPs that offer higher levels of service than consumer-grade Internet connections. Frame Relay is one technology that is used for permanent Internet connections ranging from several hundred kilobits to over a megabit per second of access.

• T1/T3—The “T carriers” have been used within the telephone network for many years now and are convenient increments of bandwidth to sell to enterprise customers. A T1 runs at about 1.5Mbps, and a T3 runs at about 45Mbps.

• OC3 and higher—High-speed fiber-optic links starting at 155Mbps are available to really serious users. Although some enterprise networks use these connections, this type of link more commonly is found within ISP backbones and in connections between ISPs.

• Ethernet—Direct Ethernet connections, usually 100Mbps, are provided by ISPs that also provide server hosting. In these cases, a customer is provided physical “rack space” inside the provider’s facilities in which to install things such as Web servers and database servers, and the ISP/hosting/colocation (“co-lo”) company provides direct Ethernet connections into its backbone, along with high-availability power and a secure facility.

Regardless of the type of connection to the facility, an Internet connection provides a link into one of the ISP’s local “points of presence” or POPs. For example, some dial-up providers have only a few POPs, all located within a small region to service a very local customer base. This means that you may “dial in” using only the local phone numbers that connect to the POPs in the local area. On the other hand, a larger ISP with national presence might have dial-up POPs in cities around the country or around the world. Because the POP ultimately connects to the ISP’s backbone, it is possible for a customer to dial a local number wherever he travels to gain access to the ISP.

It also should be noted that many times the company that provides the physical connection to the network is not the same as the ISP. This is very common with DSL, in which one company (such as a phone carrier) provides the physical cable that runs into the facility, and another company provides the Internet connectivity.

Similarly, most local cable companies partner with a national ISP to provide their cable modem service. The cable companies install the new equipment and fiber-optic lines in their system to handle the data connections to the end users, and the big ISP provides the high-speed IP backbone and connections to other backbones.

How does Internet work?

The Internet moves all of this application data from place to place using some pretty simple techniques. Each computer on the Internet must have an address of some kind, and there must be a way to route the data from place to place until it gets to its final destination. AddressingJust like letters and postcards, a packet must have an address so that it can be routed across the network and delivered to the appropriate recipient. Where we use street addresses, cities, states, and ZIP codes to address letters, the Internet uses IP addresses.

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Internet Protocol

Every device on the Internet has an IP address, which is a number that takes on the now-famous “dotted-quad” format:192.168.55.104

This is all that is needed to uniquely identify a computer on the Internet. Just like most letters, IP packets include a “return address” that provides the destination computer with a way of answering back. It should be noted that there is a limited supply of IP addresses. A total of about four billion possible addresses are available under the current version of the Internet Protocol.

Beyond physical access, the IP address is the most important thing that an ISP provides to its customers. Whenever a device is “on the Internet,” it has one of these addresses. The address might not be the same one every time a customer logs onto an ISP, but the IP address is the key to being capable of exchanging data with any other system on the Internet.

Networks

The Internet is really a community of networks. The big ISP backbones connect to each other to form the core of the Internet. They also connect their own customers, including smaller ISPs and large enterprise networks, to the Internet. Smaller ISPs provide connections to other companies as well as to each other. At the end of the day, the Internet is a big mesh of both large and small networks. Without going into detail at this point, it is sufficient to say that the aforementioned IP address actually has two parts:a network and a host number. If you know how to read these numbers, you can fairly rapidly figure out which network the IP address “belongs” to.

The paper has already established that the Internet is a “network”—in fact, by definition, it is a network of networks. Each ISP runs its own “network” and provides Internet access to both home users (who might be running their own “home network”) and commercial users, whose internal networks often are called “enterprise networks.” Once inside an enterprise network, the local administrators might break their infrastructure into smaller networks associated with different parts of the organization.

A network of networks

Routing

Of course, the job of the Internet (or any other network built on the IP protocol) is to allow a computer from one network to talk to another computer from another network. This is where routers come into play. Each network is built from a collection of computers and

routers; the job of the routers is to look at each IP packet that comes their way, figure out where the packet should go next, and send it on its way. If all goes well, the packet will go through anywhere from one to a few dozen appropriately selected routers, and the packet will end up at the server on the other side of the world.

The fact that the routers are capable of making smart decisions about how to pass on the packets is what makes the Internet work. Suffice it to say that at the same time all of the computers are talking to each other, exchanging emails and Web pages, the routers on the Internet also are talking to each other. They are exchanging information about things such as the speed of their links, what other routers or networks they can access, any congestion on the network, and so on. As a result of all of this router-to-router conversation, each router has a pretty good understanding of how to make decisions about what other routers to hand packets off to.

Overview of TCP/IP

The TCP/IP protocol family is the core technology that brings this all together. The term TCP/IP is used to refer to a number of individual protocols that collectively make the Internet work. Members of this family of protocols include:

• Internet Protocol (IP)

• Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)

• User Datagram Protocol (UDP)

• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

• File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

• Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP, the protocol that makes the World Wide Web what it is)

Protocols are simply agreed-upon methods of communicating. In this case, they are specifications that tell software and electronic hardware developers how to organize numbers and words so that packets can be built that have meaning to every other computer, router, or switch on the Internet (or any other private network that is based on TCP/IP).

Management of the InternetBack in the days of the ARPANET and NSFnet, the responsibility for management of things such as IP addresses, domain names, and core DNS servers (or hostname lists, if you go back far enough) was given to various organizations through federal contracts via DARPA and NSF. Several key organizations emerged through these activities, including these:

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Internet Network Information Center (InterNIC)Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)

Dr. Jon Postel, who was a graduate student at the University of California (UCLA) during the early ARPANET days, is fondly remembered as the person who maintained the early libraries of standards, pre-DNS hostname lists, and “magic numbers” lists. The InterNIC allocated IP addresses and domain names, while the IETF and IANA provided the mechanisms for setting protocol standards and defining official lists of important numbers associated with the protocols, respectively.

As the Internet became more commercialized, the U.S. government began the process of shifting management responsibilities away from federally funded companies and organizations and toward a collection of both nonprofit and for-profit entities.

Today, the last ties to the U.S. government have long since been broken, and the Internet is a totally commercial entity. As we already have stated, the physical infrastructure of the Internet is owned by many ISPs that have built and maintain numerous interconnected global and national backbones. A number of both nonprofit and for-profit organizations take care of day-to-day management issues such as these:

Allocation of blocks of IP addresses to ISPs around the world

The various organizations provide the “big-picture” management functions of the Internet. Many of the policy organizations are staffed by volunteers who are elected from the public and private sector stakeholders. On the other hand, the efforts that require significant capital investment, such as maintaining domain name databases, are for-profit enterprises, which compete with each other in the open market.

ICANNMany of the historical entities that handled the details of IP address allocation, domain name management, and other broad-ranging technical issues have been consolidated under a nonprofit organization called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. The ICANN provides a structure for Internet-related businesses, researchers, and technology developers to come to consensus on high-level matters affecting the overall operation of the Internet. The ICANN primarily is concerned with four issues:

IP address allocationProtocol developmentDNS management DNS root server management

Internet management authorities

The work of the ICANN is divided up among three principle support organizations: the DNSO, ASO, and PSO.Domain Name Supporting Organization (DNSO)

The DNSO is responsible for setting the rules for assigning domain names and managing the top-level domain that we described previously (such as .com and .net). For example, the DNSO conducts the activities required to officially create new TLDs, such as the .biz, .info, and .name domains. Although the DNSO is not the place you go to get a domain name, it does retain the authority to accredit commercial domain name registrars. The DNSO takes an active role in ensuring that a number of “root servers” maintained around the world act as the authoritative DNS servers for the .com, .edu, ,org, .gov, and .int TLDs. there were 13 root servers, 10 in the United States, 2 in Europe, and 1 in Japan.

Address Supporting Organization (ASO)The ASO is the ultimate authority for the allocation of IP addresses and a few other technical issues surrounding IP networks (such as autonomous system, or AS, numbers). The ASO principally deals with the allocation of large blocks of IP addresses to three regional Internet registries (RIRs):

ARIN—American Registry for Internet Numbers, which covers North and South America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa

RIPE—Reseaux IP Europeens, which covers Europe, Russia, the Middle East, and parts of Africa

APNIC—Asian Pacific Network Information Center, which covers the Asia-Pacific nations

The RIRs are then responsible for allocating smaller blocks of IP addresses to local Internet registries (LIRs), which are typically Internet service providers. The RIRs do not actually run any kind of backbone network; they simply manage the broad assignment of IP addresses across regions. For example, the smallest block of IP addresses that the APNIC will allocate is 4,096 addresses. An end user or small ISP can then go to one of the LIRs for an actual IP address assignment.

Protocol Supporting Organization (PSO)The PSO coordinates the development of new Internet-related protocols. Its principle partners in this effort include the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). At the end of the day, the fruits of these efforts are reflected in the Request for Comments documents (more commonly referred to as RFCs), which are the authoritative descriptions of things such as the TCP and IP packet protocols and the HTTP and SMTP application protocols. The IANA maintains a large collection of lists that describe the “magic numbers” associated with these protocols. For example, the detail-oriented reader might want to know what number is used in an IP header to indicate that TCP is being carried in the packet’s payload,

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or which application protocol is associated with TCP port number 80.

A quick check of the IANA references will reveal that the answers to these questions are 6 and HTTP, respectively. Any reader who is interested in Internet protocols should become familiar with the IETF and IANA Web sites:

http://www.ietf.org http://www.iana.org

These are the sites where software and network equipment developers go to learn all about the details of putting together valid packets and application data so that one vendor’s program or device can interoperate with another’s. It is also the place where the more elite “hackers” go to look for opportunities to exploit systems that implement the standards.

The PSO also coordinates with other technical standards bodies, including the WWW Consortium (W3C), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI).

Domain Name Registries

The paper has established that an ISP provides its customers with their IP address(es), as well as one or more DNS server addresses. After a user has obtained these two things, he is ready to surf the Internet. If a user wants other people to be able to surf to him, then that user needs to reserve a domain name of his own.

To do this, the user must contact a commercial domain name registrar and ask whether the desired domain name is available. If it is, then, after the payment of a relatively small annual fee (remember, domain name registration is a competitive, for-profit enterprise nowadays), the registrar will take care of the formalities of assigning the name and entering it in the global system of DNS servers. Finding a domain name registrar is pretty easy—their advertisements can be found on many Web pages.

The first commercial domain name registrar was Network Solutions, Inc. This organization, along with any one of dozens of other registrars, will be happy to handle your request for a .com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, or .name domain name. These registrars also have put in place procedures for handling disputes over the use of copyrighted names—domain name hijacking has become a serious issue for companies that found that they were forced to pay large sums of money to cyber squatters who registered for popular commercial domain names.

Trends in Internet of Things

Billions of devices, chips and objects that are able to communicate via the Internet composed the Internet of Things. For Intel, connected devices make up an integrated system of systems. Communication and interactions result to monitoring of health status of patients which include blood pressures and sugar level from a distance, addressing operational issues for businesses and manufacturing and retail industry adjusting their offering based on customer requirements.

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Top 5 Industries Composing IoT

Industry Sector IoS Use Applications and Trends

Business and Manufacturing

40% Analytics, Robotics, Supply Chain, Logistics, Equipment and Machineries

Health Care 30% Electronic Recordkeeping, Portable health monitoring, safeguards.

Retail 8.30% Tracking of inventories, purchases thru smartphones, analytics for consumer choices and satisfaction.

Security 7.70% Biometrics, recognition and sensors.

Transportation 4% Self-parking cars, GPS, maps and tracking

(Source: Intel Technology)

The Internet of Things, or IoT, is evolving as the next technology mega-trend, with impacts across the business industries. By connecting to the Internet where billions of today’s devices from smart watches to factory equipments, IoT merges the physical and online worlds that pave way to threats and opportunities for business sectors, consumers and government.

There are on-going trends studied by technology experts such as Intel and IBM that are going to be critical and hyped that they take the lead to implement innovation, efficiency, customer satisfaction and business solutions. The following is based from IBM IoT of 2015 Report:

1. Hardware: The presence of advance microchips and sensor technologies are relevant as devices are getting smaller, cheaper and smarter.

2. Software: Developers enhance on evolution of IoT platforms and solutions that can upload data from sensors and run analytics in order to comprehend insightful outputs as baseline when making decisions.

3. Security & data privacy: The focus on security which includes authentication, privacy, confidentiality and trust becomes crucial in IoT devices, software applications and networks.

4. Standards: Breakthroughs amidst challenges amidst competing proprietary and source standards collaborate for strategic good.

5. Edge analytics: The advancement on the capabilities of analytics will be pushed to the edge of the networks where results of analytics are needed to provide meaning and insights from all the things.

6. Machine-to-machine (M2M) automation: There will be high technology devices that make use of advanced sensors where IoT systems communicate to each other while providing insights and delivering results for decisions without human intervention and human decision-making. Data centers are talking to each other via wireless communication and networks.

7. Platform-to-platform integration: Movement from platforms that are closed to open IoT supports multiple IoT devices including devices, applications and networks.

8. Sensor fusion: Combining data from different sources can improve accuracy. Data from two sensors is better than data from one. Data from lots of sensors is even better.

9. Wearables and smart devices: The year of 2014 revolve on the buzz around wearables wherein there were developments of smart watches. In 2015, expect improvements on chip systems, sensors, wireless connectivity, battery development and power management.

10. Experiments on Sensor hubs: There will be increase on experiments for IoT devices sensor hubs which will be important on offloading application tasks, improving power consumption and battery life.

11. Big data: Sensors, devices and computers are destined to produce even more massive amounts of multifaceted data than today’s development. There will be real time interconnectivity which is provided by IoT.

12. Blockchain Technology: Developers may set up a distributed model which does not require nodal trusting in the network.

13. From hype to success stories and reality: Translating hype to reality, developers provide studies that implement best IoT systems and results. There is continuous automation in car industry embedding Iot on their systems, as well as health care and factories.

14. IoT apps: Expect more applications to address global IoT strategies. This integrates sensors in business applications.

15. New Business Process Transformation: With the disruption in the traditional business process, IoT demands new automated and response systems that may require new skills and methods.

16. IoT Technological Skills: There is an increasing need for an accelerated focus on education and training that are related to IoT in order to develop application. Utilize insights from data obtained and implement on decision making.

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17. Enhanced Product Design: More sensors on mobile devices are expected in IoT devices as products become more advanced and elaborated.

18. Demand for Network Bandwidth: There will be an accelerated need and challenge to enhance network capacity as more devices or IoT objects meet online in order to maintain speed.

19. Vertical Clouds: There will be aggregating of big amount of data and the results are acted upon by analyzing and applying insights from the cloud. Specialized IoT cloud services will be on the works.

20. Industry partnerships: The trend on which traditional IT vendors enhance their partnerships with global telecommunication service providers, semiconductor industries, and vertical IoT platform developers become visible.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats 1. Strong R & D and Engineering Companies for IoT

1. Heavy Reliance on sensor technologies and data storage

1. A great change of lifestyle brings revolution of business

1. Security data Threats (Malware, Linux worm)

2. Strong Sales and Service Network. Reach customers on larger areas

2. Difficulty of developing awareness for new technology

2. Political factors such as special policies for supporting IOT technology development

2. Presence of threat agents (Criminals, Hacktivists, Industrial Spies, Nation States, Terrorists and Insiders)

3. World Class and Newer IoT Infrastructure

3. Ability to maintain securities with billions of devices is being connected to each other.

3. Growing awareness on security concerns by top management.

3.Lack of standards and interoperable technologies

4. Largest Customer Base 4. Data storage as billions of data is being shared all over the globe

4. Fast Global Economic growth

4. Strong competition. New offering can be easily copied by other competitor/s

5. Capital requirement in adopting new technology

5. Nationwide support on IoT

5. Social resistance and unawareness of IoT use

6. Data and Information management issues

6. Higher environmental pressures with lower degree of security.

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HyperTech Magazine Information Technology Class S06Emerging Technology: Internet of Things

40


Internet of Things in Business

A. StorageInventory, sales, receivables and payables stored in Excel, Open Office or a similar program keeps these figures at our fingertips. We can eliminate much of the physical storage by using internet of things to scan and store old personnel and payroll files, tax files or client files (e.g. using dropbox, google drive, etc..) .

1. B. MarketingWe have to option to do online marketing, take orders, buy merchandise, sell excess or even operate some business (e.g. Company websites, Zalora, Lazada, etc…).

C. InformationOnline information are widely available over the internet. Online database and website provides data on potential employees, insurance proposals, and the competition. Operating the business with data gathered from the Internet keeps on the cutting edge.

2. D. CommunicationCommunication by email is so much faster that sending letter in the mail. It has transformed how we conduct our business communications with clients, customers and suppliers, in an efficient, simpler and faster way.

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Benefits of Internet of Things to Business/Industry:

INDUSTRY KEY CHANGE POTENTIAL BENEFITSAutomotive and Transportation Real-time driving behavior, traffic

and vehicle diagnostics.Promoting health and safety through environment friendly operations and better customer experience.

Healthcare Remote monitoring of staff, patients, and equipments

Increase in employee productivity, resulting to optimal use of resources.

Manufacturing Efficient, safe, and reliable operations with the use of digital control systems.

Flexible operations and less energy consumption and carbon footprint

Retail Intelligent supply chains. With the use of social media and internet with up to date information, consumer behavior and market trends can be forecasted effectively.

Supply Chain Real-time inventory tracking address demand fluctuations and efficient management of manufacturing stages.

Reduced capital requirements and management of operational risks in manufacturing process.

Infrastructure Smart lighting, water, power, fire, cooling, alarms and structural health systems.

Maximized utilization of resources, and environmental benefits.

Oil and Gas Smart components. Lower fuel consumption and cost savings.

Insurance Innovations in customer service Significant cost savings for both insurers and consumers.

Utilities Smart grids and meters. Use demand as basis for services thereby resulting to cost savings

Reference:http://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/

Reaping-the-Benefits-of-the-Internet-of-Things.pdf

Example of Internet of Things Business Application

Intel has been utilizing the Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics in its IT infrastructure and systems to lower down costs, increase efficiencies and improve performance, a major internal report written by Dan Worth. One can learn how Intel is embracing the benefits of the IoT in its local and international facilities. According to the internal report, Intel launched sensors in different environments which includes manufacturing facilities in order to address productivity improvement and increase in efficiency.

I. “In one use case, collection and analysis of pressure variation using the Intel IoT Gateway enabled yield improvement in one manufacturing operation,” the report states. “In another use case, predictive triggers for electromechanical parts failure in complex test equipment helped to improve output and yield.”

There is a project that makes use of IoT sensors at Intel’s data and IT center to collect data on humidity, power demand, temperature and pressure.

“Data analysis identified non-intuitive changes to our existing room power, space and cooling infrastructure, enabling us to design a free-cooling data centre with an average power usage effectiveness of 1.07, cutting annual power costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the report has stated. Intel revealed that projects that are currently worked on has an estimated business value of 30M USD.

Internet of Things in Education

Technology influences many factors in the era today; it could lead to negative or positive effect. Data is everywhere with just one click of the computer. The evolution of technology makes the market globally competitive. The greatest beneficiary of this evolution would be the student today. This technology influences the students and makes them engaged actively in different activities using different technologies. Good example for this would be, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Blogs and other social networking sites.

Next generation of engineers must grasp the technological aspect of designing and building the system that is aligned to the widespread impact of computing technology.

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There are some schools like in United Kingdom that currently adopting the transformation of technology. They offer this introductory course that called My Digital Life in their first year undergraduate programs. This curriculum helps the students understand and adopt the real world of Internet of Things.

Educational Institutions locally and abroad are highly engaged in technology nowadays. They integrate technology in learning, as result students are being more active in most of the activities. Teachers easily share their information to students making it more efficient. These changes should be highly embraced so Internet of Things can be fully utilized and learning can be used beyond the classroom.

Devices should not be prohibit inside the classroom instead school management must embrace the technological advancement, this helps the students to learn faster and even visualize what is being discussed in his/her subject matter. Technology has many uses and advantages in education as long as it is being used intelligently and properly, the whole sector especially the young once will be the major beneficiary in the future.

Changes in Education through Technology Evolution

Cost-Benefit AnalysisThe cost saving of IoT can be split to 3 categories:

1. Improved asset utilization 2. Efficient processes3. Improved productivity

Improves asset Utilization: When business firms can effectively monitor their assets (Machinery, equipment, tools) with less physical or manual efforts, they will be

updated real-time about the status of its of its day-to day activities and could run preventive measures to ensure smooth operation.

Efficient Process: Real-time operational insights reduce lead/waiting time, thus business decisions and strategies can be implemented thereby creating more value.

Improved Productivity: With the amount of data that can be gathered from IoT, employees will be more empowered with knowledge that is required for their job. Mismatch between skills and role will be reduced and would increase productivity.

When doing cost-benefit analysis, a lot of data is needed to be able to calculate financial ratios such as Return on Equity, Return on Assets and others. However, the Internet of Things needs not much calculation from our end to prove itself. With the several write-ups on the net talking about how this technology can help not just one company but generate domino effect across the globe, IoT indeed is one of the most beneficial investment a business can bank on.

Taking General Electronics (GE) as an example, the below diagram summarizes how GE’s investment has created value for them.

Source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-12-16/news/35837159_1_consumer-internet-hospitals-data/2

Example: GE Aviation

At the investor conference in June 2014, General Electric Executives explained how the company reaps benefits from IoT. It is mainly in expanding the collection and reporting of huge amount of data from airplane engines.

For the 15,000 flights in 2013, GE collected (for further analysis) around 14,000 gigabytes of flight metrics per flight, a total of 210 million gigabytes which will all fit on a single consumer grade hard drive.

In 2014, estimated data coming from 3.4 million flights equivalent to 340-terabyte haul requires roughly 170 of two-terabyte hard drive. In 2015, the data collection will

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involve 10million flights and 750 hard drives containing operational data.

GE presented a chart that shows how this vast information gathered will generate cost savings:

Flight data from thousands of flights lead GE to diagnose which component needs more maintenance. This pattern can only be seen when there is a large data available for analysis.

Kevin McAllister, one of GE VP, said it is important, “Because it lets us get ahead of the problem, understand how to manage it. In this case, we were able to implement specific inspections and containment actions, maintenance actions that only apply to the fleet that you see on the top and didn’t apply to the fleet on the bottom. There’s more productivity for the fleet on the bottom and better predictability for the fleet on top.”

http://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Reaping-the-Benefits-of-the-Internet-of-Things.pdf

Ethical Implications

In a press release dated November 11, 2014, Gartner Inc. forecasted that “4.9 billion connected things will be in use in 2015, up 30 percent from 2014, and will reach 25 billion by 2020.” In a report by Karen Tillman, it is the view of Cisco that there will be “more than 50 billion things … connected to the internet by 2020.” A separate report by Tony Danova stated that “a separate analysis from Morgan Stanley feels that number can actually be as high as 75 billion…”

The increasing number of things connected to the internet is becoming a powerful force for business transformation, and it is seen that this disruptive impact will be felt in all areas of society. This disruptive impact will not only have an impact on the economic, business aspects but on the ethical side as well.

The Internet of Things have various characteristics which may cause ethical problems. These are:

1. Ubiquity, omnipresence, miniaturization, invisibility: the increasing number of things being connected to the internet and the increasing use and dependence on these things shows the difficulty and even the impossibility of people not using these items/appliances. Devices being connected to the internet are becoming smaller, cannot be easily detected making inspections, quality control and accountability issues difficult.

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2. Ambiguity, difficult identification: since almost everything has the possibility of being tagged and connected to the internet, the distinctions of identities between the natural and the connected, what systems, categories and boundaries they should be included, are even more becoming blurred. Questions on who manages these “armies of objects” might also raise issues of security and control.

3. Ultra-connectivity, autonomous and unpredictable behavior, incorporated intelligence: when objects are connected to the internet, the issue being primarily raised concerns that of data that is being gathered and analyzed and may be maliciously used. Furthermore, it is seen that interconnected objects might not only interfere with human activities in unexpected ways, but these objects may also develop hybrid systems with unexpected behaviors, and may even develop intelligent and dynamic behavior related to, or even closer or even better than human intelligence.

4. Difficult control: since there will be a lot of objects connected to the internet, with a lot of data being transferred and analyzed, with the control and governance of these things most probably will not be centralized, the question that will be raised will be, as a consequence of the great number of hubs, switches and data, who will do the monitoring and governance to ensure that proper and ethical activities are being observed?

In consideration of these characteristics, there are four major areas of ethical debates, these are: 1. Enforcing the property rights on information: difficult questions are being raised on the ethical issue of ownership of data such as, “who owns the data retrieved by the devices?” “who eventually keeps the financial and personal data of the users?” A big brother type of surveillance of the users may be possible and the users may not be aware of such monitoring. Large amount of information about a particular individual may be gathered without the person knowing about it, without giving his consent. Even if a person will freely give information about his whereabouts, about his financial transactions and about his health data, these information may still be used by those assigned to gather these data in ways that are not covered by the agreements signed or agreed upon by the individual. Legal rights concerning the data must be clarified by the producers of the devices with the users of these objects with the rights and privileges clearly defined and understood by the involved parties.

2. Ensuring the access to information: a virus or hacker attack may lead to information loss or worse, to loss of lives. Vulnerable systems such as car control systems, hospitals and traffic light systems, food and water distribution networks, may be taken advantage of by malicious individuals and even terrorists. These kinds of wrongful access to information will lead to distrust of use and access to data and may hamper the useful aspect of the internet of things, which is to make people’s lives easier.

3. Ensuring the integrity of the information: Information gathered even for the best motives such as ensuring better services can still be manipulated and data loss or malicious use can severely affect the lives of people using these information. Educational and health care systems where data integrity is of utmost importance will be greatly affected and there must be systems in place to ensure that those giving information as well as accessing these data will have proper information given and relayed to them. 4. Enforcing the right to private life: trust and privacy issues come to the forefront when there data collection concerning devices connected to the internet. People have the basic right to privacy and loss of this right may lead to basic distrust of the use of the internet of things and may even hamper the advance of this technology.

In a report by Delft University of Technology, six key ethical issues were identified: 1. Social justice: since this technology is new, most users will be those who are economically advantaged while those who do not have access to these devices and the data may not be given equal opportunities and empowerment and will further deepen the inequalities between those who have and those who are poor. The governing bodies should put a system in place where there is fair business practices and proper use of data that would benefit the greater good.

2. Trust: fears of reliability, trustworthiness of data, proper use of information must be addressed. Trust must be established between the users of the devices, the producers as well as those managing the data and everyone involved must ensure that privacy and boundaries must be respected.

3. Blurring of contexts: since data is now easily shared by individuals and families in the privacy of their homes, using private devices, these are made accessible, with consent or even without consent, lines must be drawn as to the private and public data available, and again, boundaries must be set and respected.

4. Non-neutrality of Internet of Things metaphors: this emerging technology intends to make lives easier, however, when it comes to policy making and drafting of laws involving data and privacy issues, since this technology is relatively new, words and the understanding of the technology comes from previous experiences of technology that may favor or be biased against this technology and may lead to positive or reactive laws that may help or hinder the advancement, depending on the policy makers point of view.

5. Agency and autonomy: the programming of the devices in order to provide better services without much interference from the users could lead to potential issues such as loss of control, disempowerment and possible unauthorized actions.

Internet of Things

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References:

1, www.cisco.com2. http://government-2020.dupress.com/can-internet-things-make-education-student-focused/3. http://www.seap.usv.ro/annals/ojs/index.php/annals/article/viewFile/628/5994. Fact sheet- Ethics Subgroup IoT - Version 4.01 Jeroen van den Hoven Delft University of Technology Chair Ethics Subgroup IoT Expert Group5. ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/dae/document.cfm6. http://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2014/sep/08/when-fridges-attack-the-new-ethics-of-the-internet-of-things 7. http://www.enterrasolutions.com/2015/01/predictions-2015-smart-machines.html8. http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2395520/intel-touts-in-house-cloud-and-internet-of-things-use-to-boost-business

9. http://www.informit.com

Internet of Things

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1. Technology Description

A. Technical Environment

Computing Everywhere according to Gartner has stated that all objects we use on a normal basis will now have working and digital interfaces where in people can interact. We are currently driven by objects which are interlaced to the internet connection for it to communicate. However, with this new technology the focus has been shifted to the adaptation of devices to communicate to users at different environments and contexts.

B. Trends in the Technology

Year 2014, there is an obvious rise in market need for mobile applications that is suited for all needs everytime, anywhere. We have seen that there is absolute trend increase for mobile-device production. For this year, Gartner has predicted that the market need will involve more interaction with the data based on “where you are, what you are doing, the time of day, etc.”

Computing everywhere dictates that there is interconnectivity of everything in every activity. It can evolve to getting your orders from a waiter by using an app from your mobile phone or working for a project without the use of laptop devices. As Gartner puts it, “Intelligent screens, the internet of things and sensor technology will proliferate and be present in many different forms and sizes.”

Basic samples now are the emergence of Google Glass and Apple’s iWatch. These are advance technology that is smart, wearable and can serve as computing devices. This paper focuses on Google Glass.

C. SWOT Analysis

i. Strengths• Convenience & Interconnectivity – Google Glass

allows individuals to accomplish tasks, trivial or otherwise, at their preferred pace, time and place.

• Big data management – Google Glass makes it possible for anyone to store and manage even bigger data through cloud. Anyone can pick-up simple information, store and retrieve whenever they need to.

Immense access to computer capabilities – This device also gives a simple consumer access to computer capabilities that were once available only through a

hand-held device or high-performing desk devices.

ii. WeaknessesDependence on Technology – many contend though that Google Glass fosters our dependence on technology for example, simple inquiry of information has to be done via the device, locating and re-locating a destination has to be done while it is on, getting to know people or potential job candidate evaluation will just be a click away instead of doing actual personal interaction.

• IT departments are not very well equipped – While Google Glass makes big data management and immense access to computer capabilities possible, IT departments may not be fully equipped to protect corporate information or even monitor an employee’s activities using Google Glass.

• Privacy to the individual – since data is stored in cloud and various information can be uploaded at an individual’s convenience, privacy is being put in question as it already is now.

iii. Opportunities

• Demand – as Gartner puts it, there is a demand for applications that can accomplish everything anytime and even more so this year that it involves convenience device-wise.

• Consumer Pioneer – Google Glass spearheads the tech industry in providing a simple consumer with access to modified interconnectivity.

• B2B Opportunities – easy and interactive access to information will encourage other industries to boost their digital presence and reach to target and potential consumers by creating their own apps, websites, tying-up with app developers or various online retail websites.

iv. Threats• Competition – By putting the device out there,

there is always a risk of other companies to develop an even better version of Google Glass or even more so, a versions that attract market niche such as those for executives, travelers, gamers, etc.

• Linking to “computing everywhere” – As other “computing everywhere” devices are launched amidst already existing devices where most consumers are still dependent on, there is always a possibility for the market to require easy interconnectivity among these devices which competition may be able to address ahead of Google.

• Lawsuits – in relation to privacy and dependence on technology, Google Glass, a revolutionary concept, is always open to lawsuits on data protection and consumer safety while it is being used.

Computing Everywhere

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2. Business/Industry/Education Applications

Google Glass

Google Glass was a type of wearable technology with an optical head-mounted display (OHMD). It was developed by Google with the mission of producing a mass-market universal computer. Google Glass displays information in a smartphone-like hands-free format. Wearers communicate with the Internet via natural language voice commands. Google started selling a prototype of Google Glass to qualified “Glass Explorers” in the US on April 15, 2013, for a limited period for $1,500, before it became available to the public on May 15, 2014, for the same price.

On January 15, 2015, Google announced that it would stop producing the Google Glass prototype but remained committed to the development of the product. In their eyes Project Glass was ready to ‘graduate’ from Google Labs, the experimental phase of the project.

Features

• Touchpad: A touchpad is located on the side of Google Glass, allowing users to control the device by swiping through a timeline-like interface displayed on the screen. Sliding backward shows current events, such as weather, and sliding forward shows past events, such as phone calls, photos, circle updates, etc.

• Camera: Google Glass has the ability to take photos and record 720p HD video.

Healthcare applicationsSeveral proofs of concept for Google Glass have been proposed in healthcare.

Medopad and Google Glass are being used in a hospital.

In December 2013, Medopad, a London, UK based mobile

health solution provider, announced the first wearable health record and had an official showcase of the technology at the CeBIT conference in March 2014. With the Medopad application for Glass, doctors can access patient records, check live patient vitals, collaborate by sharing what they are viewing in surgery with up to 5 other doctors, and record video or take pictures.

Autism related applications

On December 1, 2014, Autism Speaks announced that Harvard & M.I.T trained Neuroscientist, and Brain Power CEO Dr. Ned Sahin will begin beta testing Google Glass software for children with autism in 2015. He is developing the Empowered Brain application suite, software that is reported to feature personalized language coaching, gamefied emotional training, and positive behavior assistance. The program described the combination of Google Glass and the software as being a “Game changer” for autism.

Journalism and mass media applicationsIn 2014, Voice of America Television Correspondent Carolyn Presutti and VOA Electronics Engineer Jose Vega began a web project called “VOA & Google Glass” which explores the technology’s potential uses in journalism. This series of news stories examines the technology’s live reporting applications, including conducting interviews and covering stories from the reporter’s point of view. On March 29, 2014, American a cappella group Pentatonix partnered with Voice of America when lead singer Scott Hoying wore Glass in the band’s performance at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., during the band’s worldwide tour - the first use of Glass by a lead singer in a professional concert.

Beginning in the fall of 2014, The University of Southern California will conduct a course called “Glass Journalism,” which will explore the device’s application in journalism.

3. Cost-Benefit Analysis

A. Total Cost of Ownership

Getting your own Google Glass is not exactly cheap. As of 2015, the selling price of a brand new Google Glass V3 Explorer Edition on Ebay is at $1500 - $1700. Although this is not really affordable to the average consumer, it is important to note that the current models being sold are part of the “Explorer” series. This series is meant to be used by people who are willing to participate during the development phase of Google Glass, as a way of crowdsourcing. Therefore, once the product is ready for mass production, Google must find a way to cut the price in half to be competitive in the market – Recon Instruments, one of the leading competitors, can sell their smart glasses at $500 -$700.

Given the current price point, one must also consider hidden costs such as battery life maintenance and


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constant visual distraction. These factors may make or break the product for any consumer.

Any electronic gadget will require a power source to function, and Google Glass is not any different. The current battery life according to some tests is 1 hour for video and 3-5 hours for hands-free picture taking. This pitfall adds inconvenience in using the product on a daily basis. Until batteries are developed to have prolonged battery life, one will experience constant charging within the day if they intend to use Google Glass frequently.

The user interface design of Google Glass may be subtle but it may also lead to constant visual distraction to the user. Using the navigation function while walking, for example, may divert the user’s attention from oncoming traffic – the same way as a phone could – simply because the attention is split. Although the design of Google Glass is to superimpose images to what you actually see, this concern on distraction must be taken into consideration since it is about physical safety of the user.

B. Direct and Indirect Strategic Benefits

Once the obstacle of financial capacity has been eliminated, then here are some examples of strategic benefits that could be gained by using the product, in terms of improving business:

Direct Strategic Benefit

1. Access to Information – Information is key in making better decisions. Every good decision will lead to hitting strategic goals and possibly increased revenues.

2. Efficiency – A person can now use their head gestures and voice to control a computer hands-free. This adds one more tool to the arsenal of a doctor, chemist, engineer and the like. This tool can increase efficiency and quality of each job transaction by incorporating applications, such as instruction manuals or analysis of data, in the operations.

Indirect Strategic Benefit

1. Competitive Edge – A professional using the latest technology is, most often than not, gains a competitive edge in the market in terms of its capability. Customers will consider this as a strength of a person/company and will contribute to their willingness to purchase a product/service. Google glass can give that same effect to the market.

2. Documentation – By using video or “Hangout” mode, the user can share what they see to other people in real time. Being able to monitor

and document the actions of the users will be beneficial when there is a need to review and improve their actions.

C. Financial Analysis

Before purchasing Google Glass as an investment, the user must make sure that the benefit can outweigh the additional expense. Otherwise, the added value is simply not enough to justify the investment.

With the numerous applications of Google Glass, there is bound to be potential in increasing Profit Margins by both increasing sales and decreasing expenses. For example, an investment in Google Glass will need around P7,084 additional profit in order to have a payback period of one year – assuming only the device an internet connection is gotten. Should the effect be less than this, then one must reconsider the investment.

Google Glass Investment Now Target

Device Cost $

1,649.00 $

824.50 Useful Life 1 year 1 year

Monthly Expense

137.42 68.71

Internet Connection 20.00

20.00

Total Monthly Cost $

157.42 $

88.71 Conversion (PHP43 : 1 Dollar)

PHP 7,084

PHP 3,992

To increase profits and hit the one year payback period, the strategic benefits from Google Glass must be utilized such as:

1. Since work efficiency will be higher, maybe you can now have lesser employees to have the same output – effectively reducing the salaries per month. This is a scenario wherein the Google Glass will take the place of one person in the operating process.

2. Since analysis of data can be done quicker, there is an opportunity to increase sales transactions accomplished per day – increasing sales generated.

3. Upon using Google Glass, your group can make better decisions with information easily downloadable or with consulting effortlessly with distant professionals. This may lead to better service and lesser errors – eventually leading to better financials.


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These are only some of the many ways Google Glass can affect the financial performance of the company, directly or indirectly. The continuous development of this gadget can open a lot of opportunities for business owners.

4. Ethical Implications

Computer technology brings about a whole new field of ethical dilemmas. From computer crime to privacy to the power of computer professionals, this technology has shifted the way the business world must think about ethical decisions. Yet this is difficult because there is no overarching positive ethical force in the business community. And with the technology changing so fast, it is hard to establish firm moral codes of conduct regarding computers and follow them strictly.

Behind all the hype and genuine interest in wearable technology is a serious issue surrounding the ability users will have to snap or video any kind of content, at any time. But such is the technology’s relative infancy that perhaps the only – and risky – way to see which lines will be crossed is to wait and see

Prior to the advent of smartphones and wearable gadgets or technology, one would feel embarrassed taking a personal photo in public, earning the dirty looks, or worse, the stern scoldings of a random stranger. However, nowadays, seeing someone take a selfie in public is such a common occurrence that oftentimes, one would question whether people still get to stop and smell the roses.

A panel of industry experts at CES 2014 discusses the ethical quandaries and shared responsibilities with the augmented reality and head-mounted wearables that will change our lives as dramatically as the smartphone.

Being ushered into this generation with this ubiquitous technology like Google Glass that rely on augmented reality (AR), enables its users to have an almost instantaneous access to information on the fly. However, society has yet to address the issues that such types of technology may bring to individuals: loss of personal privacy, companies and individuals having almost infinite access to a new online public presence. With issues brought about by wearable technology, and the omnipresent access to information and other real-world data, courts, government bodies and entities, and even coffee-shop discussions must take into consideration their opinion on various issues that may arise – propriety of use in public areas,

safety concerns of technology usage when otherwise indisposed, and even the psychological effect of the easier accessibility to other individuals thus sacrificing on personal security.

In a Consumer Electronic Show (CES) 2014 session titled “Augmented Reality: Next Big Thing or Info Overload?” a panel of AR specialists discussed these issues from the perspective of those who -- in the words of panel participant Brian Mullins, CEO and founder of AR software company Daqri -- will be “essentially arming the public with the technology” to fundamentally change how society functions.

6. Nation-Building Implications

1. Transformation of Education When information can be projected immediately into our field of vision wherever we are, traditional learning (i.e. classroom setting) will become outdated and will be replaced by online learning. Therefore, we all will have the potential to be home schooled.

2. Transformation of Commerce

Access to online information will become instantaneous. Virtual businesses and online retailers will become more aggressive. The advertising industry will contribute in a big way to economic growth.

3. Effects on Law Enforcement and Terrorism

More ways and possibilities for coordinating special response teams, communication among law-enforcement agencies, monitoring, command and control, and documenting illegal activities. However, terrorists and others could utilize the technology as well in their own nefarious ways.

4. Legal Challenges

Legal challenges will abound. One example would be the privacy issues. It’s considered as dangerous to have a situation where someone could use the Google glass without permission from the other people who are being monitored by the device.


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References:

1. http://varstaff ing.com/blog /information-technology-jobs/computing-everywhere-named-gartners-top-tech-trend-for-2015/

2. http://www.financialbrawn.com/2014/10/24/comput ing-everywhere-gartners-top-10-strategic-technology-trends-2015/

3. Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Glass

4. http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Google-Glass-V3-0-2GB-Explorer-Edition-Charcoal-Black-Glasses-FREE-ACCESSORY-/281408504313

5. http://www.itpro.co.uk/mobile/21581/google-glass-10-use-cases-for-wearable-technology

6. http://www.amazon.com/Recon-Smart-Glass-Sports-Black/dp/B00MCJ4CKG

7. http://www.techradar.com/reviews/gadgets/google-glass-1152283/review/7

8. http://www.tnooz.com/art ic le/wearable-technology-ethics/

9. http://www.cnet.com/news/wearables-with-augmented-reality-are-mind-blowing-and-an-ethical-nightmare/

10. http://mic.com/articles/41445/10-ways-google-glass-will-change-us-whether-we-re-ready-or-not


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