Opinion: The 'Internet of Things' explained

For many people, the phrase “Internet of Things” will produce nothing more than a blank stare. Expand on the phrase with such things as “Industry 4.0” and “smart manufacturing” and you can imagine how much more confused people become. Yet everyone needs to learn more about these concepts as they are already fundamentally changing our lives everyday — and will have even more of an impact in the years ahead.
At its simplest, the Internet of Things (IoT) is