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Top 10 Internet of Things Products of 2009

2009 has been a turning point for the Internet of Things, when real world objects (such as lights, cars and packages) get connected to the Internet. This trend has added a significant amount of new data to the Web, so for that reason alone it is an important development. Having said that, many of the following top 10 list are not yet mainstream products. But we expect some of them to become well known over the coming years.

Underlying the Internet of Things are technologies such as RFID (radio frequency identification), sensors, and smartphones. Now let’s look at the 10 products which stood out this year.

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Pachube

A small UK startup particularly impressed us this year: Pachube. Pronounced “PATCH-bay,” Pachube lets you tag and share real time sensor data from objects, devices, buildings and environments both physical and virtual. According to founder Usman Haque, Pachube is about “environments” moreso than “sensors.” In other words, Pachube aims to be responsive to and influence your environment – for example your home.

For more on this innovative company, see ReadWriteWeb’s 3-Part analysis of Pachube:

1. Pachube Adds Real-Time Notifications – More Power to The Internet of Things
2. Applications From The Internet of Things – An Analysis of Pachube
3. Business Models of The Internet of Things – An Analysis of Pachube’s Open Source Platform

IBM’s sensor solutions

One of the leading big companies in Internet of Things is IBM, which offers a range of RFID and sensor technology solutions. IBM has been busy working with various manufacturers and goods suppliers this year, to introduce those solutions to the world. For example IBM announced a deal at the end of June with Danish transportation company Container Centralen. By February 2010, Container Centralen undertakes to use IBM sensor technology to enable companies in the horticultural supply chain to track the progress of shipments as they move from growers to wholesalers and retailers across Europe. It makes the travel process very transparent and data centric.

Arduino

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform made up of open source hardware and software. It’s intended for artists, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments. For an example of the type of internet-connected object you can build with Arduino, check out this presentation where the author configured a child’s toy ray gun to react when anyone posted on Twitter about the #barcampliverpool hash tag.

Fedex SenseAware

International courier giant Fedex released a new tracking device and web service for packages in December. Called SenseAware, it keeps tabs on the temperature, location and other vital signs of a package – including when it’s opened and whether it was tampered with along the way. Fedex is running a trial period of about a year with 50 health care and life science companies, for tracking delivery of surgery kits, medical equipment – and even live organs.

HP CeNSE

HP Labs has joined the race to build an infrastructure for the Internet of Things. The giant computing and IT services company recently announced a project that aims to be a "Central Nervous System for the Earth" (CeNSE). It’s a research and development program to build a planetwide sensing network, using billions of "tiny, cheap, tough and exquisitely sensitive detectors." The technology behind this is based on nano-sensing research done by HP Labs. The sensors are similar to RFID chips, but in this case they are tiny accelerometers which detect motion and vibrations.

Next page: Top Internet of Things Products 6-10

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