[From the last episode: Many, many aspects have to align for equipment to interoperateThis refers to how well different pieces of equipment can work together. Macs and PCs, for instance have some limited interop, but there are many Mac devices that can't work on a PC, and vice versa. This is an important notion for systems, like the IoT, that involve many different pieces of equipment working together.. Just like many aspects that we don’t think about often have to align in order for humans to intercommunicate.]
A walled gardenAn approach to the IoT that restricts which devices and brands you can have work together. It could protect you, help assure interoperability, keep out certain competitors, or any and all of the above. has obvious value for raising kids. When your children learn locomotion – when they crawl or eventually walk – do we open the doors and say, “Welcome to the wide world! Don’t get in trouble! Off you go…”? Of course not; we would not have lived long enough to evolve as a species if we did that.
No, we build protected spaces. Baby-proofing the house; fenced-off areas where they can play without immediate supervision. Rules about where they can go as they get bigger, and whom they must notify if out too long.
And then, as they get older and wiser (hopefully), we gradually lift the restrictions and protections.
One image that easily comes to mind is the walled garden – more of a British thing than an American one, if I’m not mistaken. But the image is clear: the garden (which, in the US, we would call a “yard”; for us a “garden” is more specific) has high walls that keep children in and keep threats out.
Electronic Walled Gardens
Electronics has a history of working the same way. Except that, for the most part, it’s not about temporary restrictions that ease as you get “older and wiser,” but rather a permanent “safe space” (?) where your experience – and your business – can be better controlled.
The internet is a great example of this. Remember back in the early days, with companies like AOL? With their softwareIn this context, "software" refers to functions in an IoT device that are implemented by running instructions through some kind of processor. It's distinct from "hardware," where functions are built into a silicon chip or some other component., you couldn’t just randomly go wherever you wanted on the internet. They “curated” places for you to go (probably involving business agreements for sites to get on the list). The good news for you as a user, if they do a good job, is that you’re protected from the very many sketchy places you might inadvertently (or not) end up.
It’s also a good deal for them, since they control the experience and where you can go. That makes it worthwhile for other companies’ to make a deal and get on the approved list.
IoT Walled Gardens
With the IoTThe Internet of Things. A broad term covering many different applications where "things" are interconnected through the internet., it’s probably going to be a different motivation, but a similar concept. And it depends on who’s creating the walls and what those walls restrict. Some companies might look to restrict you to devices they make. This can be an issue both for the consumer IoT and the industrial IoT. It’s called “lock-in,” because, once you make that decision to enter that garden, you’re locked into buying only their brand for everything you might add to your smart homeA buzzword for interconnected home devices - TV, refrigerator, door locks, etc. or business.
Business considerations aside, it also dramatically simplifies the “interop” considerations. Even if one company doesn’t control the purchases, if there’s an allianceA group of companies working together (in an anti-trust fashion) to promote a particular protocol or set of protocols. They’re like a standards body, but they don’t have the official imprimatur of a standards body. of companies – what we call an “ecosystemA group of related businesses that agree to work together, typically through a somewhat formal organization that may have a brand name. If something like that existed, for, say, produce sold in a grocery store, then the ecosystem might include select farmers, distributors, transportation companies, and grocery stores.” – then they can work extra hard to prove that their various devices can successfully interoperate. That’s a whole lot easier than proving that your device can interoperate with anything and everything, including future devices you’ve never seen before.
There are also considerations of quality and reliability; a particular ecosystem might want to protect its reputation by insisting on quality standards for anything it allows into the walled yard. They may also insist on tight securityRefers to whether or not IoT devices or data are protected from unauthorized viewers., or they may have specific privacyRefers to whether or not information gathered about your usage of IoT devices by authorized people can be made public, or shared with others, without your consent. Different from (although related to) security, which protects such data and devices from access by unauthorized people. Different from privacy, which is more concerned about use of data by authorized people. – and data-sharing – rules.
This does not mean that any such ecosystem will protect your security and/or privacy, but that they have the option to do so. You have to check for yourself.
Leaving the Walled Garden
If you decide not to implement a walled-garden approach, then you’re buying individual pieces of equipment and creating your own networkA collection of items like computers, printers, phones, and other electronic items that are connected together by switches and routers. A network allows the connected devices to talk to each other electronically. The internet is an example of an extremely large network. Your home network, if you have one, is an example of a small local network.. This lets you select “best of breed” devices rather than being restricted to a specific brand or ecosystem. But it also means that it’s up to you to make sure they can work together. Freedom brings risks. Not insurmountable ones if you do your homework, but more risk than the walled gardens.
We’ve got a few more basic topics to tackle, but in a future post, we’ll talk more about some specific things you may want to look at when purchasing equipment. We’ll continue to refine that list as we address more topics.
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