1st Edition

The Internet of Things in the Cloud A Middleware Perspective

By Honbo Zhou Copyright 2013
    392 Pages 107 B/W Illustrations
    by CRC Press

    Although the Internet of Things (IoT) is a vast and dynamic territory that is evolving rapidly, there has been a need for a book that offers a holistic view of the technologies and applications of the entire IoT spectrum. Filling this void, The Internet of Things in the Cloud: A Middleware Perspective provides a comprehensive introduction to the IoT and its development worldwide.

    It gives you a panoramic view of the IoT landscape—focusing on the overall technological architecture and design of a tentatively unified IoT framework underpinned by Cloud computing from a middleware perspective. Organized into three sections, it:

    1. Describes the many facets of Internet of Things—including the four pillars of IoT and the three layer value chain of IoT
    2. Focuses on middleware, the glue and building blocks of a holistic IoT system on every layer of the architecture
    3. Explores Cloud computing and IoT as well as their synergy based on the common background of distributed processing

    The book is based on the author’s two previous bestselling books (in Chinese) on IoT and Cloud computing and more than two decades of hands-on software/middleware programming and architecting experience at organizations such as the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, IBM, BEA Systems, and Silicon Valley startup Doubletwist. Tapping into this wealth of knowledge, the book categorizes the many facets of the IoT and proposes a number of paradigms and classifications about Internet of Things' mass and niche markets and technologies.

    THE INTERNET OF THINGS

    The Third ICT Wave
    Rise of the Machines
    The IoT Kaleidoscope
    Defining Internet of Things
    IoT: A Web 3.0 View
    Summary

    Ubiquitous IoT Applications
    A Panoramic View of IoT Applications
    Important Vertical Applications
         Telematics and Intelligent Transport Systems
         Smart Grid and Electric Vehicles
         Smarter Planet and Smart Buildings
    Summary

    Four Pillars of IoT
    The Horizontal, Verticals, and Four Pillars
    M2M: The Internet of Devices
    RFID: The Internet of Objects
    WSN: The Internet of Transducers
    SCADA: The Internet of Controllers
    Summary

    The DNA of IoT
    DCM: Device, Connect, and Manage
    Device: Things that Talk
    Connect: Via Pervasive Networks
         Wired Networks
         Wireless Networks
         Satellite IoT
    Manage: To Create New Business Value
         More Ingredients: LBS, GNSS, RTLS, and Others
    Summary

    MIDDLEWARE FOR IoT

    Middleware and IoT
    An Overview of Middleware
    Communication Middleware for IoT
         MTC/M2M Middleware
         SCADA Middleware
         RFID Middleware
         WSN Middleware
    LBS and Surveillance Middleware
    Summary

    Protocol Standards for IoT
    Web of Things versus Internet of Things
         Two Pillars of the Web
    IoT Protocol Standardization Efforts 
         M2M and WSN Protocols
         SCADA and RFID Protocols
         Issues with IoT Standardization
    Unified Data Standards: A Challenging Task
         Unified Identification of Objects
    Summary

    Architecture Standardization for WoT
    Platform Middleware for WoT
         Standards for M2M
         Frameworks for WSN
         Standards for SCADA
         Extensions on RFID Standards
    Unified Multitier WoT Architecture
         SOA/EAI versus SODA/MAI
         OSGi: The Universal Middleware
         WoT Framework Based on Data Standards
    WoT Portals and Business Intelligence
    Challenges of IoT Information Security
    Summary

    THE CLOUD OF THINGS

    Cloud Computing
    What is Cloud Computing?
    Grid/SOA and Cloud Computing
    Cloud Middleware
    NIST’s SPI Architecture and Cloud Standards
    Cloud Providers and Systems
    Summary

    The Cloud of Things
    The Internet of Things and Cloud Computing
    Mobile Cloud Computing
    MAI versus XaaS: The Long Tail and the Big Switch
    The Cloud of Things Architecture
         Four Deployment Models
         Vertical Applications
         Fifteen Essential Features
         Four Technological Pillars
         Three Layers of IoT Systems
         Foundational Technological Enablers
    Summary

    References

    Index

    Biography

    Honbo Zhou, Ph.D., is currently the general manager of Foton Fleet Telematics Co. Ltd. He was chief software scientist of TongFang Co. Ltd., executive director of the board and chief technology officer of Technovator Pte. Ltd., and chief operating officer of TongFang Software Co. Ltd. Dr. Zhou worked as a research associate on grid computing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory after receiving his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Zurich in 1993. He also worked at IBM, BEA Systems (now Oracle), and other companies in the United States as a senior engineer or manager. He participated in the ASCI Blue Pacific project building the world’s fastest supercomputer in 1996 while at IBM as a software team lead and coordinator for its job scheduler. He masterminded and built a high-performance/cloud-computing system that accomplished the complete annotation of the human genome for the first time in the world while working at a startup in Silicon Valley, which was reported by media such as the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN. He has been one of the pioneers of the Internet of Things and machine-to- machine computing, leading a team of 100-plus developers to build TongFang’s flagship ezM2M Middleware Platform for dozens of vertical IoT applications since 2003, and he has authored two related books in Chinese. He is a frequently invited speaker and evangelist of IoT and cloud computing, adjunct professor of several universities, and vice president of the Middleware Association, and he is a member of a few other related professional associations in China.

    This book brings together timely, mind provoking, and comprehensive materials to give you a better understanding of the IoT/M2M technological and business landscape on top of Cloud computing … . I also believe this book, which I highly recommend, is the first on the market that covers almost all of the related subjects.
    —George (Aiping) Guo, Ph.D., CEO of TCL Communication Technology Holdings Ltd.