SAMWEL KARIUKI's Posts - The Data Center Professionals Network2024-03-28T23:23:41ZSAMWEL KARIUKIhttp://www.datacenterprofessionals.net/profile/SAMWELKARIUKIhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/363379091?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://www.datacenterprofessionals.net/profiles/blog/feed?user=1zntgdh6vyn7p&xn_auth=noKenya's New Disruptive Technologies Revolutiontag:www.datacenterprofessionals.net,2018-08-09:2336802:BlogPost:1498742018-08-09T12:27:45.000ZSAMWEL KARIUKIhttp://www.datacenterprofessionals.net/profile/SAMWELKARIUKI
<p>The noise about the next big thing can make it difficult to identify which technologies truly matter. I will attempt to sort through the many claims to identify the technologies that have the greatest potential to drive substantial economic impact and disruption before or by 2030(our country’s vision set plan). Important technologies can come in any field or emerge from any scientific discipline, but they share four characteristics: high rate of technology change, broad…</p>
<p>The noise about the next big thing can make it difficult to identify which technologies truly matter. I will attempt to sort through the many claims to identify the technologies that have the greatest potential to drive substantial economic impact and disruption before or by 2030(our country’s vision set plan). Important technologies can come in any field or emerge from any scientific discipline, but they share four characteristics: high rate of technology change, broad <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/403202566?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/403202566?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-right" width="750" height="428"></a>potential scope of impact, large economic value that could be affected, and substantial potential for disruptive economic impact. Many technologies have the potential to meet these criteria eventually, but our leaders(CS Mr.Mucheru of ICT) needs to focus on technologies with potential impact that is near enough at hand to be meaningfully anticipated and prepared for. I already love the whitebox launch intiative by his ministry and hope to see such moves in several other ministries and NGOsas well.Therefore, as a country,we need to focus on technologies that we believe will have significant potential to drive economic impact and disruption by 2030.</p>
<p>What Safaricom has done in enhancing mobile Internet, for example, has affected more than 16 million Kenyans going about their lives, giving them tools to become potential innovators or entrepreneurs— making the mobile Internet one our most impactful technologies. I personally an a beneficiary of their noble intiative to nature and grow talent within STEM.My focus for now is profoundly learn the Internet of Things technology which will connect and embed intelligence in billions of objects and devices all around the world not Kenya alone, affecting the health, safety, and productivity of billions of people.I want to be part of the few folks who will go down the history books of STEM in Africa that shaped the path of the four disciplines and made life of the coming generation better from our engineered solutions.</p>
<p>Here is what I sorted out as the buzz in-things for Tech evangelist, engineering gurus and STEM lovers which will definitely shape our country in the next few years and propel the big 4 agenda to realization.</p>
<ol>
<li>Mobile Internet Increasingly inexpensive and capable mobile computing devices and Internet connectivity</li>
<li>Automation of knowledge work intelligent software systems that can perform knowledge work tasks involving unstructured commands and subtle judgments</li>
<li>The Internet of Things Networks of low-cost sensors and actuators for data collection, monitoring, decision making, and process optimization</li>
<li>Cloud technology Use of computer hardware and software resources delivered over a network or the Internet, often as a service</li>
<li>Advanced robotics increasingly capable robots with enhanced senses, dexterity, and intelligence used to automate tasks or augment humans</li>
<li>Autonomous and near-autonomous vehicles Vehicles that can navigate and operate with reduced or no human intervention</li>
<li>Next-generation genomics Fast, low-cost gene sequencing, advanced big data analytics, and synthetic biology (“writing” DNA)</li>
<li>Energy storage Devices or systems that store energy for later use, including batteries</li>
</ol>
<p>9.3D printing Additive manufacturing techniques to create objects by printing layers of material based on digital models</p>
<ol start="10">
<li>Advanced materials Materials designed to have superior characteristics (e.g., strength, weight, conductivity) or functionality</li>
<li>Advanced oil and gas exploration and recovery Exploration and recovery techniques that make extraction of unconventional oil and gas economical</li>
<li>Renewable energy Generation of electricity from renewable sources with reduced harmful climate impact</li>
</ol>
<p>The technologies on my list have great potential to improve the lives of billions of people, starting with our 45 million plus population. Cloud computing and the mobile Internet, for example, could raise productivity and quality in education, health care, and public services. At the same time, some of these technologies could bring unwanted side effects. The benefits of the mobile Internet and cloud computing are accompanied by rising risks of security and privacy breaches. Our 12<sup>th</sup> parliament ought to sit more frequently and speed up the data protection bill, the computer misuse and cybercrime bill and improve our information and communication act. Objects and machines under the control of computers across the Web (the Internet of Things) can also be hacked, exposingfactories, refineries, supply chains, power plants, and transportation networks to new risks</p>
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<p>In considering the disruptive potential of these technologies, I foresee that each could drive profound changes across many dimensions—in the lives of Kenyan citizens, in business, and across the global economy. As noted from key speeches from our president Mr.Kenyatta and his deputy Mr.Ruto, the future seems bright for entrepreneurs and innovators. 3D printing, the mobile Internet, cloud technology, and even next-generation genomics could provide the opportunities and the tools to allow small enterprises to compete on a meaningful scale and advance into new markets rapidly.Almost every technology on my list could change the game for businesses, creating entirely new products and services, as well as shifting pools of value between producers or from producers to consumers. Some, like automation of knowledge work and the mobile Internet, could also change how companies and other organizations structure themselves, bringing new meaning to the anytime/ anywhere work style. With automation of knowledge work tasks, organizations that can augment the powers of skilled workers stand to do well.</p>
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<p>As these disruptive technologies continue to evolve and play out, it will be up to business leaders, entrepreneurs, policy makers, and citizens to maximize their opportunities while dealing with the challenges.Lets make our mother country great and change the face of Africa!</p>Planning Energy-Efficient and Eco-Sustainable Telecommunications Networks in Kenya & East Africa.tag:www.datacenterprofessionals.net,2018-03-09:2336802:BlogPost:1479362018-03-09T08:32:39.000ZSAMWEL KARIUKIhttp://www.datacenterprofessionals.net/profile/SAMWELKARIUKI
<p>Innovations in science and technology have allowed our Kenyan telecommunications industry to expand services, reduce prices, and grow to meet the ever increasing demands from other sectors—sectors that increasingly rely on <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/403201084?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-right" height="546" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/403201084?profile=original" width="308"></img></a> telecommunications to help them work efficiently while reducing their energy consumption. The current worldwide focus to reduce energy consumption and…</p>
<p>Innovations in science and technology have allowed our Kenyan telecommunications industry to expand services, reduce prices, and grow to meet the ever increasing demands from other sectors—sectors that increasingly rely on <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/403201084?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/403201084?profile=original" width="308" class="align-right" height="546"></a>telecommunications to help them work efficiently while reducing their energy consumption. The current worldwide focus to reduce energy consumption and ecological impacts is adding another dimension to the business cases for new network technology, implementation of energy-saving systems, and installation of green alternative power solutions. All these requires a plan based on network architectures, service offerings, customer base, and geographic location. This is a challenging, multi-dimensional planning process that I personally am very eager to take up as an engineer and give solutions to help my fellow Kenyans and the entire country at large. Planning an efficient, eco-sustainable telecommunications network while meeting corporate financial and business goals is a challenging problem. While networks are naturally evolving more so in east Africa to become more efficient, this am afraid will take years to occur(note as a country, we have made bigger strides on the evolution of our networks as per CAK 2017 report). With the current high energy costs and government and consumer interest in greener technology, proactively reducing energy consumption and adding alternative, eco-friendly power sources often result in a better business plan, both short term and long term. Deciding on specific energy reduction initiatives and determining the viability of alternative power options that meet network operator business goals require a complex, multidimensional analysis that I should clearly state forthright that SafaricomPLC has already identified these fields and has started off tapping into giving solutions aligned together with the Paris agreement as well as the 2015 SDGs.</p>
<p><strong>My personal goal: I</strong> want and will come up with a solution(s) to help Kenyan network operators’ work through the maze of conflicting requirements and options to identify eco-friendly solutions that meet the financial and business goals while reducing the ecological impacts.</p>
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<p>Written and complied by: Samwel Kariuki</p>
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<p> </p>Planning Energy-Efficiency within our Kenyan Telcos via IoT & BigDatatag:www.datacenterprofessionals.net,2017-07-02:2336802:BlogPost:1441502017-07-02T10:15:09.000ZSAMWEL KARIUKIhttp://www.datacenterprofessionals.net/profile/SAMWELKARIUKI
<p>Technology is changing rapidly for wireless, significantly changing the power requirements of the 6000+ base stations within our Kenyan Telcos infrastructure. These improvements increase the viability of using eco-friendly power and our Telcos have already seen this trend of IoT and are engaged in efforts to stop the trend of rising telecom energy demands. With so many options for reducing their eco-footprint, and considering the challenge of implementing changes while remaining profitable,…</p>
<p>Technology is changing rapidly for wireless, significantly changing the power requirements of the 6000+ base stations within our Kenyan Telcos infrastructure. These improvements increase the viability of using eco-friendly power and our Telcos have already seen this trend of IoT and are engaged in efforts to stop the trend of rising telecom energy demands. With so many options for reducing their eco-footprint, and considering the challenge of implementing changes while remaining profitable, planning a sensible, ecologically friendly path forward is often a formidable task. It is for this reason that I chose to take an opportunity to write to the power departments in our communication institutions which I have gracefully worked with for close to 3 years indirectly as an engineer assigned to do electrical and computational works for them.</p>
<p>The4G+ as an already laid out plan by one of the major Telcos within our country serves as an example which is a really good move that comes with growth of bandwidth demand which can easily cause Safaricom network energy consumption to rise in step with the growth. The resulting increase in electricity costs leads to reduced margins at a time when competition is also driving prices down-the relauch of Telkom Kenya a few days ago marks a threat in the same regard. Having worked closely with a number of power departments amongst the Telcos we have, I have seen and learnt two options used when planning to reduce power consumption. First, there are new network architectures that are inherently more energy-efficient and which can simultaneously provide the flexibility to support continued increases in demand. Second, choices in network equipment, options, and support equipment for new or existing infrastructure have also had a tremendous impact on the amount of power consumed. Both options are quite viable and should be part of any power reduction plan even as we leap into the digital disruptive era in the coming years.</p>
<p>Am grateful to have worked indirectly with the engineers at both power and optimization departments and have been able to tap a lot of skills in my area of expertise and personal growth as well. I look forward for an opportunity to present my ideas (a combo mixture of Artificial intelligence, big data analytics and IoT) as well as deliberate further on how best can power can be planned and supported to attain the ultimate goal in energy efficiency. Am also grateful to Parastatals that deal directly and indirectly with power and energy distribution for the nifty work they are putting across to solve the trilemma of cost, reliability and quality of power being used in our republic.</p>
<p>Below is a recap article of the latest bell lab power technical journal 2017 edition that I saw it prudent to share as well with other engineers and stakeholders in power & energy sector alike whom I revere and hold atmost respect for the trainings and lessons I have gained from them.</p>
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<p><u>Methodology for Planning Energy-Reducing</u></p>
<p>The methodology for planning network changes to reduce energy usage consists of three cascading steps:</p>
<p>• Energy consumption hierarchy. Identification of the network elements that consume power and their location in the network.</p>
<p>• Energy-saving chain. Identification of network element dependencies upon each other’s power dissipation (e.g., larger air conditioning units having higher energy consumption are necessary if inefficient power rectifiers are installed because of the energy they waste through heat radiation). This allows network operators to target the most effective points for energy reduction by applying energy-saving initiatives.</p>
<p>• Energy-saving initiatives or options. Determination of specific choices or actions that can be taken to reduce energy consumption for one or more net- work elements (e.g., replacing low-efficiency rectifiers with high-efficiency rectifiers, which requires capital and installation expense, but these expenses may be offset in 12 to 15 months based on today’s high energy costs). Sets of initiatives are often deployed simultaneously due to typically lower installation costs as compared to deploying the initiatives one at a time</p>
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<p>As we continue improving our communication systems across the country and beyond, lets research and read widely for the upcoming 4<sup>th</sup> industrial revolution which in my own view will be sparked and born here in Africa and hopefully in our dear motherland Kenya.</p>
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<p><i>“A powered nation is a growing nation”~Samwel Kariuki</i></p>Future Work in Data Analysis and Forecasting within our Kenyan Telcos and Africa at large.tag:www.datacenterprofessionals.net,2017-02-13:2336802:BlogPost:1426482017-02-13T08:29:01.000ZSAMWEL KARIUKIhttp://www.datacenterprofessionals.net/profile/SAMWELKARIUKI
<div class="WordSection1"><p>There has been recent progress in the analysis of call-center data. Call-by-call data from a small number of sites have been obtained and analyzed, and these limited results have proven to be fascinating. In some cases, such as the characterization of the arrival process and of the delay…</p>
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<p>There has been recent progress in the analysis of call-center data. Call-by-call data from a small number of sites have been obtained and analyzed, and these limited results have proven to be fascinating. In some cases, such as the characterization of the arrival process and of the delay of arriving calls to the system, conventional assumptions and models of system performance have been upheld. In others, such as the characterization of the service-time distribution and of customer patience, the data have revealed fundamental, new views of the nature of the service process. Of course, these limited studies are only the beginning, and the effort to collect and analyze call-center data can and should be expanded in every dimension in Kenya and Africa at large.<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/403202167?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/403202167?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" class="align-right" width="513"></a></p>
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<p>Perhaps the most pressing practical need is for improvements in the forecasting of arrival rates. For highly utilized call centers, more accurate, distributional forecasts are essential. While there exists some research that develops methods for estimating and predicting arrival rates, I strongly believe there is surely room for additional improvement to be made both here at home and the entire continent. However, further development of models for estimation and prediction will depend, in part, on access to richer data sets. Some of us believe that much of the randomness of Poisson arrival rates may be explained by covariates that are not captured in currently available data.</p>
<p> Procedures for predicting waiting-times are also worth pursuing. Field-based studies that characterize the performance of different statistics and methods would also be of value. More broadly, there is need for the development of a wider range of descriptive models. While a characterization of arrival rates, abandonment from queue, and service times are essential for the management of call centers, they constitute only a part of the complete picture of what goes on. For example, there exist (self ) service times and abandonment (commonly called “opt-out”) behavior that arise from customer use of IVRs. Neither of these phenomena is likely to be the same as its CSR analogue. Similarly, sojourn times and abandonment from web-based services have not been examined in multi-media centers.</p>
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<p>Parallel, descriptive studies are also needed to validate or refute the robustness of initial findings. For example, lognormal service times have been reported in two call centers, both of which are part of retail financial services companies. Perhaps the service-time distributions of catalogue retailers or help-desk operations have different characteristics.</p>
<p>Similarly, one would like to test some finding that the waiting-time messages customers hear while tele-queueing promote, rather than discourage, abandonment.</p>
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<p>It would also be interesting to put work on abandonment (Palm, Roberts, Kort, Mandelbaum with Sakov and Zeltyn) in perspective. These studies provide empirical and exploratory models for (im)patience on the phone in Sweden in the 40’s, France in the late 70’s, the U.S. in the early 80’s, Israel in the late 90’s and now Africa(Kenya in particular under this research) in the early millennium. A systematic comparison of patience across countries, for current phone services, should be a worthy, interesting undertaking.</p>
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<p>There is the opportunity to further develop and extend the scope of explanatory models. Indeed, given the high levels of system utilization in the QED Quality and Efficiency Driven (operational) regime, a small percentage error in the forecast of the offered load can lead to significant, unanticipated changes in system performance. In particular, the state of the art in forecasting call volumes is still rudimentary. Similarly, the fact that service times are lognormally distributed enables the use of standard parametric techniques to understand the effect of covariates on the (normally distributed) natural log of service times.</p>
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<p>In well-run QED call centers, only a small fraction of the customers abandon (around 1-3%), hence about 97% of the (millions of ) observations are censored. Based on such figures, one can hardly expect any reasonable estimate of the whole patience distribution, non-parametrically at least. Fortunately, however, theoretical analysis suggests that only the behavior of impatience near the origin is of relevance, and this is observable and analyzable.</p>
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<p>Indeed, call-center data are challenging the state-of-the-art of statistics, and new statistical techniques seem to be needed to support their analysis. Two examples are the accurate non- parametric estimation of hazard rates, with corresponding confidence intervals, and the survival analysis of tens of thousands, or even millions, of observations, possibly correlated and highly censored.</p>
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<p>Last but certainly not least, a broader goal should be, in fact, the analysis of <i>integrated oper</i>ational, marketing, human resources, and psychological data. That is, the analysis of these integrated data is essential if one is to understand and quantify the role of operational service quality as a driver for business success.</p>
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<p>A prerequisite for understanding the financial effects of operational decisions is the ability to analyze an integrated data set that includes operational (ACD) automatic call distributor and marketing / business (customer information systems) data. With this information, one can attempt to tease out the longer-term, financial effects of operational policies.</p>
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<p>My experience has been that both types of data are very difficult to access, however. One reason for this is technical. Only recently have the manufacturers of telephone equipment given customers something of an “off the shelf ” ability to capture, store, and retrieve detailed, call-by- call data. Similarly, the integration of these operational data with the business data captured in customer information systems is only now becoming widely available. Another reason stems from confidentiality concerns; most of our Kenyan companies are rightly wary of releasing customer information. Once managers recognize the great untapped value of these data, i believe they will employ mechanisms for preserving confidentiality in order to reap the benefit.</p>
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<p>Ultimately, i envision a data-repository that is continuously fed by many call centers of varying types. The collected data would be continuously and automatically analyzed, from both operations and marketing perspectives. Then the data would be both archived and fed back to the originating call centers, who would use it (through visualization tools) to support ongoing operations, as well as tactical and strategic goals.</p>
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<p>Little imagination is required for appreciating the value of such a data-base. As a start, its developer could become a benchmark that sets industry standards, as far as customer-service quality and call-center efficiency are concerned. As already mentioned, such a data-base would enable the identification of success-drivers of call-center business transaction.</p>
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<p> Researched & Compiled: Samwel Kariuki</p>
<p align="right"> Date: 12<sup>th</sup> Feb 2017</p>
<p> </p>INTRODUCTION OF IoT IN KENYA AND EAST AFRICAtag:www.datacenterprofessionals.net,2016-09-30:2336802:BlogPost:1407932016-09-30T06:24:47.000ZSAMWEL KARIUKIhttp://www.datacenterprofessionals.net/profile/SAMWELKARIUKI
<p>There are now more connected machines than there are people on Earth and, with machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies enabling the internet of things (IoT), this is about to accelerate. Are we as Kenyans ready for the age of the machines?</p>
<p>At some point back in 2014, the number of connected devices in the world surpassed that of the human population, according to GSMA Intelligence, with 7.2bn devices versus 7.19bn humans. Two years later, according to the GSMA’s real-time tracker, there…</p>
<p>There are now more connected machines than there are people on Earth and, with machine-to-machine (M2M) technologies enabling the internet of things (IoT), this is about to accelerate. Are we as Kenyans ready for the age of the machines?</p>
<p>At some point back in 2014, the number of connected devices in the world surpassed that of the human population, according to GSMA Intelligence, with 7.2bn devices versus 7.19bn humans. Two years later, according to the GSMA’s real-time tracker, there are now 7.7bn mobile connections, including M2M devices. Kenya is entering into a world where the internet will work for us, continuously and quietly, in the background; doing all the necessary, everyday behind-the-scenes tasks, from renegotiating m-shwari loans to booking holidays, making smarter financial decisions to organising garbage collection and ensuring fresh milk is delivered to our smart fridges.</p>
<p>Cisco estimates the so-called IoT world of connected devices will grow to 50bn connected machines between 2020 and 2030. These connected machines won’t be like today’s connected machines, which require the usual human interface. Instead, they will talk to each other in the form of software agents using a confection of sensors: wireless technologies; 5G; Bluetooth; Wi-Fi; radio frequency identification (RFID), telemetry and GPS, to name a few. These machines will take every shape and inhabit every corner of our lives. We could have internet-connected 3D printers and equipment on factory floors responding to fulfil e-commerce orders made on a whim, half a world away, via a virtual assistant embedded in a personal device. A self-driving car, communicating with other connected cars on the road, could pick you up from the office and bring you to your front door, which will be unlocked by your smart watch, while intelligent light bulbs and smart meters might herald your arrival with welcoming lamplight and hot water for a bath.</p>
<p>To enlighten my fellow Kenyan STEM savvies, I will lightly touch on the history of M2M for better understanding of what we are about to get into in a few years coming.</p>
<p><b><u>radar_shutterstock</u></b></p>
<p>RADAR and SONAR were the grandfathers of LIDAR, the laser-based technology used not only in police speed-guns at waiyaki way, southern bypass and Mombasa road but to enable the self-driving cars of tomorrow, which will be internet-connected and rely on GPS to know where they are and Bluetooth to talk to smartphones and smart watches. Machine-to-machine in today’s world mostly consists of devices with SIMs that are typically used in industrial applications to talk to other machines to relay data and control equipment.</p>
<p>RADAR and SONAR were the grandfathers of LIDAR, the laser-based technology that will enable the self-driving cars of tomorrow.During the Cold War, the advances in telematics, telemetry and radio, as well as the first concepts of the internet, evolved. Not many people know this, but the internet was originally intended as a way for the survivors of an expected nuclear apocalypse to communicate with each other.</p>
<p> In 1968, the US state of Minnesota first began using radio transmitters to track the movement of several hundred wolves. That same year, the father of M2M, Theodore G Paraskevakos (also the inventor of Caller ID), came up with the concept for M2M, whereby machines would automatically communicate with each other. Within a decade, he formed Metretek in Melbourne to create the first smart meters for electricity grids.While all this was happening, factories started to become automated, with the first programmable logic controllers appearing in the 1950s, and the world saw the creation of SCADA systems, which were operating systems for assembly lines and power plants.</p>
<p>The next major leap in the evolution of M2M came in the form of intelligent barcoding technology, RFID, where passive tags would collect energy from a nearby RFID reader’s interrogating radio waves to track goods in warehouses. One of the first uses of RFID was in the early 1970s, when Los Alamos Laboratories used RFID tags on behalf of the US government to track cattle.</p>
<p>In 1973, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn invented the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP), to enable the exchange of data over networks. Just as the internet was about to change the world forever – thanks to Tim Berners-Lee inventing HTML to make it easier to use – the first digital cellular network, GSM, was deployed in Finland in 1991.</p>
<p>As of 2016, with 7.7bn mobile connections on planet Earth, some 240.1m are M2M devices.</p>
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<p><b><u>nest-smart-thermostat</u></b></p>
<p>Nest’s smart thermostat is just one of the consumer-oriented internet of things/M2M devices designed to support the thoughtful home. The thermostat learns user behaviour to provide the right temperatures and interacts with other M2M devices, including smart light bulbs from Philips. Today’s M2M devices are designed to do specific things, such as relay temperature and location information from refrigeration trucks carrying food and medicine, analyse and report driver behaviour on behalf of insurance companies, and instruct soft-drink makers to resupply vending machines. But, as these devices start to connect with the cloud and analytics via IoT gateways, the possibilities to enhance our Kenyan lives, drive new services and reinvent entire industries become possible. As such, M2M is at the heart of the industrial internet of things (IIoT), powering smart factories that can be run remotely from a tablet computer, and smart buildings that monitor their environment and feed data back to the cloud.</p>
<p>In the consumer world, M2M is inspiring a whole new generation of inventors. Tony Fadell dreamed up the Nest device to learn people’s temperature preferences in their homes, while Irish start-up Drop has created smart connected weighing scales to help people cook and bake better.</p>
<p>Without M2M, the internet of things that will dominate our lives in future years would be a question mark, and the digital disruption transforming traditional industries would not be possible.</p>
<p><b> ‘Personally through my experience in both the Telco’s and banking industries, I feel the biggest challenge is that a lot of the M2M devices may be cellular devices but they don’t have specific identities, so this opens up a whole question around security and trusted services ’~Samwel Kariuki</b></p>
<p><b><u>The future of M2M</u></b></p>
<p>M2M has had different guises over the years, starting out as telemetry and turning into telematics before its current catchy title. Yet, soon, M2M could disappear as it gets swallowed up by the overall move by telecoms operators to be the key enablers for the internet of things.(A field am currently delving deeper& would want to champion this great course and revolutionize the way Kenyans will do businesses, run lives and change lifestyle for the better).</p>
<p>Many mobile operators such as Safaricom will view the IoT opportunity as a way of competing with cloud providers and over-the-top (OTT) players like Google and Amazon. This will be a very healthy platform for Kenya to compete globally and shine in its STEM undertakings.</p>
<p>M2M has been associated with cellular and operators want to use the technology to drive higher value-added services.While operators have lost ground to OTT players in terms of social media and other consumer services, the internet of things is a chance for such operators to define themselves much earlier on and, for this, they need to build out their competency within the application layer and integrate with the backend.In time, M2M – or, simply, internet of things – is an opportunity for our Kenyan telecoms operators to move ahead of OTTs and build extensive application delivery tools in internet of things and get first-mover advantage.</p>
<p>Once it was telematics and then it was M2M and now it is going mainstream. But the problem is there are now loads of devices out there communicating with systems that are behind a firewall. The biggest challenge is that a lot of the M2M devices may be cellular devices but they don’t have specific identities, so this opens up a whole question around security and trusted services. Backhaul capacity might have to increase by 1,000 times as the number of devices reaches 50bn. But I think so much of this will be invisible to people, supporting things that will work without effort.</p>
<p>Bluetooth is on the threshold of being the enabling wireless technology for the internet of things. There are other technologies like Wi-Fi and 5G, but it still comes down to power and range and why it makes sense to build on things that have already been built. At some point, it might not be possible to extend the life of Bluetooth, and [it will be time] for something new to come along, but that day is far away.</p>
<p>Another possible enabler of the IoT via M2M is a new network platform called Sigfox, which addresses power and range issue. Currently operating in 18 countries and registering more than 7m devices on its network, Sigfox owes its speed of deployment to the fact that its network requires lighter infrastructure than traditional wireless networks and only needs a limited number of sites in order for it to increase its network footprint. I wish to live& see for the day where our new innovators from campus will deploy a ‘’Kenyan Sigfox’’ and be able to compete both locally and internationally.</p>
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<p>Whether it will still be known as M2M, or form a part of the internet of things collective, it is clear that machines talking to other machines on our behalf is only the start of the next phase of humanity’s technology odyssey in our beloved country Kenya.</p>
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<p> <i>Written and Compiled by: Samwel Kariuki</i></p>