How IP Technology is helping Shape our Future
IP technology, or “internet protocol technology” to the uninitiated, has come on in leaps and bounds since the web’s coming of age in the 1990s. And emerging technologies are now leveraging IP capabilities in tandem with cloud-based computing and mobile communication devices to drive impressive improvements in safety, entertainment, and travel…
Smarter cars
Safer cars that drive themselves have long been a vision of the future – notably, self-driving cars featured prominently in the early 2000s futuristic sci-fi thrillers iRobot and Minority Report.
And while that vision hasn't quite yet come to life, it’s taken a giant leap towards reality thanks to the collaborative Connected Cars project between Volkswagen, SAP and Shell.
Using M2M communications that leverage real-time big data sourced from connected cars and connected fueling stations, enhanced end-user services are delivered on driver friendly interfaces.
In English, that means cars will soon be able to connect with fuel stations and all kinds of other information-giving hubs to make your journey easier and safer – so you’ll be able to see traffic information, distance to the next gas station, whether that station has the right kind of gas for your car, and a whole lot more all information on one screen.
So how long will it be before cars start connecting with each other in order to avoid collisions? With more than a million traffic-related deaths occurring worldwide each year, let’s hope it’s soon.
Safer acute care
For older people in acute care facilities, trips and falls can be life-threatening.
And a recent report from the George Institute for Global Health (GIGH) showed that more than 70% of people aged over 70 report having at least three falls in the past year. One quarter of older people who have a fall at home require ambulance assistance and over 50% of these people will fall again within the next six months.
Thanks to IP-based technology however, a smarter generation of nurse call button system is improving safety in acute care homes.
Although comparable call systems have been around for decades, IP-based nurse call technology offers much more advanced functionality, improving efficiency and therefore safety. For example, distress calls can be automatically diverted to caregiving staff’s mobile devices. Unanswered calls get redirected automatically to a nurse of caregiver nearby, meaning quicker response times and reducing double handling of tasks.
Enhanced television viewing
TV networks, films studios and advertisers alike have struggled to cope with the threat posed by internet downloading and live streaming. But ironically, IP technology-driven viewing on demand (VOD) is offering a more interactive and immersive experience to the TV viewer.
And if the ABC’s recent broadcast of the 48th annual Country Music Association Awards is anything to go by, then TV and internet technology may not be so incompatible after all; country fans were able to enhance their viewing experience with a second-screen streaming and VOD presentation produced using 14 HD cameras.
In the words of TNDV: Television’s Nic Dugger: “it was actually a series of four simultaneous streams that we sent out that allowed viewers to watch the live show itself, watch our live behind-the-scenes show or look in on any one of 14 different cameras we had throughout the venue.”
