Page 21 - Unleashing the potenti al of the Internet of Things

Unleashing the potential of the Internet of Things 1

Recommendation ITU-T Y.4000/Y.2060

Overview of the Internet of things

1 Scope
This Recommendation provides an overview of the Internet of things (IoT) with the main objective
of highlighting this important area for future standardization.
More specifically, this Recommendation covers the following:
– IoT-related terms and definitions

– concept and scope of the IoT
– characteristics of the IoT
– high-level requirements of the IoT

– IoT reference models.
IoT ecosystem and business models-related information is provided in Appendix I.

2 References
None.

3 Definitions

3.1 Terms defined elsewhere

This Recommendation uses the following term defined elsewhere:
3.1.1 next generation network (NGN) [b-ITU-T Y.2001]: A packet-based network which is
able to provide telecommunication services and able to make use of multiple broadband,
QoS-enabled transport technologies and in which service-related functions are independent from
underlying transport-related technologies. It enables unfettered access for users to networks and to
competing service providers and/or services of their choice. It supports generalized mobility which
will allow consistent and ubiquitous provision of services to users.

3.2 Terms defined in this Recommendation

This Recommendation defines the following terms:
3.2.1 device: With regard to the Internet of things, this is a piece of equipment with the
mandatory capabilities of communication and the optional capabilities of sensing, actuation, data
capture, data storage and data processing.

3.2.2 Internet of things (IoT): A global infrastructure for the information society, enabling
advanced services by interconnecting (physical and virtual) things based on existing and evolving
interoperable information and communication technologies.

NOTE 1 – Through the exploitation of identification, data capture, processing and communication
capabilities, the IoT makes full use of things to offer services to all kinds of applications, whilst ensuring that
security and privacy requirements are fulfilled.
NOTE 2 – From a broader perspective, the IoT can be perceived as a vision with technological and societal
implications.
3.2.3 thing: With regard to the Internet of things, this is an object of the physical world (physical
things) or the information world (virtual things), which is capable of being identified and integrated
into communication networks.

Rec. ITU-T Y.4000/Y.2060 (06/2012) 7