ray_gillespie

There will soon be more than five billion electronic devices connected to the internet, according to research firm IMS Research. In addition, the number of computers and laptops connected to the internet is now outnumbered by the number of smartphones and other devices that are hooked-up.

Ian Weightman, President of IMS Research, said:

“In the first connectivity wave, the bulk of devices connected to the Internet were PCs and laptops plus their associated modem and networking equipment. Today, over 1 billion computers worldwide are regularly connected to the Internet, and this number is growing steadily.”

The second wave of growth is being driven by the cellular industry, and the global number of Internet connected cell phones has now surpassed the number of connected computers, and is growing at a much faster rate."

He also talks about a third wave of devices that could drive connection figures through the roof:

"The potential for greatest growth comes from the third wave which will include machine-to-machine (M2M) deployments. This has the potential to go way beyond industrial applications to encompass increasingly sophisticated smart grids, networked security cameras and sensors, connected home appliances and HVAC equipment, ITS infrastructure for traffic and parking management, etc.”

Let's hope that no-one tells SkyNet about all these devices.

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perris

somehow 5 billion seems a modest number to me

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Vanquished

Cool, can't say I'm surprised about the smart phones and such outnumber the regular computer. It seems everyone has internet on their phone. Even my friend who couldn't see the point of internet on a phone got the Motorola Droid and can now see the light. I've had an internet connected phone for a good 4 years by now (from 9300s, to the iPhone, to Windows Mobile phones again, to Androids) and I don't know what I would do with out the internet. Of course I have right now 4 computers connected to the internet (if a netbook counts) and if you were to count gaming systems add a ps3 and an Xbox. Based on the sheer excess of the tech world these days, these numbers come as no surprise to me. and I feel the number will keep growing as kids get cellphones at younger and younger ages and as the rest of the world's infrastructure comes up to par with the US, Japan, and the UK.

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Johnny

Me too. I would think that it would be more than that ..

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