| | February 20158CIOReviewBy, Joe Gladu, Vice President ­ Symboticware IncorporatedMaking the Connection­ IoT in MiningIf you're a player in technology in 2015, you have inevitably come across IoT, or Cisco's Internet of Everything (IoE), two terms used to describe the interconnection of "things" to the rest of the connected world, people, devices, process and data. Coined a decade and half earlier, it is only in the past two years that "Internet of Things" and "Internet of Everything" have gained the incredible attention and momentum that are fuelling the next wave of the Internet.Connecting "things" is the premise of IoT, a modern-day phenomenon that is creating a new economy centered around helping connect people to people, people to devices and devices to devices. The impact of this new economy is predicted to reach $8.0 trillion by 2020 according to IDC or $14.4 trillion according to Cisco Chairman, John Chambers. Needless to say, the new world of IoT is here, it's now and its is growing exponentially, affecting virtually all industries including manufacturing, retail, transportation and logistics, energy, agriculture, finance, oil and gas and mining.The impact of IoT is staggering and suggests an incredible opportunity for industries that are traditionally slow to adopt technology to exploit the benefits of connecting "things" to drive greater efficiencies. As a case point, consider mining; typically viewed as risk averse, many would suggest that mining has done just fine without the hype promised by IoT solutions. From a traditional ICT perspective, underground mining has remained in the dark ages, sitting years behind the technology adoption curve. The vast majority of North American operations utilize antiquated communication systems that provide limited scalability unable to deliver high bandwidth, low latency data to support modern IoT type applications such as autonomous vehicle operation, Ventilation on Demand, real time location and others. "Change is the new status quo" and as Cisco`s John Chambers stated at last years Cisco IoT World Forum in Chicago, "...companies that fail to innovate and embrace the IoT will lose their competitive edge...This is a powerful statement and one that forward thinking mines are taking to heart.Consider organizations such as Rio Tinto, Glencore, Vale and others all of whom have taken a hard look at their technology road maps to determine how the implementation of modern wireless technologies in both underground and surface operations can provide greater insights into their business. Rio's "Mine of the Future" provides an excellent example of IoT in mining. Their autonomous mining operations in Australia's Pilbera are a prime example of the use of wireless technology to increase productivity, safety and minimize downtime and disruption to mining operations. As enabling technologies make their way to mines across the globe, a plethora of new applications challenge the traditional methods of mining. Connected sensors on geotechnical instrumentation provide engineers with real time visibility into ground movement; connected drills provide feedback on drill times, operator behavior and drill performance. opinionin my
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