The history of the Internet can be traced back to the 1960s, where specific science laboratories in the US, UK and France decided to design and develop a network to communicate amongst one another. By the 1980s, several supercomputing centres started getting funded for further research to establish these networks. Various protocols were designed, and finally, the research at CERN in Switzerland resulted in the World Wide Web, which made information available from any node of the network. Since then, the Internet has created a worldwide impact on the way society and industry behaves.

Since the 1990s, the Internet has undergone a revolution in terms of design, introduction to the typical household and advancement from the desk to the palm. We have seen the Internet speed increase from Kbps to Mbps, now moving to maybe Gbps and Tbps. We have seen the size of storage devices reduce from floppy disks to compact discs to thumb drives.

The objective of this brief insight into the history of the Internet was to show how far we have come from being isolated to one another to become as connected as one global village.

While the Internet has found a place in the culture and commerce, it is now looking for a place in the industry as a view of making the equipment smart. Industry and the Internet have soon come together to start a new phase of the Industrial Revolution called Industry 4.0.

5G: Fifth Generation

The Internet of Things, or IoT as it is being known popularly, is yet at a nascent stage as we speak. Scientists and researchers are, however discovering new ways to connect devices to make devices smarter. Also, these discoveries come with their set of implications, which are also under significant scrutiny. The one factor that seems to be impeding the progress of the IoT toward practical IoT application development is the speed of the Internet. At the current 4G speeds, the amount of data transfer taking place among devices is not feasible. There would be a lag or delay in transmitting data which could disrupt the expected harmony among the methods. This could cause a loss of revenue. It could also prove to be fatal to lives if machines like cars are connected and are experiencing even the smallest of delays.

Hence, the solution: 5G. The introduction of 5G, due in the year 2020, is projected to introduce network speeds going up to 10 Gbps. With such rates, 5G is slated to be the foundation of the upcoming IoT revolution in the world. Keeping the potential of 5G in mind, the industries have been discussing and researching the possibility of applying 5G to improve machine efficiency. The research is also aimed at reducing human intervention merely to the role of supervision and monitoring, along with sustaining the human factor.

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