We’ve all heard about how everything is going digital, using on-demand cloud-based services and mobile technology. But at a session at SaltConf18, we heard a very different perspective from Cyndi Tetro, the head of the non-profit Utah Women’s Technology Council and the CEO for ForgeDX. She spoke at one of the conference sessions and painted a very exciting picture of how the physical world is really driving change and innovation in the digital universe.
Tetro spends time looking at this intersection and tracks products that have made inroads into improved business and customer experiences. For example, we all like to talk about the Internet of Things, but now some of us have dozens of connected devices that we use regularly. What about connected lawnmowers and sprinklers that can, Roomba-style, maintain your yard without your intervention? Or a coffee mug that can keep itself at a constant temperature and detect when it is filled with liquids? Analysts predict that by 2020, there will be 50 billion connected devices, and increasing exponentially from there.
Most of us when we visit one of the theme parks in Orlando or Southern California don’t really think about all the connected devices there, but Disney and other park operators are constantly thinking about how to improve the visitor experience. I got a chance many years ago to tour Disneyland with one of its network engineers: back then they could barely scratch the surface in terms of synchronizing the music with the Main Street Parade and putting in enough fiber to carry all their digital traffic. Since then, Disney engineers created their “World of Color” light show that depends on a variety of digital technologies to coordinate more than 18,000 elements such as lighting, water fountains and music.
World of Color was created more than a decade ago, and since then the entertainment company hasn’t stopped innovating. Disneyworld today offers its Magic Band that can be used to open your hotel room door, charge purchases at the park’s various gift shops, skipping lines for the rides, and personalizing your family’s experience at the park. These are all examples of what Tetro says are “finding the compelling real-world experiences and then using digital technology to make them possible.”
What about the 2016 Super Bowl, when Carolina Panthers All-Pro linebacker Thomas Davis ended up wearing a 3D-printed brace that was custom-made in a few hours? Again, the digital tech — the 3D printed object — literally made this player’s day, said Tetro. She also mentioned fitness clubs and gyms that are using connected technology so that groups of people can do their spin classes in separate cities or even in their own homes, connecting online and being led by a superstar instructor. Equinox is one of the pioneers in this technology.
Tesla is often used as an example of a connected car, but many other automakers are using technology in more mundane ways, for just-in-time assembly line methods. Wireless networks send specifications directly to the manufacturing machinery seconds before it is placed inside the vehicle. Tetro calls these “dynamic manufacturers.”
Finally, there is the smart or connected city. Tetro mentioned the NYC-based Hudson Yards development, which is being constructed literally over the railroad tracks just west of Pennsylvania Station. The sales center provides a complete digital experience so that buyers can look at video walls and see 360-degree views of what their apartment will provide.
Tetro says that “our job in technology is to make it disappear, even though it is a big part of whatever we are doing. Everything that you can touch is heading towards being infused with technology in some fashion, but the interesting points are how the digital and physical worlds interact with each other. We are just on the cusp of many advancements.” It was a fascinating and very fast-paced look at what our world is evolving into.