Designing Connected Products

Chapter 10. Interoperability

BY CLAIRE ROWLAND

Much of what we currently call the “Internet of Things” is not yet much like the rest of the Internet: a network of networks based on open standards. The proliferation of different technical standards means that getting devices to work together is hard. Many devices are locked away in proprietary ecosystems, because frequently that is the easiest way to get them to work. But their lack of interoperability with other devices and systems is seriously limiting its potential value and usability. Users will expect devices to work together, but right now many do not.

Building on the networking concepts discussed in Chapter 3, this chapter explores the technical challenges of interoperability (and some emerging solutions) and their impact on UX.

This chapter introduces:

• Why the current state of the Internet of Things has been dubbed the “CompuServe of Things” (see The CompuServe of Things)

• The concept of interoperability and the problem it poses for IoT (see What Is Interoperability and Why Is It a Problem?)

• Ways devices can interoperate (see Interoperable Data)

• Emerging solutions for improving interoperability (see How Can We Improve Interoperability?)

• The UX of interoperability (see The UX of Interoperability)

This chapter addresses the following issues:

• Why closed ecosystems of devices are not a true “Internet of Things” (see The CompuServe of Things)

• How incompatible networking standards and data formats limit interoperability (see Network Interoperability ...