Last month, Greg, Andrew and John got playful in my absence and talked about the fun stuff – the new gadgets that are hitting the streets. However, I am back at work now and things are going to get serious again. So lets talk about global transformations (or ‘waves’ as Alvin Toffler might refer to them).

The first big communications wave, which set the tone for the 20th century, was to get people connected to each other across the globe – the Telephone Network. At the end of the 20th century, the next wave struck and it connected computers – the Internet.

So what lies ahead? Many people think it is not a network of people or a network of computers, but a network of ‘things’. Because people need a label, I am going to call this the Sensornet.

Why is the Sensornet going to be big? The big challenge of the 21st century will be for human beings to understand and control their environment. This is environment at a global level (issues such as global warming, holes in ozone layers, earthquakes, tsunamis, etc) as well as environment at an individual level (is my heart about to spasm? are my arteries clogged? is this food healthy for me to eat? is my elderly parent or child ok? etc). To achieve this we need to measure, track, analyse and report the indicators of environmental well being. For that you need devices (sensors) that measure the state of the environment and networks that report all this data.

Fortunately the Sensornet is becoming possible because Moore’s law is making the chips for the sensors cheap and global telecommunications networks have created the public infrastructure which the Sensornet can ride on top of at a relatively small marginal cost.

So, in the not too distant future, if you have a heart problem, a small device on your person will be automatically reporting your heart rhythms continuously via a 3G wireless network to your hospital which will have automated software that will detect anomalies and notify you should you need treatment.

My favourite, however, is the device that you will put on your dog’s collar and will tell you via a phone call when the recalcitrant animal leaves your premises and where to find him. What is it with dogs? I have this pampered Jack Russell who lives in the absolute lap of luxury and has love and attention showered on him, yet whenever he sees an open gate he shoots out of the premises as though he were escaping from Alcatraz.