“Far-flung” is a fun phrase, particularly for a Brit like me who enjoys American sayings that are colorful, baffling, and perfect all at the same time. It sounds like the kind of old-timey language you would hear in black-and-white newsreels from the early 1900s: “News flash. Dateline Chicago. Here we see a vehicle of the future, called an aero-plane, taking flight to far-flung destinations like Peoria and ‘Saint Louee’ in less than a day. What will they think of next? A phonograph you can fit in your watch pocket?”
When it comes to the Internet of Things (IoT), far-flung is also fun because it’s about where the future of IoT lies: Way out on the edge of where sensor device-to-cloud wireless connectivity has ever been able to go geographically.
IoT has been anything but far-flung up until now. Yes, it is already being deployed in lots of locations. The analyst reports that come out each month say that billions upon billions of wireless sensors and devices will be deployed in the next few years.
But if you fling a dart at a map, chances are you would hit a geographic location where IoT was once likely to be difficult or challenging to achieve—either technically or economically. That’s because the vast majority of wireless IoT deployments today are done within arm’s reach of telecommunications infrastructure, whether in the form of wired infrastructure or wireless towers.