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The SMT Internet of Things— Back to Basics
November 11, 2015 | Michael Ford, Mentor Graphics Valor DivisionEstimated reading time: 1 minute

Different people have different understandings and expectations about what the Internet of Things (IoT) actually is, especially with respect to how it could work and what it could bring to the SMT assembly industry. There are a lot of expectations to fulfil as principles behind innovations such as Industry 4.0 take hold. A key concern, however, is whether any of these expectations are reasonable or whether there is a dependence on something that is fundamentally flawed, which unfortunately would seem to be the case of SMT and related production. Let’s discover the core issue within SMT that needs fixing for the SMT Internet of Things to become viable.
The Internet actually consists of two very different things. Firstly, there is the massive store of information, which includes literally anything from historical records to live videos ready for streaming. The use of the information is equally as wide, from students performing research to people watching cats do the funniest things. The information is not really controlled, or even censored; fact and fiction are liberally mixed. The format in which information is presented is also not managed, with dozens of different types and versions of documents and viewing formats.
Read this article here.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the November 2015 issue of SMT Magazine.
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