[Info-vax] VMS and the Internet of Things (IoT)

[Simon Clubley]

On 2016-09-12, Chris <xxx.syseng.yyy at gfsys.co.uk> wrote:
> On 09/11/16 10:16, Simon Clubley wrote:
>
><snip>
>
>>
>> So that's my take on the IoT. What's yours and where do you see a
>> possible place for VMS within the IoT world ?
>>
>> Simon.
>>
>
> There's a lot of hype around this, a classic case being the front
> page of the Oxford Times (Oxford, Uk) this week, which describes
> a 3000 house "Futuristic City", with driverless cars and
> "intelligent buildings". Then goes on to say how the buildings will
> be "connected digitally", whatever that means. Pure hype to try to
> sell a "follow the money" project for business, as usual, using a
> few tech buzzwords to make it sound glamorous and futuristic.
>

It's nonsense like this which overshadows the valid usage cases
(assuming those usage cases were implemented correctly and with
proper security).

> A More concrete example is of course, the smart metering project
> that's being rolled out across the uk. We do embedded systems
> here, so it's of interest to me in terms of the technology used. All
> the docs are available online, but from the spec, looks like vast
> overkill just to gather gas / electricity meter readings.
>

For anyone interested in knowing more about this, here is the
latest update from The Register:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/09/09/smart_meters_just_get_them_smart_energy_gb_lobbyist/

Some of the comments are well worth a read.

[snip]

>
> As for VMS, I see no roll at all. It's too expensive, functionally
> deficient in many areas and arcane in it's user interface. If VSI
> are really serious about making it mainstream, it must have all
> mainstream computing facilities that everyone else in the industry
> takes for granted these days. I really would like to see a
> resurgence and the opportunity to use it again, but seems like
> there's along way to go...
>

It's only possibly viable use is in any remote server systems that
the onsite IoT systems may need to talk to. I am just not seeing
any other possibly viable use for VMS in the whole IoT setup.

Simon.

-- 
Simon Clubley, clubley at remove_me.eisner.decus.org-Earth.UFP
Microsoft: Bringing you 1980s technology to a 21st century world