The Internet of things [Guest Editorial]

In the last few years, a stimulating idea is fast emerging in the wireless scenario: the pervasive presence around us of a variety of ¿things¿ or ¿objects¿ such as devices, sensors, actuators, and mobile phones, which, through unique addressing schemes, are able to interact with each other and cooperate with their neighboring ¿smart¿ components to reach common goals. This novel paradigm, named the ¿Internet of Things¿ (IoT), continues on the path set by the concept of the smart environment and paves the way to the deployment of numerous applications with a significant impact on many fields of future everyday life.