The internet of things, or IoT, is the technology of today. The internet of intelligent things is the technology of tomorrow. Or, at least that’s Dave Evans’ contention. Evans is the Silicon Valley executive who coined the term “internet of everything” in 2012 near the end of his 24-year tenure at Cisco Systems Inc., which uses the phrase to refer to the long-term potential of the data derived from our highly connected world. Evans’ job titles while at Cisco included chief technologist and, later, chief futurist.

Today Evans is co-founder and chief technology officer at Stringify, a startup mobile app that seeks to advance the connectivity of the internet of things movement and, in a number of ways, make managing it easier for consumers. Simply put: As people add more “smart” devices to their lives, managing those devices gets complicated. There isn’t yet a universally agreed upon protocol for manufacturers making web-connected devices, and most devices are controlled individually through their own apps. Stringify lets consumers control all their smart devices through the Stringify app, and consumers can create rules linking the operation of those devices together, while also mixing in other data sources, such as weather and location data, making them more intelligent. For instance, a consumer can write a rule that says when he turns the ignition off in his connected car and parks in his garage, it triggers his back door to unlock and turn on the entry light. Or, if the weather calls for a 90% chance rain, it won’t turn on the automatic lawn sprinklers.

Internet Retailer magazine talked with Evans to get his forecast on consumers’ connectivity levels, the exponential growth and applications for data, and the budding technologies that have implications for online retailers.

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