’ introduction Smart Systems

T o be effective, smart systems need to be instrumented, interconnected, and intelligent. Instrumentation enables the collection of timely, high-quality data through embedded sensors that communicate over wireless or wired networks. Instrumented devices such as smart meters for gas, electricity, and water continually monitor the supply and demand for these utilities, and might actuate strategies devised by intelligent components. Interconnection creates linkages among data, systems, and people. High degrees of interconnectivity enable smart systems to become reality. The interconnections among people, objects, and systems are enabling new ways to gather, share, and act on information. Intelligence in the form of new computing models, algorithms, and advanced analytics will enable better decisions and outcomes for business, government, nonprofits, and individual users, as well as reactions of complex systems to emergent demands. Smart connected objects, whether embedded, mobile, or wearable, will generate tremendous amounts of useful data to enable the development, deployment, and use of smart products and services. This data needs to be combined with analytical models to become useful. Models that can improve public safety, e-commerce, transportation, manufacturing, energy and water management, environmental sustainability, medical diagnostics and treatments, and education enable better outcomes and lower costs. Indeed, the emerging Internet of Things and smart cities are becoming major areas of IT-enabled innovation, with disruptive capabilities for innovation and competitive advantage.1 This issue of IT Professional focuses on the theme of smart systems, with application to four areas related to systems that can extract, model, and provide useful intelligence from real-time or near-real-time data. The coverage includes a smart context-aware recommender system for e-commerce, smart agent-based systems empowered by semantic technologies, smart systems for information modeling and energy management in a smart city context, and, finally, a smart polyglot health information system for improving the practices and services of healthcare institutions.