IoT technology

In more than one sense IoT gateways can also be ranked under IoT devices. An IoT gateway can be hardware but it can also be software and often a combination of both and, given the increasing functions of IoT gateways it’s best to see them as a separate layer, not in the least because of these functions and the technology aspects.

Just like sensors, actuators are transducers. And just like sensors they have been used for quite some time now and certainly since before IoT as a term was coined.

Sensors exist since long before the IoT in its current meaning and are ubiquitous in, for example, buildings, factories, energy and much more.