The Internet of Objects is slowly entering our lives. We don’t see it but it’s there. The most frequent objects in Europe are electricity and water meters. The first are becoming digital because of a Directive that requires these meters to be changed in all homes.

There is one exception: France. In the Hexagone, Veolia, Saur and ERDF have already installed 3.5 million water digital meters that are connected to the Internet to send data. They are replacing 15 year old ones. Veolia has even created, together with Orange, a startup for this matter, m2ocity. Water meters are used in France not just for providing data to customers and providers but also to identify network incidents in which water is being lost.

In France there is even an increasing interest in “smart water”, which is to water distribution what smart grids are for power distribution. Suez and Schneider are working in this field in order to improve the maintenance of water networks by following certain data: age of water, speed and pressure.