物联网的概念是在1999年提出的，其英文名称为"The Internet of Things"，简称：IOT。由该名称可见，物联网就是“物物相连的互联网”。这有两层意思：第一，物联网的核心和基础仍然是互联网，是在互联网基础之上的延伸和扩展的一种网络；第二，其用户端延伸和扩展到了任何物品与物品之间，进行信息交换和通信。因此，物联网的定义是通过射频识别（RFID, radio frequency identification）装置、红外感应器、全球定位系统、激光扫描器等信息传感设备，按约定的协议，把任何物品与互联网相连接，进行信息交换和通信，以实现智能化识别、定位、跟踪、监控和管理的一种网络。

In computing, the Internet of Things refers to a network of objects, such as household appliances. It is often a self-configuring wireless network. The concept of the internet of things is attributed to the original Auto-ID Center, founded in 1999 and based at the time in MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).

       请看中国网有关温家宝总理2010年政府工作报告（全文）的双语登载：

       大力培育战略性新兴产业。国际金融危机正在催生新的科技革命和产业革命。发展战略性新兴产业，抢占经济科技制高点，决定国家的未来，必须抓住机遇，明确重点，有所作为。要大力发展新能源、新材料、节能环保、生物医药、信息网络和高端制造产业。积极推进新能源汽车、“三网”融合取得实质性进展，加快物联网的研发应用。加大对战略性新兴产业的投入和政策支持。

——摘自《2010年政府工作报告（全文）》

We will foster emerging industries of strategic importance. The global financial crisis is hastening the birth of a new technological and industrial revolution. It is of decisive importance for the future of our country that we develop emerging industries of strategic importance and capture the economic, scientific and technological high ground; therefore, we must seize opportunities, identify priorities, and achieve results. We need to vigorously develop new energy sources, new materials, energy conservation, environmental protection, biomedicine, information networks, and high-end manufacturing industries. We will make substantive progress in developing motor vehicles powered by new energy sources and in integrating telecommunications networks, cable television networks, and the Internet, and accelerate R&D in and application of the Internet of Things. We will also increase investment in and policy support for emerging industries of strategic importance.

—— Excerpt from Full Text: Report on the Work of the Government

The Internet of Things, or the sensor web, is a network of real-world objects linked by the Internet and interacting through web services. Technologies such as radio frequency identification and sensors were the basis of the network.

According to the International Telecommunication Union, in the future world, the Internet of Things, by embedding short-range mobile transceivers into a wide array of additional gadgets and everyday items, enables new forms of communication between people and things, and between things themselves.

The Internet of Things is considered as the third wave in information industry since the introduction of computers and Internet.

—— Excerpt from China taps into Internet of Things world

       （来源：中国网学英语频道）