The Internet of Things (IoT) has gone from a simple buzzword to a mega focus in the tech economy. Estimates of the size of the market vary, but even the most conservative estimates say the market had billions of devices and at least $10 billion in sales in 2015. Other estimates are as high as $150 billion.

And the growth of the IoT is just beginning – in a new white paper on the Internet of Things market, research firm IHS projects the number of IoT devices to double within five years and quintuple within the next ten.

What is the IoT, exactly? Think of it, in its simplest form, as devices talking to each other. You’re already used to your laptop talking to your wi-fi router and your bluetooth speaker. The IoT concept just expands this out: Your washing machine could talk to your cell phone and laptop; your apartment’s lights can talk to your iPad.

There is already a wide range of these networked devices on the market. IHS analyst Sam Lucero breaks it down into seven broad categories: Automotive; communication; computer; consumer; industrial; medical; and military/aerospace. And he further identifies 34 subcategories within those seven.

Is seven categories and 34 subcategories a little overkill? Hardly. “There is no one class of device that predominates” in the IoT market, says analyst Laura DiDio of Strategy Analytics. The enterprise side of the market, DiDio says, includes “a mix of servers, edge gateways or routers, smartphones, notebooks or laptops, tablets or phablets as well as large enterprise class types of machinery and equipment. On the consumer side, there is everything from FitBits and watches to the quickly emerging class of connected cars.” Then there’s the smart home category, which DiDio says, “includes everything from intelligent sensors embedded in thermostats, coffee pots, lighting, HVAC systems, refrigerators, entertainment systems, video surveillance, traffic lights, specialized hospital equipment and robotics, tracking devices and sensors used in transportation and shipping containers..”

It’s overwhelming. And DiDio adds that the list of devices “is getting longer every day.”

Lucero of IHS lists even more niche uses that haven’t yet fully developed, such as, “augmented reality, connected robotics and AI-drive voice assistants.”

All these networked devices are able to draw sensory data from their surroundings, and then optimize their performance, making your life easier. That’s the main appeal of the IoT: convenience and instant service.

It’s clear that the uses of the internet of things are numerous, spanning multiple sectors and appealing to consumers, businesses and governments. And that’s why the IHS prediction of the market quintupling in the next decade is plausible.