IoT

The use of the internet is growing at an exponential rate, according to Cisco's latest Visual Networking Index.  They are predicting global IP traffic to triple over the next five years at an approximate rate of 22 percent per year.  They are expecting this growth to come from; an increase in internet users, more devices and the type of traffic being consumed.  As a result of this growth, the Internet of Things (IoT) sector can expect global revenue of more than $682 billion over the next ten years.

In order to improve care providers patients relationship management Philips is expanding its HealthSuite platform in partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS).  The new AWS IoT platform will make it easy for devices to connect to AWS services, which will expand the connectivity, capabilities and services of Philips' HealthSuite digital platform.

IoT (Internet of Things) is one of the most exciting things in technology at the moment and Marvell is positioning itself to provide the necessary solutions for OEMs to capitalise on this growing market.  Marvell said they have a number of chips and reference designs with the necessary software that takes manufactures from quick prototyping to production in a short time.

Earlier this month the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a warning about the risks of having our connected devices being hacked. They have also made some suggestions on how we can protect our privacy, home and business from hackers. Google also recently released one of these recommendations on how to secure our home wireless network. The FBI suggested nine things we can do, which I think are easy for anyone to do.

If you are a manufacturer planning on entering the connected home market and be part of this Internet of Things you will want to get your product to market as quick as possible.  You might not have or want to invest too much into developing applications and interfaces for smartphones, tablets or PCs.  For existing manufacturers who have IOT products and not the software platform, there is Thingsquare.  Thingsquare can provide the platform to make all these interfacing possible.

Toshiba has made available new hardware and Software Development Kits (SDK) for developers and manufacturers of Internet of Things (IOT) solutions. Both are based on Toshiba's proprietary technology ApP Lite TZ1000 series of processors for wearable and Internet of things devices. Together, the kits allow evaluation of devices in an environment closer to that of their final application. With the hardware and software kits vendors will be able to quickly and easily design application processors into their application that will shorten the development cycles.

After one year of gathering feedback, Ofcom, the UK’s telecom regulatory body has published its findings.  They have recognise the impact IoT will have an the UK’s industries and have identified the priority areas that will facilitate IoT implementation and growth.  These areas include data privacy, Network Address, spectrum availability, network security and resilience.

Being internet ready is a necessity if not a big selling point for hardware vendors.  Many manufacturers haven’t got the resources to redevelop their devices that need internet connectivity.  Therefore, they struggle to take advantage of the “Internet of Things” market.  Electric Imp has come up with a solution with their Imp card; looks like an SD Card, but is much more powerful.

I think security poses the greatest risk to the growth of the connected home market. The many reports of hacking and vulnerabilities in connected home solutions throughout 2014 caused many to raised concerns about the readiness of these solutions for consumers.  I see these issues as signs saying the sector has more work to do to improve security. The good thing is we are still at a stage where we can fix these issues and build better solutions to gain public trust.

Hillwood, the home and communities construction company has selected Prodea's Residential Operating System (ROS) to offer the latest connected home services within its communities. The Prodea managed service will include home security, automation, entertainment, education, health and wellness, interactive advertising and enhanced voice services.