Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future: M2M

Showing posts with label M2M. Show all posts

Connected Globe News Weekly – Week of November 30, 2014

Welcome to Connected Globe News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices. I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article. I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
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Also read Mobility News Weekly

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According to Research and Markets, M2M and wearable technology can help wireless carriers pocket as much as $116 billion in network connectivity service revenue by the end of 2020. Read Original Content

SAP has announced enhanced Internet-of-Things applications that will take advantage of sensor data. In a separate but related announcement, SAP revealed a new partnership with Samsung that will tap into its smartphones and wearable devices in retail and IoT scenarios. Read Original Content

A new report from Hampleton Partners reveals internet-connected device investment has gathered pace in 2014, attracting a range of key US technology and telecoms companies. $9.4bn has been invested to buy Internet of Things suppliers over the last three years, with around $5 billion being invested during the initial nine months of 2014. Read Original Content

B2M Solutions’ mobile software delivers valuable insight and actionable analytics for enterprise customers. Business leaders and managers within the mission critical, rugged mobile enterprise now have operational views of key business and technology analytics affecting performance and productivity. B2M software is developed with specific functionality to help organizations identify and unblock mobility problems as soon as, or even before, they occur, allowing customers to sustain critical business processes and gain competitive advantages. To Lean more visit www.B2M-Solutions.com. This newsletter is sponsored in part by B2M Solutions

Analysys Mason reports M2M/IoT growth in the MENA region is estimated to reach over $2 billion by 2016, with a 34 percent combined annual growth rate through 2018. Read Original Content

Telefónica Chile will use a new R&D center in the country to develop Internet of Things technologies with an initial focus on smart cities and the mining and agriculture sectors. Read Original Content

Pertino CMO Todd Krautkremer believes the Internet of Things should be called the Cloud of Things, since you can only derive its full benefit through cloud computing and storage. Read Original Content

Dell Inc. has debuted its first lab devoted to researching the Internet of Things at the company's Santa Clara offices, reports the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Read Original Content

According to a new report by ISACA, about 50 percent of over 1,600 EMEA-based IT professionals surveyed by the association believe the benefits of IoT far outweigh the costs. Read Original Content

Latest Articles on http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com

Feeling Thankful - Is there an App for That?
Gamification Strategies and Mobile Applications - The Way it Should Be
2015 Enterprise Mobility Events Announced
Insights into the Impact of Big Data, Mobile Apps and Code Halos Strategies on Retail
Transforming Web Content for Enterprise Mobility
Mobile Expert Interviews: Snappii's CEO Alex Bakman
Mobile Expert Interviews: Red Hat's Mike Piech
Big Data Business Models and Code Halo Strategies with SmartStory's CEO Michael Boerner
Digital Transformation Expert Interviews: SmartStory's Lloyd Mahaffey

Webinars of Note (recorded)

Virtualization ≠ Mobilization

Whitepapers of Note

A Comparison of the StarMobile MORPH Protocol vs. Traditional Remote Computing Protocols
Don't Get SMACked - How Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud are Reshaping the Enterprise
Making BYOD Work for Your Organization

StarMobile Transforms Enterprise Apps into Mobile Apps
Test Automation to Boost Velocity without Compromising Quality
Why Apps Fail - Find Out the Top 3 Reasons

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Kevin Benedict

Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst

Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube Channel

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies

Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos

Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Connected Globe News Weekly – Week of November 23, 2014

According to Gartner the processing, sensing and communications semiconductor device arenas are set to grow at a rapid pace over the coming years, growing 36.2 percent in 2015, compared with overall semiconductor market growth of 5.7 percent. Read Original Content

Analysts at IDC estimate the worldwide Internet of Things, or IoT, market will grow from $1.3 trillion last year to more than $3 trillion in 2020. Read Original Content

According to a new market research report published by MarketsandMarkets, the Industrial IoT Market size was worth $181.29 billion in 2013 that is expected to reach $319.62 billion at a combined annual growth rate of 8.15 percent from 2014 to 2020. Read Original Content

Latest Articles on http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com

Gamification Strategies and Mobile Applications - The Way it Should Be
2015 Enterprise Mobility Events Announced
Insights into the Impact of Big Data, Mobile Apps and Code Halos Strategies on Retail
Transforming Web Content for Enterprise Mobility
Mobile Expert Interviews: Snappii's CEO Alex Bakman
Mobile Expert Interviews: Red Hat's Mike Piech
Big Data Business Models and Code Halo Strategies with SmartStory's CEO Michael Boerner
Digital Transformation Expert Interviews: SmartStory's Lloyd Mahaffey

Webinars of Note (recorded)

Virtualization ≠ Mobilization

Whitepapers of Note

A Comparison of the StarMobile MORPH Protocol vs. Traditional Remote Computing Protocols
Don't Get SMACked - How Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud are Reshaping the Enterprise
Making BYOD Work for Your Organization

StarMobile Transforms Enterprise Apps into Mobile Apps
Test Automation to Boost Velocity without Compromising Quality
Why Apps Fail - Find Out the Top 3 Reasons

************************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Writer, Speaker, Senior Analyst

Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Subscribe to Kevin'sYouTube Channel

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies

Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos

Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

IoT Expert Interview: Microsoft's Nick Landry

This week I am both learning, and speaking at the The Internet of Things Expo in New York City. I will be teaching a session on the subject of IoT, Code Halos and Digital Transformation Strategies. Today, I had the privilege of interviewing Microsoft's mobile and IoT guru Nick Landry (Twitter @ActiveNick). In this interview he shares Microsoft's solutions and strategies around the Internet of Things. Enjoy!

Video Link: http://youtu.be/smE9rjfLiWI

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Kevin Benedict

Writer, Speaker, Editor

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies

Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos

Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

Mobile IoT Expert Interview: Dr. Severin Kezeu

Dr. Severin Kezeu, Founder of SK Solutions has one of the most interesting solutions I have seen anywhere at SAP's SAPPHIRE conference this week. It is not just about increasing productivity or being more efficient, it is about saving lives using SAP's Hana and Code Halos strategies. Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPqxDxcakds&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

************************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Writer, Speaker, Editor

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies

Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos

Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

IoT Devices and Apps for both Industry and Consumers

By Caleb Benedict, Research Analyst, GIS/IoT

Recently Google acquired the home automation company Nest. Nest is a company that sells IoT (Internet of Things) enabled devices that allow homeowners to control the temperature of their homes through their smartphones, plus it sends notifications if it detects dangerous levels of smoke or carbon monoxide. This company is a great example of how IoT is expanding beyond its industrial roots.

Why would Google get involved in home automation systems? Because their real goal is to collect, analyze and utilize data to provide more personalized online and mobile experiences. Cognizant calls this strategy "Code Halos" strategies. Nest will provide Google with a much deeper understanding of consumers' "patterns of life."

In the next few years we will see widespread adoption of IoT technologies for consumers. This will include a range of applications such as smartphone controlled appliances, home irrigation systems, alarm systems, home automation systems, smart-watches that monitor vital signs, Internet connected vehicles and new applications that we haven't even heard of yet. There is and will be massive expansion of the IoT for personal use.

IoT is growing quickly and is expanding into new industries. IoT strategies are currently being used in vehicle fleets, home automation and management, healthcare, manufacturing, smart grids, ATMs and much more. Not only are IoT applications being embraced by industry, but also by consumers. In 2014 we are seeing many new Internet connected devices such as Google Glass, smart watches and smart appliances appear.

Some examples of IoT applications today:

• Tracking vehicle fleets for increased accountability
• Monitoring vehicle performance to maximize efficiency and reduce operating costs
• Viewing electricity usage through smart meters
• Managing production lines through M2M sensors
• Internet connected-alarm systems
• Monitoring vitals for hospital patients
• Home management-systems that control thermostats, appliances, irrigation systems, etc.

Recent IoT market forecasts:

IDTechEx research has found that the wireless sensor market will grow to $1.8 billion by 2024. (http://bit.ly/1i5Q29P)

Gartner predicts the “internet of things” will hit 26 billion devices by 2020, up from 900 million five years ago, and this will increase the amount of information available to supply chain professionals, as well as exposure to cyber risks. (http://bit.ly/1e57GG6)

According to a recent report from Navigant Research, cumulative utility spending on IT systems for the smart grid will total $139.3 billion from 2014 through 2022. (http://bit.ly/1ka16DL)

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation, EBA, Center for the Future of Work Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies

Recommended Strategy Book Code Halos

Recommended iPad App Code Halos for iPads

The Latest on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8.1 for Enterprise Mobility and IoT

By Guest Blogger and Cognizant Mobile Expert Peter Rogers

A lot of attention lately has been given to Android and iOS, but let's not forget developments from Microsoft. Microsoft made some exciting announcements at Build 2014 that we should consider.

The Windows 8.1 update was given an imminent release date (April 8th) and Windows Phone 8.1 Dev Preview Program is just starting. There was a nice quote reflecting their intentions with Windows Phone 8.1, “We believe Windows Phone is the world's most personal smartphone”. Microsoft is bringing Windows Phone 8.1 to all Lumia devices running WP8 and the next generation of Lumia devices were shown with ridiculously good cameras and a Snapdragon 400/800 chip inside (1.2/2.2 GHz).

Cortana is Microsoft’s version of Siri (with a husky voice), that is powered by Bing, and has been fully integrated into the phone experience. Windows Phone 8.1 also comes with an enterprise VPN and Internet Explorer 11. The desktop version of Internet Explorer now has an enterprise mode for improved compatibility (white listing of sites) and finally supports WebGL (3D).

The first announcements that was of keen interest to me was the new Universal Apps. These are based on the Windows runtime environment and are portable across the following: PCs; tablets and even Xbox. There is an update to Visual Studio 2013 that allows you to build such Universal Apps. A demo showed the same App running on both Xbox and Windows Phone; and there was also a demo showing the improvements in DirectX 12.

The second thing of interest for me was that ‘The Internet of Things’ got a lot of air time and Microsoft were very keen to talk about Intel and their new Quark chip. It's the smallest SoC the company has ever built, with processor cores one-fifth the size of Atom's, and is built upon an open architecture. Quark is positioned to put Intel in wearables and they even showed off a prototype smartwatch platform Intel constructed to help drive wearable development. Intel President Renee James pointed out that Quark's designed for use in integrated systems, so we'll be seeing Quark in healthcare too. The link for Microsoft was of course their Azure Cloud platform and the shock announcement that Windows will be available for free for Internet of Things-type devices - and indeed for phones and tablets with screens smaller than 9 inches.

The third thing that sparked my interest was from one of the questions in the Q&A, “What's the vision for Microsoft? The vision twenty some-odd years ago was ‘a computer on every desk’. But that's basically been achieved.” Microsoft's answer, “Mobile First, Cloud First, and a world based on concepts like machine learning.”

I like “Mobile First, Cloud First” as a concept because it stresses the important relationship between the two. Microsoft may not see the success they desire with Windows 8.1 (even when the start menu returns) but it is clear that they are still a force to be reckoned with, and Windows 9 will have all the necessary learning in place to succeed.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies

Digital Transformation Expert Interview: Author Paul Roehrig

I love Google+ Hangouts. They enable me to catch up with busy, world traveling digital and mobile experts anywhere in the world and record interviews with them. Today, I have the privilege of sharing an interview that I recorded last week with author Paul Roehrig who is also the Co-Director of the Center for the Future of Work here at Cognizant. Paul's new and important book that will be published by Wiley in April is titled "Code Halos - How the Digital Lives of People, Things and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business." There is also an accompanying iPad app "Code Halos" available now for free here.

Viewers may have caught the interview I published with Paul's co-author on the book Ben Pring last week. In this interview we cover a different set of strategy discussions. Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10RYDcvbJng&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies

Digital Transformation Expert Interview: Author Ben Pring on Code Halos

I had the privilege of interviewing Ben Pring the co-author of the book Code Halos - How the Digital Lives of People, Things and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business this week! In addition to the book, there is also a free companion Code Halos iPad app available for download. As well as writing books, Ben Pring is also the Co-Director of the Center for the Future of Work at Cognizant. Wiley will be publishing the book nationwide in 2 weeks. It is available now for pre-order. Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2uhEPxOMEg&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies

IoT and M2M Cloud Controlled Programmable Hardware

My friend and Cognizant colleague the ever opinionated Peter Rogers shares more of insights into the world of IoT (Internet of Things) geekdom and how it really works under-the-covers.
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Facebook invested more cash this week when they acquired one of my favourite Kickstarter projects Oculus VR for a seemingly ridiculous $2b. The VR (virtual reality) headset was the best in class technology (in its price range) and had just added a head-tracking software solution to reduce motion sickness. Of course it wasn't just the VR headset that Facebook acquired, but the CTO of Oculus VR, who is no other than the legendary game creator John Carmack.

There is every indication that Facebook will let Oculus VR do their own thing but I do worry about the lack of support from game developers, so John Carmack needs to rally the forces. We all agree there is money in wearable technologies in 2014, right? I actually classed virtual reality headsets as my favourite form of wearable technology, but I am a gamer at heart and spent a lot of time playing VR games in the local arcades as a teenager/adult. With the problems of motion sickness being alleviated and fast refresh rates then we can all look forward to recreating scenes from Disclosure very soon and it proves this is happening now.

IFTTT

I was recently looking into IFTTT (if this then that) which is a service that lets you create powerful connections of Internet services. Channels are the basic representation of online services (Facebook, LinkedIn, Evernote, etc.). Triggers are actions that place on a channel, such as “I check in on Foursquare” or “I am tagged in a ridiculous picture of the office party on Facebook”. Actions are the tasks to perform such as ‘send me a text message to warm me of photos I am tagged in on Facebook”. Recipes are therefore the final ‘if this than that’ statement which combines triggers on channels with actions to perform. You can have personal recipes, one example of such being a text message warning system for photos that you are tagged in on Facebook within days of an office party.

I didn’t realise until recently that some of the non-enterprise MBaaS (mobile backend as a service) systems offer a similar IFTTT construct. If we look at Firebase which is probably more of a real-time connectivity platform than a MBaaS, but has come into the spotlight after a strong partnership with Famo.us. Firebase offers hooks to inject conflict resolution logic into the proceedings. Likewise, Telerik allows you to inject custom JavaScript code to be executed before/after CRUD (create/read/update/delete) operations on data items. This offers a simpler alternative than a Node/GAE service tier and with the merging of API Gateways and Enterprise MBaaS on the horizon (a topic for a later Blog) then I have a strong feeling we will see this level of configuration-programmatic control in the near future, especially in the wearable space.

Tessel

Tessel start with asking a great question, “How do you teach web developers about hardware?” and it is a question I have long been pondering from a resourcing perspective. The answer they give is fantastic, “You don’t. You teach hardware about web developers”. You use familiar web development language such as JavaScript and Node to make programming hardware a much higher level construct.

Tessel is a micro-controller that runs Embedded JavaScript. The guys at Tessel seem to think that JavaScript is the perfect embedded language and I am inclined to agree. Tessel are targeting the affordable embedded processor range of Cortex-M0 to Cortex-M4 which are the lower end of the performance spectrum but come in at the $4@1k range. The options are to either run a JavaScript VM (which comes in at around 10Mb of memory) or run a Lua VM (which is highly portable and comes in at around 30K). I was curious what Embedded JavaScript actually was and I guess we will see quite a few definitions of cut down versions of the ECMAScript but Tessel have a unique take on all this. Originally on a local computer there would be a JavaScript file and a g-zipped Lua file which was then sent to a Tessel micro-controller which ran a Lua interpreter. To improve performance they have now moved to having a JavaScript file on the local computer and then on the actual Tessel they will compile JavaScript to Lua bytecode and run this through a LuaJIT (just in time compiler) based custom RTOS.

I remember all of the MEAPs (mobile enterprise application platforms) used to support Lua and soon everyone quickly moved away to the more familiar JavaScript language. Corona was the first to see an exodus of game developers due to the closed nature of the solution. Now in the MCAP space everyone is moving away from JavaScript VMs to cross-transpiled / cross-compiled JavaScript solutions (Hyperloop, Cocoon, Intel XDK). This means you get to write in JavaScript but you end up with native code which is a win-win – unless you hate JavaScript. The future is that it will become feasible to embed in every product a micro-controller powerful enough to run a high level language but for now JavaScript (or Embedded JavaScript as it will be called) seems to be the language of choice.

Firmata

I later discovered trailr which allows you to build and deploy Arduino ‘environment-aware’ sketches over WebSockets. This basically means that you can effectively reprogram the hardware by sending an environment configuration over the air. This led me onto Firmata, which is a generic protocol for communicating with microcontrollers from software on a host computer. It is intended to work with any host computer software package. Basically, this firmware establishes a protocol for talking to the Arduino from the host software. The aim is to allow people to completely control the Arduino from software on the host computer. Firmata is therefore a simple Arduino sketch that allows you to control all of the pins on the micro-controller dynamically without loading a new program on the board every time you want to do something.

SkyNet and Cloud Programmable Hardware

I have to mention SkyNet once again after they amazed me by lighting up their office with Phillips Hue light bulbs that change colour (red or green) as their stock price fluctuates (using the Yahoo Stock Market API). You can see the video here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNiHQXmawys. SkyNet have firmware that allows an Arduino to automatically connect to SkyNet and await Firmata instructions. SkyNet then becomes the compute cloud for controlling devices and collecting sensor data without CPUs or custom device apps.

As Chris from SkyNet says, “You could literally duct-tape an Arduino, MicroArduino (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/microduino/microduino-arduino-in-your-pocket-small-stackable), Spark device (https://www.spark.io/), or RFduino (http://www.rfduino.com/) to a light pole with a small rechargeable battery and solar cell. It connects to SkyNet allowing you to stream sensor data from connected sensors or you could turn on pins for lights, relays, motors, etc. via SkyNet messages. SkyNet messages could be sent from people all around the world.”

I must admit that I find the whole concept of Cloud controlled programmable hardware very exciting.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Join the Google+ Community Mobile Enterprise Strategies

Internet of Things Platforms and IoT Strategies

My friend and colleague, the always opinionated Peter Rogers, shares his latest research on The Internet of Things and the technology and platforms that are used to support it.

There seems to be two main groups of thought as to when wearable technology will become mainstream. The first group are those that believe that wearable technology is here today and are engaging both hobbyists and future entrepreneurs in building all parts of the ecosystem now. These people are creating their own hardware and working with systems to communicate with third party hardware right as we speak. The second group of people are more commercially minded and are looking at creating a full platform for the future. They are looking at big data style real-time analytics, next generation IP, and constrained REST architectures with cast iron security.

Personally I am impatient. I want to start playing with this IoT stuff today and allow the dedicated platforms to mature over time so they are ready when the market really picks ups. With that said I believe there are currently two tiers of vendors:

Those that have something that works today and that we could build products and services on top of now.
Those that have an actual platform that is slowly maturing and we can use in the future

My advice is to look at combining a selection of low-end propositions to start testing custom products for their effectiveness today. In my view the best people to start talking with for effective low risk deployments, would be those offering end-to-end solutions based around plugging in any device to a simple Cloud PaaS and with their technology readily available to hobbyists.

I will list a few vendors that I think offer technology ready to go today and then in my next article I will look at those that I consider offer platforms for the future. The main problem is one of being locked into a proprietary Cloud system that cannot be privately hosted and that only works with embedded client software that is explicitly supported by that vendor. If there is anything the ‘MBaaS v MEAP debate in enterprise mobility taught us is that open standards with flexible Cloud hosting solutions will win out. I don't see a perfect solution at the moment, but I do see a whole lot of very exciting propositions that will get acquired and combined effectively over time.

SkyNet

This open source project aims to let disparate devices communicate via a variety of protocols including MQTT, WS/S, CoAP, HTTPS/REST and WebSockets. It supports UUID authentication and TLS certificates. Eventually non-programmers could use Skynet to create a platform that lets us program the real and online worlds in a way that’s far more powerful than If This Then That (IFTTT) or Zapier. The end result is a flexible piece of open source software that can connect to everything from servers to sensors. SkyNet can be run on a public or private Node.js instance (such as Heroku) and they are even working on an open source home gateway.

IOBridge

ioBridge makes it easy for professionals and enthusiasts to monitor and control nearly anything via their smartphone or web app using a general purpose web gateway. This is a simple gateway that lets you monitor or send commands to anything compatible with the ioBridge through a web interface. It does sound like you can only access ioBridge-manufactured or third-party sensors, that are compatible with the ioBridge web gateway. It also doesn't sounds like you can set up your own version on a private network just yet. When you purchase one of the ioBridge gateways then you get a free limited subscriptions. For example, if you want to log data faster than every few minutes then you need another subscription.

BergCloud

Berg is a Cloud platform but they also provide hardware with built-in connectivity for faster prototyping. Devshields bring the Device API to Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and ARM MBED. The Device API is provided as a client library that runs on your microcontroller, speaking via your wireless connection to the web. If you are prototyping and don't yet have connectivity, then the Devshield developer boards have that bundled too. You can manage and message all your devices using the RESTful Cloud API, built around secure HTTPS. You control the user experience with your own website, and treat your devices like just another web service.

Sense Observation Systems

CommonSense is a platform that helps you to keep track of all your sensor data, store it in a central location, and play with it. CommonSense also processes your raw sensor data into meaningful things like sleep, exercise, or your top locations. With the free CommonSense Dashboard you gain insights into your behavior. With the free CommonSense Tracker you turn your phone into an advanced tracking device. You can combine them, add in your Fitbit or Twitter data, and you get a powerful self-tracking system. Connections are available now for iOS, Android, Fitbit, and Twitter. They are working on connecting more devices and services.

The data is stored in their Cloud, which happens to be in The Netherlands and has been certified with according to medical device regulations (NEN-7510). It does seem to have a good focus on Health Care and the Environment. CommonSense is currently in Private Beta and it sounds more like a real-time analytics platform at the moment.

Electric Imp

Electric Imp offers a complete end-to-end solution that makes it simple to connect almost any product to the Internet through an innovative and powerful cloud service tied closely to leading-edge hardware. The Electric Imp connectivity platform, featuring fully integrated hardware, software, OS, APIs, cloud servers, makes it possible to effectively empower your devices with intelligence, scalability and flexibility. If you’re a developer, hobbyist, or maker, then you can get started with one of their development kits and bring connectivity to your project, idea or concept.

Electric Imp offers a comprehensive solution designed to connect your product or project to the Internet quickly, easily and effectively. The platform includes:

Imp Hardware: The Electric Imp platform starts with the imp, a powerful module containing WiFi and a processor that acts as the gateway to connect your device or service to the Internet
Imp OS: The software foundation for the imp’s features and services that allows your code to concentrate on bringing your product’s functions to life.
Imp Cloud: Their cloud allows you to run agents - server side code that runs in a secure environment - that are used to provide HTTP I/O and cloud-side processing, and easily connect your products to anything with Internet access. Agents can act as a central hub to your products, apps, third-party services, and even your own servers.
Imp Open API: Enrich your customer experience and build your business by developing enhancements like messaging, monitoring, and much more.
Imp BlinkUpTM: The proprietary Electric Imp setup solution (BlinkUp) integrates seamlessly into your apps, letting you and your customers connect products in seconds using just a smartphone or tablet.
Imp Services - IDE and Ops Console: Maintain your software, push new code and features easily to devices anytime, ensuring that your users always have the latest features. The Ops Console enables you to gain more insight into your factory production lines and scale to millions of devices.

1248.io

1248.io offers Geras, which is a scalable time-series database for your sensor data with quick storage for your Analytics. They also offer HyperCat, which is an open, lightweight JSON-based hypermedia catalogue format for exposing collections of URIs. HyperCat is simple to work with and allows developers to publish linked-data descriptions of resources. HyperCat is designed for exposing information about IoT assets over the web. It allows a server to provide a set of resources to a client, each with a set of semantic annotations.

Geras offers the following:

HTTPS support for strong security and per-user API keys
Standard HTTP/HTTPS support allowing sensors to traverse firewalls and proxies
Sensors can supply data over HTTP POST or very lightweight MQTT publish
Supports modern standards for posting, getting and discovering data: HTTPS; JSON; RESTful; SenML; MQTT; and HyperCat
Built on a fault-tolerant, distributed database
Data can be stored in the country of your choice with an option to buy Geras as software and host the data yourself

If you have an IoT platform or technologies that you want Peter Rogers to be aware of please email him at Peter-2.Rogers-2@cognizant.com.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

The Internet of Things - Under the Covers

My colleague, the always opinionated Peter Rogers, provides us with an "under-the-covers" look at how Android plans to power the Internet of Things. Pull down your geek hat and hold on!!!
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In previous articles I predicted that wearable technology would be powered by light-weight operating systems, citing Samsung’s decision to go with Tizen instead of Android. This decision was apparently based on battery life and user interface considerations. However, just after the article hit the Internet, Google executive Sundar Pichai announced the Android SDK for Wearables. Android is used in many different ways as demonstrated by Kindle and Nokia X (Nokia X seems to have deployed a Windows 8 look and feel on top of Android). Indeed, for this very reason Android 4.4 has moved a lot of key APIs into the Cloud.

Wearable device developers are interested in the APIs available to them. If we turn the clock back to the J2ME days there was a dedicated API for user interfaces (UI) called javax.microedition.lcdui. This was a small UI library compared to today's Android libraries. Indeed you wouldn’t run Java Swing on Android, and likewise a wearable device needs a more constrained API for the UI. Even though a wearable device may be supporting a full operating system, it will most probably have a constrained UI and that means a slightly different programming style.

Recently there was an interesting post in the Washington Post supporting my claims that Wearable Devices and the Internet of Things requires different skill sets. The article listed the new skills required as data analytics and enterprise data analysis. Basically you need to know how to capture the data, read the data and then apply the data to your specific business domain. Surely real-time analytics and visualisation tools will become critical in the wearable space and this is where a new term called Fog Computing has been introduced by Cisco.

“Fog Computing is a paradigm that extends Cloud computing and services to the edge of the network. Similar to Cloud, Fog provides data, compute, storage, and application services to end-users. The distinguishing Fog characteristics are its proximity to end-users, its dense geographical distribution, and its support for mobility. Services are hosted at the network edge or even end devices such as set-top-boxes or access points. By doing so, Fog reduces service latency, and improves QoS, resulting in superior user-experience. Fog Computing supports emerging Internet of Everything (IoE) applications that demand real-time/predictable latency (industrial automation, transportation, networks of sensors and actuators). Thanks to its wide geographical distribution the Fog paradigm is well positioned for real time big data and real time analytics. Fog supports densely distributed data collection points, hence adding a fourth axis to the often mentioned Big Data dimensions (volume, variety, and velocity).”

In trying to predict what will be in the Android Wearable Software Developer Kit (SDK) then it is very interesting to note that Google acquired Android Smartwatch vendor WIMM Labs last year. WIMM Labs released its first Smartwatch back in 2011, the WIMM One, which ran Android and included an SDK for developers. Interestingly the WIMM website has removed all of the documentation for the SDK but a lot of WIMM One developers downloaded it before it got taken offline and so were able to get a potential glimpse of what Google is planning. WIMM had a Micro App Store which featured the following categories: entertainment; productivity; health; shopping; travel; utilities; watch faces; and games. As well as a Software Developer Kit there was also a Hardware Developer Kit which allows you to make accessories that wrap around the WIMM module.

The Wearable SDK itself will obviously have changed from its origins of the WIMM One SDK but it is certainly interesting rooting around through the API. The comm.wimm API extends the Android 2.X API and it is assumed that only the WIMM API itself can be used. There are some very interesting features offered for sure: notifications; custom watch faces; widgets; network services; sync services; calendars; broadcast events; weather; world clocks; location fixes; audio beeps; and various simple UI element.

One of the most interesting features is location information being retrieved from one or more sources, including built-in GPS, network based IP-location lookup, or a paired Android or Blackberry smartphone. This demonstrates that the Wimm One was able to perform even when not paired to a device and it was equally able to pair with a Blackberry.

If we look at the Android Wearable SDK then it is heavily rumoured to support Google Now, the voice control feature. It will also have to support Bluetooth Low Energy integration for communication with mobile devices for pairing and indeed detecting other sensors. It is also worth looking at the Google Glass Developer Kit (GDK) for a few hints at what may be revealed. The GDK was the alternative to the Mirror API which only really supported REST calls to a Google Cloud Service. The GDK is an add-on that builds on top of the Android SDK and offers the following: voice; gesture detector; and cards. It is safe to assume that voice control, local networking, touch control and potentially gesture control are all on cards. Google will show their hand at Google I/O and Samsung have already shown their Gear 2 devices at MWC. Next it is time for Apple to finally show their hand and we have to wonder if it will be a decisive one, quite possibly if history has taught us anything.

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Mobile Expert Interviews: Microsoft's Rob Tiffany

I met up with and interviewed Microsoft's Rob Tiffany in Barcelona a couple of weeks ago at the Mobile World Congress 2014. The problem, however, is I ran out of hard drive space on my iPhone and only captured half of the interview so today we are back for the rest via a recorded Google+ Hangout OnAir. In this interview we discuss Microsoft's current enterprise mobility solution offerings and what the future is likely to bring. Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLRJWJeJ7JY&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw&feature=share

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

The Internet of Things Comes to the Smartphone

Infrared Sensors for iPhones

For sometime now I have been pondering how the use of additional sensors on smartphones might be useful. Today many smartphones contain the following sensors:

Proximity sensor
Motion sensor/accelerometer
Ambient light sensor
Moisture sensor
Gyroscopic sensor
Magnetometer

Those listed sensors are incredibly valuable, but there are more coming. I read today about 3D photo sensors that Google is testing for smartphones, and other sensors like barometric sensors to help determine what floor of a building you are on, and biometric sensors to recognize finger prints for security purposes. The 3D sensor would enable intelligent applications to understand the shape and layout of a room, the barometric sensor would help identify the floor of a building and the magnetometer to help an application to understand the direction the room is facing. All of these sensors could contribute to interesting indoor retailing apps. They convert the physical into digital. They represent the tip of the spear for digital transformation. Once that is complete, software algorithms can be programmed and intelligence added to support revolutionary new business processes.

Evolution in Sensor Sizes

At the Mobile World Congress 2014 in Barcelona last week I discovered more interesting sensors. I saw a sensor, the size of a pin head, for monitoring and reporting humidity and temperature (Sensirion). It connected to smartphones via bluetooth. My favorite though, was the Thermal Imager sensor from Flir that connects to an iPhone via a sled (with extra batteries). It let's you, among other things, point at a person walking by to see their body temperature (a must for determining the living from the dead and the human from an android), plus you can see warm blooded animals and warm objects light up your iPhone screen even in complete darkness.

Imagine you hear a loud noise in your backyard at night. Reach for your thermal imager enabled iPhone and scan your backyard. The mountain lion hiding behind your shrubbery is instantly exposed. This can be useful in my neighborhood (see http://magicvalley.com/news/local/mountain-lion-killed-in-idaho-neighborhood/article_7b8e91ce-902a-11e3-a505-001a4bcf887a.html). You can also scan your hardwood floor to see if a giraffe or anyone has walked across it in the past few minutes.

These sensors are just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds of sensors that are being miniaturized today (see the Evolution in Sensor Size photo above I took at MWC14). They capture information about your physical world and can wirelessly transmit this information to your smartphone or enterprise server. How fun!

The Internet of Things is already massively increasing the amount of data flowing into servers from the physical world. Our big task in 2014 is imagining all the ways this data can be used to make our world a better place.

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Mobile Expert Interview: SAP's Dinesh Sharma at MWC14

All this week we will continue to publish interviews that I recorded from the Mobile World Congress 2014. In this interview SAP's Dinesh Sharma, VP, Product Marketing, Internet of Things shares the latest developments and work that SAP is doing around M2M/Internet of Things. Enjoy!

Video Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDl7j-pRfaY&feature=share&list=UUGizQCw2Zbs3eTLwp7icoqw

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Smart Machines, Code Halos and Digital Transformation

I am excited to share a guest blog article today from my colleague Rob Brown who works at The Center for the Future of Work at Cognizant. In this article he shares his insights on the future of smart machines, analytics and code halos.

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Gartner’s Tom Austin presented a webinar titled “The Emerging Era of Smart Machines Changes Everything” recently (www.gartner.com). The scenario he paints canvasses where automation and robotics will be taking business processes – not to mention society and employment – in relatively short order.

As we've been saying – seemingly forever – in this industry, efficiency gains through automation are fundamental to the future of Business Process Services (where “the platform becomes the process”, etc.). But the explosive information yield against complex algorithms (“Analytics”) that comes from automation are where the REAL action and value lie; as a result, analytics is now the biggest buzzword in the IT services industry, for better or worse.

In so many respects, Gartner’s Smart Machines scenario harmonizes perfectly with our Cognizant Code Halos thinking, and I especially like its exploration of the marriage of automation and analytics (“Smart Machines”: can be platforms, devices, and literally anthropomorphic, C3PO-type robots). Collectively, Gartner’s work segments flavors of automation into “Movers” (autonomous vehicles, like the Google Car), “Sages” (information-based helpers), and “Doers” (machine-focused helpers). Cutting edge endeavors like Google Deep Neural Net, IBM’s Watson, and Microsoft’s Research Elevator showcase where the confluence of automation/ analytics are headed.

Why is this happening now? Gartner notes these forces are accelerating due to better hardware and algorithms. As an example, Gartner cites the thinking of Ted Horvitz’s work in Artificial Intelligence here, in aerospace, healthcare, and learning (via TedTalks) here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpoVh9xwdD4.

In our Code Halos work, we’re also emphasizing both these attributes (automation to “make processes cheaper, make processes smarter”), but also highlighting UX and interfaces, e.g., “make processes beautiful”. It is in the mix of these forces that makes Code Halos (and “Smart Machines”) resonate so powerfully. Layering analytics and “meaning making” on top of the resulting data is where the future lies.

What are the consequences? What really struck a chord for me was some of the data that Tom presented on the impact on employment as business processes and functions are disrupted. The “dark side” view is presented in the form of Frey and Osborne’s work at Oxford (Per Frey and Osborne: “About 47% of total U.S. employment is at risk over the next decade or two”).

Arresting to be sure – but is it time to prepare for the Human Zoo just yet?

Per Gartner, what Frey and Osborne’s work doesn’t take into account is that net-new jobs will be created as a result of these trends, and also that current jobs of today will actually be enhanced by the transformation automation through technology brings (in keeping with the “Song of Hope” theme we see in work on Code Halos). While Gartner’s models DO see a scenario of ~17 percent of “routine”, repeatable tasks being truly disrupted by 2020, they also show that 49% of jobs are patently unaffected, and the remainder actually being ENHANCED by the confluence of automation and analytics. So, lots to think about there – especially how routine, repeatable business processes will be transformed.

So what’s next? In the short-term, Tom advises keeping on the lookout/engaging with Digital Personal Assistants in the next 2-3 years. In doing so, he also recommended reviewing a rather compelling video from Apple on the subject, circa early 1990s, showing just how far we’ve come, and still have to go... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bjve67p33E

Robert H. Brown
Global Director, BPS Strategy
Cognizant Center for the Future of Work

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Digital Transformation and Wearables at the Personal Level

I have invited my colleague, Ben Pring, Co-Director of the Center for the Future of Work at Cognizant, to share with us his personal experiences with IoT and wearables. His articles and insights can often be found at the site www.unvenlydistributed.com and he has a book coming out in a few weeks about how the digital lives of people, “things” and organizations are changing the rules of business.

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If you’re a pretty dedicated fitness type (like me) you’ve probably noticed the steady increase of technology into many different aspects of your chosen fitness regime or sport over the past few years. If you’re a runner you’ve probably run in a race where you use a timing chip attached to your shoe. If you play tennis you know your Graphene-based YouTek Head racquet is a far cry from the wooden Stan Smith Wilson you learnt with. And if you’re simply kicking a ball around in the back yard with your kid you’re probably conscious that the $150 Nike Ordem soccer ball you got him for Christmas is something of an upgrade on the old “placcy Wembley” that you had when you were his age. [This is a reference that only someone who grew up in 1970s north London will get!]

So the notion of technology seeping into our sporting hobbies is no big deal. But what – I would contend – is a big deal is the explosion of technology that the work out world is on the cusp of and what impact this is going to have on Health and Fitness (another 1970’s reference for you digital immigrants out there!) over the next few years. Sport is very much at the heart of the “Cambrian explosion” that The Economist highlighted a few weeks ago.

Let me walk through just a few quick examples of some of the things I’m seeing as I try and keep to my five-days-a-week regimen; and then a few thoughts from the couch as I recover and dream about the one handed backhand down the line winner on Championship point that brings me my first Wimbledon title. [“Unknown 51 Year Old Englishman Wins Wimbledon! Knighted on Center Court by Queen!” – The Daily Telegraph].

Nike Fuel Band – still a good conversation starter at parties (even though it’s been out a couple of years) the Fuel Band does a great job of tracking your movement and output count. And it’s a pretty useful watch when you wake up in the middle of the night. The dashboard on your computer/tablet is the best I’ve seen amongst the wearable monitors (much better than the Fitbit which I’ve also tried but didn’t take to). If you’re in a good work out groove the Fuel Band will probably make you feel pretty smug; if you’re not, it will only confirm what you probably already know – that despite your best intentions, you’re still a lazy bum.

BitGym - a running machine with built in TV screen that contains videos of runs you can do as you move precisely nowhere wherever you are. The other day I was in Orlando, FL and I did a 5 mile run through downtown Auckland NZ. Then a couple of weeks later I was in Auckland and not only did that real run but then ran the next day on a machine through London. Then last week I was in England and did that actual run. Someone needs to invent a word for how weird that is!

Garmin Forerunner 620 – the Usain Bolt of sports watches, this does everything except actually do the running for you. Apparently Garmin are working on that currently. My only problem with it is that wearing it perhaps gives the impression to other folks that I think I am Usain Bolt. It’s very hard to convey irony through a watch.

Click Image to Enlarge

As the wearable, quantifiable self, Internet of Things wave continues to develop these early stage examples are going to become more common, more varied, and more useful as people see the impact even small data can have on their health and performance. Check out Novak Djokovic’s “Serve to Win” to get inspired by what you can achieve if you start really paying attention to the impact your diet has on your training program. Although also check out “Drop Dead Healthy” by AJ Jacobs if all you want to do is work out your inner cynicism!

The infusion of wearable sensors into clothing – like rugby shirts that monitor heart rates and tackle impacts – is just beginning. Soon your golf shirt will mold the perfect swing, your glasses will live stream your 10k PB, and your socks will tell you the optimum moment to rehydrate.

The digital perimeter advertising at soccer, Hawkeye instant replies in tennis, 10 yard line virtual overlays in football, which we’ve all grown used to, are simply the first waves of a new era of tech in sports which will see more change in how the world plays in the next 10 years than we’ve seen in the last hundred. It literally is going to be a whole new ball game.

One last thought; JetBlue DirecTV must be the apex of human achievement to allow you to follow live English soccer while flying from Boston to San Francisco. When I was my 11 year’s old age there was one live game of soccer on TV a year. Because it was so exciting and rare I sat in front of the TV from the start of the pre-game build up, six hours ahead of kick off, right through until the post-game wrap at 10pm. Nowadays, I can watch The Irons (West Ham United Football Club to you mate) lose – in color, in HD, while I’m sitting over Hastings, Nebraska. If that doesn’t blow your mind, I don’t know what will …

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Kevin Benedict

Senior Analyst, Digital Transformation Cognizant

View my profile on LinkedIn

Learn about mobile strategies at MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Browse the Mobile Solution Directory

Join the Linkedin Group Strategic Enterprise Mobility

Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

Connected Globe News Weekly – Week of November 30, 2014

Connected Globe News Weekly – Week of November 23, 2014

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Mobile IoT Expert Interview: Dr. Severin Kezeu

IoT Devices and Apps for both Industry and Consumers

The Latest on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8.1 for Enterprise Mobility and IoT

Digital Transformation Expert Interview: Author Paul Roehrig

Digital Transformation Expert Interview: Author Ben Pring on Code Halos

IoT and M2M Cloud Controlled Programmable Hardware

Internet of Things Platforms and IoT Strategies

The Internet of Things - Under the Covers

Mobile Expert Interviews: Microsoft's Rob Tiffany

The Internet of Things Comes to the Smartphone

Mobile Expert Interview: SAP's Dinesh Sharma at MWC14

Smart Machines, Code Halos and Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation and Wearables at the Personal Level

Interviews with Kevin Benedict

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