Intel Launches Internet Of Things Platform

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To help businesses prepare for the Internet of Things (IoT), Intel on Tuesday unveiled a platform to coordinate and manage the connectivity and security of networked devices.

Although the IoT is still developing, the market is expected to reach $7.1 trillion in sales by 2020, up from $1.9 trillion last year, according to IDC. Having misread the smartphone revolution, Intel appears to be more proactive about shaping the next wave of connected devices to the contours of its business.  

The Intel IoT Platform consists of a device reference model for Internet-enabled devices that utilizes the company's hardware and software.

Intel also announced software, hardware, and commitments to advance its platform. These include: Wind River Edge Management System, cloud-based software to manage IoT device data, connectivity, and security; updated Intel IoT Gateway hardware for the collection and filtering of sensor data; changes in Intel's cloud analytics software to support the company's IoT Developer Kits; McAfee's Enhanced Security for Intel IoT Gateways; a commitment from Intel to promote its Enhanced Privacy Identity security technology to other vendors; and access to the Intel API and Traffic Management service, for creating internal or external data APIs related to IoT devices.

Rudin Management, a New York City real estate company, illustrates the financial case of adding connectivity to previously unconnected devices, like lighting and heating systems. Using a software system of its own design called DiBoss, the company has been managing energy usage and other systems in its buildings. According to Intel, the company saved $1 million in just one of its buildings over the course of a year.

[Not everybody is optimistic about the Internet of Things. Read Internet Of Things 'Overhyped,' Say IT Execs.]

To ensure its continued involvement in IoT development and deployment, Intel has partnered with a handful of consultancies, including Accenture, Booz Allen Hamilton, Capgemini, Dell, HCL, NTT Data, SAP, Tata Consultancy, and Wipro. Intel and its consulting partners aim to help organizations implement IoT systems more efficiently and effectively.

Intel's IoT Platform follows the company's formation in June of the Open Interconnect Consortium, with Atmel, Dell, Intel, Samsung, and Wind River, to define an open-source standard for connecting IoT devices. Broadcom was part of that group until October, when it left.

The Open Interconnect Consortium was formed after the launch of a competing group, the AllSeen Alliance, backed by Qualcomm, the Linux Foundation, Cisco, Microsoft, and others.

Google meanwhile is backing the Thread Group, which promotes the Thread protocol used in its Nest products. ARM, Freescale, Samsung, and others are part of that group.

Intel is also part of a separate IoT group, the Industrial Internet Consortium, a group focused on the connectivity of industrial machinery. Other founding members include Cisco, GE, and IBM.

At some point, the billions of predicted IoT devices will talk to one another. But it may be a while.

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