A collaboration of companies in the electronics industry have formed a new open association in order to tackle the task of specifying software protocols for the Internet of Things (IoT).
The Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) will work not only on identifying opportunities inside the IoT market but help to accelerate innovation and create solutions that will map the electronics industry to a single open standard. The effort is being led by Arris, CableLabs, Cisco, Electrolux, GE Digital, Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm and Samsung.
According to Imad Sousou, vice president in the Software and Services Group at Intel, IoT promises to bring tens of billions of consumer, enterprise and embedded devices to connect to each other in the coming years. Because of this, the need for devices to detect and communicate with each other regardless of manufacturer, operating system, chipset or transport is of utmost importance. Sousou says the OCF is positioned in order to enable this interconnectivity for anything from appliances, phones, computers and home systems, to medical, transportation, smart infrastructure and more.
The organization includes a cross section of companies from the electronics industry including software firms, chipmakers, platform builders and product suppliers. Each of these companies will bring their own vision and technology to the table in order to create a single, open standard for interoperability for consumers, business and industry, Sousou says.
Intel believes the OCF represents the best possible option to adopt an open source methodology by having a collaboration solve shared challenges and technologies.
