Internet of Things Applications

UK-based "internet of things" startup EVRYTHNG, has raised a $24.8 million Series B round of funding that it hopes will help it give every physical product a digital identity.



EVRYTHNG works with clients such as Coca-Cola and packaging companies like Avery Dennison RBIS, Crown Holdings, and West Rock to connect consumer products to the web as soon as they are manufactured.

The company describes itself as a data management platform that allows businesses to have a more complete overview of their supply chain by assigning digital identities to products, allowing them to be tracked.

[...]

Niall Murphy, EVYRTHNG cofounder and CEO, told Business Insider: "We called the company 'EVRYTHNG' because we wanted to manage the digital identity of all the products in the world and that mission and vision is what we are after. To get there we have to build a relationship with product manufacturers and a tighter integration with the way products are built and sold so we can build at scale."

[...]



See more at: businessinsider.com

Normally, silicon chip announcements don’t catch my eye. This is not to say that chips are unimportant; they are critical to achieving the goals for the IoT. Generally, however, I tend to take a higher level and more holistic approach to IoT subjects. That’s why, when 3 recent announcements caught my eye, I thought there might be more here than just “typical” chip announcements. These may be signals of some significant future direction for IoT communications.



The first announcement was ARM Holdings ’s acquisition of two companies providing NB-IoT technologies. NextG-Com offers a complete layer two and three software stack for NB-IoT, and Mistbase provides a complete NB-IoT physical layer implementation solution. As a reminder, ARM had already ventured into the wireless space, having acquired Wicentric for its Bluetooth stack, and Sunrise Micro Devices for its integrated Cordio Bluetooth 5 and 802.15.4 intellectual property (IP) short-range technologies.

Last week I provided my thoughts (Hype Vs. Reality: When Will Internet Of Things Networks Appear?) on the timing of NB-IoT (now called LTE-NB1). LTE-NB is going to be one of the most pervasive IoT connectivity technologies for at least the next 5 years—when it finally arrives. What is significant is that ARM, the leader in core technologies for IoT applications, has bet on LTE-NB for its long-range customers. To me, that speaks volumes as to the desire for system providers to use these three connectivity technologies for their IoT applications.

The second announcement was by Qualcomm QCOM +0.52%, who announced two chips: the QCA4020 and QCA4024. The SoC QCA4020 is a tri-mode device, integrating Dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth Low Energy 5, and 802.15.4. As a reminder, 802.15.4 is the basis of both ZigBee and Thread. The QCA4024 is dual-mode, and integrates Bluetooth Low Energy 5 and 802.15.4.



See more at: forbes.com

A new Dimensional Research survey looked at the rise of Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) deployment in organizations, and to what extent it is expected to cause security problems in 2017.



IIoT are the connected devices in critical infrastructure segments such as energy, utilities, government, healthcare and finance. The study revealed that:
- Ninety-six percent of those surveyed expect to see an increase in security attacks on IIoT in 2017.
- Fifty-one percent said they do not feel prepared for security attacks that abuse, exploit or maliciously leverage insecure IIoT devices.
- Sixty-four percent said they already recognize the need to protect against IIoT attacks, as they continue to gain popularity among hackers.


“Industry professionals know that the Industrial Internet of Things security is a problem today. More than half of the respondents said they don’t feel prepared to detect and stop cyber attacks against IIoT,” said David Meltzer, chief technology officer at Tripwire. “There are only two ways this scenario plays out: Either we change our level of preparation or we experience the realization of these risks. The reality is that cyber attacks in the industrial space can have significant consequences in terms of safety and the availability of critical operations.”



See more at: helpnetsecurity.com