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Internet of Things gets a hand from ARM's new operating system
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The UK-based chip designer's Mbed operating system is among several efforts, including the work of standards groups and a new wireless protocol, designed to speed the adoption of the Internet of Things.
ARM
Desktops have Linux. Mobile devices have Android. The Internet of Things has...Mbed?
In another new effort to speed up the adoption of the Internet of Things, chip designer ARM Holdings announced Wednesday it has created a free operating system called Mbed, which it is launching with about two dozen partners including Freescale, IBM, Salesforce, Marvell and NXP.
ARM, which designs the chips found in most mobile phones, also unveiled its new Mbed Device Server, which allows companies to securely connect and manage the devices. The goal is to make it simple for companies to develop Internet-connected devices that talk to each other, and for cloud providers, such as IBM, to analyze the data that's collected.
"We wanted to make it easy to build these connected, secure and simple platforms," Mike Muller, ARM's chief technology officer, said during a meeting with reporters.
ARM believes Mbed will be used in everything from streetlights to home appliances and simple wearables, with the aim of creating devices with battery life measured in years, not hours.
The Internet of Things, or IOT, is the concept of connecting a wide variety of objects -- from garage doors to lights to dishwashers -- with the Internet and with one other, to offer new features and smarts for customers. Market researcher Gartner last year predicted 26 billion devices will be part of the Internet of Things by 2020, a 30-fold increase from 2009.
A handful of efforts were announced in the past year to help bring together this broad idea, with two different groups -- the AllSeen Alliance and the Open Interconnect Consortium -- working on general standards for IOT so different objects can start talking the same language.
Unlike the standards groups, ARM's new Mbed provides a free, customizable operating system in the vein of the Linux open-source operating system for PCs and Google's Android operating system for mobile devices. Some parts of the software will be open source, but ARM will control other parts to make sure Mbed remains unfragmented.
The operating system will work with many major connection standards, including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 2G, 3G, LTE and CDMA cellular technologies. Mbed also works with Thread, a new wireless protocol founded by Google, Samsung, ARM and others in July.
Already, more than 70,000 developers have been working with earlier versions of Mbed, Muller said. The company started building the operating system in 2006.
"Bits of Mbed are in deployment today," Muller added. "What we're doing is pulling together the bits and pieces."
While Mbed will be used in simple wearables -- essentially those simply collecting readings such as heart rate -- the operating system won't replace Android or Samsung's Tizen operating system, which are used in smartwatches such as the Moto 360 and the Samsung Gear 2. Rather, Mbed will go in devices, including appliances, that previously relied on real-time operating systems. Such an operating system, also known as RTOS, often is selected because it can run on very limited computing hardware, but the market has been fragmented.
ARM also said its Mbed operating system has been optimized to consume low amounts of power. Some products will be able to last for years without needing a battery replacement. Simple wearables in the near term will last about two months on a single charge, said Kris Flautner, general manager of ARM's Internet of Things business.
The Mbed operating system will be available to partners in the fourth quarter, with the first production devices expected next year.
ARM's Mbed Device Server also will allow users to remotely manage and analyze devices, such as cities using connected stoplights to analyze traffic patterns. The product is free for small developers, but ARM will be charging larger companies for its commercial use, which could provide new recurring revenue for ARM.
The Mbed platform also includes Mbed.org, which provides a database of hardware development kits, a library of reusable software components and other development tools.
"Before you can worry about all the analytics people get excited about, you first have to solve the problem of getting the data to the cloud in the first place," Flautner said. "It turns out that's not as easy as it sounds....What we're really trying to do is have a solution to this problem."
Shara Tibken Shara Tibken is a senior writer for CNET focused on Samsung and Apple. She previously wrote for Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal. She's a native Midwesterner who still prefers "pop" over "soda." See full bio Key players in Internet of Things promote Thread protocol at Google campus
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Google's Nest Labs, Samsung, Big Ass Fans and others came together to tout the burgeoning Thread standard that allows smart home devices to communicate with one another.
Chris Boross, president of Thread Group and project manager at Nest Labs, during the Thread keynote. James Martin/CNET
Mountain View, California -- Inside a large grey room, which doubles as one of the many cafes on the Google Campus, Nest Labs project manager Chris Boross uses a Nest thermostat to activate two pole-mounted ceiling fans that stand on either side of him. The fans are manufactured by Big Ass Fans, and after a few seconds, they slowly begin to spin.
Both the smart thermostat and ceiling fans communicate with one another not through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, but via Thread, a new wireless protocol specifically engineered for smart appliances, home automation devices, and other Internet of Things (IoT) products.
Launched in July, Thread was founded by seven companies including Samsung, Nest (which Google bought earlier this year), Silicon Labs and Big Ass Fans (yes, that's actually its name). Unlike Open Interconnect Consortium and AllSeen Alliance, Thread Group does not consider itself another IoT framework co-op. Instead, its aim is to create and promote its single networking standard for the connected home.
"Wi-Fi is not perfect for all devices in the home and it's not perfect for all use cases," said Boross in front of a 300-member audience. "We feel there should be a second network in the home."
Some advantages of the Thread mesh network include its low energy consumption, its secure infrastructure and the fact that it is IP-based, meaning it uses existing IPv6 technology to connect devices together. Thread can also support over 250 products per network, be managed by your smartphone or tablet, and has a low latency period of less than 100 milliseconds for each typical interaction.
A Thread-enabled ceiling fan that can communicate with a smart Nest thermostat. James Martin/CNET
Its deep integration with sleep sensor nodes also translates to long-term interconnectivity -- especially with battery-operated devices that are expected to function for years, such as door locks and security sensors.
Thread isn't the only network protocol, however. Its competitor, Zigbee Pro, is also trying to grab a stronghold as the language IoT devices speak with. With two standards, this can be a headache for consumers -- a problem that Skip Ashton, vice president of technology at Thread and vice president of software at Silicon Labs, recognizes.
During the Q&A portion of the event, Ashton said it would be "advantageous for the market to provide seamless duo-capability" so that users do not have to choose one or the other.
Until that time comes, however, Thread Group is doing all it can to expand its presence. Today, October 1, it will open membership to any company who wishes to join -- 90 days after its initial July launch, the group has already netted over 800 companies expressing interest. As for its product roadmap, it plans to make available its final technical documentation as early as the end of May 2015, and begin its certification program for manufacturers the following June.
Lynn La Lynn La is CNET's associate editor for cell phone and smartphone news and reviews. Prior to coming to CNET, she wrote for the Sacramento Bee and was a staff editor at Macworld. In addition to covering technology, she has reported on health, science, and politics. See full bio