Seebo, IBM Collaborate to Simplify IoT Development
Seebo, a development platform for smart products, and IBM have announced a collaboration to bring together the Seebo platform and IBM Watson Internet of Things (IoT). Connecting Seebo’s IoT development capabilities with IBM’s Watson IoT Platform and Bluemix enables manufacturers to accelerate the delivery of smart products and gain insights from user data.
A growing number of manufacturers are connecting their products to the IoT to enhance value and increase revenue streams. The complexity of developing smart products, including parallel software, firmware and hardware design, alongside new design and production considerations, often deters manufacturers from pursuing innovation through the IoT. The addition of IBM’s Watson IoT Platform alongside Seebo’s SaaS platform, the companies report, helps to address these obstacles. The collaboration gives manufacturers access to tools to help build smart products quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively, as well as out-of-the-box connection with the cloud.
“We are excited for Seebo to join with our Watson IoT Platform,” said Neil Postlethwaite, the director of the IBM Watson IoT platform, in a prepared statement. “Seebo offers a unique set of tools that enable quick time to market for new IoT products in this fast-growing space. IBM sees this collaboration as one which will enable clients to rapidly design and develop their IoT products; while also having the ability to use cognitive capabilities from IBM’s IoT and Watson services.”
As an IBM Watson IoT business partner, Seebo joins IBM’s IoT ecosystem, linking the two platforms together for use by developers and product managers. Seebo’s customers can use IBM’s capabilities alongside its own innovative hardware simulator and testing app to reduce development costs and accelerate smart product time to market.
“In less than an hour of using Seebo’s platform, product managers see data from their newly-developed online prototype visualized on the cloud dashboard,” said Lior Akavia, Seebo’s co-founder and CEO, in the prepared statement. “We are proud to be joining forces with IBM. Through our collaboration, we allow our customers to enjoy the synergy of IBM’s most advanced IoT, cloud and analytics tools and Seebo’s fast development capabilities to become active players of their sectors’ growing digital transformation trends.”
Embelin Partners With Orange Business Services to Offer IoT Connectivity in Europe
Equipment manufacturer and software developer Embelin has signed a contract with Orange Business Services to provide global connectivity for its Internet of Things products. The deal will enable Embelin to expand in Europe and subsequently on a global scale. It will also simplify the provisioning process for IoT connectivity and improve the user experience the companies report.
Headquartered in Finland, Embelin specializes in the design of embedded systems, IT and data management, supporting companies’ digitalization. Its flagship product is REMUC, a remote control and monitoring system that can be installed in any smart target. In the car industry, for example, it allows users to track vehicle location and control in-vehicle heaters (essential for winter driving) remotely with mobile devices. REMUC is available for businesses and consumers, and comprises a controller installed in a vehicle, as well as cloud processing and a mobile application for smartphones.
Orange Business Services is providing Embelin with global IoT connectivity, SIM cards, a management portal, and service and remote management. Embelin can provision IoT connections automatically with the Orange IoT connectivity service portal and APIs. This simplifies deployment, invoicing, cuts costs for customers and reduces the need for extensive support, according to the companies.
“We are using Orange SIM cards in all our current and upcoming products, and their IoT connectivity will help us expand internationally,” said Kai Simula, Embelin’s CEO, in a prepared statement. “In addition, the automated connectivity activation Orange provides for our market-leading REMUC mobile technology creates an outstanding user experience, which will allows us to gain market share with our product.”
“Embelin has a clear vision for producing efficient solutions that meet customers’ requirements, and global IoT connectivity and reach are essential,” said Helmut Reisinger, Orange Business Services’ international executive VP, in the prepared statement. “Embelin can enjoy tangible business benefits from having a single global provider for its IoT communication infrastructure, such as seamless SIM card ordering, activation and tracking through a dedicated portal. Together this provides Embelin’s customers with an easy-to-use solution and outcome that delivers confidence and peace of mind.”
The Orange Business Services IoT connectivity service is part of Datavenue, a modular IoT and analytics solution. To enable analysis and decision-making, the Datavenue solution encompasses the selection of relevant data and objects, their reliable and secure connection, and their management in the customer information system environment.
Thales Intros Security Solutions for IoT Devices and Data
Thales, a provider of critical-information systems, cybersecurity and data security, has announces that it will offer solutions to provide security and trust for the Internet of Things. Designed to authenticate IoT devices and protect IoT data from the point of collection through to aggregated data repositories, Thales’s digital birth certificate, code signing and transparent encryption solutions allow organizations to manage device security and protect data efficiently. Using these foundational elements, organizations can ensure the lifecycle integrity of IoT data and greatly enhance overall trust in their IoT business processes.
Internet-connected devices, such as implantable defibrillators, industrial control valves and fitness trackers, are increasingly making their way onto the market, the company indicates. Business Insider Intelligence projects that there will be 34 billion devices connected to the internet by 2020, up from 10 billion in 2015. While a boon for businesses and a convenience for consumers, this connectivity comes with potential security challenges—a concern that Thales says it addresses by providing cryptographic credentials that establish a unique identity for each device. These digital birth certificates, based on keys generated within the certified secure confines of the company’s tamper-resistent nShield HSMs, provide a means to authenticate devices, as well as manage their security configuration on an ongoing basis.
High-profile malware and APT attacks, such as the Mirai botnet, have drawn attention to the need for a secure process to update firmware on devices in the field. Built on the nShield HSM, the Thales Code Signing solution helps software producers of all types protect their organizations from risks associated with software tampering.
The Vormetric Data Security Platform is part of Thales’s IoT solution set. Customers utilizing Vormetric Transparent Encryption (VTE) technology can protect data-at-rest across a wide range of platforms and environments. Additional capabilities, including Live Data Transformation, provide scalability and transparency to eliminate the hassle associated with managing encryption keys on an ongoing basis.
“Enterprises such as Samsung, Polycom and Microsemi currently leverage our security solutions for the IoT,” said John Grimm, Thales’ senior director of IoT security strategy, in a prepared statement. “We expect this demand will continue to grow, especially as we advance our IoT solutions and services to address security and integrity for a wide range of IoT device types and platforms. Thales solutions will enable organizations to best leverage the capabilities of specific devices to establish and subsequently maintain the level of trust they need—as part of their infrastructure or by partnering with Thales to provide to them in a service model. As we evolve to provide these capabilities as a cloud service, enterprises will have the flexibility to scale their IoT projects securely and adapt to changing requirements.”
VMware, VizExplorer Announce Partnership to Provide Integrated IoT Solutions
VMware, a provider of cloud infrastructure and business mobility, and VizExplorer, a provider of operational intelligence solutions, have announced a partnership to develop integrated IoT solutions. The partnership intends to enable customers to maximize value from their IoT use cases, in a timely and cost-effective way, while managing, monitoring and securing all IoT edge systems and connected devices.
The first expected offering from VizExplorer and VMware is a health-care-specific solution that can help to optimize device and patient operations in hospitals. By bringing together VizExplorer’s analytics and visualization solutions and VMware’s ability to manage, monitor and secure all IoT devices, the system enables hospitals to better manage, visualize and understand the usage of hospital devices, their locations, and the activities of patients and staff.
VizExplorer and VMware began collaborating in the fall of 2016 to deliver a custom health-care IoT solution in trials, with the goal of using a single console on which the lab will be able to monitor and manage all of its devices, lab equipment, medical staff and patients. In addition, the interface is designed to provide real-time analytics and reporting to monitor the productivity of medical personnel and increase the efficient use of medical equipment, resources and inventory.
“I can see clear use cases for efficiency of treatments as well as patient safety using the VizExplorer and VMware real-time locational system (RTLS) and supporting technologies,” said Todd Pawlicki, a Fellow of the American Association of Physicists and Medicine, in a prepared statement. “A key component to making this initiative successful is the ability to execute in a medical environment with customized infrastructure management tools.”
“The combination of VMware IoT and VizExplorer Analytics will help the healthcare industry better track devices and patients to ultimately respond faster and more efficiently to their needs,” said Mimi Spier, VMware’s VP and head of business development for the IoT, in the prepared statement. “Health care is just the first of many industries we hope to impact.”
While health care is the partnership’s first target, the integrated IoT platform solution has the potential to be able to address a variety of large-scale challenges across multiple industries. The partnership between VMware and VizExplorer will be showcased at the HIMSS17 conference in VMware’s booth (#3661).
Survey Highlights Importance of Interoperability in the Internet of Things
The Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), an Internet of Things standards body, has announced the results of a survey conducted at CES 2017. After surveying 250 respondents, the results conclude that more than 60 percent of respondents consider standardization and interoperability when it comes to purchasing connected devices, cybersecurity concerns, and overall technological innovation in society.
The IoT market is growing and changing rapidly, but the lack of industry consensus on open standards and protocols hinders that growth, OCF reports. Without seamless interoperability among connected devices, regardless of brand or manufacturer, the Internet of Things cannot reach its full potential, the organization notes, adding that consumers are beginning to recognize the need for open standards to allow IoT to integrate into their lives.
“These survey results are a clear indicator that the issue of interoperability has come to the forefront of consumer concerns when it comes to IoT,” said Joonho Park, OCF’s executive director, in a prepared statement. “With a unifying standard in place, which provides a consistent standard of security, privacy and device definitions, we can defragment the market to ensure the future entails a world where all devices, despite vendor, can communicate with one another and the Internet of Things can reach its full potential.”
The IoT industry is growing rapidly, the survey reports. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they currently own three or more connected devices, while 80 percent said they plan to buy a connected device in the next six months, and 54 percent indicated that they prefer their devices and appliances connect to the internet
Interoperability is a main concern for consumers, according to the study. Sixty-three percent of respondents said it’s very important their devices interoperate and communicate seamlessly, with 37 percent citing a lack of interoperability as the biggest limiting factor to universal adoption of connected devices, and 25 percent reporting security and privacy concerns. Consumers said they recognize a need for industry standards; 73 percent of respondents said industry standards are very important to technology innovation, while 60 percent indicated they would be much more likely to purchase connected devices if there was a security certification