Navico, Vodafone Partner to Add Global Connectivity to GoFree Product Suite
Vodafone has announced that it is working with Navico, an international marine electronics company, to bring global connectivity to Navico’s GoFree product suite. Using the Vodafone Global Internet of Things subscriber identity module, GoFree can provide boaters, fleet managers and service technicians with the ability to monitor, log, transmit and report important vessel information in real time.
With this connectivity, GoFree Track can monitor critical vessel information, such as engine hours, battery status, oil pressure, coolant temperature and fuel consumption. By tracking these onboard assets, boaters can access details regarding potential mechanical problems and share them with technicians to service a specific area in need. Vodafone’s IoT technology allows GoFree Track to monitor bilge levels and alarms, the company reports, letting boaters know if a vessel is taking on water and allowing them to react accordingly, as well as notifying them if there is a loss of shore power, which can drain batteries and potentially damage onboard systems.
All data collected is transmitted back to the GoFree Vessel online module for immediate viewing, the company explains, affording consumers improved access to and control of vessel details. GoFree Vessel allows users to play back different boating trips to share with friends or service partners.
“Whether you’re a recreational boater or a corporate fleet manager, our GoFree Track and GoFree Vessel solutions take remote vessel monitoring to a new level,” said Leif Ottosson, Navico’s CEO, in a prepared statement. “To bring our consumers the latest in marine telematics, we wanted to provide connectivity no matter where in the world their vessel takes them, which required a true, global service.”
Vodafone’s global network and the Vodafone Global IoT SIM connect GoFree Track and GoFree Vessel across the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. This, the firm says, makes it easier to offer these connected products to all types of marine vessels, including local boats or cargo ships traveling internationally.
“Marine electronics are an example of how IoT technologies are transforming industries by bringing connectivity to places not previously reachable,” said Ivo Rook, Vodafone’s head of IoT, in a prepared statement. “These Navico technologies, connected by Vodafone IoT, bring new possibilities to boaters across the world and provide them with in-depth information into their vessels.”
GoFree Track is offered with a variety of communication options, including Track-WiFi or Track-CellFi. These options each leverage Vodafone’s Global SIM to connect users to 2G or 3G networks throughout the world.
AT&T Creates Secure Private Networking Solution for the IoT
AT&T is helping businesses better secure and manage connected devices on their networks. The cloud-based AT&T Control Center, powered by Cisco Jasper, helps businesses launch, manage and monetize IoT services. According to the company, it will now have greater security by adding AT&T NetBond connectivity.
The solution, AT&T reports, will offers businesses secure connectivity to cloud service providers, as well as to their own data centers. The connection travels through the AT&T Virtual Private Network (VPN), isolated from public internet risks, and saves costs through work resources on demand, as well as consistent and predictable performance.
“The industry is growing rapidly, with analysts forecasting there will be tens of billions of connected devices by 2020. This acceleration will introduce new risks for businesses,” said Chris Penrose, the president of AT&T’s Internet of Things Solutions division, in a prepared statement. “By integrating AT&T Control Center and AT&T NetBond, we can give businesses a robust and highly secure solution to address those risks.”
According to AT&T, businesses will receive a single IoT solution that will help them to remain protected from security breaches; gain strategic insight; view data usage, costs to performance and provisioning status; control costs; access automated overage controls, notifications and rules; troubleshoot instantly; run detailed diagnostics on any device, online and in near-real time; manage operations more efficiently; and control devices directly from their own apps.
NetBond users can access as many as 20 cloud services, and the NetBond ecosystem includes more than 17 providers of cloud, application, infrastructure and integration services. “AT&T NetBond isn’t just about connecting customers to their clouds. It offers simple, scalable and highly secure software-defined connections for all businesses,” said Mo Katibeh, the senior VP of AT&T’s Advanced Solutions division, in the prepared statement. “Bringing our IoT solutions into AT&T NetBond keeps businesses’ critical IoT devices, workloads and information off of the public internet and on a private network. That brings inherent security and latency benefits at an incredibly affordable price.”
Industrial Internet Consortium Publishes Third Edition of Journal of Innovation
The Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), a global, member-driven organization that promotes the accelerated growth of the Industrial Internet of Things, has announced the publication of the third edition of the Journal of Innovation. Written by IIC members, the third edition of the Journal of Innovation is dedicated to the “smart factory,” and includes articles on designing, retrofitting and applying IIoT technologies within the manufacturing industry.
“Manufacturers are challenged to make factories more efficient, safer and greener than ever before,” said Erik Walenza-Slabe, IoT One’s CEO and a co-chair of the IIC Smart Factory TG, in a prepared statement. “While no single organization can solve all the problems of the IIoT, the IIC is helping to revolutionize manufacturing through its many activities, including the innovations described in the third edition of the Journal of Innovation dedicated to the ‘smart factory.'”
New to this edition are two articles summarizing interviews with two IIC testbed leads, describing insights, outcomes and lessons learned. These articles highlight the innovations taking place in the Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) Testbed and the INFINITE Testbed. “Testbeds are at the very core of what we do in IIC and we aim to feature testbeds in all of our future editions,” said Edy Liongosari, Accenture Labs’ chief research scientist and a co-chair of the IIC Thought Leadership Task Group, in the prepared statement.
The Journal of Innovation includes the following articles authored by IIC member companies:
• “Blurry Box Encryption Scheme and Why It Matters to Industrial IoT”
• “Results, Insights and Best Practices from IIC Testbeds: Time Sensitive Networking (TSN) Testbed”
• “Making Factories Smarter through Machine Learning”
• “Driving Innovation in Product Design and Manufacturing using 3D Printing”
• “Results, Insights and Best Practices from IIC Testbeds: INFINITE Testbed”
• “Smart Factories and the Challenges of the Proximity Network”
Authors and interviewees within the third edition include Cisco, the Cork Institute of Technology, Dell EMC Research Europe, Ikergune, the IT Research Center, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Plethora IIoT, QualiCal, Synapse Wireless, System On Chip Engineering, Xilinx and Wibu-Systems.
Teleena Partners With Dutch Sigfox Network Operator Aerea
Teleena, a global IoT and MVNO enabler, has announced a strategic partnership with Aerea, a Dutch Sigfox network operator. As an authorized Sigfox Channel Partner, Teleena can now offer its IoT customers worldwide Sigfox connectivity.
Sigfox, a low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) technology designed to connect battery-powered IoT devices, is present in 30 countries. The company aims to connect another 30 countries by 2018, all acting as one virtual network without roaming.
Teleena offers an IoT service platform that connects and securely manages devices across any network and connectivity technology, globally. It includes mobile connectivity for all wireless technologies, such as 2G, 3G, 4G, low-power Sigfox and LoRa, connectivity management (IoT Connect), device management (IoT Insight), integration workflow management (IoT Grail) and service billing (IoT Bill).
“We provide a uniform user IoT experience across all technologies and protocols and take the complexity out for our customers,” said Timo Smit, Teleena’s founder and executive director, in a prepared statement. “With this partnership, we adopt the Sigfox technology into our IoT platform and enrich our service portfolio to the IoT eco-system.
“We at Aerea and Sigfox believe in accelerating mass adoption of IoT through low cost, ultra-low-power consumption and ease of use,” noted Nicholas van Hoey Smith, Aerea’s CEO, in the prepared statement. “It’s really about unlocking the potential of massive numbers of smart assets, which before was unthinkable. In this exciting new era, we work with strong partners to make things happen. We are very pleased with Teleena now integrating Sigfox into its solution suite and are looking forward to work with them wherever they operate.”
Beecham Research Says Security, Privacy Concerns Holding Back Smart-Home Industry
Smart-home systems must be secure across products and services and the entire supply chain if the industry is to deliver on its promises and meet ambitious market growth predictions, according to a report published by Beecham Research. In its report, titled “Bringing Security in the Smart Home: Approaches and Opportunities,” the firm indicates that while connected appliances, such as entertainment, lighting, home security and heating systems, are already finding their way into typical households, security and privacy are holding back wider adoption.
“Smart homes, by their nature, introduce connections between multiple systems at multiple touch points and create an intersection between many other systems, including vehicles, energy grids, media streaming and the cloud,” said Saverio Romeo, Beecham Research’s principal analyst, in a prepared statement. “An exploitable vulnerability in the home could lead to more serious breaches in any of the systems it touches, which complicates the security landscape. Whereas traditional network security focuses on fortifying, protecting and monitoring small numbers of routes to the network, an IoT (Internet of Things) environment has too many routes to effectively and economically secure in the same way. So, while many smart home devices are designed to be secure, the connections between them are often not protected.”
The report defines three main areas of risk: end-user expertise, new business models, and pervasive and persistent insecurity. Many users of smart-home technology are not experts and may compromise security through using default passwords, for example, allowing attackers to gain access to home networks and connected devices, including PCs and laptops.
The problem is compounded, the report notes, by traditional consumer and household product companies rushing to develop connected products and services without adequate security knowledge or expertise—the hack of Mattel’s Hello Barbie doll, for instance. With the long life cycles of home products such as washing machines, the researchers add, attackers have plenty of time to reverse-engineer security systems and protocols with the help of manuals and documentation available online.
According to Beecham Research, these fundamental issues need to be addressed to deliver trust in smart homes, building on existing guidelines covering technology and policy, along with services and customer support. Efforts by the AllseenAlliance, the Open Connectivity Foundation, the Open Interconnect Consortium, the IoT Security Foundation and the Open Web Application Security Project are a positive move, the researchers note, adding that more attention is required. The authors cite a greater emphasis on security from organizations focused on home automation, including the Z-Wave Alliance, the Home Gateway Initiative and the Thread Group.
“The smart home security market is behind the curve compared to the smart home products and services market,” Romeo said in the statement. “Most security is focused on devices and not very systematically, without strongly addressing connectivity and as-as-servicemodels. This is in part due to the complexity of creating smart home systems and in part down to the level of risk that managed security service providers are happy to take on. But It is clear that the smart homes industry needs to be more proactive and take the lead rather than waiting to see where the next major threat comes from.”
The Beecham Research report, available at www.beechamresearch.com, is an extension of a previous report, titled “Smart Home Market—Current Status, Consumption Trends and Future Directions.”
SK Telecom to Build Network for Internet of Things in Thailand
SK Telecom, a South Korean mobile carrier, has announced plans to build a network for the Internet of Things in Bangkok and Phuket. Under a contract with Thailand’s state-owned CAT Telecom, SK Telecom plans to build the network and start a trial service of the IoT in April 2017. The IoT technology is aimed at connecting every object with the Internet, the company reports, allowing each item to send and receive data. SK Telecom uses the low-power LoRa technology, one of the IoT standards seeking to become a global platform.
First, SK Telecom says, it will build the IoT network near the Grand Palace in Bangkok, offering a location-tracking service for tourists that also allows individuals to hail a taxi or find lost objects. According to the company, the contract calls for SK Telecom to sell devices and IoT platforms in Thailand.
Sierra Wireless Technology to Provide Connectivity to Bloodhound Supersonic Car
Sierra Wireless, a provider of integrated device-to-cloud solutions for the Internet of Things, has announced that it is providing wireless connectivity to the Bloodhound Supersonic Car (SSC). Utilizing Sierra Wireless AirPrime LTE embedded modules, AirLink gateways, management services and technical support, the Bloodhound car will be able to send and receive critical data, including live streaming video feeds, during its test runs in the United Kingdom and subsequent attempts at beating the world land speed record in South Africa.
The current record stands at 763.035 miles per hour, and was set by Bloodhound SCC driver Andy Green in 1997. The Bloodhound team aims to raise the record to 1,000 miles per hour, the company reports.
“We’re extremely proud to be helping the Bloodhound Project with its world land speed record challenge,” said Philippe Guillemette, Sierra Wireless’ CTO, in a prepared statement. “Like Bloodhound, we share an enthusiasm for promoting innovation and collaboration between teams of engineers to break barriers. As more and more connected cars run on our roads worldwide, it’s fitting that the world’s fastest car will use the same core wireless connectivity that’s powering connected car applications and services in more conventional vehicles.”
“The primary objective of the Bloodhound Project is to inspire the next generation to get involved in science and engineering,” added Richard Noble, Bloodhound’s project director, in the prepared statement. “To do that we need to deliver the best possible live footage from the car even as it breaks the sound barrier, and we wouldn’t be able to achieve this without the cutting-edge connected car technology and support from Sierra Wireless.”
In order to provide live data feeds from the car as it travels at extremely high speeds at and above the speed of sound, a custom LTE/4G wireless network was created for the project. In addition to collecting valuable vehicle data, the system will provide a live video feed from the car that students at schools worldwide can watch, with the goal of getting more young people interested in engineering and science.