Google Trying to Usurp Amazon’s Alexa
At its annual I/O conference this week, Google unveiled Home, a voice-activated, Internet-connected assistant that will compete head-to-head with Alexa, the digital assistant persona in Amazon‘s voice-activated, Internet-connected Echo appliance. Like Echo, Google’s Home will integrate with IoT-enabled appliances and other electronic equipment, and will allow for third-party integration. For example, users will be able to control their Nest thermostats (Google owns Nest) through the Home device, which, like Echo, also plays music. Both devices are designed to constantly listen for queries or directives, even when music is playing, thanks for sound-filtering software.
Google Home evolved from Google Now, its smartphone-based personal assistant. Like Now, the Home device employs machine learning to attempt to anticipate a user’s needs and, over time, deliver increasingly personalized responses.
Indiegogo, Arrow Electronics Partner to Stoke IoT Product Crowdfunding
Entrepreneurs developing IoT-enabled products for consumers and do-it-yourselfers have long used crowdfunding service Indiegogo to finance their development. Now, Arrow Electronics, a distributor of electronic components and a provider of engineering and consulting services to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), is partnering with Indiegogo.
Through the strategic alliance, qualifying Indiegogo entrepreneurs will have direct online access to Arrow’s design tools, engineering experts, prototype services, manufacturing support and supply chain management, in order to aid their product development and come-to-market approach. The companies estimate that the package of benefits and services are worth up to $500,000. Arrow will select awardees by evaluating Indiegogo campaigns for their technical feasibility, manufacturability and overall impact; Arrow-supported campaigns will be denoted on the Indiegogo site with a special Arrow badge.
In September 2015, Arrow launched a new offering known as Intelligent Services that provides a framework and software tools to help OEMs and systems integrators create and deploy IoT platforms.
VA Issues Request for Information Regarding IoT Services, Products
Late last month, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)’s Office of Information and Technology issued a request for proposals “to determine if contractors are capable of meeting VA’s requirements for Securing Medical Devices and the Internet of Things at VA.”
The agency said it is not soliciting bids, but rather seeks to “obtain market information on capable sources of supply [and] industry practices.” The deadline for the request for information is May 26, 2016, at 12:00 PM EST. More information is available here.
Federal News Radio reported this week that during a panel discussion in Washington, D.C., IT procurement officers in federal agencies, such as the departments of defense and homeland security, said that they are trying to determine the best policies for acquiring technology that leverages the Internet of Things, given the rapid evolution of the underlying technologies. Government officials indicated that there is no shortage of applications for IoT devices, but that concerns regarding cybersecurity and privacy are slowing the adoption rate.
Sierra Wireless Releases New Vehicle Router
Sierra Wireless, a provider of embedded wireless devices and gateways, has released an LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) vehicular Gigabit Wi-Fi router, known as the MP70, designed for mobile workforce applications, such as policing, public transportation or field services. The router supports cellular communications that are 10 times faster, and with Wi-Fi transmissions four times farther from a vehicle, than previous models. The device’s Wi-Fi radio picks up data from field agents’ or drivers’ laptops, voice, text, digital video surveillance, body-worn camera systems, automated license plate recognition (ALPR) systems, and electronic citation systems, and routes that data to the Sierra Wireless AirLink Network Management solution via a local cellular network, as long as they are inside or within 800 feet of their vehicles (the range is reduced without a clear line of sight).
The device contains I/O ports for monitoring vehicle status, such as light bars and sirens, a Global Navigation Satellite System for tracking purposes and optional AirLink telemetry to interface with the vehicle engine diagnostics. The router also supports Gigabit Ethernet connectivity.
The AirLink Network Management solution allows IT departments to manage data from its fleet and mobile assets, either cloud-based or at private data centers. The MP70 is now available through Sierra Wireless’s authorized channel partners for US$1,049, and includes AirLink Management Service (ALMS) for three years with orders placed in 2016.
IoT Market Growth Stoking Investment in Security Startups, Lux Forecasts
Market research firm Lux Research estimates that by the end of this year, VC firms will invest $400 million in cyber-physical security startups, due to the growing interest in the technology in response to the rapid adoption of IoT technology in consumer and commercial applications. (Similar to IoT implementations, cyber-physical systems consist of physical devices integrated with—and actuated by—communication and networking technology.) This prediction is based on an increase of 78 percent, from $228 million in 2015, thus far this year.
The forecast is part of a report, titled “Cybersecurity Venture Investment in Pervasive Computing and in the IoT,” which also found the following:
• Nearly half of all IoT security startups are based in the United States, with Israel also claiming a significant number (a third).
• Seventy-seven cybersecurity startups have raised $808 million since 2000.
• Rather than develop vertical solutions, the majority of startups provide horizontal security platforms applicable to a wide range of IoT devices and use cases.
• Most startups are focused on innovating device behavior analysis, network behavior analysis or a combination of the two. They are also developing new approaches to authentication and encryption in IoT environments.
Autodesk Adds IoT Data Management to Cloud Service
Product design software provider Autodesk has announced that it is adding Fusion Lifecycle (formerly called PLM 360), its cloud-based product-development software, and Fusion Connect (the renamed SeeControl, the Industrial IoT software that Autodesk acquired in 2015), to its cloud-based product-innovation platform, in which they will join Fusion 360. Fusion 360 offers product developers a range of software tools with which to perform parametric and direct modeling, mechanical engineering, drawings, visualization, simulation, machining and additive manufacturing.
The move is aimed at generating a unified product-innovation platform that encompasses how products are designed, made and used. Pricing for the combined platform has not yet been released, but Autodesk reports that it will continue to offer the three software products as separate subscriptions as well.