- Trident IoT, founded by IoT product developers, offers Zigbee or Z-Wave chips for manufacturers of connected sensors and electronics, like smart home devices.
- The company is releasing a software development kit (SDK) that will help reduce the time to market, for its customers.
Trident IoT has announced a new Zigbee IoT chip, along with a software development kit (SDK), aimed at cutting time-to-market for companies making wirelessly connected devices.
While the T32CM11 system-on-chip (SoC) itself incorporates the latest silicon technology, said Mariusz Malkowski, Trident IoT CTO and founder, that’s not what sets Trident’s offerings apart from other IoT products. “What sets this apart is the developer-focused SDK designed by product engineers who have collectively developed and shipped millions of IoT products,” Malkowski said.
By announcing the SDK, as well as the new chip, the company is expanding its product portfolio to now include both Zigbee and Z-Wave offerings.
Zigbee and Z-Wave are both radio technologies that transmit from one device to the next to create a wide mesh of coverage. Zigbee predominantly uses 2.4 GHz frequency, while Z-Wave employs 908.42 MHz, 912 MHz, 916 MHz and 920 MHz in the U.S. and exclusively operates in the sub-GHz spectrum.
Startup Founded by IoT Innovators
Trident IoT launched 18 months ago in Carlsbad, CA, based on the IoT experience of Malkowski and cofounders Michael Lamb and Bill Scheffler. Both Malkowski and Scheffler worked at Zensys, the Denmark-based company that developed the Z-Wave wireless protocol two decades ago.
Trident IoT provides another source for the growing IoT chip market. According to Mordor Intelligence analysis, the market will nearly double in the U.S. in the next five years. To meet that market, the company specifies and designs new silicon chips that are comparable to Silicon Labs’ IoT chips.
Trident IoT aimed also to provide a service side of their offering for device manufacturers that hoped to build IoT connectivity into everything from smart door locks to window sensors to water leak detection. The goal is to accomplish that connectivity with the shortest time to market.
Aiding Developers
Some technology companies offer only the silicon to manufacturers developing products, and the brands must then proceed through the development themselves—something that can require specialized knowledge related to IoT technology.
Trident made the decision to help such companies short-cut that development process, depending on the complexity of their project, and builds its portfolio around support and application engineering services.
Trident IOT includes a division to assist customers with Zigbee or Z-Wave certifications as well as to meet FCC and other regulatory requirements. The company is working toward including the FCC’s U.S. cybersecurity certification mark.
“Our service provides not only the silicon but also the tools and support needed by developers,” said Malkowski.
Brands Bringing Connectivity to Devices
Companies using the chips and SDK are typically making devices related to smart homes and home security such as door locks, thermostats, light switches, and home security system keypads, all of which are often connected to the cloud through a variety of technologies.
Additionally, Z-Wave and Zigbee can be used to connect sensors such as water leak detectors, or window sensors. Z-Wave support door locks, lights and the other features being offered with the latest Zigbee chip and SDK.
Many brands making device seeking to provide connectivity require a developer to identify what chip to use, what tool sets to use, how to build this device and how to certify this device and how to deploy it to the market, commented Malkowski. “Trident IoT can help with all these stages,” he said.
That means the company can provide early specifying and development, or come into the process later to assist with certification. “Since we supply silicon to all these companies, depending on their engineering, depending on the workload, we fill in different roles,” he said.
In the meantime, for those who deploy the SDK, they may not need as much support. In fact, the SDK can be used by students and researchers in lab settings, building and testing new IoT technologies.
Growing Demand for IoT in Homes
As smart homes become increasingly commonplace, the need for a variety of IoT technologies is growing and that puts pressure on the device manufacturers.
However, Trident IoT officials forecasts its chips will be used in other verticals, such as strip malls, to help control energy consumption. The sensors using IoT chips also are being built for agriculture to manage measurements related to temperature or humidity of soil, or even the health and location of livestock.
In apartment buildings, devices are being retrofitted to track conditions such as leaks, temperature tracking, and other issues that can keep insurance costs low.
Support for Matter, Thread, BLE
Trident IoT is planning to provide solutions for other frequencies and protocols, including a chip that can support Matter—an emerging connected device solution. They also provide support for Thread and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE).
The latest Zigbee chip and SDK will be available in the fourth quarter of this year. In the long term the company intends to offer multi-protocol chips that could enable a device to offer transmission via multiple frequencies, on a single chip.
“There is never going to be a single standard for wireless connectivity,” said Malkowski.