Chipmaker Intel Corporation (INTC) declared that it is establishing Open Interconnect Consortium ("OIC"), an initiative focused on improving interoperability for Internet of Things (IoT) with the support of other industry leaders including Dell, Samsung, Atmel (ATML), Broadcom (BRCM) and Wind River.
Per Intel, the group is an effort to develop technological standards for the next big thing in the technology world, IoT, which involves the connection of next generation devices to each other. IoT is a computing concept where physical objects of everyday use will be connected to the Internet and will be characterized by autonomous provisioning, organization and monitoring.
As per a recent report from IT research firm Gartner, the IoT market, excluding PCs, tablets and smartphones, is expected to grow to 26 billion units in 2020, an approximately 30-fold increase from 0.9 billion units in 2009.
The effort is expected to strengthen Intel’s footprint in the IoT space. The success of IoT depends on the capability of devices to safely interconnect and exchange information as seamlessly as possible and Intel intends to achieve this with the OIC initiative. Moreover, association with big names can be an added advantage to successfully implement and accelerate the process.
The group is designed to encompass a range of connectivity solutions to set up a worldwide communications framework of open-source software, which will be compatible with a variety of form factors, operating systems and service providers. This will enable varied interconnected devices, ranging from home appliances to smart devices to wearables, to communicate with one another and share information. The consortium plans to bring billions of devices online by 2020.
Members of the group will contribute their intellectual property to be used by all members to develop a protocol specification, open source execution, and a certification program, in an effort to accelerate growth of the IoT.
Companies from different sections of the industry are expected to participate in the program, which will enable participants to create interoperable products. In addition, it will allow them to intelligently and safely manage and share the flow of information under varying power and bandwidth conditions, even in the absence of a data connection.
The venture will join others including the Industrial Internet Consortium and smaller protocols such as MQTT and XMP and is expected to directly compete against Qualcomm (QCOM)-led AllSeen Alliance. The AllSeen Alliance is based on the Qualcomm developed AllJoyn project, and includes Microsoft (MSFT), Sharp, Fon, and HTC among its members. Products based on AllSeen’s protocol are already present in the market, so Intel has its work cut out.
Intel shares currently hold a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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