ARM Unveils Enhanced Technologies to Speed-Up Mass Deployment of IoT Devices

ARM is releasing a new suite of products to accelerate secure IoT technology deployments at scale by businesses. The ARM^®mbed™ IoT Device Platform products and technologies will be unveiled at ARM TechCon 2015, Santa Clara, CA, from 10-12 Nov. The release includes mbed Device Connector, a free service that businesses can use to connect and securely manage IoT devices. It also includes the enhanced mbed OS (Technology Preview version) and new mbed Reference Designs. The products will shorten hardware design time, giving innovators greater ability to focus on product differentiation.

“ARM mbed partners now have access to the fundamental building blocks to develop and securely deploy IoT devices at any scale,” said Krisztian Flautner, general manager, IoT business, ARM. “Since the launch of the mbed IoT Device Platform last year, we have focused our efforts on providing the mbed Partnership with the tools to scale deployments from a single cloud-connected sensor to a host of more intricate devices that enterprise-grade IoT solutions demand.” 

New secure and scalable ARM mbed products

The latest ARM mbed products will accelerate the deployment of IoT devices and provide enhanced features that enable more scalable and secure devices:

• mbed Device Connector allows developers to connect devices within prototype deployments, build secure web applications quickly and easily integrate them with cloud solutions. Available at connector.mbed.com, mbed Device Connector is free for developers to use on up to 100 devices, handling up to 10,000 events per hour.
• mbed OS Technology Preview version is the latest iteration of the modular, efficient OS for ARM Cortex^®-M based MCUs. Built to enable the IoT to scale, developers can take advantage of product innovations including mbed TLS, the first native OS support for Thread and basic manageability of devices. It is available from mbed.com.

Businesses deploying IoT applications need to address all aspects of connectivity, security and productivity. To accelerate this, ARM has also created two new reference platforms as part of a roadmap of mbed Reference Designs that will help developers cut the time from prototype to final device design with the use of open-source resources. The mbed Zone at ARM TechCon 2015 will show demonstrations of the first two designs:

• mbed Wearable Reference Design, featuring an efficient wrist-based connected device capable of delivering a fully interactive user-experience while achieving a battery life of around eight weeks.
• mbed Smart City Reference Design aimed at infrastructure monitoring and smart industrial applications using Sub-GHz 6LoWPAN & CoAP mesh network protocols for large numbers of devices. This supports quick deployment, configuration and management of routers and end devices compatible with a variety of backhaul technologies in industrial applications that will reduce the bill of materials for end devices.

“ARM is enabling developers to prototype complex end point interactions while simultaneously creating allied web services in the cloud,” said Paul Teich, principal analyst, Tirias Research. “mbed Device Connector can be used for free with up to 100 devices, handling up to 10,000 events per hour, and this will allow developers to take products to a fairly advanced stage before they need to decide on their next step. This is going to have an effect on the rate of innovation as it reduces the risk for everyone.”

Since ARM shared its vision for the mbed IoT Device Platform in Oct. 2014, there has been a groundswell of partner support. In the past year alone:

• More than 55 partners have joined the mbed Partnership Program and 20 of them will be attending ARM TechCon 2015. All of these partners are investing significant resources to support the mbed IoT Device Platform, with around 250 dedicated engineers now involved.
• The mbed community has grown to more than 150,000 developers
• ARM is supporting platform growth with new mbed software, hardware and developer tools, all built to the industry’s latest open standards for connectivity and security, including the first OS offering native support for the Thread connectivity standard.

Alcatel-Lucent

“The Open Mobile Alliance Lightweight M2M standard addresses the industry need for device management and secure connectivity for in the Internet of Things, as current market fragmentation and security concerns have ultimately reduced market adoption,” said Frank Ploumen, director, IoT solutions, Alcatel-Lucent. “By adding the mbed IoT Device Platform to the MotiveSMARTTM device interoperability program, we are making it easier for device manufacturers to develop and deploy secure applications.”

SK Telecom

“In an era where all things are digitally connected, we are seeing IoT raising productivity and bringing innovation to a wide range of industries, including traditionally non-technology industries such as agriculture with smart farming,” said Alex Jinsung Choi, executive vice president and CTO, SK Telecom. “SK Telecom is working on revitalizing various industries to make smart home, factory and city by scaling and implementing technologies that are enabled by ARM mbed IoT Platform which offers a secure and reliable end-to-end solution from sensors, mesh networking, and service control.”

Thread Group

“Thread is designed to be the foundation for the Internet of Things in the home,” said Bill Curtis, secretary, Thread Group and IoT strategist, ARM. “Thread applies existing technologies to easily and securely connect consumer devices over a reliable IP-based low-power mesh network. The mbed OS Technology Preview includes support for Thread so mbed developers can easily build Thread-enabled smart home applications using a proven software stack that is interoperable with other Thread implementations.”

Zebra Technologies

“The ARM mbed IoT Device Platform consolidates the fundamental building blocks of IoT into one easily-accessible place centered around security, communication and management of devices in real-time,” said Phil Gerskovich, senior vice president, new growth platforms, Zebra Technologies. “Integrating mbed technologies all the way from device to cloud into Zatar, Zebra’s mbed Enabled™ IoT cloud, industrial printers and mobile computers, is helping our customers and partners to take advantage of new business models benefiting from cloud technologies and the ease of connecting, monitoring and managing enterprise assets, people and transaction that IoT brings.”