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Category: IoTUpdate

IoTUpdate

  • At Honeywell Innovation is Always the Key, Says CEO

    At Honeywell Innovation is Always the Key, Says CEO

    “Innovation is the key,” says Honeywell CEO Darius Adamczyk. “Anything we do in Honeywell, innovation is always the key. Whether it’s expanding into Europe, driving more robotics, a connected  warehouse offering which we are bringing to customers and having a broader play, are the key technology levers for that business.”

    Darius Adamczyk, CEO and Chairman at Honeywell, discusses how the company is using innovation and technology to drive growth in an interview on Bloomberg:

    Honeywell Digital Makes Us a More Contemporary Digital Company

    As we always said my number one priority as CEO was to drive organic growth, but we never say we’re going to give up on our margin expansion. We do it through a combination, both commercial levers, which is managing our mix, and always introducing new products, which bring more value to customers. But also not forgetting our roots, which is driving productivity. With the number of ERPs we have and the kind of complexity we have in our supply chain, Honeywell Digital, which is going to make us a much more contemporary digital company, we have plenty of levers for productivity as well.

    Honeywell Digital really has three primary elements. First is data governance, which is standard across all our various businesses. We’ve done over 80 acquisitions in the last 15 years so we have a lot of disparity. Then there are common processes, which is we want to run our businesses the same way in a very consistent manner. We have some pockets of excellence, but those have some inconsistency. Finally, all integrated into a common IT platform. Just to give an example, we had well over 1,500 different software applications before we started. We had over 150 ERP systems. It’s just very difficult to run a company efficiently and enable us to really make good data-based decisions. Honeywell digital is really all about enabling that.

    Anything We Do In Honeywell, Innovation is Always the Key

    Warehouse automation, which we started in 2016 with our Intelligrated acquisition. It’s been just a terrific business growing strong double-digit. We also made another acquisition called Transnorm which added to that technology in Europe in Q4 last year. We were planning on growing it organically, but also we’re looking to enhance our offerings, so we’re looking for inorganic opportunities as well. Innovation is the key. Anything we do in Honeywell, innovation is always the key. Whether it’s expanding into Europe, driving more robotics, a connected warehouse offering which we are bringing to customers and having a broader play, are the key technology levers for that business.

    Amazon is a big customer but we have a lot of big customers. I wouldn’t say it’s a predominant customer in that business. Just about everybody is looking into ecommerce because with a lot today’s retail you really have basically two options. One option is to enhance the in-store experience which a lot of retailers are doing. The other one is to drive ecommerce. We think that this trend is going to continue. Although I would say it’s in the middle innings in the US, it’s just beginning in Europe. We think we have a huge opportunity in Europe, India, and some of the other overseas markets.

    We have a very active venture capital fund and we’ve made about six investments in the last six months which is augmenting our technology plays. So although we haven’t made any big acquisitions, other than Transnorm in Q4, we are continuing to invest through our venture fund and we’re deploying capital that way. It’s been a terrific story for us in 3D printing for instance, particularly for our aerospace business. For a lot of the slow-moving parts we’re trying to basically get a new part certified and three printing per day. That’s our objective. Our aerospace businesses have made tremendous progress in achieving that and it’s really helping both for our inventory and on-time delivery for a lot of our aftermarket customers.

    It’s Important For Teachers To Be More Effective in STEM Education

    Regarding the workforce, education is the key and particularly STEM education. Honeywell is a big believer in that. Not only do we develop a lot of our young people that we bring into the company but we also spend a lot of money and time on developing teachers. It’s important for teachers to be more effective in STEM education. It’s something that we’re going to be supporting going forward even on a broader scale because that’s the way to differentiate our company.

    We’re always going to be differentiated by technology and we want to bring the brightest and the best. We want to make sure that it’s a competitive issue, not just here in the US, but everywhere we hire people, and we hire people just about everywhere. We have engineers in the US, China, India, everywhere around the globe. I would say lately we’ve actually been very much on the hiring string. When you grow 8% that creates a lot of opportunities to hire a lot of people particularly in the area of technology and engineering and software.

    At Honeywell Innovation is Always the Key, Says CEO


  • Amazon’s Ring Fires Employees For Improperly Accessing User Videos

    Amazon’s Ring Fires Employees For Improperly Accessing User Videos

    In the wake of reports of Ring devices being hacked, Amazon has informed senators of four incidents where employees improperly accessed user videos, according to Ars Technica.

    Amazon was replying to several senators who have sent inquiries to the company regarding their Ring business. Originally, the inquiries centered around Amazon’s relationship with hundreds of law enforcement agencies to promote Ring’s cameras. As news of Ring’s security woes became widely known, a group of senators sent a follow-up inquiry regarding those breaches.

    In their response, Amazon admitted there have been four employees in the last four hears who have improperly accessed user videos. In each case, according to the company, the employees did have legitimate access to user videos, however “the attempted access to that data exceeded what was necessary for their job functions.”

    Amazon says swift action was taken to fire the employees involved and “take appropriate disciplinary action in each of these cases.” In addition, “Ring periodically reviews the access privileges it grants to its team members to verify that they have a continuing need for access to customer information for the purpose of maintaining and improving the customer experience.”

    Even with these steps, this is unwelcome attention for a company trying to prove its products can be trusted.

  • Cloud Company CloudFlare Acquires Browser Company S2 Systems

    Cloud Company CloudFlare Acquires Browser Company S2 Systems

    BizJournal is reporting that CloudFlare, after recently raising $525 million in its IPO, has purchased S2 Systems.

    CloudFlare is a web infrastructure and security company and “is one of the world’s largest networks.” The CloudFlare service “protects websites from all manner of attacks, while simultaneously optimizing performance.” CloudFlare allows websites to scale with demand and ensures high performance with data centers in 200 cities around the world.

    S2 creates browser isolation technology. This is a relatively new approach to browser security “that allows customers to launch browser code in the cloud rather than users’ devices. This technology is designed to be more secure.” As a result, if there is malicious code, the customer’s computers are insulated from the potential attack.

    The purchase is a logical addition to CloudFlare’s suite of security tools, and the company had been looking for some time at adding the capability. According to BizJournal, the company had approached a number of startups, as well as Symantec, to explore different options. S2 was the only one that the right blend of performance and security.

    “They have a similar culture and outlook as us. We have an engineering-driven culture where we like to tackle big hard tasks. I think that resonated with S2. We also are interested in making the Internet more accessible to the other half of the world who does not have it. This is part of our larger vision that we share,” CEO Matthew Prince told BizJournal’s Dawn Kawamoto.

    In spite of this acquisition, Prince said the company does not plan to go on a purchasing spree, preferring home-grown solutions.

  • Google May Buy Salesforce To Help Bolster Its Cloud Business

    Google May Buy Salesforce To Help Bolster Its Cloud Business

    According to Business Insider, RBC Capital Markets believes Google may purchase Salesforce and use it to better take on Amazon and Microsoft.

    Google is currently a distant third among U.S. cloud providers. As of 2019, Gartner estimates Amazon’s AWS has some 47.8% of the market, Microsoft Azure accounted for 15.5% and Google Cloud brought up the rear with a mere 4%.

    Even worse, a recent report shows that 97 percent of companies polled are using Azure to some degree, and far more companies are planning to deploy Microsoft’s cloud platform than are planning to use AWS or Google. While Amazon has room to lose market share, Google Cloud does not.

    According to Business Insider, a source said Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian has the goal of Google becoming “at least the No. 2 cloud.” For that to happen, however, the company will need to gain significant ground. RBC doesn’t see that happening without making a major move.

    “We don’t see a viable organic way to get there,” said the RBC note.

    If Google does purchase Salesforce, RBC estimates the deal could be worth as much as $250 billion. While expensive, it would catapult the company into the No. 2 spot.

  • Goldman Sachs: Microsoft Making Significant Inroads In Cloud Market—At Amazon and Google’s Expense

    Goldman Sachs: Microsoft Making Significant Inroads In Cloud Market—At Amazon and Google’s Expense

    According to Business Insider, a recent Goldman Sachs poll shows Microsoft making significant inroads into the cloud market at Amazon and especially Google’s expense.

    Goldman Sachs polled 100 IT executives from Global 2000 companies to see what cloud platforms were in the best position moving forward. The results showed that while Amazon’s “AWS still gets the largest share of cloud revenue, a ‘significantly higher number of respondents’ indicated they use Microsoft Azure and plan to in the next three years.” In fact, “97 respondents said they are currently using Microsoft Azure, compared to 58 using AWS and 25 using Google Cloud Platform.”

    This should be deeply worrying to Amazon and Google. Amazon recently lost out to Microsoft in the bid for a Pentagon contract valued at $10 billion. Microsoft is also the second company to achieve the coveted Impact Level 6 security clearance—behind Amazon—allowing it to store sensitive government data in the cloud. Achieving that clearance will only improve the company’s odds of scoring other major contracts in the future.

    With Microsoft currently being used in so many companies, and the inherent advantage it has due to its established software ecosystem, Amazon and Google will have their work cut out trying to avoid losing any more market share.

  • Google Nest Hub and Xiaomi Cameras Give Window Into Strangers’ Homes

    Google Nest Hub and Xiaomi Cameras Give Window Into Strangers’ Homes

    CNET is reporting on the latest example of security cameras exposing the very people they’re supposed to protect.

    According to the report, Netherlands resident Dio clicked on the Xiaomi camera feed on his Google Nest Hub, expecting to see a blackboard he had the camera pointed at for test purposes. Instead, he saw a stranger’s kitchen. Repeated attempts showed a random collection of other people’s cameras, only occasionally displaying his own.

    At this point, no one is aware of the cause of the issues or whether it is on Google or Xiaomi’s end. In the meantime, Google has disabled Xiaomi integration until a fix can be implemented.

    “We’re aware of the issue and are in contact with Xiaomi to work on a fix. In the meantime, we’re disabling Xiaomi integrations on our devices,” Google told CNET, although they did say they were not aware of other instances of this happening.

    Ring has been under fire recently over a number of hacking incidents, and security camera maker Wyze suffered a high-profile data breach. These incidents continue to demonstrate the need for IoT companies, especially ones in the security market, to place a greater emphasis on security protocols and testing.

  • Amazon Threatens Employees Speaking Out Against Its Climate Policies

    Amazon Threatens Employees Speaking Out Against Its Climate Policies

    The Washington Post is reporting that Amazon has warned at least two employees for speaking out against its climate policies.

    In September, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (who owns the Washington Post) announced The Climate Pledge, the company’s commitment to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early. In spite of that, some employees have been critical of the company’s climate efforts, two of whom were quoted in a previous Washington Post article.

    Evidently, Amazon did not take kindly to two of its employees criticizing the company.

    According to the Washington Post, “a lawyer in the e-commerce giant’s employee-relations group sent a letter to two workers quoted in an October Washington Post report, accusing them of violating the company’s external communications policy. An email sent to Maren Costa, a principal user-experience designer at the company, and reviewed by The Post warned that future infractions could ‘result in formal corrective action, up to and including termination of your employment with Amazon.’”

    The company defended its external communication policy as “similar to other large companies,” according to a spokeswoman. In spite of that, Costa vowed to continue speaking up and fighting the company’s censorship.

    This is just the latest in what has been termed “employee activism,” where employees hold the companies they work for responsible for their actions. With this trend on the rise, companies have had to be far more careful to take their employees’ values into consideration when making decisions.

    “No company today is completely immune to these types of risks, so the issue is how to minimise their potential and recover quickly if damaging events occur,” Leslie Gaines-Ross, Chief Reputation Strategist at PR firm Weber Shandwick, told CEO Magazine.

    Amazon may find itself in a sticky situation if it fails to deliver on its Climate Pledge, or engages in other things that undermine it.

  • Xiaomi Investing $7 Billion In 5G, AI And IoT

    Xiaomi Investing $7 Billion In 5G, AI And IoT

    According to Reuters, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp is planning on investing over $7 billion in 5G, IoT and artificial intelligence (AI) over the next five years.

    Xiaomi was founded in 2010 and released its first smartphone in 2011. The company quickly went on to become China’s largest smartphone maker and the world’s fourth. Since then, the company has branched out into other markets, including smart TVs, electronics and IoT devices.

    Reuters is reporting that Xiaomi Chief Executive Lei Jun posted a statement on the company’s social media.

    “We need to turn our continuous advantage we have in AIoT and intelligent life into absolute victory in intelligent full scene, and completely cement our king status in the smart era,” Lei said, referring to the combination of AI and IoT, known as ‘AIoT.’

    As Reuters points out, this announcement comes on the heels of the company’s previous commitment “to invest 10 billion yuan over five years in an ‘All in AIoT’ strategy.”

  • Wyze Data Breach Exposes 2.4 Million Customers

    Wyze Data Breach Exposes 2.4 Million Customers

    Security camera manufacturer Wyze is the latest company to experience a data breach, exposing sensitive data of 2.4 million users.

    According to Twelve Security, the cybersecurity firm that first discovered the leak, two production databases were left completely open to the internet. These databases contained email addresses of individuals who purchased cameras, emails for anyone who was given access, list of cameras in use and their nicknames, WiFi SSIDs and more.

    Wyze eventually confirmed the breach, although disagreed with some details about the information that was exposed. Wyze also denies the databases were production databases, according to a post on the company’s forums.

    “To help manage the extremely fast growth of Wyze, we recently initiated a new internal project to find better ways to measure basic business metrics like device activations, failed connection rates, etc.,” the post reads.

    “We copied some data from our main production servers and put it into a more flexible database that is easier to query. This new data table was protected when it was originally created. However, a mistake was made by a Wyze employee on December 4th when they were using this database and the previous security protocols for this data were removed. We are still looking into this event to figure out why and how this happened.”

    The company did confirm many other details of the breach, however, stating: “It did not contain user passwords or government-regulated personal or financial information. It did contain customer emails along with camera nicknames, WiFi SSIDs, Wyze device information, body metrics for a small number of product beta testers, and limited tokens associated with Alexa integrations.”

    The company has taken measures to address the breach and restore security. However, as Twelve Security’s author Ghost says: “Personally, in my ten years of sysadmin and cloud engineering, I never encountered a breach of this magnitude.”

    Breaches like this continue to be both shocking and unacceptable. As IoT devices become increasingly common in both corporate and personal use, security should be the number one concern—not an afterthought.

  • Millions of Child-Tracking Smartwatches Exposed In Flaw

    Millions of Child-Tracking Smartwatches Exposed In Flaw

    TechCrunch has reported on a vulnerability in GPS-enabled smartwatches for kids that could allow anyone to track them.

    In an exclusive release to TechCrunch, security firm Pen Test Partners detailed their findings. The researchers found a vulnerability in the cloud platform developed by a Chinese firm called Thinkrace.

    Not only does Thinkrace manufacture and sell its own line of child-tracking smartwatches, but it is also a white-label manufacturer. In other words, it manufactures devices that are relabeled and sold by other companies under different names and brands. All told, Thinkrace makes some 360 different devices, totaling at least 47 million units.

    “Often the brand owner doesn’t even realize the devices they are selling are on a Thinkrace platform,” Ken Munro, founder of Pen Test Partners, told TechCrunch.

    Because all Thinkrace devices use their cloud platform, all of them—regardless of what companies they’re branded under—are vulnerable.

    According to TechCrunch, “each tracking device sold interacts with the cloud platform either directly or via an endpoint hosted on a web domain operated by the reseller. The researchers traced the commands all the way back to Thinkrace’s cloud platform, which the researchers described as a common point of failure.

    “The researchers said that most of the commands that control the devices do not require authorization and the commands are well documented, allowing anyone with basic knowledge to gain access and track a device. And because there is no randomization of account numbers, the researchers found they could access devices in bulk simply by increasing each account number by one.”

    Perhaps most disturbing, because Thinkrace watches allow parents and children to talk to each other, walkie-talkie-style, “researchers found that the voice messages were recorded and stored in the insecure cloud, allowing anyone to download files.”

    Worse yet, the researchers told TechCrunch that the most common commands are well documented and do not require authorization, leaving them virtually wide open for anyone to access. Account numbers are also in sequential order, rather than randomized, meaning that with a single account number a hacker could keep accessing other devices by increasing or decreasing the account number a digit at a time.

    Pen Test Partners discovered the vulnerabilities and notified the affected companies in 2015 and 2017, giving manufacturers time to address the issues. While some did, unfortunately many did not. Even those companies that implemented fixes saw some of them undone at a later date.

    The lack of definitive action to address these vulnerabilities prompted Pen Test Partners to finally go public with their findings in the interest of warning people about the danger of Thinkrace’s devices.

    It continues to be utterly shocking how irresponsible companies can be in handling user data, not to mention data involving children. Needless to say, any individual—and especially parents—using a Thinkrace device should stop immediately.

  • Ericsson and Microsoft Team Up to Deliver Next Generation of Connected Cars

    Ericsson and Microsoft Team Up to Deliver Next Generation of Connected Cars

    Ericsson and Microsoft have announced a partnership “to deploy and scale global vehicle services,” and make it easier to develop those services.

    The two companies will integrate Ericsson’s Connected Vehicle Cloud with Microsoft’s Connected Vehicle Platform and support ‘fleet management, over-the-air software updates, connected safety services’ and more.

    “The Ericsson and Microsoft partnership will deliver a comprehensive connected vehicle platform at scale to the market. Our integrated solutions will help automotive manufacturers accelerate their global connected vehicle solutions and offer a better experience for drivers and passengers,” said Åsa Tamsons, Ericsson’s Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Technologies & New Businesses.

    “Together with Ericsson, we intend to simplify the development of connected vehicle services to help car makers focus on their customers’ needs and accelerate the delivery of unique, tailor-made driving experiences,” added Peggy Johnson, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President, Business Development.

  • Microsoft May Be Working On a Version of Windows 10X For IoT

    Microsoft May Be Working On a Version of Windows 10X For IoT

    According to Windows Latest, a recent LinkedIn job posting would seem to indicate that Microsoft is working on a version of Windows 10X for Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

    Windows 10X is a version of Windows designed specifically for multi-screen hardware. The operating system (OS) will power the Surface Neo, expected in 2020, and is based on Windows Core OS. Windows Core OS is Microsoft’s effort to unify the different versions of Windows, running on different hardware. By having a single, core OS, it’s much easier for the company to then make minor adjustments to specific implementations to accommodate different hardware profiles.

    According to the job posting, the successful candidate “will build the next generation IoT operating system based on Windows 10X.”

    Not surprisingly, the job will be part of the Azure team, as Microsoft continues to make headway against Amazon’s AWS.

    “Do you want to participate in enabling the intelligent edge vision with the Azure Core OS IoT team? The IoT team is on an exciting journey to enable industry platforms with a highly secure and supported OS that enables intelligent computing on diverse silicon at the edge….The team owns software stack both on the edge and complimentary services on the cloud that power innovative secure offerings like the recently announced ROS on Windows and Trusted Cyber Physical Systems. Our team is right at the forefront of defining and implementing what edge intelligence and computing looks like on IoT devices.”

    A version of Windows 10X for IoT devices could be a big help to Microsoft’s Azure efforts, by giving administrators a common platform to work with.

  • 5G Penetration Is Rapidly Gaining Momentum, Says Ericsson CEO

    5G Penetration Is Rapidly Gaining Momentum, Says Ericsson CEO

    “What we see is the 5G penetration is rapidly gaining momentum,” says Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm. “Just over the last two years, it’s been accelerated by more than a year. We see a very drastic acceleration of the demand for 5G. So far it’s primarily driven by North America where all the operators have the worst 5G as well as Korea where you see also all the operators. Those two markets are really driving the 5G demand right now.”

    Borje Ekholm, CEO of Ericsson, discusses the dramatic acceleration in the growth of 5G and how that is positively impacting their business in an interview on Bloomberg:

    5G Penetration Is Rapidly Gaining Momentum

    What we see is the 5G penetration is rapidly gaining momentum. Just over the last two years, it’s been accelerated by more than a year. We see a very drastic acceleration of the demand for 5G. So far it’s primarily driven by North America where all the operators have the worst 5G as well as Korea where you see also all the operators. Those two markets are really driving the 5G demand right now.

    We have upgraded our guidance today for a couple of reasons. One is the increased pace of 5G take up in the world. We’re of course seeing big demand in the early launch markets. But we’re also seeing 5G demand developing in other parts of the world as well. We are talking the Middle East and other parts of Asia. We see a slow pickup in Europe but we expect that to pick up as well. We’ve been quite bullish on the 5G development and see a number of opportunities for us there. Then we have also made an acquisition of Kathrein which adds sales to us. We see a tailwind from the currency as well.

    Focused On Continued Investment In Market Share

    We cannot see any impact on our order books as of today (due to concern about Huawei). If anything the geopolitical situation has caused more uncertainty. I would be honest to say more uncertainty normally leads to lower investments. That’s more what we’re seeing than actually anything else. We are we’re not seeing any positive news from this.

    As part of our strategy we laid out in 2017, an important part was to gain market share and gain footprint. We are already investing in taking contracts and new market share. That’s quite clearly the case. What we try to do is to be disciplined and actually take contracts where we have a clear competitive advantage and clear technological advantage. We’ve seen that we continue to gain contracts. They are margin dilutive in the short term but very positive in the long term. They have impacted the third quarter. It’s a very marginal impact but nevertheless it, of course, impacts us. Going forward, we see no dramatic changes compared to the third quarter but we will continue to take those contracts.

    5G Penetration Is Rapidly Gaining Momentum, Says Ericsson CEO Borje Ekholm
  • AWS Tapped to Oversee U.S. Securities Market, 100 Billion Daily Financial Market Events

    AWS Tapped to Oversee U.S. Securities Market, 100 Billion Daily Financial Market Events

    Amazon Web Services (AWS) may have lost out on a lucrative Pentagon contract, but it has scored a major deal to oversee trading in the U.S. securities market.

    According to a press release, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) selected AWS to be its cloud provider for the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT).

    “The CAT will allow regulators to improve securities market surveillance by creating an extensive audit trail of order information for all U.S. equity securities and listed options across U.S. markets and trading venues. Leveraging AWS’s storage, compute, database, analytics, and security services, CAT ingests more than 100 billion market events per day, pulling together data from 22 stock exchanges and 1,500 broker dealer firms, enabling the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Self-Regulatory Organizations (SROs) to analyze CAT data.”

    Past experience with AWS, as well as its reputation for reliability were major factors in the decision.

    “We are responsible for providing regulators with a consolidated view of the markets, so security, scalability, and resiliency are at the forefront of the design for the CAT platform,” said Scott Donaldson, FINRA CAT Chief Technology Officer. “FINRA has deep and tested experience in creating such an environment on AWS, and in view of that track record, FINRA CAT is pleased to select AWS for this major project.”

    “The CAT will provide a single comprehensive view of U.S equities and listed options markets, as well as new tools to reconstruct market activity and maintain fair and orderly trading systems,” said Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector at AWS. “To implement this important regulatory initiative, FINRA CAT chose AWS to deliver a highly scalable, robust, and secure system that will enable regulators to improve securities market analysis. We are collaborating to ensure that FINRA CAT can deliver an industry leading platform that provides accessibility and transparency of capital markets data to protect investors and the integrity of the financial market.”

    The contract is a huge win for the company, which is still smarting over its loss to Microsoft in the bid for the Pentagon contract. Amazon has maintained it only lost out on that deal due to interference from the White House, and that its platform is far superior to Microsoft Azure.

    Whether AWS is better or not depends more on the needs and requirements of any given project. But, at least for FINRA, AWS is the best choice to help oversee “100 billion market events per day.”

  • Amazon Joins Hybrid Cloud Market, Announces Outposts Rack Servers

    Amazon Joins Hybrid Cloud Market, Announces Outposts Rack Servers

    After years of convincing customers they should rent server space and computing power, Amazon is in the business of selling rack servers. It’s a major shift in strategy for the company, as it bows to market realities and embraces a hybrid approach.

    Hybrid cloud options contain a mixture of onsite and cloud servers, giving customers options and flexibility that one alone would not provide. In an effort to stay ahead of Google and Microsoft, Amazon is embracing the idea.

    Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced AWS Outposts at the AWS re:Invent 2019 conference.

    “Over the past several years, AWS has delivered services like Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC), AWS Direct Connect, and Amazon Storage Gateway to make it easier for customers who want to run their on-premises datacenters alongside AWS. In 2017, AWS collaborated with VMware to introduce VMware Cloud on AWS, giving the vast majority of companies who are virtualized on VMware the ability to use the same on-premises VMware tools that they had been using for years to manage their infrastructure on AWS. Still, some customers have certain workloads that will likely need to remain on-premises for several years such as applications that are latency sensitive and need to be in close proximity to on-premises assets. These customers would like to be able to run AWS compute and storage on-premises, and also easily and seamlessly integrate these on-premises workloads with the rest of their applications in the AWS Cloud. Early attempts by other vendors have fallen short – unable to provide the ability to use the same APIs, the same tools, the same hardware, and the same functionality across on-premises and the cloud, therefore unable to deliver a truly consistent hybrid experience to customers.

    “AWS Outposts solves these challenges by delivering racks of AWS compute and storage, with the ability to run services like Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) and Amazon Elastic Block Store (Amazon EBS) on this AWS-designed infrastructure. AWS Outposts will initially come in two variants:

    • For customers who want to use the same VMware control plane and APIs they’ve been using to run their infrastructure, they will be able to run VMware Cloud on AWS locally on AWS Outposts. This variant, called VMware Cloud on AWS Outposts, delivers the entire VMware Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) – compute, storage, and networking infrastructure – to run on-premises and managed as a Service from the same console as VMware Cloud on AWS, using AWS Outposts and enables customers to take advantage of the ease of management and integration with AWS services that they enjoy today.
    • For customers who prefer the same exact APIs and control plane they’re used to running in AWS’s cloud, but on-premises, they can use the AWS native variant of AWS Outposts. These customers will have the opportunity to run other software with native AWS Outposts, starting with a new integrated offering from VMware called VMware Cloud Foundation for EC2, which will feature popular VMware technologies and services that work across VMware and Amazon EC2 environments, like NSX (to help bridge AWS Outposts to local data center networks), VMware AppDefense (to protect known good applications), and VMware vRealize Automation (for workload provisioning).

    “In both cases, AWS will deliver the racks to customers, install them (if customers prefer), and handle all maintenance and replacement of racks. These AWS Outposts will be an extension of a customer’s Amazon VPC (in the closest AWS Region to each customer), and customers can seamlessly connect from their AWS Outposts to the rest of their applications in AWS or any other AWS service.”

  • OrbitsEdge Partners With Hewlett Packard Enterprise

    OrbitsEdge Partners With Hewlett Packard Enterprise

    OrbitsEdge is a startup aimed at providing above-the-cloud infrastructure in low Earth orbit. The Florida-based startup is positioning itself as the premier space-based, datacenter-grade computing and analytics provider in orbit.

    With space exploration moving forward, especially in the commercial realm, there is an increasing need for infrastructure to support those endeavors. Having data center and Internet of Things (IoT) capabilities in low Earth orbit would allow current and future space projects to process a large amount of data in orbit, rather than sending it planet-side, processing it and shipping it back. This would save a tremendous amount of money and improve response times by reducing latency. In addition, data centers in orbit would have other advantages, such as cooling and solar power.

    OrbitsEdge has taken the next step, signing “an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) to host HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems with its hardening solution, SatFrame, to enable commercial space companies to deploy computing in orbit and accelerate exploration.”

    OrbitsEdge SatFrame “is a proprietary ruggedized satellite bus designed to protect sensitive hardware.” The SatFrame allows regular computer hardware to be used in space—and protected from the rigors of it—without expensive customization.

    “Hewlett Packard Enterprise is the ideal partner for OrbitsEdge since its technologies have proven to withstand extreme environments on Earth and in space, with its deployment of the Spaceborne Computer in the International Space Station (ISS). This partnership follows HPE’s innovative strategy of enabling new solutions to be developed and deployed years in advance,” said Barbara Stinnett, chief executive officer of OrbitsEdge, Inc. “OrbitsEdge will leverage HPE’s edge technology to run sophisticated analytics such as artificial intelligence (AI) on the vast amounts of data that will be created as space is commercialized,” she added.

    “We are committed to pushing technology limits to power the next era of innovation, whether it’s here on Earth or in space,” said Phillip Cutrone, vice president and general manager, Worldwide OEM at HPE. “The HPE Edgeline Converged Edge Systems provide datacenter-grade performance, data acquisition, industrial networks, and control in harsh edge environments to enable real-time insight and action. By combining our technologies with the OrbitsEdge SatFrame hardening design, the commercial space industry gains advanced systems to create new space-based applications and solutions.”

  • Polte IoT Cloud Comes to AWS Marketplace

    Polte IoT Cloud Comes to AWS Marketplace

    Polte has announced its Internet of Things (IoT) Cloud is now available on the AWS Marketplace. Polte is a Cloud Location over Cellular (C-LoC) provider, offering a patented Location-as-a-Service (LaaS) solution as an alternative to traditional GPS.

    According to the company website, “the Polte Cloud provides seamless indoor and outdoor coverage leveraging cloud computing and existing 4G and 5G cellular networks. No need to deploy thousands of Bluetooth beacons, hundreds of Wi-Fi access points, or launch more GPS/GNSS satellites – Polte uses global IoT mobile networks, which already reach 99% of the population.”

    Not only is the Polte Location API available on the AWS Marketplace, but the company has also been invited to demo its API at AWS re:Invent 2019.

    “Polte’s Cloud Software enhances Amazon’s ecosystem with an easy to use, secure and affordable geolocation offering,” said Ed Chao, Polte chief executive officer. “Polte delivers simply better location, and we are creating new and different opportunities never thought possible. If you make things, sell things or own things, Polte locates all those things.”

    “Polte’s disruptive C-LoC technology is a software-only solution that makes it simple for developers to add indoor and outdoor location capability to their IoT applications for supply chain, asset and inventory management. Polte-enabled IoT devices listen to 4G and 5G cellular networks, the tracker sends the data via the open Polte Location API to the Polte Location Engine. The Polte Location Engine uses patented algorithms to determine and provide location data with building, block, neighborhood and city granularity. Polte’s simple implementation process allows developers and programmers to easily access Polte’s API after programming an AT command in an embedded module.

    “Polte’s positioning technology can be integrated for use in a variety of industries, including aerospace, appliances, automotive, energy, food & beverage, government, healthcare, hospitality, industrial, manufacturing, retail, smart buildings, smart cities, and transportation-as-a-service for supply chain, asset, and inventory management. Whether tracking containers, pallets, machines, or components, Polte makes finding them easy, affordable and secure.”

  • Ockam Raises $4.9 Million in Funding to Enable IoT Developers

    Ockam Raises $4.9 Million in Funding to Enable IoT Developers

    Ockam is a Bay Area company that builds tools to enable developers to “develop trustful IoT systems with…easy to use tools, methods, and protocols.” The company announced it has raised $4.9 million in seed funding to continue its efforts to aid developers build secure, scalable IoT systems.

    “Today we are excited to announce a major milestone in the evolution of Ockam. We closed $4.9 million in seed funding from a group of world class investors: Future Ventures, Core Venture Group, Okta Ventures, and SGH Capital. These additional resources will accelerate our mission: to enable the builders who are ushering in our shared vision of a seamless connected world.

    “Since inception we have forged our vision for a seamless connected world into a suite of products that democratize secure IoT development. As Ockam CTO Mrinal Wadhwa states in his often cited lecture on building autonomous systems, ‘for far too long, it’s been exceptionally difficult and expensive to build secure connected device systems.’ These additional capital resources allow us to increase the pace at which we roll out new functionality to the Ockam system, and extend the depth to which we can help builders of IoT systems tackle their complex challenges.

    “The next few months will be focused on extending our Team capabilities with the most passionate builders who want to join us in our mission to tackle big problems in IoT. To learn more about our plans to scale, please check out our Team page.”

    With backers like Okta Ventures willing to invest in Ockam’s business, it’s a safe bet the young company has a bright future helping developers secure and scale IoT systems.

  • Amazon Bringing Alexa Functionality to IoT Devices

    Amazon Bringing Alexa Functionality to IoT Devices

    In the battle for smart speaker dominance, estimates show that Amazon’s Alexa has a dominating lead with 70 percent of the market. Based on Amazon’s recent announcement, that market share may increase even more.

    The company recently announced Alexa Voice Service (AVS), an effort to bring Alexa to Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Previously, Alexa-enabled devices required an application-class processor with at least 50MB of memory, making it difficult to integrate Alexa with IoT devices.

    With the new AVS, Amazon will offload most of the processing to the cloud, rather than the actual device, significantly reducing its footprint and requirements. As a result, AVS can be used with microcontroller-class processors with less than 1MB of embedded memory.

    “With the reduction in the engineering bill of materials (eBoM) cost, device makers can now cost-effectively build new categories of differentiated voice-enabled products such as light switches, thermostats, small appliances and more. This allows end-consumers to talk directly to Alexa in new parts of their home, office, or hotel rooms for a truly ambient experience.”

    Amazon is also working to make sure AVS is as easy as possible for developers to hit the ground running with.

    “To make the AVS Integration for AWS IoT Core as simple as possible, APN partners have launched AVS qualified hardware development kits enabled by real time operating systems for microcontrollers like Amazon FreeRTOS that connect to AWS IoT Core by default. This helps device makers go to market quickly without worrying about writing complex security and connectivity firmware or managing the large device footprint previously associated with building Alexa Built-in devices with the AVS Device SDK.”

    Google, Facebook and Apple will need to up their game if they intend to compete with Amazon’s new offensive.

  • 50 Percent of US Will Have 5G Capability In 2020, Says Verizon CEO

    50 Percent of US Will Have 5G Capability In 2020, Says Verizon CEO

    “I think we will have (functional phones running on 5G in 50% of the country) by next year,” says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg. “It is a functionality called DSS, dynamic spectrum sharing, where basically it’s agnostic to what type of phone you have. It won’t matter whether it’s a 4G or 5G and that’s best for the customer. I think that it’s going to be next year. That’s what I said before. And remember, the prediction is that by 2024 50 percent of the US population will own a 5G phone.”

    Hans Vestberg, CEO of Verizon, discusses when 5G will be available and his prediction on when most people will actually own 5G phones, in an interview on CNBC:

    50 Percent of US Will Have 5G Capability By Next Year

    We have severed 5G phones that are not getting too hot. But of course, at the beginning of technology, you can find those type of things. That’s why we when we launched we launched in one or two markets to see that it’s really working. Now we’re actually deploying in all markets with all our vendors on infrastructure and with four different devices. It is actually starting to work very well. 

    Remember, in the beginning, we had 600 megabits per second on the phones. Just for comparison, we have 50-100 megabits on 4G. Right now on 5G, we’re at 2 gigs. So only in the six to eight weeks since we have been launching we learn and we do improvements on the software constantly. As I was around when 4G came, I think that 4G took a much longer time to actually reach those improvements. I see a good track record and the whole industries behind it.

    I think we will have (functional phones running on 5G in 50% of the country) by next year. It is a functionality called DSS, dynamic spectrum sharing, where basically it’s agnostic to what type of phone you have. It won’t matter whether it’s a 4G or 5G and that’s best for the customer. I think that it’s going to be next year. That’s what I said before. And remember, the prediction is that by 2024 50 percent of the US population will own a 5G phone. Don’t forget that 4G is an extremely powerful technology as well and we need to cater to all our customers with the best network that we have.

    50 Percent of US Will Have 5G Capability In 2020, Says Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg
  • Microsoft and AT&T Partner to Integrate 5G and Microsoft’s Edge Computing Services

    Microsoft and AT&T Partner to Integrate 5G and Microsoft’s Edge Computing Services

    Microsoft and AT&T announced a partnership in July and the first fruits of that are coming into view. A press release issued by Microsoft outlines the first step of the two companies’ partnership.

    “The companies are opening select preview availability for Network Edge Compute (NEC) technology, which weaves Microsoft Azure cloud services into AT&T network edge locations closer to customers. This means AT&T’s software-defined and virtualized 5G core – what the company calls the Network Cloud – is now capable of delivering Azure services. NEC will initially be available for a limited set of select customers in Dallas. Next year, Los Angeles and Atlanta are targeted for select customer availability.”

    Edge computing is a process whereby data is processed onsite or near the point of collection, rather than routed to a data center for processing. It is becoming far more important in the age of the Internet of Things (IoT) where a myriad of connected devices collect data. The partnership between AT&T and Microsoft will help take that a step further, using 5G and edge computing to deliver much smaller devices that offload their data processing.

    “This innovation points to a future where high-end augmented reality glasses are as thin and stylish as a standard pair of eyeglasses, lightweight drones can track themselves and thousands of nearby companions in near-real time, and autonomous cars have access to nearly-instant data processing capabilities without having to install a mini data center in the trunk.”

    The companies promise this is just the beginning, with much more to come.

    “AT&T and Microsoft will have more to share over the coming months and years as this unique alliance continues to evolve and expand. The two companies will both create and adopt new technologies to develop tools, commercial services and consumer applications that benefit everyone.”