Tag: IoT-Networks

Categories
Events Internet of Things

Where EVRYTHNG Connects

Over the past 10 days I've been traveling and participating in important workshops and events in the US so writing and posting to this blog has been infrequent. My recent face-to-face meetings involved those attending the AR-in-Texas workshops, followed by the participants of the Fifth AR Standards Community Meeting that I chaired in Austin. Then, I participated in the Open Geospatial Consortium's quarterly Technical Committee meetings. I'm currently in San Francisco to attend the New Digital Economics Brainstorm.

I haven't counted but I estimate that within a week's time, during and between these events, I've met with over 100 people individually or in small groups. During the trip just prior to this one, the five days of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, I met and spoke with at least that many and probably closer to 200 people.

A significant slice of these (the majority, I am guessing), are people with whom I have a history–simply meaning that we may have spoken by Skype, phone or in person, or exchanged some e-mail. Our meetings in the physical space, however, differ from those we conduct virtually. We all know that the Internet has formed far more links between people than physical contacts could ever hope to make, however, meeting in person still brings us value. How much? Well, that's difficult to measure in time and in terms of revenue. Certainly they provide me sufficient value to warrant my leaving my office to attend meetings! I could probably ramble on and reflect further about this interpersonal on-line/in-person communication dichotomy but one tangent I want to explore with you is slightly different.

When I'm traveling I also come into contact with many many objects. Products, places, things. I wonder how many objects (new ones, old ones, ones I've seen/encountered before) I come into contact in a day. What value do these bring to me? How would I discover this?

Think of a ‘Facebook for Things’ with apps, services and analytics powered by connected objects and their digital profiles. With billions of product and other objects becoming connected, tagged and scannable, there’s a massive opportunity for a company that can provide the trusted engine for exchanging this active object information.

One of the companies that is responding to the opportunity is EVRYTHNG. I hope to see many new and familiar people in the room on April 3 in Zurich when I'll be chairing the next Internet of Things face-to-face meeting featuring the start up EVRYTHNG. Why should you be there?

One reason is that co-founder Dominique Guinard will be talking from his company's perspective about:

– What is the Web of Things?
– Web of Things: How and Why?
– Problem Statement: Hardware and Cloud Infrastructures for Web-augmented Things
– Web-enabling Devices and Gateways
– Active Digital Identities (ADIs)
– EVRYTHNG as a storage engine
– Problem Solved: Connecting People & Products
– Vision: Every Thing Connected
– Projects and Concrete Example of How and Why ADIs are Useful.
– Using our cloud services and APIs to build your next internet of things / web of things applications.

Let's connect in Zurich!

Categories
Business Strategy Internet of Things

WideTag too?

With the dust settling around the Pachube acquisition, it's important to consider other companies that might be out there in the same category and impacted by the change in the landscape. One of these companies is WideTag. Although it is technically based in Redwood City, California, the company was founded by three Italians and I believe that the "heart" of the project was in Northern Italy.

WideTag's angle on the sensor data aggregation problem was to provide a software platform that has a social media component. Aside from the emphasis on social media, WideTag and Pachube are very similar. Compare with the Pachube mission, this text:

"The WideSpime framework for massive data collection applications allows for the rapid development of highly scalable, and robust vertical applications in the areas of energy, environment, industrial monitoring, and others.

The OpenSpime development libraries have been put in open-source in order to spur the growth of a healthy community sharing the spime-based vision of the forthcoming Internet Of Things. In addition to this, Roberto Ostinelli, WideTag’s CTO, released in open-source Misultin >-|-|-|<>, a high-performance http server."

The major differences between Pachube and WideTag today are that WideTag is no longer an active business, while Pachube has a major sponsor and deep pockets from which to draw.

It was clear from the declining level of newsworthy activity and developments throughout 2010 that the company was not growing. In March 2011, a post by WideTag CEO, Leandro Agrò, on the site announced that the three co-founders had gone their separate ways but were thankful for the opportunity they had to work in the exciting field of the Internet of Things. What was the difference? Was it a resource limitation?

So now, with the Pachube property valuation in mind, is there an opportunity to pour a little cash in and revive WideTag? Is there a WideTag Phase 2? Or is there a fresh, new company, like Open Sen.se, coming in to fill the void?

Categories
Internet of Things Policy, Legal, Regulatory Social and Societal

Smart Cities and Big Citizens

The AR-4-Basel project is a framework by which public data about a city, the city of Basel more specifically, can be put in the hands of Augmented Reality developers using a variety of tools and platforms and to encourage the development community to be creative. Many scenarios for AR in urban environments are for consumers. The end goal being that if we knew more about our immediate environments, we might make different decisions.

The departments of the city of Basel with whom I'm in communications are primarily thinking of the Internet of Things, and AR in particular, as a professional tool, enabling people to do their job more efficiently when in the field, perhaps to save on resources/reduce waste (increase efficiency) and to make better decisions which might impact their lives or those of others.

So, in the context of this project, I'm spending a lot of time speaking with experts and reading the opinions of those much more informed in these matters of "smart cities" than I. Martijn de Waal is one of those that has invested highly of himself in this topic and clearly "gets it."

One of the posts that I found particularly enlightening is a "dialog" of sorts between Ed Borden of Pachube and Adam Greenfield of Urbanscale. Rather than read my paraphrasing, please read it.

At this point, the jury is out on if these are really different positions and if different, which of these positions best characterizes the situation. It is early enough that cities (BigGov) and their managers (politicians) could "wake up" and take a more active role in their own technology use. But not all citizens want or should be participating in the decisions that require having all (and some of it sensitive) data. And, it is definitely true that citizens can and should be involved in some of these services which primarily benefit them.

I look forward to seeing this dialog continue and to learning more from the experts in this field. Maybe as a small citizen of a small urban area in a small country, I will be able to make a difference in how others live.