(iTers News) - ARM has announced a new software platform and free operating system to simplify and speed up the creation and deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) products. The ARM mbed IoT Device Platform has been built around open standards and will bring Internet protocols, security and standards-based manageability into one integrated solution optimized for energy and cost-constrained devices. It is supported by the established and expanding mbed hardware and software ecosystem that will provide common building blocks for IoT devices and services. This new platform will accelerate the growth of the IoT by enabling innovators to focus on value-add features and differentiation.

♦ mbed OS: a free operating system for ARM Cortex-M processor based devices that consolidates the fundamental building blocks of the IoT in one integrated set of software components. It contains security, communication and device management features to enable the development of production-grade, energy-efficient IoT devices. It is available to mbed partners in Q4 2014 for early development, with the first production devices due in 2015. Key benefits:

                                               mbed OS Architecture

  • Enables companies to focus on innovation and differentiation, reducing development costs and time to market

  • Free for developers and for deployment, supported by an ecosystem of more than100 OEMs and major chip vendors

  • Increases developer productivity by enabling software component reuse for shorter development cycles

  • Support for key standards such as Bluetooth Smart, 2G, 3G, LTE and CDMA cellular technologies, Thread, Wi-Fi, and 802.15.4/6LoWPAN along with TLS/DTLS, CoAP, HTTP, MQTT and Lightweight M2M.

♦ mbed Device Server: a licensable software product that provides the required server-side technologies to connect and manage devices in a secure way. It also provides a bridge between the protocols designed for use on IoT devices and the APIs that are used by web developers. This simplifies the integration of IoT devices that provide "little data" into cloud frameworks that deploy "big data" analytics on the aggregated information. Built around open standards, the product scales to handle the connections and management of millions of devices. mbed Device Server is available now. Key benefits:

  • Improves efficiency, security and manageability for devices utilizing a standards-based and IoT-optimized approach

  • Reduces the complexity of integrating IoT capabilities into existing cloud services

  • Unifies device and application data management using the same technology foundation and eliminating the need for duplicate infrastructure for clients and servers

  • Provides access to a large unified market of devices through open standards and the widely-deployed ARM partner ecosystem.

                                                      mbed Device Server Architecture

♦ mbed.org: the focus point for a community of more than 70,000 developers around mbed. The website provides a comprehensive database of hardware development kits, a repository for reusable software components, reference applications, documentation and web-based development tools. It is already well-established:

  • 1,000,000 project builds last year

  • More than 30 official boards

  • Eight years of IoT server and 6LowPan products

  • Five years of 24/7 cloud service operation

  • More than 9000 published projects.

"Deploying IoT-enabled products and services requires a diverse set of technologies and skills to be coordinated across an organization," said Simon Segars, CEO, ARM. "ARM mbed will make this easier by offering the necessary building blocks to enable our expanding set of ecosystem partners to focus on the problems they need to solve to differentiate their products, instead of common infrastructure technologies. This will accelerate the growth and adoption of the IoT in all sectors of the global economy."

The mbed partner ecosystem has been expanded to enable participation by a wide range of silicon, module, original equipment manufacturer (OEM), system integrator, cloud and operator partners. Launch partners for the mbed IoT Device Platform include Atmel, CSR, Ericsson, Farnell, Freescale, IBM, KDDI, Marvell, MegaChips, MultiTech, Nordic Semiconductor, NXP, Renesas, SeeControl, Semtech, Silicon Labs, Stream Technologies, ST, Telenor Connexion, Telefonica, Thundersoft, u-blox, wot.io and Zebra.

"Today's IoT devices largely exist in isolation and it has been impossible to realize a truly interconnected world where devices are interoperable with many different cloud services," said Krisztian Flautner, general manager, IoT business, ARM. "The ARM mbed IoT Device Platform will solve this by providing a common communication and management toolkit that can be used for a wide variety of purposes. We expect mbed to significantly speed up the large scale deployment of a new breed of both IoT devices and cloud services."

Partner quotes

Atmel: "By adopting the ARM mbed platform, Atmel broadens its breadth of easy-to-use hardware, software and development tools to help bring more IoT products and services to market," said Steve Pancoast, vice president, software and applications, Atmel Corporation. "The mbed platform expands Atmel's ecosystem for IoT developers across various functions from Makers to professional designers, offering an operating system solution that allows devices to talk to one another. We are excited to offer a Thread-compliant solution with the ARM mbed platform and to bring more interoperability to IoT devices."

Ericsson: "As a leader in wireless networks, Ericsson welcomes initiatives to unify and accelerate the Internet of Things," said Erik Ekudden, vice president, head of technology strategies, Ericsson Group Function Technology. "ARM's mbed platform has the potential to enable thousands, if not millions, of connected applications in Ericsson's vision: the networked society."

Freescale: "Freescale and ARM share a common goal of rapidly enabling the Internet of Things, and Freescale already offers the industry's broadest portfolio of mbed-supported MCUs," said Geoff Lees, senior vice president and general manager, MCU group, Freescale. "ARM's new mbed IoT Device Platform embodies this shared vision, and for customers looking to speed time-to-market, Freescale offers software services that streamline mbed-related development for Freescale MCUs."

Marvell: "The Marvell E-Z Connect Wireless Microcontroller SoC family, including the MW300 Wi-Fi microcontroller, the MB300 Bluetooth microcontroller and the MZ100 ZigBee microcontroller, is the industry's most complete line of silicon platform solutions for Internet of Things (IoT) applications," said Philip Poulidis, senior vice president and general manager, mobile and IoT business units, Marvell Semiconductor. "We are targeting the broadest range of IoT applications such as wearables, home automation and security, personal health care, automotive, lighting and industrial. Marvell's best-in-class silicon solutions utilize our decade-long leadership in developing embedded wireless solutions and our new products will now be designed to work with the ARM mbed platform to make it easy for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to rapidly bring new, innovative IoT applications to market."

SeeControl: "This is a much-needed effort to streamline the universe of technologies and options that define the Internet of Things (IoT)," said Bryan Kester, CEO, SeeControl. "The ARM platform offers a superior mix of IoT security tools, protocols and enabling technologies to enable hyperconnected edge networks that deliver a lot of computing without excess power consumption. Our enterprise customer and developer community are more productive than ever with the SeeControl and ARM mbed suite."

wot.io: "ARM is one of the industry's finest when it comes to microprocessing technology and we're honored to partner with an organization of its caliber," said Allen Proithis, president and founder, wot.io. "With ARM mbed as an integrated part of wot.io's data service exchange for connected device platforms, wot.io is further fulfilling its vision to enable anyone deploying an Internet of Things solution to quickly connect, enhance and monetize data for business ROI."

Zebra: "ARM's mbed platform will deliver unparalleled opportunities to accelerate and promote the use of standards-based IoT solutions and it's a perfect fit with Zebra's ambitions for the future, said Phil Gerskovich, senior vice president, new growth platforms, Zebra Technologies. "Zebra's Zatar IoT platform combined with mbed IoT Device Platform technology will help to redefine the way devices connect to the Internet by facilitating efficient and secure communications."