CES 2017 Review: A Showcase Of IoT, Smart Software, And Solid Workhorse Tech

The Internet of Thing (IoT), as expected, played its part in CES. Intel touted its virtual and augmented reality headset Project Alloy to be making its debut this year thanks to it handing over the manufacture of its headset to manufacturers as an open source tech.

This should help bring a VR and AR headset not reliant on an external PC or smartphone to power to the market and thus increase the appeal of this arm of IoT tech to both businesses and consumers.

Intel most interesting product reveal was its Compute Card, a credit card sized mini PC that is designed to be simply plugged into all manner of devices to make them smart.

IoT innovations

For electronics companies working on IoT devices, Compute Cards offers an easy route into smart systems without the need to create bespoke systems.

Compute Card will hopefully usher in some really smart IoT hardware and networks ready for enterprise deployment, rather than siloed devices that have little more than niche and novelty appeal.

Also mixing IoT with virtual reality is HTC Vive which is augmenting its headset with a tracking peripheral creatively called the Vive Tracker.

The device allows accessories like model guns to be modelled and tracked in virtual environments to add a level tactile immersion in to VR. The Vive Tracker is being aimed at developers, who are expected to use it to create new and interesting peripherals to accompany the Vive headset.

HTC Vive also took the opportunity at CES to showcase enterprise uses for the Vive headset, as well as its chops in virtual games and experiences.

While VR has yet to take the business world for storm the apps on show demonstrated how it could be used as a solid business marketing and sales tool, as well as a way to let product developers run riot in a virtual space rather than working within the constraints of traditional CAD software.

With the growth of the IoT arena on a yearly basis, so to do the security risks it poses grow with it.

So both Intel Security and Bitdefender revealed security software specifically designed to protect smart homes from viruses and hackers, especially given how IoT devices can be hacked to launch distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.

This demonstrates that prominent mainstream security firms are starting to take IoT security seriously, even if the producers of IoT devices may fail to equip them with solid security.

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