Intel Wants A Leadership Role In The Internet Of Things

Intel will provide not just chips, but a whole range of end-to-end Internet of Things (IoT) services, including security, development platforms and analytics, the company executives said at a press event in London on Thursday.

In September, Intel launched Quark X1000 – its first low-power, small-core System-on-a-Chip (SoC) designed for applications in wearable computing and the IoT. And earlier this week, the company announced the creation of a new business unit dedicated to the technology, reporting directly to CEO Brian Krzanich.

To establish itself in the new market, Intel is pulling all of its resources together, with strategic contributions from subsidiaries Wind River and McAfee.

At the same event, Intel launched the ‘Data Society Manifesto’ – a nine-point call to arms, based on interviews with leading experts in the analytics field.

Brave new world

According to Intel, the IoT is already here. So far, the largest adoption of the technology is seen in the energy management and manufacturing industries. Indeed, Intel is experimenting with IoT in its own chip foundries.

But IDC, Cisco and Ericsson all predict the number of networked devices will hit 50 billion by 2020, and will require not just silicon, but also secure networking and management solutions, and new analytics tools.

“IoT deployment is a lot more than ‘I’ve got a sensor, and it can actually hook up to the Internet,’” said Kumar Balasubramanian, general manager of Intelligent Solutions at Intel. “With all of these aspects of M2M IoT deployment, Intel decided that we are going to go in very strongly, play a leadership role.”

The company will base its strategy around what it calls the “three pillars” – intelligent devices, intelligent systems of systems, and end to end analytics. To begin with, Intel will launch more processors aimed at IoT, in addition to well-received Atom E3800 and Quark X1000.

“We are aggressively moving towards providing a fully scalable family of gateway platforms as the solution offerings from Intel. The starting point, to be introduced early next year, will be based on Quark and Atom designs, followed by a more complete range of gateway solutions,” said Balasubramanian.

Gareth Noyes, CTO of embedded system specialist Wind River Systems, acquired by Intel in 2009, said the responsibilities of his company will include the continuing support of the Intelligent Device Platform – a development environment for IoT, launched last year. Noyes also highlighted the importance of analytics in creating value from petabytes of IoT data.

Meanwhile, another subsidiary, McAfee, will work on new ways to authenticate signals exchanged between networked devices, and ensure they can’t be counterfeited.

Networks with brains

Currently, one big problem stands in the way of wider IoT adoption – networks. When the first iPhone was introduced in 2007, cellular operators thought they had enough capacity, but the amount of signalling traffic managed to overload quite a few networks.

Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) is currently working with Intel to develop a base station that can provide extended server functionality on-the spot. Called Radio Application Cloud Server (RACS), these appliances offer computing, storage and contextual data extraction in addition to traditional voice and data coverage.

Meanwhile, BT is experimenting with a different approach – Network Function Virtualisation (NFV), based on Intel architecture. The company has tested this solution with overwhelmingly positive results  and Don Clarke, head of Network Evolution Innovation, says it is likely to dramatically change the telecommunications landscape over the next 2-5 years.

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