Tag: home automation

Article (German language / Deutsche Sprache)

Deutsche Telekom Speedport Pro Plus – a DSL modem router that uses Wi-Fi 6

Telekom Speedport Pro Plus: Erster DSL-Router mit Wi-Fi 6 (Telekom Speedport Pro Plus First DSL router with Wi-Fi 6) | Computer Bild

From the horse’s mouth

Deutsche Telekom

Speedport Pro Plus: the premium router for Wi-Fi 6 networks (Press Release)

My Comments

Interest still exists in DSL-based WAN technology especially in VDSL-based fibre-copper setups like fibre-to-the-basement or fibre-to-the-cabinet / fibre-to-the-node. Here this is to utilise existing telephone cabling between the fibre-copper point and the customer’s premises while it is worth it to keep this cable in use.

But Deutsche Telekom have offered to their German market the SpeedProt Pro Plus DSL modem router which is the first of its kind for that market to have Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) for the Wi-Fi segment. For network security, this router works to the WPA3 security standards for Wi-Fi networks, and it can support meshed operation with Deutsche Telekom’s Speedport equipment. It is answering a reality that an increasing number of Wi-Fi client devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops are being equipped with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking.

The use of Wi-Fi 6 network technology is being seen as very important within Europe where most people who live in the cities live in apartments. It also will underscore for countries like Australia where apartment dwelling within urban areas is gaining acceptance.

This device has 12 antennas compared to the AVM Fritz!Box 7590 having eight antennas. This allows for higher local-network-level throughput and increasingly-robust operation. There is also for Gigabit Ethernet connections for the local network and a Gigabit Ethernet connection as an alternative Internet connection. That is important for fibre-to-the-premises connections or fibre-copper setups implementing cable-TV or Ethernet technology and dependent on an external modem.

As is the trend nowadays with European-made home-network routers, the Telekom Speedport Pro Plus has a VoIP endpoint including a fully-featured DECT cordless-telephone base station. This device supports smart-home functionality for smart-home peripherals that work according to Wi-Fi, Zigbee or the European favourite technology that is DECT-ULE. That is part of their Magenta SmartHome platform that they are offering within Germany.

This is an example of Wi-Fi 6 coming to a carrier-supplied modem router and proving its case with Internet subscribers who stick with the equipment offering that their telco or ISP provide. Who knows when your local telco or ISP will offer their service with Wi-Fi 6 equipment in tow?

Article

Network-capable GE appliances will be able to interlink with the Sonos multiroom audio platform for audio notification purposes

Sonos’ Speakers Can Now Work With General Electric’s Appliances | UberGizmo

GE teams with Sonos to let your smart appliances talk back | SlashGear

From the horse’s mouth

GE Appliances

GE APPLIANCES BRINGS SMART HOME NOTIFICATIONS TO SONOS SPEAKERS TO DELIVER AN INTEGRATED SMART HOME EXPERIENCE (Press Release)

My Comments

Two companies have been able to build a smart-home partnership with their products and platforms without needing the blessing of Amazon, Apple or Google.

Here, Sonos who have a multiroom audio platform for their speakers and for the IKEA Symfonisk speaker range, has partnered with GE Appliances to provide some sort of smart-appliance functionality.

This will initially work appliances that are part of the GE Appliances SmartHQ building-supplied appliance platform but will work across all GE appliances that can connect to your home network. At the moment it may apply to GE-branded appliances available within North America or based on North American designs but adapted for local conditions. That is with fridges with ice-makers capable of turning large “whiskey-friendly” ice blocks, or ovens capable of roasting a large Thanksgiving-size turkey.

The functionality that will appear is to use the Sonos speakers for audio-notification purposes such as alerting users that, for example, the washing machine, clothes dryer or dishwasher has completed its cycle or the oven that you have set to preheat is up to temperature. It understands the nature of most “white goods” other than refrigeration where they are used to complete a process like washing clothes or dishes.

The classic example that most households face is a washing machine (and perhaps a clothes dryer) being used to process a large multiple-load run of laundry. Here the householder will want to know when the current cycle is finished so they can have the next load going with a minimum of delay.

What is being conceived here is that a multiroom audio platform can tie in with appliances without the need for either of these devices to work with a smart-speaker platform. Rather it is about the consumer-AV platform serving as a sentinel role for the appliances or fulfilling some other role in relation to them.

For these setups to work effectively, the industry needs to work towards using platforms like Open Connectivity Foundation and implement a device-class-level approach to integrating devices within the smart home. It then avoids certain vendors, usually Silicon Valley heavyweights, becoming gatekeepers when it comes to having devices work with each other in the smart-home context.

It then avoids the need for device vendors to strike deals with each other in order and implement particular software hooks to have any sense of interoperability within the smart home.

Articles 

Xavier Niel unveils new Freebox with Alexa, Devialet, Sigfox, Netflix | TechCrunch

French Language / Langue française

Free annonce ses nouvelles Freebox : la Freebox Delta et la Freebox One | FreeNews

Freebox One : pour les accros à Netflix (et c’est tout) | ZDNet.fr

Freebox Delta : voici la box qui doit sauver Free | ZDNet.fr

From the horse’s mouth

Free.fr (French Language / Langue française)

Freebox Delta (Press Release / Communiqué de presse – PDF)

Freebox One (Press Release / Communiqué de presse – PDF)

My Comments

While the “gilets jaunes” were protesting about the cost of living in France, Free.fr had just launched a long-awaited successor to the Freebox Révolution modem-router and media player setup.

The Freebox Révolution was a device symbolic of the highly-competitive telecommunications and Internet-service market that exists in France. It is a xDSL modem-router with an Ethernet connection and a NAS that is also a DLNA-compliant media server. It works with a set-top media player that has an integrated PVR and Blu-Ray player. But over the years, these units took on new functionality that was extraordinary for carrier-provided equipment such as VPN endpoint and Apple AirPlay functionality. Infact I saw it as a benchmark for devices supplied by telcos and ISPs for Internet access when it came to functionality.

Here, there are two systems – one called the Freebox Delta which is positioned at the premium end of the market, and the other called the Freebox One which is positioned as an entry-level offering.

The Freebox Delta has a server unit which combines a modem-router and a NAS that is equivalent to a baseline 4-bay standalone NAS. The WAN (Internet) side can work with a 10Gb fibre connection, an xDSL connection or a 4G mobile broadband connection. But it is the first modem-router that can aggregate the bandwidth of an xDSL connection and a 4G mobile broadband connection for increased throughput.

On the LAN side, there is a Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) connection working across three bands and implementing MU-MIMO wireless connectivity. It is in conjunction with an integral four-port Gigabit Ethernet switch. There is the ability to link to the Freebox Delta Player in another room using the FreePlugs which are Gigabit HomePlug AV2 adaptors that Free.fr provides but these are actually network adaptors that use the USB-C peripheral connection approach.

The VoIP functionality that any “box” service offered by the French carriers provides has an RJ11 endpoint for a telephone as well as a DECT base station. There is a USB-C connection along with NFC support.

But Free.fr are even having the Freebox Delta as part of a home-automation system by providing hardware and software support for home-automation hub functionality. It is thanks to Free’s partnership with the Sigfox smart-home software platform. This is based around Zigbee technology with Free.fr and others supplying “smart-home” devices complying with this technology.

The Freebox Delta Player is effectively a connected speaker made by Devialet, a French hi-fi name of respect when it comes to speaker.  But it is a soundbar that uses 6 drivers to yield effectively a 5.1 surround-sound experience.

It works with a French-based voice-driven home assistant (OK Freebox) that handles basic commands but can work with Amazon Alexa which gives it access to the Amazon Alexa Skills library. This is achieved through a four-microphone array and is another way for a European company to effectively answer Silicon Valley in the field of voice-driven assistant platforms.

It can yield pictures to the 4K HDR 10 standard using an HDMI 2.1 socket compliant with the HDCP 2.2 standard and supporting eARC audio transfer that allows for best use with 4K UHD TVs. There is also a DVB-T2 tuner for over-the-air digital TV. You can control the Freebox Delta Player using a wirelessly-charged touchscreen remote which charges on a Qi-compliant wireless charging plate integrated in this media player. Let’s not forget that this device is up-to-date by implementing USB-C peripheral connectivity for two peripherals.

The Freebox Delta will cost EUR€480 to buy, with payment options of  EUR€120 per month over 4 months, EUR€10 per month over 48 months or the full upfront price being paid. The service will cost at least EUR€49.99 per month.

Freebox One – the entry-level solution

The Freebox One is an entry level single-piece multimedia player and modem-router unit. This will have a Gigabit Fibre and xDSL connectivity on the WAN (Internet) side and Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and four Gigabit Ethernet ports on the LAN side. There will be the DECT VoIP base for the telephony function along with a DVB-T connection for digital TV. It can work with 4K HDR 10 via an HDMI 2.1 (HDCP 2.2 compliant) port for your 4K UHDTV.

It has a front-panel display that is similar to the previous generation of Freebox systems.  You can get this device for EUR€29.99 per month for first year, EUR€39.99 per month as a Freebox hardware-and-services package of the kind you get in France.

With both Freebox systems, I would expect that Free.fr will regularly release new firmware that will add extra functionality to these devices over the years. When you get these “boxes”, you will find that there is more of an incentive to visit the “mis à jour” part of the user interface and frequently update their software.

By offering the Freebox Delta for sale rather tied with a multiple-play service package, Free.fr wants to be able to sell this unit as a device you can use with other services. This means that they can put themselves on the same footing as AVM by being another Continental-European source of highly-capable always-updated consumer premises equipment for your home network.

But what needs to happen is for the European consumer IT firms to create hardware and software platforms that can effectively answer what Silicon Valley has to offer. Who knows which European companies will end up as the “Airbus” or “Arianespace” of consumer and small-business IT?

Articles

GLAS thermostat powered by Windows 10 IoT Core operating system launched | WinCentral

Microsoft’s Glas thermostat knocks Nest with Cortana and air quality monitoring | Digital Trends

From the horse’s mouth

Johnson Controls

GLAS room thermostat

Product Page

Spec Sheet (PDF)

Video – Click or tap to play

Microsoft

Video – Click or tap to play

My Comments

Google’s Nest smart thermostat is facing competition with a unit that is driven by Microsoft technologies. Here, the Johnson Controls GLAS smart thermostat, which works with most central heating and air-conditioning setups that implement standard 24-volt wiring setups, connects to your home network via Wi-Fi and is built on a Windows 10 IoT Core operating system and the Universal Windows Platform.

Here, this means that it works tightly with Bing as its external data source for air-quality and current-local-weather metrics. As well, it works as a Cortana terminal so you can control the heating using your voice, but have access to other information resources you would be able to have access to if you used Cortana from your Windows 10 computer. At the moment, judging from the various YouTube videos I have seen of this device in action, this user experience will be audio-only but future firmware updates could provide visual support for Cortana’s replies.

The GLAS room thermostat implements the usual scheduling abilities that the typical programmable room thermostat offers but allows for preemptive operating for when you arrive or wake up so your home is nice and comfortable for you. There is the ability to know what the indoor and outdoor air quality is to be like as well as letting the current weather forecast be used to affect the system’s setpoint (comfort level). It could provide the answer about whether it is important to take that Ventolin inhaler with you if you are suffering from asthma that is aggravated by pollen or similar allergens.

The user interface is based on a colour OLED touchscreen which is actually a piece of translucent glass so you can effectively see the wall behind the thermostat. This means you are engaging with a user experience similar to that of a smartphone or tablet. As well, it would please those of us who place emphasis on devices that complement our room aesthetics. Let’s not forget that you could manage it from a Web page or your iOS / Android smartphone through a native app.

At the time of publication, the expected retail price for the GLAS Smart Room Thermostat will be US$319 with it expected to be released to the US market in March. Here, it will be available through the Microsoft Store or through Johnson Controls Website and dealers.

But what do I see of this thermostat? I see the possibility of it being one of many “smart devices” that will become a control surface for your smart home. In an increasing number of cases, it could also be a point of interaction for a voice-driven home-assistant platform like Alexa, Cortana or Google Assistant with the integrated display earning its keep for visual-support functionality. This is where you could use this thermostat’s touchscreen or Cortana interaction to manage something like lighting or music, or “call up” information at a glance with the information appearing on that display.

2018 will be a very interesting year for personal and small-business computing directions. There will be a few key trends such as heavy use of voice-driven assistants, the rise of the smart home, network-based multiroom audio becoming mainstream amongst other trends. Online entertainment will also face certain trends like the rise of niche-focused online video services, 4K being the norm for TV resolution, virtual-reality and mixed reality being part of gaming amongst other things.

Voice-driven home assistants

Amazon Echo and friends – the device of 2018

4 different voice-driven home assistants to be on the market – Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant (Home), Microsoft Cortana and Apple Siri

A vibrant development ecosystem for each of the voice-driven home assistants. These may include entertainment ideas that integrate one or more devices based on these assistant platforms.

An increasing number of consumer-electronics manufacturers to integrate at least one voice-driven home-assistant in their products. It may encompass devices beyond network-capable smart speakers such as music or home-theatre systems or TV sets. Some vehicle builders are also integrating one of these assistants in the infotainment systems in some of their vehicle models without the need to implement Google Auto or Apple CarPlay.

Video display to be a product differentiator amongst voice-driven home-assistant platforms and products. It would be facilitated through a display integrated in or directly connected to the device, or through a display that is connected to a Chromecast or similar network media device that works with the system. This will augment replies from the assistant in a visual manner, most likely with still images, logos or videos, but can be a path for using the voice assistant to bring up image or video content.

An increased acceptance of “smart speakers” and devices based on voice-driven home-assistant platforms amongst consumers with at least one of these devices appearing in most households. It can also include households using multiple devices in their home, whether on the same or different platforms. This has been demonstrated through the last Christmas shopping season where many Amazon Echo devices were sold during that season.

It will take through a year for the app stores associated with “skills” and functionalities for these voice-driven home-assistant platforms to mature. There will be market requirements that the app stores will identify and enforce in order to assure that users of one of these platforms have a safe and pleasant experience with these devices.A similar situation has had to take place for smartphone and desktop app stores including identifying and removing rubbish from these stores.

Home automation and the smart home

More households to start installing or building out home-automation subsystems in their homes. This may happen with the assistance of telcos, ISPs and monitored-alarm security services offering “connected-home” packages and subscriptions.

Support for multiple smart-home technology platforms to be par for the course for smart-home devices. This may be in the form of Internet-based “home automation hubs” supporting multiple standards or “smart-home” devices being able to work across multiple platforms whether through inherent support or the use of replaceable modules.

Support for at least one voice-driven home-assistant platform to be “de rigueur” for any home-automation subsystem.

Businesses involved with central-heating / air-conditioning and home security to contribute to the “smart-home” scene. This will come about through the supply, installation and maintenance of upgrades and add-ons for extant building HVAC or security infrastructure focused towards integrating it with the “smart home”. As well,businesses supplying and installing new HVAC or security infrastructure will sell equipment that works with the “smart home” at affordable prices.

Bluetooth 5 to become a strong contender as a wireless medium for the smart home. This includes support for “mesh” operation with devices acting as radio repeaters for multiple devices which will be considered a key feature.

There will be an industry expectation for the “smart home” and “Internet Of Things” industry to improve their stance on data security and software robustness. It will be in the form of a software-update cycle being required for devices along with consumers being notified of any bugs or software deficiencies that affect their home network’s data security. This will be underscored by government regulation, insurance-company expectations or industry-driven logo-based certification programs addressing this issue.

Another trend to expect for the smart home is to have this technology work cohesively through large multiple-occupancy buildings. This could range from integrating Amazon Alexa with the entry-door intercom used int these buildings so you can speak to visitors through your Amazon Echo or ask Alexa to “release” the common entry door, to “smart home” systems that regulate heating and lighting in the common areas for consistent comfort, amongst other things/

Network-based multiroom audio

More classes of consumer audio/video equipment to be enabled for network-based multiroom audio. This means that TVs, stereo/home-theatre systems and the like will be offered with multiroom audio functionality, with more of these products in a manufacturer’s range at price points affordable for most people.

DTS Play-Fi and Qualcomn AllPlay to be seen as the “go-to” platforms for network-based multiroom audio where an AV brand hasn’t invested in their own multiroom technology. It can open up paths for multiple brands to invest in their own network-based multiroom product lines without “reinventing the wheel”.

Support for streaming integrated and connected local audio sources to be the norm for multiroom audio. This means that broadcast radio or CDs from integral radio tuners or CD players, or vinyl records played on connected turntables and TV soundtracks emanating from connected TVs can be streamed around a network-capable music system.

Multiroom audio to support multichannel speaker clusters in a group. This could allow a pair of like multiroom speakers to serve as a stereo speaker pair, to the creation of a surround-sound arrangement based around multiple multiroom speakers used in one room.

Online entertainment

The rise of streaming video services focused towards particular entertainment niches and genres. It will include studios with large respected content catalogues adopting a “direct-to-consumer” approach for making their content wares available to consumers via an online path.

Traditional TV channels and radio stations will be relying on online components like video-on-demand services and podcast outlets to keep themselves relevant. This is because of the fact that most of us are listening to or viewing content at our own convenience rather than making an appointment to hear or view it as it is broadcast.

Video-on-demand services will be offering video content at 4K UHDTV resolution with High Dynamic Range pictures for best-case picture quality. The sound will be delivered using Dolby Atmos or similar object-based surround sound as a best-case option.

Virtual, augmented and mixed reality will be seen as an important part of the gaming experience, thus requiring powerful but portable computer equipment. This will increase interest in gaming laptops and small-form-factor gaming rigs of the Intel Skull Canyon kind.

This will cause questions to be asked about the quality of residential Internet services offered by the popular telcos and ISPs. Here, issues will be brought out about latency during video playback or even how long it takes for an online video service to be “ready to play” once you select what you want to view.

Questions are being raised and industry codes-of-practice being looked in to in relation to treasure chests, loot boxes and other elements associated with gambling included in computer and video games either to offer extra gameplay elements like customisations or valuable options. It may also be investigated by various governments under the context of gambling laws, perhaps with a view to regulation of this practice. Similarly app stores may also be looking at ways to make consumers aware of games integrating gambling elements in their gameplay.

Hardware and Software Design

Convergence between desktop and mobile computing

There will be a strong convergence between “regular” desktop / laptop computers that run desktop operating systems, and “mobile” smartphone / tablet computing devices. This will take place in the form of desktop operating systems written to work with ARM microarchitecture used in mobile devices along with mainstream “regular” computers pitched for everyday computing needs being built around the same electronics as a high-end smartphone or mobile-platform tablet.

It will also affect how computer software is developed and sold. Software development tools will allow “one-touch” packaging of executable software forms for traditional Intel CISC and ARM RISC microarchitectures. Similarly, software-development tools will allow for “write once run anywhere” across desktop and mobile usage environments. There will even be the Holy Grail of one being able to write the same piece of software and have it run on all the major desktop and mobile operating systems while having an expedited software-development path.

Highly-powerful yet compact computers

Expect the rise of highly powerful compact computers this year.

This trend is leading towards computers that will become increasingly powerful but compact. This goal is not just facilitated through laptop computers being equipped with the same electronics as a high-end smartphone but there will also be another option where a single piece of silicon will house a CPU along with a discrete graphics processor being the performance option thanks to Intel’s latest processor offering.

For laptops, 2-in-1s and tablets; both options can lead towards the integration of larger batteries which permit longer running time before the battery goes flat. For computers that aren’t portable by nature, the “performance” option with the discrete GPU on the same silicon as the CPU could lead towards small-form-factor desktop and “all-in-one” computers being more powerful.

New Connections

The USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 connectors will become more ubiquitous on computing devices. This includes seeing it as a power / data / digital-audio / video output for highly-portable devices like smartphones, tablets and ultraportable laptops. The number of external-graphics modules will increase especially with highly-portable integrated-chipset designs pitched towards ultraportable laptops.

As mobile devices move away from the 3.5mm phone jack towards USB-C or Lightning sockets for connecting audio accessories, these audio accessories will have their own digital-audio circuitry. It could lead to the availability of wired headsets with highly-strung digital-analogue conversion circuitry for high-quality sound along with microphone arrays, something that was only available with Bluetooth headsets.

The increase in Silicon Valley’s power base

Silicon Valley to become the “new Hollywood” with companies like Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Google creating more of their own video content and providing it through their own video-on-demand services. It can also manifest in the Silicon-Valley multinationals taking over film studios, music labels and other similar names in the entertainment industry.

The Silicon-Valley behemoths, especially Google and Facebook, are being seen as influential as, if not more influential than, traditional media companies. It is called out in relation to the power of these companies to summarily deny information services like social-network presence to individuals or business entities; “turn off the money tap” when it comes to serving advertising on Websites or apps; or “bury” Internet resources unapproved by Silicon Valley so they are hard to find for the average user.

It encompasses home much proper debate there actually is in issue important to civil society and whether Silicon Valley has been manipulating this debate. As well, the data commodity that the Silicon Valley behemoths are trading in is being used as a means to control this debate.

There is also questions raised about online advertising especially in context to brand safety, impact on user experience or true viewership of Websites with end-users, advertisers and publishers wanting to see an environment similar to what is expected for traditional media.

It is leading governments and industry authorities to place questions on how much influence the Silicon Valley behemoths should have compared to traditional media which is regulated by broadcasting or antitrust laws. In this same context, it also highlights whether competing or niche services have access to a potential customer base.

It is also extending to other industries like personal point-to-point transportation along with accommodation where Uber and Airbnb are being questioned about their effect on the traditional service providers and local communities. It is leading to questions being raised by governments and stakeholders in the affected industries about how to assure competition between the Silicon-Valley service providers and traditional businesses.

Conclusion

Each year show up some very interesting trends for personal and small-business IT and our online lives and 2018 will be no exception/

Article

Smart Home and Internet Of Things devices need to be designed for compatibility and security before they become popular

How to bring true interoperability to the Internet of Things | Network World

My Comments

Increasingly, the concept of the “smart home” or Internet Of Things is becoming very real. Here, we are seeing a lot more consumer-electronics devices, home appliances and similar devices become connected to the home network and the Internet.

The “app-cessory” approach to network-controlled devices, where the only way to control these devices via your home network is through a manufacturer-supplied mobile-platform app, has now had its day. This typically asked that the device to be connected to your iOS or Android smartphone or tablet using one of three paths: a Bluetooth connection to the mobile device in the same vein as a Bluetooth headset; a Wi-Fi network created by the device that is controlled by the mobile-platform device; or the home network’s Wi-Fi segment.

The trend that is affecting these devices is to interlink them with a platform-based voice-driven “home assistant” of the Amazon Alexa or Google Home ilk. Here, the requirement is for the manufacturer to provide a “skill” or something similar to the “home-assistant” platform so that Alexa, for example, can interact with the device.

But the article is now highlighting the requirement for increased compatibility with the Internet Of Things. This is where the same device can operate across a range of different network setups and operating platforms.

Use of highly-capable hardware interfaces at the media-connection level

A direction that has assured “out-of-the-box” interoperability for regular-class and mobile-class computer devices along with an increasing number of consumer-electronics devices is to implement one or more multi-mode front-ends when handling the different interface types.

In the case of radio, it can mean being able to handle Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee or similar technologies concurrently.With the wired networks, it would be about working with different media protocols over the same kind of wire, being Cat5 unshielded twisted pair, TV-antenna coaxial cable, AC wires used to power your appliances or traditional telephone wires.

Devolo Home Control Central unit connected to router

In the case of a wireless connection, this is represented by the use of Bluetooth for peripheral-class device connection and Wi-Fi wireless networking to the latest standard for connecting to the home network and the Internet. Smartphones and some tablets will also implement a mobile-broadband modem that works across recent cellular mobile-telephony standards as well. As well, some consumer-electronics devices may implement a multifunction radio front-end that supports Zigbee or Z-Wave, typically to provide support for an RF-based remote control.

There are a significant number of “smart-home” or “Internet Of Things” devices that are designed to work solely with Bluetooth, Zigbee or Z-Wave. Examples of these range from temperature sensors, smart locks and movement sensors. These devices, typically battery-operated devices, use one of these technologies because of the fact that they are very thrifty on battery power thus allowing them to work on up to 3 AA Duracells or a 3V “pill-size” battery for months at an end or to work only on “harvested” power like kinetic energy.

But, if they want to liaise with your home network and the Internet, they have to deal with a gateway device that links between them and the home network. It is because, at the time of writing, no-one has effectively brought a Wi-Fi-capable single-mode or multimode radio front-end chipset that permits a battery-operated device to work in a power-efficient manner.

But another approach being called for is to have an Internet gateway device i.e. a home or small-business router being equipped with support for Bluetooth, Zigbee and / or Z-Wave along with Wi-Fi and Cat5 Ethernet for the home network. To the same extent, a Wi-Fi infrastructure device like an access point or range extender could simply be a bridge between other radio-network types like Zigbee or Bluetooth and the home network facilitated by the Wi-Fi or wired home-network connection.

Some manufacturers even have an “IoT hub” or gateway that links their Bluetooth, Zigbee or Z-Wave devices to your home network via an Ethernet connection. Here, this is offered as part of enabling their devices for online control via a Web dashboard or mobile-platform app. The current situation with most of these hubs is that they have the online-service hub that works with the manufacturer’s device.

There needs to be the ability to facilitate setups involving multiple gateways that link the home network with Zigbee or similar “IoT” radio segments. This is a reality with most of these devices being limited in their radio coverage in order to conserve battery power because they are expected to run on a commodity battery supply like two or three AA Duracells for months at a time or, in some cases, work on harvested electrical energy. You may find that having one of the gateways located near an IoT endpoint device like a smart lock may assure reliable connected operation from that device.

In these setups, there needs to be the ability to see a collection of these “IoT-specific” radio segments as one logical segment, along with the ability to discover and enumerate each device no matter which gateway or bridge device it is connected to and what kind of networks is used as the backbone.

Flexible software to the application level

To provide extended monitoring and control to the Kwikset Kevo deadbolt, you have to use a Bluetooth bridge supplied by Kwikset

Another issue raised regarding the Internet Of Things is compatibility across multiple software platforms and protocols.

A design practice that has been known to be successful was for recent network-connected home-AV equipment like Wi-Fi wireless speakers to support Apple AirPlay, Google Chromecast and DLNA “out of the box”. Here, you could stream content to these devices using most computer devices, whether it be your iPhone, Android tablet or Windows computer, or whether it is hosted on your NAS device.

Here, the goal is for a device to support many different software platforms, frameworks and protocols that are needed to do its job. To the same extent, it could be feasible for a device to work with different cloud services like Google Home, Amazon Alexa or IFTTT. What this can mean is that a device can work with different control and display surfaces from different manufacturers. It also means that the data that a piece of equipment shares is set in a known standard so that any software developer working on an IoT project can make use of this data in their code.

For example, the Open Connectivity Foundation’s standards which include the UPnP standards and are supported by the “open-frame” computing community, along with the Apple HomeKit framework will be required to be supported by network-connected devices.

Here, it will be about identifying every one of the standards supported by the physical medium that the IoT device uses to link with other devices and the network. Then implementing all of the current standards supported by that medium in a vendor-agnostic manner.

Secure by design

An issue that has been raised recently is the issue of data security practices implemented by the software that runs Internet-Of-Things and dedicated-purpose devices. Situations that have come to the fore include the Mirai botnet that scoped in network videosurveillance cameras and home-network routers to perform distributed denial-of-service attacks against online resources like the Krebs On Security Website and the DNS records held by Dyn, a dynamic-DNS provider, affecting a large number of Internet household names.

Here, the issue being called out is designing the software in this class of device for security along with a continual software-maintenance cycle. But it also includes the implementation of secure-software-execution practices not uncommon with the latest desktop and mobile operating systems. This includes secure-boot, trusted-execution and sandboxing to prevent unwanted code from running along with data-in-transit protection and authentication at the network level.

The concept of a continual software-maintenance approach where the firmware and other software associated with the Internet Of Things is always updated with these updates installed “in the field” as they are available, allows for the removal of software bugs and security exploits as they become known. It also allows the software to be “tuned” for best performance and manufacturers can even roll out newer functionality for their devices.

In some cases, it could even lead to a device being compatible with newer and revised standards and protocols rather than seeing one that ends up being limited because it doesn’t support the newer better protocol. But there can be the question about this kind of software update being used as a way to enforce unpopular device-design requirements upon an existing installed base of devices and changes how they operate. This could be brought about by a government mandate or an industry expectation, such as an eco-requirement for HVAC equipment required by a state energy-conservation department or a digital-rights-management expectation required at the behest of Hollywood.

To make the IoT hardware and software ecosystem work properly, there needs to be an underscored requirement for compatibility with prior and newer devices along with the ability to work securely and with properly-maintained software.

Part of the experience of watching American Football’s annual ultimate playoff that occurs every February is to see the ads that are run during the commercial breaks. This is because, a company has to stump up at least US$5 million per “spot” to get an ad in front of the USA’s many eyeballs who will be watching the Super Bowl. Here, it is also the time that advertisers pull out the stops to show the most impressive and memorable commercials that could end up being run when they want to extend the campaign further.

Google used this year’s Super Bowl to demonstrate the concept of their Google Home voice-activated home assistant platform competing with Amazon Alexa. But is shows what these voice-operated home assistants are all about. Most of the functionality you will see in this ad will require you to install smart-home devices that control your existing lighting or heating.

Have a look at this if you missed it during this year’s “ad parade”.