IoT news of the week for April 16, 2021

Cloudflare is bringing ML to the edge with support for Nvidia and Google TensorFlow chips: I’ve long been a fan of how Cloudflare is trying to optimize its architecture for edge computing jobs with its Workers platform. And now the company will support Nvidia GPUs for machine learning that runs across Cloudflare’s network. Cloudflare’s Workers platform is what the company’s CEO calls a “third place” for computing, with the other places being device-side computing and back-end computing in the cloud. By supporting ML chips, Cloudflare’s customers can now move their training closer to the devices that need to make use of the models. (Cloudflare)

An update on Google’s partnership with ADT: Last year, Google signed a partnership with ADT that would put Nest devices inside ADT customers’ homes and allow for ADT installers to professionally install some Nest gear. Well, now ADT is starting the sales and pro install process. Additionally, ADT customers will be able to arm and control their home security system through the Google Assistant devices, including the Nest displays. (CNET)

Silicon Labs embraces WiSUN with new chips: Last September, at its Works With event, Silicon Labs said it was excited about Wi-SUN, a long-range (roughly 4 kilometers), low-bandwidth radio technology that was designed for use in smart grids. I was skeptical about the demand for Wi-SUN (and still am), but Silicon Labs is still pumped. It just launched its first line of Wi-SUN chips this week, with general availability set for the summer. Silicon Labs believes utilities and municipalities will embrace the radio technology for smart grid and smart city infrastructure. (New Electronics)

Keyfactor raises $125 million to merge with PrimeKey: Keyfactor, which offers public key infrastructure (PKI) as a service, has raised $125 million from Insight Partners. It used the funding to fund a merger with PrimeKey, a company that creates the certificates needed for PKI. PKI is an essential tool for IoT security because it lets devices communicate their credentials and provenance to one another without humans in the mix. It’s been a part of the web world for years and is becoming just as important for the IoT. Keyfactor had raised $77 million in a prior deal in 2019. (VentureBeat)

MachineQ updates its LoRaWAN network and gets a closer tie to Microsoft Azure: MachineQ is Comcast’s Low-Power Wide-Area Network that uses LoRaWAN to offer connectivity to connected devices. The service launched in 2019 and competes with other LoRa network providers, such as Senet and Helium. This week, MachineQ said it had done a deeper integration with Comcast’s Business Services arm and is now listed on Microsoft’s Azure marketplace. This will help expose more business customers to MachineQ and make it easier for those customers to set up their own LoRaWAN networks. (MachineQ)

The Thread Group gets a new President: Vividh Siddha is the new president of The Thread Group, replacing Grant Erickson, who had held the role since May 2016. Siddha is a director at Apple in his day job, and will oversee the group’s plans to expand the Thread ecosystem with current and new use cases across home and commercial applications. Thread is poised to get much more interesting, as it has been adopted as the low-power wireless protocol for the Project Connected Home over IP standard, which should mean we see a lot more Thread radios replacing Z-Wave and Zigbee radios in devices. (The Thread Group)

Kevin really likes the Logitech Circle View Camera: This probably isn’t a surprise, given how much he liked the doorbell, but if you’d like to read his review on this HomeKit-compatible camera, click on through. (Stacey on IoT)

IFA is back, baby! This year’s giant German consumer electronics and home appliance show will be held in person in Berlin, from September 3-7. I’m not sure I’ll be ready to travel to Germany in September (or if I’ll be allowed to), but the trade show industry is obviously trying hard to rebound from the pandemic and the mandated virtual events it’s entailed. In the meantime, Mobile World Congress is going forward with a June 28-July 1 show in Barcelona even though Google, Sony, Nokia, and Ericsson have all decided not to attend. (Engadget)

Verizon launches a form of hyper-precise positioning: Verizon will provide location data in more than 100 U.S. markets that is accurate to within 1-2 centimeters. This is an impressive service designed to work over 5G and 4G networks. Verizon’s touting its use in vehicles, but it would also be handy for tracking valuable devices, high-value equipment on construction sites and much, more. (Verizon)