IoT news of the week for April 20, 2018

A trove of data from IoT developers: Every year, the Eclipse Foundation surveys IoT developers to find out what clouds, databases, and other technologies they are using. This year’s standouts include the continued dominance of AWS and Microsoft Azure as the clouds of choice for IoT developers, and MySQL as the favored database technology. Surprises include ARM’s mBed OS getting 9% of the market for embedded operating systems. The leader, with 20% market share, is Amazon’s FreeRTOS. So yes, the embedded OS market is still incredibly fragmented. This is a survey I’ll come back to again and again for information on what technologies are gaining ground in the internet of things. You should check it out. (The Eclipse Foundation)

Silicon Labs has finished its Z-Wave acquisition: Chip firm Silicon Labs has completed its acquisition of Sigma Designs’ Z-Wave business for $240 million. The all-cash deal was first announced last December and includes some 100 Sigma Design employees, roughly a fifth of the 517 employees the company had at the end of January. Silicon Labs makes Bluetooth, ZigBee, and even Wi-Fi radios for IoT devices; the buy adds Z-wave radios to its portfolio of IoT radios. It also indicates that Z-wave isn’t dead yet. (Silicon Labs)

A call for IoT cryptography: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is calling for firms to develop “lightweight cryptography” for the internet of things. The idea is to build worthy encryption for devices that are small, dumb and power constrained. NIST isn’t actually looking for cryptography yet, just the standards that make sense to set for developing such a thing. I feel like NIST should probably reach out to companies such as SecureRF and wolfSSL which are already developing cryptography for the internet of things.  (NIST)

A power play at computing’s edge: I read dozens of articles each week focused on edge computing, and most of them are thinly veiled ads written by marketing shills. So I was glad to read this article, which not only tries to define the edge, but also seeks to explain how it changes our ideas of network neutrality, the coming power play between IT companies and telcos, and the reasons we’re rethinking the way we have architected the internet. It argues that a smaller, localized computing environment becomes more efficient than the mammoth cloud data centers and centralized computing models of today. I’m not sure I buy that, but it’s fun to think about. (ZDnet)

A nice breakdown of who’s doing what in edge computing: The author of this piece is the former head of marketing for the Eclipse Foundation, and he’s used my stories on edge computing from the the last two weeks to lay out his breakdown of the competitive landscape at the edge. I think he’s missing a lot of the startups out there working on the software side of things, so I hope he updates the post to reflect those other players. (Medium)

This story about a blind man and Alexa is worth a read: It covers the creeping influence of technology in our lives and those left behind, as well as how the author’s dad has learned to use the Echo to converse with him. I liked the story because it offers another way to view some of the connected devices we are bringing into our lives. My aunt and uncle are deaf, and as a child I remember pulling out a TTY to “talk” to them on holidays and birthdays. As I grew older, we switched to Skype. And now, thanks to color-changing lights, sensors, and more, they have an entire home that reacts to noises in ways they can see and interpret even without the ability to hear. It’s one of the reasons I’m excited about the march of technology. (The Atlantic)

Here’s an IoT security checklist for the enterprise: We discussed this on the podcast, but if you missed it, it’s worth looking at the new checklist published by the Online Trust Alliance covering enterprise IoT security. Many of the rules are basic, such as not buying devices with hard-coded passwords. But others bear repeating, for example ensuring that all communications between the device and the cloud are encrypted. Surprisingly, many devices still don’t encrypt network traffic. For the full list, visit the OTA. (The Online Trust Alliance)

Intel killed its smart glasses group: Two months after it received fawning attentionin The Verge, Intel’s smart glasses division is folding, according to The Information. The story says Intel couldn’t find a partner to invest in the unit, which was valued at $350 million. This is just another failure for Intel in the wearables market and its attempts to diversity beyond server and computer chips — something that’s becoming increasingly important as its large customers consider designing their own chips for data centers and even their laptops. (The Information)

Android apps are sucking down kids’ data: Here in the U.S., we have a law called the Children’s Online Privacy and Protect Act (COPPA), which prevents companies from tracking or collecting data from children under the age of 13. As younger and younger kids get phones, spend time on YouTube, and hold conversations with Amazon Alexa, it’s worth revisiting COPPA to figure out what apps can and can’t do under the rules. The FTC has actually ruled that kids talking to Alexa is not a violation, for example. However, when it comes to Android apps for kids, it looks like plenty of them are transmitting kids’ data over the internet — including location — and using that data to market to other kids. This is a direct violation of COPPA, although not surprising to anyone. What’s concerning is that as tech embeds itself more deeply into our lives, more data from children is collected by the internet of things. And many of these companies don’t have a clue about COPPA — or care. (The Guardian)

IIoT revenue is looking up: Software AG has revised its industrial IoT revenue forecasts higher for the year. The German software maker now expects revenue to grow between 100% and 135%, which it said indicates sales of between 30 million and 35 million euros (or between $36.99 million and $43.15 million). That compares with a previous revenue growth forecast of between 70% and 100%, or sales of between $25 million and $30 million. The company said it had a record-breaking first quarter for the IoT division and also signed many new orders, leading to the update. And on Monday it announced deals with Telefonica and GFT. (Reuters)

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