Huawei has announced a new platform that it expects will power the Internet of Things devices. Huawei predicts that there will be over 100 billion smart devices by the year 2025 with newer ones joining the ecosystem at a rate of about 2 million per hour. As a result, there is need to have a platform in place that will readily serve these devices that will range from anything like your toothbrush to coffee mugs.
Unlike its competitor who are looking to lock in everyone on their respective platforms, Huawei will be opening up what it calls “LiteOS” to every device maker out there as it seeks to be a “platform provider”. The company further says that its platform is ready for deployment and there won’t be need for complex configurations. The OS will be just 10 KB so it can be deployed on any miniature device out there.
Huawei’s rivals in the industry are already angling for the next battlefront after the smartphone market. Samsung already showcased the hardware it will be pushing to anyone making connected devices. It’s Artik processors are all ready and they come packaged with sensors, wireless chips and even flash memory. Additionally, Samsung will not be building a software platform for IoT devices as its inhouse effort, Tizen, is what the company is pushing to take care of that. Tizen is expected to power everything from smartphones, cameras, TVs and smartwatches as it does today to cars, washing machines, cookers and your office coffee pot.
Qualcomm as well is positioning itself with a new range of Wi-Fi chips for IoT devices. The QCA4 series of chips are expected to provide wireless connectivity access to billions of small smart devices from light bulbs and shoes to home surveillance cameras. Intel has a separate Internet of Things division that is expected to bring in at least $2 billion in revenues this financial year. Broadcom, Tencent, Google and others are also investing a lot in IoT as everyone looks to a smart connected future.
Photo: Forbes
