Internet of Things
(IN PHOTO) Visitors look at Bubbles, a connected device, presented at the SIdO, the Connected Business trade show in Lyon April 7, 2015. The new professional event dedicated to the Internet of Things (IoT) takes place in Lyon on April 7 and 8. Reuters

A number of tech companies this week have launched their own Internet of Things, or IoT, contraptions in the wake of the recently concluded IoT World 2015 in San Francisco, several reports noted. According to ZD Net, Qualcomm Inc. has announced that it will be beefing up its IoT business in the Silicon Valley to promote the use of its chips in more household appliances and products, including air conditioners and washing machines, as well as cars and medical devices.

The company has released two WiFi-based solutions and has developed a number of tech partnerships that resulted to "six new integrations for cloud and software services" that count Xively by LogMeIn and Proximetry. These providers will be supporting the said Wi-Fi-based solutions as part of their deal with Qualcomm.

"By integrating these key providers' software directly into our connectivity solutions, we're enabling customers to quickly deploy solutions with the most suitable cloud provider for their industry segment," Joseph Bousaba, senior director of product management at Qualcomm Atheros, was quoted as saying in the report.

A separate report from The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, noted that John Kern, Cisco Systems Inc. senior vice president of supply chain, said the company is also "pushing to connect everything to the Internet." One of Cisco's latest projects is to make sure that its supply chain is "fully-wired," starting with its plant in Malaysia where the company has already plugged in thousands of sensors. These sensors are meant to help the company bring down energy usage by as much as 20 to 30 percent, allowing the company to save millions of dollars.

Another report from The Journal also revealed that Samsung Electronics Co. has launched a set of technologies, Artik, which consists of an array of communication chips, sensors and similar parts that will be integrated into devices.

Elsewhere in Europe, companies, too, are jumping on the IoT bandwagon. In Ukraine, for instance, companies such as IT Craft and Kodisoft are offering IoT-related services to both local and international clients. IT Craft, a software and web technologies developer with over 15 years of experience, develops iBeacons configurations for businesses so they can provide better services to customers within their premises. The company has over 30 clients from 16 countries.

Kodisoft Company, a seven-year-old company specialising in high quality software, also uses IoT on its Interactive Restaurant Technology. The technology is basically an interactive tabletop that restaurants have begun incorporating in the said country. According to an article on Born2Invest's website, the tabletop "eliminates the hassle among customers when waiting for a food server to take their orders, or to get their overall restaurant experience interrupted."

To contact the writer, email: vittoriohernandez@yahoo.com

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