Exosite was one of the major sponsors at HackNTU 2016, the largest hackathon in Asia with over 600 participants from across the globe. Teams were given 40 hours to plan and develop an innovative new solution to problems under five different categories. Exosite and our partner, Microchip, supplied access to development kits and our IoT platform, Murano. The most creative and well-executed projects were rewarded with enterprise awards from Exosite and Microchip, with the winning team focusing their project on simplifying care for the elderly.

As Internet of Things flourishes, resources and knowledge have become more readily available, allowing even enthusiasts to create their own IoT solution at home. For some, connecting one or two devices to an IoT platform has become a hobby. There is no doubt that this practice can also be beneficial for industrial IoT applications. With the addition of more devices however, we see more strain and issues within the system. So, what can you do when seeking to build a scalable IoT system?

Silicon Valley, California is an area synonymous with the digital age. It is a point where bright minds and business heavyweights coalesce to change the world. Join Exosite, in this tech hotspot, September 11th - 13th if you are headed to Frost & Sullivan's Growth, Innovation, & Leadership Conference. This event promises to be an informative and thought-provoking event, bringing together industry-changing ideas with industry-driving leadership. As a sponsor, Exosite is thrilled to be supporting this conference while our CTO, Mark Benson, will facilitate and participate in two of the sessions.

Developing a scalable, secure, and functioning IoT solution can be a long journey. After understanding what kind of connected product you would like to develop, you should generate an IoT security strategy to ensure your data cannot be stolen. Once your data is secure you should consider developing a system for IoT data analytics, since data is the true currency of IoT. What about actual currency? How are you going to charge your potential customers?

In a short period of time, the Internet of Things has transformed from a buzzword to a household term. Those that were aware of IoT’s potential early foretold the billions of IoT connected devices we would soon see. The time is now upon us and with more use cases being thought of every day, it seems impossible to escape the fact that IoT is assimilating itself into every aspect of our lives. From large connected product deployments in industrial applications to consumer goods to ease our daily lives, new connected solutions are being developed to simplify daily tasks. But with so many devices and applications being connected every day, how secure are we?

With our breakthrough Murano platform release, Exosite’s Quality Assurance team has been hard at work creating and running tests to ensure that the released code is doing exactly what is expected and more importantly, what our customers expect. QA took a more modern approach to how we verify, validate, and release Murano builds by using continuous integration (CI). CI will help make developers and testers jobs a little easier and help improve Murano's overall quality, agility, and robustness.

A successful IoT solution has the ability to improve the user’s life in a number of ways. Whether it’s by increasing the security of a home or the efficiency of a factory, the goal of a connected product should be to add value to the customer’s life. A complete IoT strategy does not stop there, since a complete solution must include all of the back-end features while incorporating a clean and easy to use front-end. What’s the point of a connected product if users cannot smoothly integrate it into their routines?

As I write this, I am on a plane home from judging the HackNTU event hosted at National Taiwan University in Taipei. The event included over 600 participants, judges, and sponsors from around the world. This was Asia’s largest hackathon, with developers working for 40 straight hours on high-intensity development. These projects were then judged under 5 different categories, with prizes awarded to the most creative and well-executed ideas. It was a privilege to be a guest at this well-attended, organized, and energetic event!

When thoroughly developed and implemented properly, an IoT solution allows companies to optimize new revenue streams and increase efficiency. Crafting an effective and appropriate IoT security strategy is one of the most important things an OEM must do. In addition to using the standard IoT platform security features identified in the previous blog segment of our Security in IoT Systems white paper, there are additional security aspects that should be considered:

The Internet of Things is about easing people’s lives through connectivity and efficiency, which  empowers people by linking them to data through an IoT solution.  Enabling access to this data or improving efficiency can be hindered by one key element, the user experience (UX). Whether it is a large-scale connected product fleets or an individual consumer product, the ability for end-customers to easily learn, interact, and adapt product features into their lives can make or break the sales of a connected product.

Event hosts 600 teams of makers and hackers from the US, China, Europe, Israel, and Indonesia for 40-hour developing event

Since the creation and implementation of a successful IoT solution is multifaceted, as well as fairly time consuming, Exosite strives to clarify and accelerate the process for our customers. Because of this, we have helped some of the world’s leading companies to deploy thousands of connected products, utilize their data as never before, and get to market in a fraction of the time.

Well, maybe not quite, but the Internet of Things (IoT) has surpassed buzzword level for most...it has slowly developed actual meaning–but not for everyone. Probably not for your grandparents and maybe not for your boss or your boss’s boss. When the iPod first came out it was met with a chorus of, "I’ll never need that. I have a cabinet filled with perfectly good CDs!”  Like all disruptive  technologies, the iPod eventually became ubiquitous because it could bring your music anywhere. Digital music players are now integrated with our telephones which are essentially personal computers in our pockets. We, at Exosite, believe IoT has this same transformative quality and here is why.

A pretty final product is an obvious goal of every enterprise IoT strategy. A beautifully crafted front end of an IoT solution ensures end-users that it will add value, create ease in tasks, or increase security in their lives. Although the front-end is important, the back-end within a connected product deployment is where the real value comes into play. As a leading consumer and industrial IoT platform provider, Exosite assists it’s clients in both facets of a connected product. In this blog segment however, we will breakdown the back-end development section of our white paper, Solving The IoT Puzzle: Build or Buy?

Hands-on engineering class gives Microchip customers access to Internet of Things (IoT) experts and resources for building connected products