An operating system for the devices that will make up the so-called "Internet of Things"isbeing developed by the British company ARM.
As reported in a relevant BBC article, ARM is designing the software (mbed OS) to require as little power and memory as possible, while there will be no charge for its use. At the same time, it points out that the code will allow developers to create products faster - but the system will only work with "kits" that will have chips based on ARM's Cortex-M designs.
Hardware manufacturers will have access to the software before the end of the year, while the first devices using it are expected to be released in 2015.
According to ARM, right now, instead of creating the “Internet of Things” (the idea that in the near future a huge range of everyday objects will be connected to the Internet, allowing them to be monitored and controlled remotely), many companies are creating what it calls the “Internet of Silos”, because the teams involved in the relevant research create and use different codes for their products. Speaking to the British network, Christian Flautner, the company’s vice president of research and development, spoke of market fragmentation. He also said that while operating systems for PCs and smartphones typically require gigabytes, mbed OS will only require a few hundred kilobytes - but, although it is “much smaller, that does not mean it is less complex. There are still many pieces of software that have to work together. And of course when you do it on these very limited devices, an operating system becomes much more configurable. So you can choose to leave out pieces to reduce the memory footprint.".
ARM says it is working with IBM, Telefonica, Marvell, NXP, Freescale on mbed OS. While there will be no charge to manufacturers for using mbed OS, there will be a charge for using related computer server software, which is designed to allow developers to securely manage data transmitted from devices.
Source: naftemporiki.gr
