Recently, ARM announced the purchase of Sensinode, a Finnish company that develops and promotes open standards for small, connect devices, or the so-called Internet of Things devices.
ARM already has a good footing in the IoT space. ARM, a leader in mobile processors, is also emerging as a popular contender for such IoT-devices, especially with their Cortex-A family of processors. They have also been systematically promoting a culture of experimentation and innovation using their mbed platform, which includes open hardware and software to simplify embedded development — so more people can develop more devices for the IoT. ARM also offers other solutions like TrustZone, which ensures security of data transferred — a critical requirement for the IoT, which indeed involves data flying all around the space!
Sensinode is a logical addition to this portfolio, as it will enable engineers to easily build devices based on open standards. Sensinode, which offers software technology for connected devices, has led the creation of the 6LoWPAN and CoAP standards for low-cost low-power devices, and has been a key contributor to the IETF, ZigBee IP, ETSI and OMA standardisation efforts. ARM will continue the commercial offering of Sensinode’s NanoStack and NanoService products to existing and new customers, apart from providing developer access through the ARM mbed project, for rapidly creating designs and applications for the Internet of Things.
Apart from enabling the development of several exciting devices including wireless sensors, smart connected appliances, home health applications and wearable electronics, the technology will also be useful for M2M applications using cellular connections and the new OMA Lightweight M2M standard for device management.
