Samsung getting busy in IoT

Aside from all the buzz around the new Galaxy Gear smartwatch, Samsung has been very active in the past weeks on the IoT front, especially in the connected home. Here are a few of their key activities:

1) Joined OIC (Open Interconnect Consortium) with Intel, Dell et al (July 5)

OIC is a consortium that aims to create standards and certification program to improve interoperability of IoT devices in all applications. It will be open-sourced and work with a number of wireless standards and protocols. It sounds very similar to AllSeen alliance which has 51 members including Samsung’s rival LG.

2) Joined the Thread Group with Nest et al (July 15)

Thread Group aims to create a wireless network protocol for the connected home utilizing  6LowPAN (IPv6 Low power over Wireless Personal Area Network) to form a low-power consuming, secure, and reliable home network. One thing that makes this stand out from all other standards and consortiums is that it actually has products out there that uses it, namely the Nest thermostat and smoke detector. I’m quite sure the next generation of DropCam will also utilize this protocol.

3) Rumored to be trying to acquire SmartThings for $200M (July 15)

Within 24 hours of announcing Thread Group, news came out about a rumor that Samsung is looking to acquire SmartThings. SmartThings is a Washington-based company that creates a number of connected home devices and a platform to control them.

Quite a busy week for Samsung as it aims to become a leading player in the IoT in both the wearables and the home markets. There definitely isn’t a day that passes without a press about Samsung doing something in this market.

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