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AllSeen Alliance: A good start but needs enterprise players

AllSeen has an open source framework to provide standards for the Internet of everything. To really get the job done, AllSeen will have to expand its contributors beyond consumer players.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor

A welcome push for standards for the Internet of things is underway as a bevy of tech companies have created a consortium to grow Internet of things connections. The problem so far is that the AllSeen Alliance lacks big enterprise hitters.

The effort, designed to speed up adoption of systems that connect physical items, is important. The AllSeen Alliance noted that it has "the broadest cross-industry consortium to date to advance adoption and innovation in the “Internet of Everything” in homes and industry."

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We'll give the alliance a nod on the homes part since many of the initial companies are consumer electronics players. Among the community members in AllSeen, Cisco is the one industry player. Hopefully that roster will change.

Cisco has argued that the Internet of things is akin to where networking was in 1993 and 1994 when there were multiple standards and applications couldn't connect.

Also: IT in 2020: Internet of things, digital business enthusiasm abounds | Cisco launches Internet of things division, eyes standardization

Here's the deal: Internet of things connections---sensors dishing out data on everything from maintenance needs to environmental conditions---goes well beyond the connected home. Industries will be where most of the returns of the Internet of things lies.

The good news here is that the AllSeen Alliance is an open source framework that will allow various systems to connect. The first effort is based on Qualcomm's AllJoyn project. In AllSeen's developer resources, the alliance covers all the key technologies and includes thin clients.

Add it up and it won't take much to get enterprise giants such as SAP, Oracle and IBM interested. When those giants do join, it's quite possible the Internet of everything will at least have enough items in place for a boost in adoption.

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