ARM Holdings PLC, which designs processors used in Apple Inc’s iPhone, yesterday unveiled a new hardware subsystem to accelerate the deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) devices ahead of the annual Computex Taipei fair.
The subsystem should help simplify the IoT development process for companies and improve time to market, ARM said.
Initially, the subsystem is to be paired with its Cortex-M3 processor, with the design optimized for ultra-low-power 55-nanometer embedded flash memory produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), ARM said.
UK-based ARM said it expects its clients’ first end product based on the subsystem to reach markets early next year.
The company did not say which application would be the first to adopt the new subsystem, but, in the long term, smart city would be the largest market among a wide range of diverse IoT applications, ARM Internet of Things general manager Krisztian Flautner said in an interview with the Taipei Times.
ARM is involved in three major IoT segments — wearable, smart city and smart car — but smart lighting is also a huge market, Flautner said. There are about 4 billion street lights around the globe, according to ARM.
General Electric Co is working with ARM to install smart lighting in some US cities, including San Diego, he said.
IoT applications are diverse, Flautner said, citing as another example South Korea’s SK Telecom deploying ARM technology in eel farming to monitor water quality to improve yields.
Flautner said ARM’s strategy is to help clients accelerate the pace of IoT deployment, as it usually takes a long time to turn an idea into reality.
In addition, ARM plans to launch IoT operating system Embed OS to make it easier for clients to develop IoT devices and connect them with each other through ARM’s server software, he added. The Embed server software was launched last year.
MediaTek Inc (聯發科), which supplies handset chips to numerous firms, including Xiaomi Corp (小米), demonstrated its latest smart home processor called M7623, which uses ARM’s Embed server software, at a media briefing for Computex yesterday.
MediaTek Internet of Things head Tsai Shou-ren (蔡守仁) said that smart home would be the fastest-growing IoT application.
MediaTek last year launched two processors for remote power management, and M7623 is to power control of all smart home devices, Tsai said.
Power management and home security are expected to be two major smart home areas, he said.
MediaTek expects to ship about 28 million to 30 million smart home-related chips in China this year, almost triple last year’s 10 million, Tsai said.
Smart car will also be a market that develops slowly, given the car industry’s longer design cycles, he said.
MediaTek is still mulling entering the smart car market, he said.
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