New Hardware Solutions Target Internet of Things
New hardware strategies are taking shape in the Internet of Things space. In one of the more interesting new moves, SolidRun, a maker of System on Module (SoM) solutions, Single Board Computers (SBC) and Industrial PCs, today announced new products designed to reduce the required footprint, simplify the development process, and shorten the time to market for Intel Braswell-based IoT products. SolidRun claims that it now offers the world's smallest scalable SoM solution for Intel's 14nm Braswell family of quad-core processors.
Meanwhile, Nextcloud, a new company forked from the ownCloud cloud platform is focusing on IoT as well. The company, Canonical and Western Digital have launched an Ubuntu Core Linux-based cloud storage and Internet of Things device called Nextcloud Box. It bundles the open source Nextcloud service and can be driven by a Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi 3 devices. This is essentially a turnkey and easy way to roll your own private cloud and manage it, but its base with Ubuntu Core enables the device to act as an extensible IoT gateway at home, controlling other devices and connecting them with their owners.
SolidRun's new 14nm Intel Braswell chip based MicroSoM is designed to make harnessing Braswell chips for IoT applications simple.
"Intel's Braswell family of quad-core CPUs are ideal for embedded applications and IoT solutions thanks to their incredible performance, excellent thermal efficiency and low power requirements. However, designing products that utilize these robust chips can be daunting thanks to complex power management challenges and complicated documentation," said Rabeeh Khoury, SolidRun CTO. "We designed our Braswell-based MicroSoM to eliminate the hassle of developing Intel-powered solutions. We've achieved this by providing a clear, one-page instruction sheet with our products. We dramatically reduce engineering time by enabling on-module CPU power management, so that all developers have to do is supply the MicroSoM with a single rail power input. Additionally, our MicroSoM supports a unified development platform, allowing developers to design, test and deploy on a unified target platform."
On the Nextcloud front, Jane Silber, CEO of Canonical, noted: “We have always believed that collaboration brings out the best in communities and companies alike. Together with WDLabs and Nextcloud we are able to bring the first Ubuntu Core-enabled device, as an app-enabled IoT gateway, to the market and to people’s homes.”
You can find out much more about the Nextcloud approach here.