The Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) has released updated developer tools in order for organisations to better utilise its Internet of Things (IoT) resources.
The suite of tools should help further IoT standardisation, viewed as one of the main challenges that the technology must overcome to achieve widespread adoption.
Included within the updated toolset is oneIoTa, a software solution that enables developers to download OIC resource models for their own projects, and the API Designer console. The latter is an interactive, web-based tool that allows application developers to interact with the IoT development community more easily.
Mike Richmond, executive director at the Open Interconnect Consortium, believes that the new developer tools can streamline the development of connected devices.
“IoT puts a lot of pressure on developers to create applications that work seamlessly,” he explained. “IoT technologies can be tricky and difficult to implement in a real world use case. With this updated developer toolkit, the OIC is making the process significantly easier.”
The new developer options are available as part of IoTivity, the OIC’s open source software framework. The project is sponsored by a group of industry leaders with the common aim of creating a standard specification and certification program to address IoT challenges.
IoT standards needed for better security
Cesare Garlati, chief security strategist from the prpl Foundation told Internet of Business that creating a standardised IoT framework could also help to alleviate security concerns.
“Interoperable standards are key to the success of the Internet of Things.” he said. “They reduce complexity, development costs and time to market. Open standards are also key to IoT security. Most vendors operate under the misapprehension that security-through-obscurity will do. But there is something we as an industry can do about it. We need to agree on open standards built around security frameworks.”
The Internet of Things is expected to encompass billions of devices in the coming years, running across a multitude of operating systems and network protocols. In order to facilitate reliable communication between these devices, standardisation efforts like those being undertaken by the OIC need to be pursued on a wider scale.