The AllSeen Alliance, the broadest Internet of Everything open-source project, today announced that Microsoft has joined the group’s multi-company effort as a Premier Member to make it easier for a broad range of everyday devices, objects and services to interoperate seamlessly and intelligently.
With the addition of Microsoft, the AllSeen Alliance now totals 51 members, including heavy hitters in consumer electronics manufacturers, home appliance makers, automotive companies, Internet of Things cloud providers, enterprise technology companies, innovative startups, chipset manufacturers, service providers, retailers and software developers.
The AllSeen Alliance was established in December 2013 to address a major challenge facing the Internet of Things, which according to McKinsey Global Institute has the potential to create an economic impact of $2.7 trillion to $6.2 trillion annually by 2025: Making sure smart connected devices and objects can work together regardless of brand, operating system and other infrastructure considerations.
AllSeen Alliance members are collaborating on a universal software framework, based on AllJoyn open source code, that allows devices to autonomously discover and interact with nearby products regardless of their underlying proprietary technology or communications protocols. With over 1 billion Windows devices in the market across a variety of verticals, AllJoyn will ultimately expand across these segments, creating a truly horizontal ecosystem for the Internet of Everything.
Microsoft joins Haier, LG, Panasonic, Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc., Sharp, Silicon Image, Technicolor and TP-Link as Premier Members of the Alliance, in addition to 42 Community Members.
“We’re delighted to welcome Microsoft to the AllSeen Alliance,” said Liat Ben-Zur, Chairman of the AllSeen Alliance. “No single company can accomplish the level of interoperability required to support the Internet of Everything in everyday, real-life scenarios. Microsoft’s strong presence in the home via computers, tablets, phones, gaming platforms and their strength in the consumer, enterprise, education, industrial automotive sectors, uniquely enables them to accelerate the adoption of the AllSeen Alliance’s AllJoyn open source code across a very wide swath of products and verticals.”
“Microsoft believes that the Internet of Things is not a futuristic notion but is here today in the devices, sensors and cloud infrastructure all around us,” said Kevin Dallas, General Manager, Operating Systems Group, Microsoft. “But in order to make the Internet of Things truly successful, there are challenges to be addressed in securely connecting and managing all these devices and interacting with cloud services and machine-generated data. We believe the AllSeen Alliance is a very important effort to collaboratively address these challenges, and we’re excited about joining the initiative.”
