5 Major IoT Products And Partnerships From Embedded World 2018

The Fast-Growing Internet Of Things

This week's Embedded World 2018 conference offers a glimpse into the future of the Internet of Things. And judging by the news from some of the tech industry's biggest players -- including Microsoft, Intel and Samsung -- the IoT momentum is only picking up steam. Improvements to edge computing capabilities, platforms for the development of connected devices, and industrial IoT operations have been among the major themes, as vendors have unveiled new products and partnerships at the conference in Nuremberg, Germany. What follows are five major happenings from Embedded World 2018.

Microsoft: Windows 10 IoT

At Embedded World 2018, Microsoft unveiled expanded support and capabilities for its Windows 10 IoT offering. For Windows 10 IoT Core -- a version of Windows 10 aimed at the development of smart objects -- Microsoft said it's extending the supported silicon types to include NXP's i.MX 6 and i.MX 7 processors. The processor line is "one of the most popular IoT processor families in the industry," and the move will enable Windows IoT developers "to create a broader variety of high-performance, power-optimized, and industrial-grade devices," Microsoft said in a blog post. Microsoft also said its fall 2018 release of Windows 10 IoT Core and Windows 10 IoT Enterprise will come with 10 years of support. The support will come from Microsoft's Windows Long-Term Servicing Channel, the company said.

Intel: Movidius

Last July, Intel subsidiary Movidius launched a new small-form-factor device, the Movidius Neural Compute Stick, which is designed to make artificial intelligence a plug-and-play application. At Embedded World 2018, Intel said that a new program called "AI: In Production" will enable developers that have created prototypes with the Movidius Neural Compute Stick to more easily transition to a commercial product. Intel is partnering with industrial computing vendor AAEON Technologies to offer developers two "streamlined production paths" for integrating the Movidius Myriad 2 -- Intel's low-power vision processing core -- into their product designs. The new program "means we can expect many more innovative AI-centric products coming to market from the diverse and growing segment of technologies utilizing Intel technology for low-power inference at the edge," said Remi El-Ouazzane, vice president and general manager of Intel Movidius, in a news release.

Intel: New Tools

During Embedded World, Intel also unveiled a consolidation of its IoT development tools to "streamline the development path from prototype to production," the company said in a news release. Intel said it's accomplishing this by integrating new capabilities into Intel System Studio 2018, such as 400 sensors, improved debugger workflows, additional libraries and code samples, and enhanced data compression.

Intel also said it's partnered with Arduino to simplify the process of creating commercial application prototypes using Arduino Create that are based on Intel architecture. Intel said it's offering "a bridge from Arduino Create directly into Intel System Studio 2018 for a seamless development experience."

Samsung: Artik

At Embedded World 2018, Samsung unveiled new partners for its Artik IoT platform including PTC ThingWorx. PTC has described ThingWorx as a "one-stop shop for IoT," with a focus on industrial settings. The integration between Samsung Artik and PTC ThingWorx will enable industrial IoT customers to "utilize data to improve operational efficiency through simplified asset monitoring and visualization," Samsung said in a news release. Samsung also unveiled new partnerships for Artik with MultiTech Systems, for smart cellular data connectivity to Artik gateway products; with Seeed, for a new joint development kit aimed at both proof-of-concept and production-ready products; and with Greenwave, for running Greenwave's AXON Predict edge analytics and data management on Artik system-on-modules.

Supermicro : Edge Computing

In conjunction with Embedded World 2018, Supermicro unveiled an expansion of its portfolio of edge computing and gateway products, including offerings that support Intel's high-performance Xeon D-2100 processors. Supermicro highlighted the X11SDV series motherboards for their edge capabilities, thanks to use of up to 18 processor cores; up to 512 GB of DDR4 four-channel memory; up to four 10GbE LAN ports with RDMA support; and internal storage expansion via mini-PCIe, M.2 and NVMe. Additional offerings -- in fanless compact box, short-depth 1U rack and mini-tower systems -- use Intel's low-power Atom embedded technologies, Supermicro said.