SAN RAMON, CA--(Marketwired - September 23, 2015) - The OSGi Alliance has launched a new Internet of Things expert group to create modular and dynamic software specifications to meet the end-to-end connectivity, lifecycle management, web applications and server platform requirements of IoT providers.
The OSGi Alliance is soliciting requirements from the industry, collaborating with best practice organizations and offering event programming for OSGi in IoT.
Alliance members can provide requirements and contribute to specifications and reference implementations. The public can also raise requirements using the OSGi bugzilla system, referencing RFP 174.
OSGi specifications already cover many of the features required for an IoT platform since they were originally created for the remote and dynamic management of a broad variety of home automation devices, residential gateways and embedded systems. This will allow the expert group to work quickly and efficiently on the IoT-specific gaps not completely addressed by existing specifications.
“The sheer volume of IoT choices -- communication and transportation protocols, web applications and even specific product release versions -- can be overwhelming,” said Tim Ward, interim chairman of the OSGi IoT Expert Group. “With OSGi, you will be able to add, update or replace protocols, apps and code simply and without disrupting your IoT offerings.”
The IoT expert group charter is available on the OSGi IoT expert group web page.
Best Practice Collaboration
The Industrial Internet Consortium and the OSGi Alliance have agreed to collaborate on requirements and recommendations, including problem statements, use cases, specification requirements and recommendations. The Industrial Internet Consortium Asset Efficiency Testbed already deploys the mature OSGi technology to improve time to market and provide a bridge for integrating and managing the array of devices and sensors. OSGi Alliance will consider the Industrial Internet Consortium testbed results in its specification work, and will exchange best practices with the Industrial Internet Consortium. The two groups anticipate more testbeds, which will help to foster the collaboration between both organizations.
“This official partnership between Industrial Internet Consortium and OSGi Alliance is the right step to improve the time to market and interoperability of industrial IoT applications,” said Dr. Richard Soley, executive director, Industrial Internet Consortium. “We are happy to further develop our collaborative relationship with this well-established open standardization organization.”