IoT standards group formed to unify companies, developers

The Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) has been established to unify Internet of Things (IoT) unifies the former Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) with leading companies at all IoT levels to provide the key interoperability specification enabling IoT solutions.

By Greg Gorbach, ARC Advisory Group March 2, 2016

The Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) has been established to unify Internet of Things (IoT) standards so companies and developers can create IoT solutions and devices that work seamlessly together. The OCF unifies the former Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) with leading companies at all IoT levels—silicon, software, platform, and finished goods—to provide key interoperability specifications enabling IoT solutions. The OCF has about 140 members as well as partnerships with other organizations such as the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and the EEBus Initiative.

The OCF is creating a specification and sponsoring an open source project to help all developers and companies create solutions that map to a single, open IoT interoperability specification. Ultimately, with OCF specifications, protocols and open source projects, a wide-range of consumer, enterprise and embedded devices and sensors from a variety of manufacturers, will securely and seamlessly interact with one another. Billions of connected devices (devices, phones, computers and sensors) should be able to communicate with one another regardless of manufacturer, operating system, chipset or physical transport.

According to Microsoft EVP, Windows and Devices Group, Terry Meyerson, "We have helped lead the formation of the OCF because we believe deeply in its vision and the potential an open standard can deliver. Despite the opportunity and promise of IoT to connect devices in the home or in businesses, competition between various open standards and closed company protocols have slowed adoption and innovation."

Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF)

www.openconnectivity.org 

– Edited by Chris Vavra, production editor, Control Engineering, CFE Media, cvavra@cfemedia.com.

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