UK mobile chip maker ARM is refusing to stand still. In the coming months we’re expecting a slew of new ARM-based tablets to arrive, including Apple’s latest iPad and Nokia’s first Windows RT slate, not too mention the brand new iPhone. But ARM’s no longer satisfied with ruling the roost on the mobile scene – in fact, it’s ultimate goal is to be the driving force behind all connected devices, or in other words, the Interent of Things. To achieve this ambition, the company has just announced its acquisition of Sensinode Oy, a Finnish startup that develops software specifically for smart devices.

Sensinode specializes in software that’s designed to allow embedded sensors and computers to communicate with other ‘things’ over low-power wireless networks using protocols such as IPv6. As such, Sensinode has been one of the key players in the development of the CoAP and 6LoWPAN standards that facilitate communication between low-powered devices over the next.

Networked sensors embedded into everyday objects are the foundation of services in the Internet of Things. The data collected by these sensors is aggregated and processed by computers across the internet and private networks, with the information that’s gathered being used as the basis of these services.

For a company like ARM, focusing on these smaller connected things – for example wearable tech – makes perfect sense. Its perfectly poised to do so, with its mobile chips having already conquered the smartphone arena despite Intel’s best efforts to knock it off its perch. ARM’s strength is that its chips emphasize energy efficiency over raw computing power, resulting in the longer battery lives that’s essential for mobile devices. Such is ARM’s lead that even Microsoft decided its own hardware needed its chips – hence the reason we have the Surface RT tablet.

By acquiring Sensinode, ARM hopes that it can help make it easier for designers to build more products and services for the Internet of Things, not too mention complements current initiatives like its mbed development platform.

“Sensinode is a pioneer in software for low cost low power internet-connected devices and has been a key contributor to open standards for IoT. By making Sensinode expertise and technology accessible to the ARM Partnership and through the ARM mbed project we will enable rapid deployment of thousands of new and innovative IoT applications,” John Cornish, executive vice president and general manager of the system design division at ARM, said in a statement.

This can only be interpreted as good news for the Internet of Things, as developers and hardware manufacturers are central to its growth.

ARM and Sensinode had been closely collaborating for several months before this deal was announced. The move is an important step in ARM’s Internet of Things’ strategy, one that should see it take the lead in connected devices as this exciting new industry evolves.