At the most fundamental level, the objects that make up the Internet of Things are not all that different. Every connected device that shares information with the world provides a RESTful interface for others to access it, formats the data in JSON to organize the contents and utilizes HTTPS to provide protection in transit. But while the basic building blocks are almost always the same, they are hardly ever used in an identical manner, with different vendors taking different approaches in their products.

That discrepancy is becoming unsustainable as the connected universe continues to expand in size and grow more and more entwined with the physical world, according to the cross-industry consortium behind HyperCat. The group consists of over 40 tech firms, startups, universities and others that banded together 12 months ago under the auspices of the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board, to tackle one of the most difficult and pressing tasks of our times: bringing interoperability to the Internet of Things.

HyperCat, which officially passed the first phase of development today, is how they’re hoping to make that happen. The specification is the culmination of £6.4 million ($11 million) in government funding and a unique collaboration that saw historical rivals such as Intel and ARM set aside their differences and unite for the common goal of tearing down the barriers between information silos that currently limit connected objects from effectively communicating with one another.

Recognizing that replacing the countless proprietary data-sharing technologies in use today with a common open standard is a lost cause, the consortium set out to develop an interoperability layer thats fits atop existing services without requiring any modifications. And so HyperCat was born. The protocol provides a uniform way to describe information that not only makes it possible to explore what resources are available in a specific system but enables applications to search for particular types of data across the entire Internet as well. That flexibility can be useful in all kinds of scenarios.

For example, HyperCat can allow a weather app only capable of process certain temperature measurements to get through to the information it needs even if its buried among other sensory transmissions. And a retailer looking to gain a better understanding of its customers would be able to take advantage of the standard to separate the signal from the data noise with much less effort than is needed today, focusing only on those elements that can provide relevant business insight.

Use cases

Despite its early stage, HyperCat is already being put to good use by some of its backers. ARM has successfully implemented the specification at its Cambridge headquarters to expose operational data such as energy use and reduce costs, while IBM UK incorporated it into software development lifecycle to manage projects more efficiently.

Although impressive in their own right, the use cases the consortium is touting for HyperCat only represent the tip of the iceberg. Achieving interoperability among connected devices could bring about tremendous changes to all parts of our lives, from enabling true “smart homes” where appliances interact with each other to take the hassle out of everyday chores to transforming how business decisions are made and executed. All in all, it’s an exciting time to be a part of the connected universe.

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