Silver Spring Networks, Inc., a networking platform and solutions provider for smart energy networks, has announced several new tools aimed at helping the Internet of Things (IoT) gain mass adoption.

Starfish

The company revealed Starfish, an international wireless IPv6 network service for IoT that will enable commercial enterprises, cities, utilities and developers to access a reliable, secure and scalable IoT network service with service-level agreements that meet their needs.

In essence, Starfish is the network for IoT and builds on the open IEEE 802.15.4g wireless interoperability standard (Wi-SUN), delivering up to 1.2 Mbps in speed, 10 millisecond latency, up to 50 miles in point-to-point range, nearly limitless mesh range, multiple network transports, and industrial-grade security, reliability and scalability. Aside from the unprecedented network, Starfish will also provide device and application management and control functions, an IoT-scale data platform, and access to one of the industry’s largest open partner ecosystems, according to Silver Spring Networks.

To complement Starfish, the company also introduced Haiku, a service plan for IoT that will deliver 5,000 messages x 16 bytes per month for free.

“We have entered a new era – ubiquitous connectivity of billions of devices and real-time data across massive-scale networks are unlocking untold social and economic opportunities,” said Mike Bell, president and CEO of Silver Spring Networks. “Today, with the Starfish IoT network service, Silver Spring is opening up one of the most reliable, scalable and secure IoT networks on the face of the earth. We want to make connecting to the potential of the Internet of Things as simple as subscribing to the plan of your choice.”

Starfish will collaborate with the Bristol is Open (BIO) smart city program, CESC in Kolkata, the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, and a demonstration partnership with the City of San Jose. It will also be rolled out first in the City of San Antonio, the City of Copenhagen and the City of Glasgow, with plans to expand service coverage across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand throughout 2016 and beyond.

New IoT tools

Silver Spring also unveiled its 2016 IoT Hackathon Series, which is planned for the cities of Bristol, Kolkata, Chicago, Copenhagen, San Jose and Singapore, as well as new tools that will make it easier for IoT developers and device makers to bring products to market.

For device makers, Silver Spring offers a new IoT hardware Development Kit (HDK) and Software Development Kit (SDK) aimed to provide specifications and documentation, access to test hardware and networks, a verification process and development support. An IoT SDK, which is also offered to app developers, offers a cloud-based development sandbox, access to APIs and documentation, reference material and sample code, a verification process, and development support.

This year alone, Silver Spring has ventured into a number of smart city projects around the globe — from connecting the city lights of Paris, to being chosen by BIO to deploy its standards-based IPv6 wireless network across the city, to the integration of its standards-based IPv6 network to improve smart metering.

Photo by EvolvingScenes (Pixabay)