It is believed that by the year 2020, there will be 50 to 100 billion things connected to the Internet. Thus, the Internet of Things (IoT) has been dubbed as the next Industrial Revolution. IoT is seen as something that has the potential to transform how businesses, governments and individuals interact with the physical world. But with the explosion of connected devices comes some major roadblocks, such as fragmentation and increasing threats.

To address both issues, veterans from Google, Apple, Nest and others have developed a platform called Afero (Afero, Inc.). Afero is a secure, end-to-end IoT platform that unlocks smart capabilities for any product in virtually any industry. It incorporates a secure Bluetooth Smart module, scalable cloud services, mobile apps and a range of development tools. Afero reduces the complexity of IoT development and provides a secure connection between devices and the cloud, allowing companies and developers to deliver innovations to the burgeoning marketplace faster.

The team behind Afero was led by Joe Britt, formerly an engineering director at Google Android and cofounder of Danger (makers of the T-Mobile Sidekick smartphone that was acquired by Microsoft). The Afero team spent nearly two years developing the platform that includes integrated hardware, software and cloud services for IoT connectivity and data analytics. The company is now launching to the public and announcing its collaboration with Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. , Infocon Corp. , and BBANDAI NAMCO Studios, Inc.

“We firmly believe that 2016 will be the year that begins to connect the world – not just the home,” said Britt. “Bringing new intelligence to products and services that reach billions of people will change lives in ways we can’t yet imagine. But it will take a sophisticated, comprehensive and secure platform to allow us to get to that point safely. That’s what we created with Afero.”

Security at its core

Security was a primary impetus behind the creation of Afero and is deeply woven throughout the platform’s architecture. The team developed advanced, patent-pending authentication and encryption technologies to ensure that no data can be accessed maliciously from any device or gateway point on the platform.

Afero combines connectivity and security at the three key touchpoints for all connected devices:

1. The product, through an embedded, secure radio module
2. The mobile phone, through app-level monitoring and control
3. The cloud, through web APIs

This complete platform accelerates the creation of connected devices by minimizing the investment normally required for software development and testing, while ensuring a secure and scalable solution.

Pure-play

Though Afero may sound like another competitor in an effort to seamlessly connect IoT, the team claims that it is pure-play, meaning it does not build products that compete with its partners. The platform remains agnostic yet inclusive to connect smart things.

The brains behind Afero hails from some of the biggest tech companies, such as Apple, Google, Nest, Amazon, Netflix, Twitter and Microsoft, who have all joined forces to be able to provide a solution that will allow their partners to focus on their IoT products and services.

Collaborations

As stated earlier, Afero has already secured early partners.

Murata announced its development of the ASR-1 module, the central computing device on which Afero is building a secure, end-to-end IoT platform for the secure connection of every smart device. ASR-1 module is a Bluetooth Smart System-In-Package (SIP) that supports ultra-low power connectivity for data communication. It is well designed for IoT applications. Every ASR-1 comes with a security chip that is preprogrammed to operate in conjunction with the Afero Cloud.

BANDAI, one of the largest makers of entertainment content and products, will utilize Afero to curate and develop a new generation of connected entertainment products. By using the Afero platform, BANDAI will be able to securely build IoT capabilities into its products and games in order to entertain and delight customers in new ways.

And Infocom, the leader in IT systems and operation management services and a subsidiary of Teijin, Ltd, a global leader in fields including high-performance fibers, other materials, healthcare and more, announced that the company selected Afero to develop its future applications of connected devices. By leveraging the Afero technology, Infocom is committed to increasing healthcare efficiency with more transparency and control of integrated IoT applications and devices to make the industry better and more reliable as a whole.

Image source: Afero, Inc.