Kerry McGuire, VP of strategy for the Internet of Things business unit at ARM, provides insight into today’s rapidly growing market for embedded devices and how they speed up innovation in the Internet of Things industry. She joined us for a live interview with theCUBE co-hosts Paul Gillin and John Furrier, at the 2014 edition of IBM Impact.

There is an “explosion of innovation around devices and software that will help developers deploy applications” for the Internet of Things market,  McGuire started. “We are at the heart of the mobile revolution,” which also changed developer engagement and the speed of innovation.

“What we think is possible is to bring the same dynamic to the Internet of Things, and speed up deployment,” McGuire explained. With the new embedded systems, fundamental software elements, developers can come up with prototypes quickly.

Talking about embedded devices, McGuire said that “you can develop very disruptive products,” most of them around wearable technology, or industrial products. “A lot of these products will come from small startups, that is why we engage developers in this way.”

“There is some exciting transition in power,” McGuire added. Many of the first generation Internet of Things products are based on mobile processors.  Many of the products currently demoed are generating their own power, they don’t have to rely on batteries. “That is disruptive, and creates an opportunity.”

Asked if there was a major breakthrough in battery technology, McGuire said, “we certainly see new trends, power will be something that our partners will have to excel at for a long time.”

Putting partnerships to work

 .

ARM partners have the “ability to take our processor technology and put intelligence around the system,” McGuire explained. They can optimize for storage or networking capabilities. There are many interesting opportunities around embedded systems, which she likened to portable data centers.

The big distinctions ARM has from the mobile industry in the Internet of Things is diversity. ARM’s strategy revolves around the “sensors to servers” concept. “We think diversity has to be fostered in the industry,” McGuire said. “Our long standing relationship with connectivity and power is an advantage for our partners,” she added.

Explaining how ARM sees diversity in this “sensors to servers” approach, McGuire explained there was a lot of diversity in storage capabilities, as well as in the level of processing. “Connectivity is an area where we’ll see a lot of diversity,” she said, with an explosion around Bluetooth for new types of devices.

Askes about the security vulnerabilities of the Internet of Things, McGuire stated that “we could have done security in mobile earlier.” With “devices connecting in a transparent way, security has to be at the heart of it. This will be a big one for us to solve together in the industry,” and it will take cooperation around standards, she explained.

McGuire goes on to share the most surprising application she’s seen for embedded devices, which was a product of one of their partners “who put the technology into a pill. The purpose of the technology was to insure you took your medicine on time.” If that didn’t happen, it provided a way to engage the patient for follow-up.