Internet of Things (IoT) has become the centre of Samsung Electronics’ strategic focus, with over R17-billion to be invested in IoT research and development over the next four years.
Samsung Electronics vice-chairman and CEO, Dr Oh-Hyun Kwon, unveiled Samsung’s vision for human-centered IoT, calling for his peers to “start talking and thinking differently about IoT”, with a human-centered approach, embracing the life-changing possibilities of the technology and working together to bring these benefits to society at-large.
“IoT has the potential to change individual lives. If we want innovators everywhere to make use of IoT, we must make sure all tools are available to them. This means technologies that connect to each other, because we know that boundaries around technologies hold back innovation and scale,” he says.
As the IoT ecosystem is by nature connected and interwoven, collaboration is vital to promoting this level of openness and interconnection, Samsung believes. In this vein, Kwon calls for cross-sector dialogue and partnerships while announcing Samsung’s role as a co-founder of the newly launched National IoT Strategy Dialogue.
Paulo Ferreira, director enterprise mobility at Samsung South Africa, says Samsung aims for all of its devices to be IoT-enabled by 2020. But IoT cannot succeed in a vacuum, he notes, therefore Samsung is actively promoting cooperation that will result in smart ecosystems in which all devices are intelligent and improve the way people work and live.
“We believe that the promise of IoT can only be achieved on an open platform, using open standards, using secure devices and integrating business intelligence and analytics. With Samsung’s SmartThings platform, we are now able to support the convergence of a range of smart devices on an open platform to make the smart home a reality. We will see the integration of smart devices – from fridges to lightbulbs – into the smart home of the future,” Ferreira says.
He explains that the Samsung SmartThings platform supports a collaborative environment where developers and innovators can work together to bring the vision of an IoT-enabled smart world to fruition. “With its IoT software developer toolkits and open APIs, Samsung is providing the resources innovators need to build IoT solutions faster and better.”