Anyone who has ever been frustrated by the lack of compatibility between technology products can now rest easy knowing those same brands are on the case. AllSeen Alliance is a group of tech companies that are banding together to create an open source framework that makes their smart TVs, phones, computers and other devices inter-compatible.
The internet should make things more connected, not further apart. At least that is the idea behind AllSeen Alliance, headed largely by Qualcomm. Under the Linux banner, they are bringing together twenty four names in the gadget biz to start the work on a common online framework.
“The Internet of Everything is based on the idea that devices, objects and systems can be connected in simple, transparent ways to enable seamless sharing of information and coordinated and intelligent operations across all of them,” their manifesto reads.
“As no single company can accomplish the level of interoperability required to support the Internet of Everything and address everyday, real-life scenarios, a united, pan-industry effort is needed to deliver new experiences to consumers and businesses.”
So far, the membership includes Haier, Qualcomm, LG, Panasonic, Sharp, Silicon Image and TP Link as premier members. But there are also many others, like HTC and Cisco, to name two.
They believe the key to such a feat lies in openness and collaboration, rather than jealously trying to outdo one another and lend support only to their own brands.
“Open source software and collaborative development have been proven to accelerate technology innovation in markets where major transformation is underway,” said Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin explained.
“Nowhere is this more evident today than in the consumer, industrial and embedded industries where connected devices, systems and services are generating a new level of intelligence in the way we and our systems interact. The AllSeen Alliance represents an unprecedented opportunity to advance the Internet of Everything for both home and industry. We are very happy to host and help guide this work.”
All of this is being based on the AllJoyn technology developed by Qualcomm. They hope that by using it as a foundation, they will come up with their standard and change the tech industry as we know it. If they are successful, you can expect to see others eventually getting on board.
Normally, I would think that the biggest tech names would continue to compete and completely ignore this standard. For example, Apple, Microsoft and Google are probably not eager to throw their lot into anything opensource.
But with Qualcomm at the head, there is a good chance this would spread, at least to a small number of their products. It is an exciting prospect, anyway.
Source: AllSeen Alliance
