Freescale collaborates with ARM and Oracle on “One Box” IoT Gateway Platform
Working with ARM and Oracle, Freescale has established a secured service platform that will help standardise and consolidate the delivery and management of IoT services for a range of vertical markets. Freescale’s “one box” platform combines end-to-end software with converged hierarchical smart gateways to establish a common, open framework for secured IoT service delivery and management.
Freescale has also announced that the one box platform will additionally support the smart grid and telehealth IoT service markets. The one box telehealth service is suitable for both clinical and home-based deployments, and, among other benefits, is designed to help IoT service providers meet the certification requirements of the Continua Health Alliance.
“The IoT is all about enabling and accelerating innovative new services, and we are encouraging smaller players to thrive and innovate, from both the service provisioning and edge node perspectives,” said Geoff Lees, senior vice president and general manager of Freescale’s microcontrollers business. “Freescale, ARM and Oracle offer comprehensive, complementary technologies that work together seamlessly and serve as foundational building blocks for a secure IoT service delivery infrastructure.”
A “box” (or smart service gateway) built on Freescale’s one box platform can consolidate boxes from multiple IoT service providers into a single, unified appliance. Based on Freescale’s Kinetis microcontrollers, i.MX applications processors or QorIQ communications processors, the one box platform runs Oracle’s Java software and incorporates ARM’s Sensinode software, which securely connects large numbers of low-power edge node devices using standards-based technologies such as 6LoWPAN, CoAP and OMA Lightweight M2M. These Freescale, ARM and Oracle technologies work together to provide a secure, end-to-end IoT gateway platform that speeds and simplifies the deployment of a vast array of innovative IoT services.
“The Internet of Things is an exciting opportunity that will only be fully realised if we can create an open, cross-industry platform to help customers decrease time to market, manage costs and securely deliver new capabilities for embedded devices,” said Nandini Ramani, vice president of development, Java Platform, Oracle. "…working with Freescale and ARM [Oracle is addressing] this challenge by delivering a standards-based, secure service platform, built on Java and [ARM] mbed, so we can enable the market to take full and rapid advantage of the new business opportunities presented by the Internet of Things."
In addition to evolving IoT gateways, Freescale, ARM and Oracle are also working to streamline the development of IoT edge node products under the ARM mbed project. The companies plan to evolve the native hardware abstraction layer (HAL) ARM mbed provides to allow Oracle Java ME Embedded software to run seamlessly on ARM-based Freescale Kinetis microcontrollers. Enabling the secure, proven and widely adopted Java framework to operate on Kinetis MCUs will establish a dramatic expansion of processing platform choices and end-product form factors.
Earlier, Freescale and Oracle announced the initiation of a relationship to help rapidly evolve the Internet of Things (IoT). A Freescale spokesman commented that in some quarters there is a cellular-radio-centric view of the IoT, whereas much of that is carried will in reality be low-data-rate, over sub-GHz links, but can nevertheless be IPv6 (Internet protocol) based, eliminating the need for multiple “boxes” as access points. This implies, the same spokesman continues, bringing the microcontroller scale of the IoT to the same level of security as the enterprise. For this, among other reasons – not least, that there will be many applications to be written for the IoT, and there is a pool of coders already skilled in Java – Freescale has chosen not to “re-invent the wheel” but has opted to host the Oracle/Java solution on its hardware.
As part of the collaboration, Freescale will join the Java Community Process (JCP) and work with Oracle and other JCP members to drive standard technical specifications for the Java platform. Freescale’s focus in the JCP will initially be on Java for resource-constrained processing platforms, such as the low-cost, small geometry microcontrollers that provide the embedded intelligence for IoT-enabled products.
In addition, Freescale has joined the OpenJDK community, where it will work with Oracle to enhance Java for Freescale i.MX application processors, as well as contribute to open implementations of Java APIs for the IoT.
In addition to standards activities, Freescale and Oracle will collaborate on technology initiatives designed to speed and simplify the development of next-generation IoT products. The companies plan to establish abstraction layer technology allowing Oracle Java ME Embedded to run seamlessly on Freescale’s proven MQX embedded operating system and across a broad spectrum of Freescale microcontrollers, expanding the available processing platform choices for developers looking to create innovative IoT edge node products. Other joint technology efforts are expected to include the optimisation of Java to run on Freescale’s i.MX 6 series applications processors, as well as further cooperation on the creation of Freescale’s “one box” reference platform — a new, secured service platform based on Freescale silicon and Oracle Java SE Embedded that standardises and consolidates the delivery and management of IoT services for the home automation, industrial and manufacturing automation markets.
Freescale; www.freescale.com
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