Intel IoT Executive: We're 'Uniquely Positioned' To Partner For The Internet Of Things

Intel executive Venkata ’Murthy’ Renduchintala said Wednesday that the company is ’uniquely positioned’ as a partner for tapping into the lucrative Internet of Things market.

’The interconnectedness of everything is something that will be a real game-changer,’ he told partners and developers during his keynote at Intel Developer Forum, which takes place in San Francisco this week. ’And Intel is uniquely positioned to partner with you to make that happen.’

Intel’s Internet of Things platform – which is made up of reference architectures, as well as processors that enable sensors and gateways at the edge of Internet of Things solutions – will make up the backbone of IoT applications for industrial, enterprise and vertical markets, said Renduchintala, vice president and general manager of Internet of Things at the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company.

[Related: Intel Developer Forum: 10 Internet of Things Applications Bringing In The Money]

Renduchintala, a former Qualcomm executive who Intel hired in November, has been charged with leading tIntel's shift in strategy from a PC-focused company to a connected device, cloud and data center company with a tighter emphasis on the Internet of Things.

Intel during Renduchintala’s keynote showcased different use cases for the Internet of Things in real life – including connected solutions for firefighters.

As part of this solution, Intel partnered with Honeywell to connect a Quark processor to the firefighters' self-contained breathing apparatus so that while they are in dangerous areas others can track how much oxygen they have left in their tank – and ultimately make critical life decisions based on that information.

As part of Intel’s Internet of Things strategy, Renduchintala said the company will focus on the development and deployment of 5G, the next generation of mobile telecommunications standards.

This broadband technology will provide better speeds and will be able to keep up with the explosion of connected devices as part of the Internet of Things. Renduchintala said Intel is aiming for 5G trials in 2018, and commercial deployment of the technology by 2020.

’Given the M&A activity in this space, and Intel’s internal changes, partnerships and stated intent in the IoT market, Intel partners -- including Five Nines IT Solutions – have a compelling story to talk about with our customers,’ said Douglas Grosfield, founder and CEO of Five Nines IT Solutions, a Kitchener, Ontario-based strategic service provider. ’Security in the IoT space is playing a game of catch-up now that the industry’s focus is turning to risk mitigation instead of just getting any IoT-enabled product to market as fast as they can.’

For solution providers, Intel’s ’muscle’ in the Internet of Things will help create opportunities for its channel partners, said Grosfield.

’Ubiquity of Internet-enabled devices is growing, and control over the sanctity of the data these devices share is an important piece of the puzzle, albeit an afterthought until lately. Intel will bring much-needed muscle to the game, and is in a position to effect positive change, which will always spell opportunity for Intel partners,’ he said.

Also at the Intel Developer Forum, Intel introduced Joule, a module built for IoT applications by packing a high-performance system-on-module into a low-power package. The maker board enables users to take a concept from prototype into production at a ’fraction of the time and development cost,’ according to Intel.

Intel unveiled its Knowledge Builder Toolkit as well, which enables developers to create intelligent sensing applications that run directly on Intel’s low-power Curie module solution for wearables. The toolkit will be available in the first quarter of 2017, according to Intel.