August 29, 2018
To solve the apparently inevitable fragmentation of IoT and its considerable security concerns amongst the public, a brave attempt has been made by a new startup named Foundries.
With the intent of solidifying a unified security solution for the rising number of connected devices, Foundries launched its Micro Platforms last week. The company’s CEO George Grey had this to say about the matter “Our mission is solving the problem of IoT and embedded space where there is no standardized core platform like Android for phones.”
The timing for the launch of the solution has been called ‘propitious’ by the experts, as a recent survey by Dynatrace brought light on the rapidly declining confidence of consumers in the future of IoT. Despite the highly cited prediction from Gartner, that “[connected devices] will reach 20.4 billion by 2020”, the growing concern from the public for the security of IoT devices, has largely dampened their spirits for making big investments in autonomous cars and connected household devices.
These apprehensions were also causing concerns among the investors about the future of the technology, as cybersecurity precautions in IoT are not something which can be fixed quickly. Often experts have quoted a universal solution to be the most effective strategy. However, the fragmented nature of the technology and the variety of the devices have always kept manufacturers from deriving any such solution. To put it simply, no current technology was up for the task. Moreover, no tech manufacturing company would want to give the competitive advantage to others by allowing these to create unified solutions which they would employ in their devices, not to mention how such a solution would have complicated the upgrade functionalities.
As George said, “Today’s connected devices require modern software and secure update techniques. Rather than legacy software builds being maintained for product lifetimes that can reach 10 years or more, the micro Platforms™ are built from the ground up to enable product manufacturers to always and immediately deploy the latest security updates, bug fixes and new features to their customers, ensuring the safety of the Internet of Things and the security of data throughout the network.”
This third-party dedicated solution seems the most practical approach left. As well as this though, the subscription-based scheme with which the company is offering its service, makes it more lucrative for all parties concerned. At present, the company is offering three major, and one hobbyist and education package with varying amounts of complexity involved.
One of the most exciting features of these products is the fixed price of the subscription plans. So it doesn’t matter how many devices a supplier delivers, there will be no additional charges on the company. Foundries will provide over-the-air updates on an occasional basis to cover all the devices with security patches.
Furthermore, the ease of logging out of the subscription plan with maintenance alternative provides yet another advantage, making the whole service more feasible and lucrative for the connected devices’ manufacturers.
So with Microsoft Azure’s unified approach with IoT ecosystem and such initiatives by startups, it does seem like a more convenient and secure IoT atmosphere is all set to increase consumer adoption rates for IoT. Now what remains to be seen is how effective these solutions will prove to be against the more evolved cybersecurity threats.
Resources:
https://foundries.io/uploads/2018/08/21/Foundriesio%20Press%20Release%20-%20Aug%202018.pdf
https://www.enterprisetech.com/2018/08/22/startup-focuses-on-updating-iot-devices/
https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2017-02-07-gartner-says-8-billion-connected-things-will-be-in-use-in-2017-up-31-percent-from-2016
