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Linux Foundation AllSeen Alliance Expands Internet of Things Efforts

The AllSeen Alliance today announced new initiatives and momentum in its bid to help advance standards for the emerging landscape that is the Internet of Things (IoT). The AllSeen Alliance is a multi-stakeholder effort that is operated as a Linux Foundation Collaboration project. The Linux Foundation first announced the AllSeen Alliance effort in December 2013, […]

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Sean Michael Kerner

Jan 6, 2015

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The AllSeen Alliance today announced new initiatives and momentum in its bid to help advance standards for the emerging landscape that is the Internet of Things (IoT).

The AllSeen Alliance is a multi-stakeholder effort that is operated as a Linux Foundation Collaboration project. The Linux Foundation first announced the AllSeen Alliance effort in December 2013, with the AllJoyn code contribution from Qualcomm serving as the basis. AllJoyn is a framework for enabling secure and seamless connectivity, as well as access, for IoT devices.

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Now the AllSeen Alliance is expanding the framework with the AllJoyn Gateway Agent that expands the footprint of IoT features beyond a user’s local environment, all the way out to the cloud.

“The AllJoyn Gateway Agent comprises new libraries and extensions to AllJoyn to enable secure cloud-based services access to for AllJoyn-enabled devices,” Philip DesAutels, senior director of IoT at The Linux Foundation explained to Datamation. “It’s an enhancement to AllJoyn’s existing proximal networking capabilities.”

From a deployment perspective, the new AllJoyn Gateway Agent can be installed on Linux or OpenWRT based WiFi routers, automation hubs and other devices. DesAutels said that the new Gateway Agent release is version 1.0 and is based on AllJoyn 14.06. He added that the technology development roadmap includes updating gateway Agent to support AllJoyn Security 2.0, which will be part of the 15.04 release of AllJoyn later this year.

In the AllJoyn Gateway Agent 1.0 release, DesAutels said that there is support for AllJoyn end-to-end security and encryption between the gateway and and the proximal AllJoyn devices and applications.

“Gateway Agent Connectors connect the Gateway Agent to cloud-based services and other networks and provide connectivity, interaction and integration over a variety of protocols including using REST, XMPP, MQTT and TR-069,” DesAutels explained.

From a security logging perspective, the AllJoyn Gateway Agent does not include its own log file system for device auditing, though DesAutels noted that auditing service functionality can be easily added to a Connector.

In addition to the new Gateway Agent, the AllSeen Alliance is highlighting its growth over the past year. There are currently 112 members in the AllSeen Alliance including some of the biggest names in consumer electronics with Sony, Panasonic, Sharp and LG Electronics among the member companies.

A key part of the effort is to help enable interoperability across vendors for IoT devices and services, which the AllSeen Alliance has also advanced over the last year. The “Designed for AllSeen” Compliance and Certification program is a core part of the interoperability effort, providing consumers with the guarantee that certified products will all work together.

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at Datamation and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.