Samsung Pledges $100m To Internet Of Things Development

Samsung’s CEO BK Yoon spoke at the opening keynote for CES 2015 in Las Vegas today, where he said that Samsung will focus its attention on the Internet of Things and pledged a lot of money to make sure all things are connected to an open system by the end of 2020.

He promised more than a $100 million (£65 million) in funding for the creation of an open Internet of Things.

“I’ve heard people say they want to create a single operating system for IoT, but these people only work with their own devices. We can deliver the benefits of IoT only if all sensors can talk to each other,” said Yoon.

“I’m making a promise that our IoT devices and products will be open. We will ensure that others can easily connect to our devices”, he added.

The Internet of Things is a term describing online connectivity for devices you wouldn’t usually see connected, like refrigerators, coffee machines or washing machines.

Once connected to a bigger network, they can communicate with each other to maximise efficiency, monitoring and control.

Samsung will focus on an “open” system because, even though there are many different devices that are already internet-ready, different standards mean they can’t effectively talk to each other.

“The IoT is not a pipe dream any more, it’s ready to go. That’s because there are many consumer devices already out there, ready to connect to IoT,” said Yoon. “The opportunities and benefits of IoT are huge, but so are the challenges. We need an open system and to collaborate across industries, not just within technology.”