It’s hot. Scorching hot. And it’s dark. The thick smoke threatens to penetrate his air-tight mask – it won’t, but it’s still effectively blocking his sight.

‘What would I do if my kids were left in a blaze like this? Heck, what if I don’t make it back?’

No. Not the time to let thoughts wander. Focus. Let the training kick back in. Floor, left, ceiling, right, clear; left foot. Floor, left, ceiling, right, clear, right foot. The firefighter continues to search the burning building, knowing he has mere minutes, maybe seconds, left to find the victims.

While the account above is fictitious, real-life emergency responder Han Gyeong-Seung of the Dongducheon Fire Department had been in a similar situation; only to face the tragedy of finding a victim after the fire was fully extinguished. Realizing there had to be a better way to navigate through a fire scene, Han reached out to Samsung Tomorrow Solutions in May, 2016.

Continue to read the full story (1,215 words) below, or jump to the summary (83 words) here.

A fireman demonstrates IGNIS in a simulated fire

The Blazing Contradiction

Fire is supposed to give light, not take it. The contradiction is almost funny – would have been if not for the scarring aftermath fires tend to leave behind. Of the many difficulties firefighters wrestle with, securing clear sight amidst blackouts and smoke-filled rooms is one of the deadliest. Insufficient vision not only makes it difficult for emergency responders to navigate the smoky labyrinth of live fire scenes but can also prevent them from spotting victims or locating the source of the fire in time.

A Solution… Which Is Also a Problem

One solution is to arm firefighters with thermal observation devices (TODs) which use thermal imaging cameras to highlight heat sources – usually survivors’ body heat or the origin of fire – against the rest of the scene. The problem? They’re difficult to use, heavy and expensive.

This infrared image, from the 1st field test, is similar to what firefighters can see using IGNIS

Conventional TODs for firefighters were mainly designed for a team rather than as a personal device for each member. The emergency response unit would have to rely on a designated operator to run to and fro to be the eyes for the whole team, limiting the effectiveness of this equipment.

Moreover, conventional TODs weigh around two kilograms, which is a hefty addition to the 20-to-40 kilograms of gear firefighters already have to bear. As with any physically challenging activity, every gram shed counts in improving performance.

And costing about 20 million Korean Won (roughly 19,000 US dollars) per device, many fire stations aren’t able to secure this equipment with their limited budget. The typical Korean fire station may have one or two of these – or none at all.

In a nutshell, they were oversized, clunky and expensive cameras little different from the ones used in research facilities.

In Search of Tomorrow’s Solutions

Samsung Tomorrow Solutions, the contest Han entered, is a social contribution competition where Samsung Electronics searches for social innovation ideas to fund and co-develop. The idea of a goal-specific TOD, aimed to assist men and women who risk their lives daily to save others, was met with open arms.

IGNIS, a thermal observation device customized for firefighters

This project, dubbed IGNIS, won grand prize in each the two years it took part in Samsung Tomorrow Solutions – IDEA Grand Prize in the first year (2016), winning critical prize money as well as additional funds to help further develop the idea, and IMPACT Grand Prize the following year (2017), providing the team still additional funds as well as support from Samsung Electronics’ engineers to help realize the solution. In 2017, a 5-person C-Lab team was designated to help expedite the IGNIS development process.

Design, Prototype, Test, Repeat

The goal was clear-cut from the beginning: A compact, easier-to-use, cost-effective thermal optical device that can withstand extreme conditions. The requirements for IGNIS were so different from conventional TODs that searching for incremental improvements didn’t make sense. So the team went to the drawing board and started from scratch.

Over the course of three prototypes, three field tests and multiple surveys, the IGNIS team sought advice from 104 real firefighters, whose collective experience added up to roughly 800 years.

The IGNIS team worked with local firefighters to fully understand their needs for a thermal imaging system

First, according to the firefighters’ feedback, the function was narrowed down to a simple, practical real-time viewing option. No screen capture; no multiple viewing modes; no excessively high resolution to burden the image processing unit; no replaceable batteries. Such changes would allow the team to build devices that are much more cost-efficient than previously-available TODs.

Doing away with unnecessary features also helped simplify the user interface down to two buttons, instead of the plethora of buttons and arrow keys.

ARTIK 710 module (left) and developer kit (source: https://www.artik.io/media/)

Second, with a focus on reducing size and weight, the IGNIS team designed the circuit around ARTIK 710, an IoT-ready module with basic processing, memory, and connectivity features in a single package. Leveraging the expertise and experience in creating cutting-edge mobile devices and eliminating unnecessary components, the team was able to reduce the size and weight drastically – down to 350 grams.

Finally, the case too, was reimagined to free up both hands of the firefighter. Taking a precious hand away from a firefighter limits the unit’s fire-fighting and rescuing capacity – that’s a hand that could have been taking down obstacles, holding a hose, carrying a victim, or assisting the other hand in doing more demanding tasks.

After countless designs, mockups and prototypes, IGNIS settled on a compact shell about the size of a hand axe from the Stone Age for ease of use. IGNIS also features a latch – it can be attached to the mask, on shoulders, or other compatible accessories where the user sees fit.

Real firefighters provided continuous insight throughout the IGNIS development process

20 months after the initial idea proposition, IGNIS came to be a compact, stow-almost-anywhere, easily retrievable, easy-to-use, heat-enduring device that’s 70% lighter than conventional TODs.

In November, the team produced 1,000 units and donated them to fire departments, safety centers and National Counter-Terrorism centers throughout Korea.

From idea to reality – the 20-month journey of IGNIS

Real-Life Testimonies

1,000 IGNIS devices have been commissioned for about half a year now, and Han has set up a digital forum to share information about the device. The following are stories from firefighters that have used IGNIS in real life:

Seulchan Jeong (Bucheon Fire Department): Just this February, we received a call reporting smoke but couldn’t find the source in the multi-residence building. Using IGNIS, we were able to spot a sealed room that was 4℃ hotter than the others to find a suicide attempt using charcoal smoke. I’m happy to report that we were able to save another life.

Anonymous (Daegu Fire Department): We had a motel fire. The building had maze-like corridors and we didn’t have information on which rooms were occupied. We used IGNIS to do quick visual sweeps of each room and were able to save all guests in the establishment.

Anonymous (Dongducheon Fire Department): We thought we had an electric fire – smoke was coming out of a power outlet. But upon double-checking with IGNIS, we learned that the strongest hot spot was in the ceiling. Quickly finding the source of the fire, we were able to eliminate all threats before more serious damages occurred.

Anonymous (Gangwon Fire Department): We had put out the major flames in a recent textile factory fire. Using IGNIS we were able to quickly locate and put out residual fire as well. Otherwise, we would have had to open all the hatches in the pipes and machinery and fully sweep the ceiling to confirm complete extinguishment, which would have been very time-consuming and potentially dangerous.

Changmin Ji (Gimpo Fire Department): In addition to fires, IGNIS has proven useful in marine rescue activities, too. Victims’ body heat stands out in the cold water so TODs become very handy, especially at night.

Anonymous (Incheon Fire Department): IGNIS made me think of my fallen colleagues – many would have survived if we had more TODs in the field.

About Samsung Tomorrow Solutions

Created in 2013, Samsung Tomorrow Solutions is an open social contribution contest that helps people pursue and realize ideas to change society for the better through technical solutions.

Samsung Electronics selects submissions under four categories – Education, Health-Medical, Environment-Safety, and Local Community – and provides support as well as financial prizes to the winners. For ideas that have particularly great potential, the company can invest additional assets including financial, technical and human resources, to further develop the solution.

This year’s Samsung Tomorrow Solutions contest is already underway. For more details, visit: https://www.tomorrowsolutions.org

• Samsung Electronics helped create IGNIS, a personal thermal observation device (TOD) customized for firefighters that is affordable, compact and 70% lighter than conventional TODs
• Project IGNIS was initiated by a firefighter who submitted his idea to Samsung Tomorrow Solutions, an open social contribution contest for ideas to change the world through technical solutions
• A designated C-Lab team helped expedite the development process
• 1,000 IGNIS devices have been donated to fire departments, safety centers and National Counter-Terrorism centers throughout Korea

1. Faster, more transparent machine learning

Artificial intelligence (AI) will dramatically expand within the next 12 months. It is already changing the way people interact with a number of applications, platforms and services across both consumer and enterprise environments.

In the next couple of years, there will be new approaches on two fronts. Firstly, less data will be required to train an algorithm. This means an image recognition system that currently needs 100,000 images to learn how to operate will only need a small fraction of that number. This will make it easier to quickly implement powerful machine learning systems.

Secondly, the technology will become more transparent. Advances in technology will mean researchers will be able to open the black box of AI and more clearly explain why a particular model made the decision it did. Currently, a lot of academia and start-ups are putting much effort into understanding how a machine makes decisions, how the models are learning from the data and what are the parameters of data that influence the models.

Scott Phoenix, The CEO of Vicarious, makes a presentation about human-level intelligent robots at the Samsung CEO Summit last October in San Francisco. (source: www.vicarious.com)

Samsung plans to build an AI platform under a common architecture that will provide the deepest understanding of usage context and behaviors. This is one of the core strategies to make the user-centric AI ecosystem. Samsung NEXT has also invested in various companies innovating in the field, including Vicarious, a company developing neuroscience-based artificial general intelligence (AGI) for robots for simpler deployment with faster training and Bonsai, which develops an AI platform that empowers enterprises to create, deploy and manage AI models, and FloydHub, a start-up that has developed a cloud service for machine learning.

2. New AR and VR form factors and viewing models

Both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are increasingly being relied upon to create more immersive worlds where technology enables users to get more hands-on with virtual overlays and environments. In the case of AR, devices won’t remove us from our world, but will rather enable us to have objects appear as if they were really there.

2018 will witness more developers embracing AR, starting to make interesting applications moving beyond the world of gaming. One such example is a furniture company planning to make its full catalogue available in AR. Samsung NEXT has invested in companies like 8i, which provides a platform that enables true 3D (fully volumetric) video capture of people, allowing viewers to walk around as real humans in VR and AR.

8i’s Holo augmented reality application enables digital recreation of people and characters to be seen in the real world through a smartphone camera. (source: www.8i.com)

Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) will see foundational technology improvements in the quality of their displays, sensors, and materials. In 2018, there will be a lot of excitement in the industry in the form of M&A and investment activities. “For VR, we will see more standalone devices, falling between existing HMDs powered by mobile phones, and high-end hardware connected to powerful PCs. This will enable more people to experience the technology in new ways,” said Ajay Singh, Samsung NEXT Ventures.

3. Blockchain to look beyond cryptocurrencies

“In 2017, we saw blockchain technology increasingly applied to develop unbanked countries and communities,” said Raymond Liao from Ventures. “With underpinnings in peer-to-peer transactions, blockchain has the power to democratize transactions by removing the middleman and reducing the needless fees that so frequently hamstring those deprived of banking services.”

Cryptocurrency is the dominant killer application for blockchain up to now. However, we will see blockchain entrepreneurs and decentralization idealists, freshly financed by token sales, marching to either empower consumers against the one-sided data monetization paradigm, or break up enterprise data silos in, e.g., supply chain and healthcare industries.

Samsung’s focus on security will be an advantage for the company as far as blockchain is concerned. The elephant in the room around blockchain is that the entire technology is only as secure as the users’ keys. Samsung’s technology enables enterprise customers to be assured of a certain level of security in how their employees interact with their blockchain-based apps. Furthermore, Samsung NEXT includes in its portfolio companies like HYPR that provides enterprise with enhanced security and user experience using blockchain and Filament that secures Internet of Things (IoT) devices with their blockchain protocol.

4. IoT to put power in the hands of healthcare patients

Healthcare is an industry that is ripe for disruption. We will begin to see the power of IoT in healthcare with the emergence of inexpensive, continuous ways to capture and share our data, as well as derive insights that inform and empower patients. Moreover, wearable adoption will create a massive stream of real-time health data beyond the doctor’s office, which will significantly improve diagnosis, compliance and treatment. In short, a person’s trip to the doctor will start to look different – but for the right reasons.

Samsung is using IoT and AI to improve efficiency in healthcare. Samsung NEXT has invested in startups in this area, such as Glooko which helps people with diabetes by uploading the patient’s glucose data to the cloud to make it easier to access and analyse them. Another noteworthy investment in this space from Samsung NEXT is HealthifyMe, an Indian company whose mobile app connects AI-enabled human coaches with people seeking diet and exercise advice.

HealthifyMe connects patients with AI-based healthcare coaches

(source: www.healthifyme.com)

Samsung is uniquely positioned among tech companies in that it already has a significant business in healthcare. The company has solutions in wearables, hospital screens and tablets, and X-ray and MRI machines. By tying all these solutions together and cooperating with other partners, it will enable patients to manage their health from their own devices.

5. IoT breaks free from homes and enters the city

In the next couple of years, one should expect to see IoT transform urban environments thanks to the combination of learnings from smart homes and buildings, and the proliferation of 5G. Transformation will happen in waves, starting with innovation that requires fewer regulations. It is expected to impact the daily life of the community in meaningful ways, such as parking solutions, mapping, and bike share schemes.

Samsung NEXT already has various IoT investments including Stae for data-driven urban planning, and Swiftly that provides enterprise software to help transit agencies and cities improve urban mobility.

The company has its own IoT platform SmartThings—an acquisition that came through the Samsung NEXT team. The platform is connected to ARTIK for enterprises and HARMAN Ignite’s connected car platform, creating a comprehensive IoT ecosystem. Based on its progress on IoT, Samsung showcased its vision for ‘Samsung City 2020’ at this year’s CES, which is on its way to realization.

The Samsung Electronics CES 2018 booth showed off its “Samsung City 2020” concept

Samsung Electronics today at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) outlined its vision and strategy for intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) experiences.

During today’s press conference, Samsung demonstrated its unique ability to make seamlessly connected consumer experiences across Samsung devices at home, at the office and on-the-go. Samsung has been working to make all Samsung products IoT ready by 2020. In addition, the company announced today its plan to advance IoT adoption via an open, consistent and intelligent platform.

“At Samsung, we believe IoT should be as easy as flipping a switch. With the new products and services announced today, we’re making IoT easier and more seamless,” said Hyunsuk (HS) Kim, President, Head of Samsung’s Consumer Electronics Division and Samsung Research. “We’re committed to accelerating IoT adoption for everyone and making all Samsung connected devices intelligent by 2020. These advancements will help consumers realize the benefits of a seamless and simple connected life.”

Hyunsuk (HS) Kim, President, Head of Samsung’s Consumer Electronics Division and Samsung Research

Intelligence of Things for Everyone 

Samsung’s IoT philosophy is built on open innovation making it accessible to more people and when infused with intelligence, can personalize their experience. Today’s fragmented and complex IoT ecosystem is a barrier to adoption. For IoT to be approachable and accessible it requires scale and open innovation. Thanks to a robust portfolio of products including TVs, appliances and smartphones, and Samsung’s leadership to deliver 5G connectivity, Samsung is well-positioned to deliver an open IoT ecosystem via SmartThings.

Tim Baxter, President and CEO of Samsung Electronics North America

Samsung is working with partners such as the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) to set common industry standards. OCF is the largest IoT standardization body in the world and Samsung’s ARTIK chip, air conditioner and Family Hub refrigerator have already been certified by the association for interoperability criteria needed for IoT.

In spring 2018, Samsung will unite its IoT applications, including Samsung Connect, Smart Home, Smart View and more into the SmartThings app to connect and control any SmartThings-enabled device directly from their phone, TV, or car from a single application. Additionally, Samsung announced plans to connect HARMAN Ignite to the SmartThings Cloud, moving the IoT experience beyond the smart home to the car. As a result, consumers will be able to manage their connected home from the car and vice versa.

Yoon Lee (left), Senior Vice President of Samsung Electronics America and Joe Stinziano (right), Executive Vice President of Samsung Electronics America

An integral part of Samsung’s vision is to connect devices and make them intelligent. With Bixby, Samsung is bringing its personalized intelligence service to more devices. In 2018, select Samsung Smart TVs and new Family Hub refrigerators will have voice control via Bixby to make everyday tasks easier. With devices and services working together and infused with intelligence, in-home activities become easier.

Alanna Cotton, Vice President of Samsung Electronics America

Because increased connectivity requires improved security, Samsung announced that it has incorporated its trusted Samsung Knox technology into its connected devices, including Smart TVs and Smart Signages, additional mobile products and Smart appliances. Knox technology includes a hardware security system and firmware updates to help ensure devices are protected.

Dinesh Paliwal, President and CEO of HARMAN International

Building the Connected Future

Samsung highlighted its ongoing commitment to investing in breakthrough technologies. In 2017, Samsung spent more than $14 billion on R&D. The company also increased investments through Samsung NEXT – a key initiative to accelerate its transformation into an integrated hardware and software company.

Samsung also created a new AI Center as part of its newly consolidated Samsung Research unit. The AI Center, which includes four labs in Toronto, Montreal, Cambridge (UK) and Russia in 2018, will be coupled with Samsung’s ongoing work in Korea and Silicon Valley and the company’s M&A activities to drive its AI ambitions forward.

Seamless Device Experiences

New products and services announced at CES 2018 highlight exactly how Samsung is making progress to create seamless IoT experiences.

• Home: Starting this year, Samsung Smart TVs will create a connected fabric between devices to provide effortless log-in for users from the moment the TV is unboxed. The new Family Hub refrigerators offer a wide range of smart features like syncing food storage with meal preparation, and keeping family members better connected and organized. Samsung Smart TVs and Family Hub refrigerators features Bixby, giving TVs greater access to applications, the ability to easily search movies by genre and actors, and display personal photos while Family Hub refrigerators will be able to recognize individual voices of family members and give personalized information such as news, weather and calendar updates. Samsung Smart TVs and Family Hub refrigerators will also operate on a single connected cloud platform, the SmartThings Cloud, serving as a smart dashboard to monitor and control connected devices.

• Office: Samsung is redefining the concept of the traditional office with flexible solutions that fit the needs of the modern mobile workforce. The Samsung Notebook 9 Pen brings power, portability and performance to the notebook PC for those whose jobs don’t end when they leave the office. The 55-inch Samsung Flip interactive digital flip chart, simplifies office collaboration by connecting seamlessly with group members’ smartphones and notebooks for faster content and idea sharing. Up to four different participants can introduce content or annotate directly on screen at the same time using either their fingers or an embedded pen.

• Mobility: Samsung is helping to lead the transition to 5G networks that will usher in a new set of connected experiences. Samsung is partnering with wireless carriers and broadband providers to conduct the first customer trials of 5G connectivity with up to 100 times faster speeds than the 4G LTE available on phones today. With 5G connectivity, Samsung demonstrated its vision for more comfortable driving. The Samsung Digital Cockpit shows how cars will become seamlessly connected with other ‘things’ as part of IoT. The new dashboard design, along with Bixby, allows drivers to easily control the in-car experience and connected devices at home through voice, touch, gesture and context-based triggers. Passengers can also enjoy ultra-fast streaming movies on the go. The industry-first 5G-capable Telematics Control Unit (TCU) can download and upload data faster and enables vehicle-to-everything communications, laying the groundwork for better autonomous driving.

For more information about Samsung at CES, please visit https://news.samsung.com.

The Samsung ARTIK IoT Platform with SmartThings Cloud will provide everything companies need to quickly develop secure IoT products and services including production-ready hardware, software and tools, cloud services and a growing partner ecosystem. The addition of new ARTIK secure IoT modules enables device-level protection for safe data exchange, interoperability, and secure access to ARTIK IoT services including device onboarding, orchestration, management, and over-the-air updates.

“Security in the age of IoT means new levels of complexity and risk. The next generation of IoT products and services will be more deeply integrated into our lives than ever before,” said James Stansberry, Senior Vice President and General Manager of ARTIK IoT, Samsung Electronics. “Unfortunately, most companies are not prepared to address the challenges of securing every link of the chain, from device to IoT cloud. With the ARTIK IoT Platform and our new security hardened system-on-modules, we make it easier and more affordable for companies to adopt best security practices and deliver trustworthy products that will shape the future of IoT.”

New ARTIK Secure Systems-on-Modules

The new ARTIK secure IoT modules combine hardware-backed security with pre-integrated memory, processing, and connectivity for a broad range of IoT applications, from simple edge nodes like sensors and controllers, to home appliances, healthcare monitors, and gateways for smart factories. This helps protect data and prevent devices from being taken over, disabled, or used maliciously.

“The New ARTIK secure systems-on-modules provide the performance and security features we need for our new Samsung IoT appliances,” said Youngsoo Do, Senior Vice President of Digital Control Group at Samsung Electronics. “Together, Samsung ARTIK platform and SmartThings Cloud will create opportunities to help us to get to market faster and safely deliver new services that will enrich the lives of our customers.”

ARTIK secure IoT modules provide a strong root of trust from device-to-cloud with a factory-injected unique ID and keys stored in tamper-resistant hardware. Samsung’s public key infrastructure (PKI) enables mutual authentication to the cloud to identify each device on the network and support whitelisting. Customers can use the new Secure Boot feature and code signing portal to validate software authenticity on start-up. In addition, the secure IoT modules provide a hardware-protected Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) with a secure operating system and security library to process, store, and manage sensitive resources, including keys and tokens on devices. Information is protected using FIPS 140-2 data encryption and secure data storage.

“Hardening the security of IoT devices once the product has been deployed is extremely difficult,” said Vikrant Gandhi, Digital Transformation Industry Director at Frost & Sullivan. “Manufacturers must use components that have built-in defenses for both device and data integrity. ARTIK IoT platform’s new security measures provide this protection from the start, and helps companies operate more safely in the Internet of Things.”

ARTIK “s” secure IoT modules will be available on November 30 through Samsung ARTIK channel partners. The ARTIK IoT Platform and ARTIK cloud services are available today.

Ecosystem Expansion

Samsung’s new SmartThings Cloud will unite all of the company’s existing IoT cloud services – Samsung Connect Cloud and ARTIK Cloud – into one consolidated IoT cloud platform. This seamless, open ecosystem will allow better and easier connectivity across an expanded set of devices and services from home to industrial applications.

In addition to today’s announcements, Samsung continues to expand the ARTIK IoT Platform and accelerate businesses’ path to profitability. This expansion includes the recent launch of the new ARTIK service to monetize data from interoperable devices and enable an IoT data economy, as well as the addition of Ubuntu, the industry’s most familiar Linux distribution, on ARTIK high performance system-on-modules. Earlier this month, Samsung – as a member of the Industry Council (ITI) – also announced a commitment to enable a National IoT Strategy Dialogue that is open, collaborative and secure.

For more information:

Samsung ARTIK platform, visit https://artik.io and https://artik.cloud

Samsung ARTIK marketplace, visit https://www.artik.io/iotmarketplace

The visual of IoT is a compelling one: With a simple command or touch of a button, you can control the lightbulbs in your living room, lock your back door and set the alarm for the garage door. And while developers and manufacturers all around the world are working hard to create their own smart IoT devices and solutions, few are compatible with each other. What this means for consumers who are keen to make their homes “smart” is a lot of work: how many different apps and what level of tech expertise will they need in order to have their devices work in sync? There are also concerns around privacy and security – surely all this technology means more risk of exposure. While there’s great appeal in the fantasy of the “smart” home, the barrier is all the work it will take to make this a reality.

Samsung believes in a future where our digital world is as ubiquitous and essential as electricity, with security so effective you almost won’t have to think about it. It will just work, on demand and just the way you want it; no need to interact with many different apps to achieve results. With our unified approach, we will deliver a truly integrated experience that touches every single “thing” around our customers – while ensuring privacy and security.

For over 40 years, the user experience is what has driven Samsung to develop technologies that – to put it simply – make people’s lives easier. While the features and products are important, the inspiration behind our IoT offering is the same: the tangible benefits for consumers. With Samsung Connect bringing together our appliances, TVs and other everyday items (such as lightbulbs and locks) to one touch control on your smartphone, ARTIK as our secure IoT platform, and of course, with SmartThings’ open and easy integration solution , we are closer than ever in transforming the “smart” home fantasy into a reality. What’s more, with the introduction of new cellular network infrastructure that can better support IoT, we are looking to expand the IoT experience beyond the boundaries of the smart home. Most importantly, we are removing the barriers and bringing them all together in one, integrated IoT experience.

Today at the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC 2017), we are proud to announce SmartThings Cloud, which will unite all of our IoT clouds into a single powerful platform. Through this new platform and vision for more powerful intelligence through Bixby 2.0, also announced today at SDC 2017, we are working to democratize IoT with intelligence that is easy to use and accessible for everyone.

The newly united SmartThings  will be an open ecosystem, ready to work with not only Samsung devices, but a wide range of connected devices. From early next year, consumers will have the freedom to choose from the world’s broadest range of IoT devices and control them using just a single app. Whether it’s price or design or functionality driving their purchase decision, consumers can now select devices that suit their budget and lifestyle with no constraints.  This spirit of simplicity is also relevant to developers, as they need to code for just one single API to give their products and services instant compatibility across over 1 billion devices. Additionally, it’s a cloud that is designed for intelligence not as a bolt-on. The end result is a seamless experience that will enhance the lives of our consumers in a way they’ve only dreamed of.

As part of the world’s largest open ecosystem of IoT devices, with products that ‘Works with SmartThings’ or even ‘Works as SmartThings Hub,’ our partners are integral in delivering this ultimate seamless experience to consumers. Many are already harnessing the power and simplicity of the SmartThings Cloud to bring next-generation solutions to their customers. We want to help them drive change through scale and have a unique opportunity to grow their IoT business.

With the new and – most importantly – open SmartThings Cloud, Samsung is connecting the fabric of the IoT experience and leading the democratization of the Internet of Things. Imagine turning on your favorite playlist, adding a few items to your shopping list and dimming the living room lights with simple voice commands, all in quick succession. Imagine devices from different manufacturers and service providers no longer jostling for supremacy – they all just simply work together. This is what meaningful changes in technology ultimately delivers: A better, more enhanced experience that exceeds consumers’ expectations and simply delivers more. For more information on SmartThings Cloud, please visit our SmartThings Developer Website.

Samsung today is an unquestioned global technology leader – yet, in this complex and competitive global landscape, the company has been embarking on an active course to transform itself, navigating emergent challengers and new technology categories, as it sets course for the future.

A major driver in this transformation has been Samsung’s expansion in Silicon Valley, where the company has had roots for over 30 years. Since 2012, Samsung has been investing heavily to broaden its operations and strategic partnerships in the valley, assembling a cadre of area veterans and innovators to cultivate emerging areas such as AI, health, IoT, and the cloud, and at the macro-level, to transform Samsung’s own organization and operations.

From the decision to expand operations in Silicon Valley, to the current efforts there, to Samsung’s relentless mission to remain at the forefront of technology change, this three-part special feature hears directly from Samsung leaders in the valley on what the company is doing there.

As part of Samsung’s efforts to lead in emergent, the company has established two major operations, SSIC and Samsung NEXT, in Menlo Park, San Jose and Mountain View, respectively. While SSIC focuses on the development of core technologies and components and Samsung NEXT into software and services, their driving approach is similar: openness and agility. With a series of transformative successes from both units, Samsung, throughout the organization, has taken notice of the effectiveness of this approach with traditional businesses from mobile to home entertainment benefiting from the wellspring in innovation.

“There is the perception that what we are doing at Samsung NEXT and SSIC is untraditional approach to the core culture of Samsung, but from my perception, that couldn’t be further from the truth,” said Jacopo Lenzi, who heads business development and M&A at Samsung NEXT. “Samsung is a company that has an amazing history of innovation, of breaking the rules and reinventing itself constantly. This is simply the next chapter in that.”

SSIC, Investments Driven by Open Innovation

To understand SSIC as a typical funding vehicle is only a partial picture. Gaining access to the resources of a technology giant such as Samsung is a huge boon for startups, and when SSIC determines to invest in a company, it does so with strategic reciprocity in mind: how will this investment contribute real value, particularly in open innovation, to Samsung at-large?

“We have to wear two hats,” said Shankar Chandran, Head of the Samsung Catalyst Fund(SCF), which is the investment arm of SSIC. “We have to think about how to make each company successful. But as employees of Samsung, we also have to think about how to add value back into Samsung. We have to wear both these hats at the same time.”

SCF’s lean team of just 10 people is strict in its approach. Each year, the team meetswith 1,500 startups , but selects only 100 for a second meeting, and then 15-20 businesses for ultimate funding. When it comes to choosing which startups to invest in, the business approach of the SCF team has been developed with deliberate intent and is spreading enthusiasm for its effectiveness.

Promoting collaboration makes up the largest proportion of SCF’s investment decisions. It’s linked clearly to the ethos around open innovation – the initiative to identify and grow the technologies and infrastructure of the future. Another key reason behind an SCF investment is to establish a toehold in a company, to find out its way of working and the competency of its leadership before an acquisition takes place. Finally, SCF also decides to invest in order to learn about a new, growing area, , such as AI. SCF might not work with the company immediately, but it might invest so that it can learn about the sector, the technology driving it and be in a leading position to work with the company in the future.

Chandran provides an illustration from a current project: “We’re investing in a company at the moment that does proteomics; technology that has the ability to measure thousands of proteins in the blood with high accuracy. If you can do that, you can tell when there are early signs of cancer. It’s possible that there may be opportunities if the company gets productized with a chip, as we’re the world’s largest chip company. We can’t work with the company today, but we may be able to in the future and when they are ready, we will be first in line.”

Carefully Selected Technology Domains for Large-Scale Samsung Growth

When it comes to focus areas, SSIC has the big picture in mind. “We’ve chosen five strategic technology domains in response to core questions: how does Samsung best become a fast leader, and how do we most aerodynamically achieve enormous growth?” said Chris Byrne, Head of IP Strategy at SSIC.

Described by Byrne as “working together like the five fingers of the hand,” the strategic technology domains are not distinct, but interactive, with one enabling the other:

• Internet of Things: Seen by Samsung as not just as a concept, but practical necessity given the company’s diversity of products
• Cloud and Data Storage: Tactically key because so much of cloud and data storage is being migrated to flash and semiconductor storage, traditional strengths for Samsung where innovation can enable new business models
• Smart Machines: Leveraging Samsung’s competence in smart technology and a huge potential boon area, expansion into a new character of smart machines which possess the ability to sense their environments, understand their learnings, and, ultimately, interact and engage
• Smart Health: Exploration based on two key synergistic trends, technology devices becoming increasingly biological, and at the same time, human biology becoming more computerized
• Privacy and Security: Beyond a product, the concept and assurance which will be interwoven into all new innovations

To elaborate on how these domains are meant to interact, Byrne provides an example, “You could be wearing a smart watch, and it detects something in your biology, which it then sends to be analyzed in the cloud as well as interact with other connected devices — an IoT phenomenon. Throughout this process, privacy and security provide the ultimate assurance and protection.”

Based on its strategic technology domains, the SSIC team has made several key moves which have already paid off to the larger Samsung ecosystem. For instance, SSIC created a partnership with Imec, a Belgian microelectronics company specializing in wearables, which soon was transitioned into Simband, an open developer platform for creating wearable health applications. SSIC is also currently working with Nestle to look at the science behind the food we eat to investigate ways of giving better recommendations for how we can be healthier—just another example of open innovation, with two leading companies in their respective fields working together for the greater good.

Samsung NEXT, and the Evolution of Samsung into a Comprehensive Tech Company

The Samsung NEXT team has deep roots in entrepreneurship. This stems from the leadership team’s collective 80+ years of first-hand experience in building, growing and scaling startups. The company’s intimate knowledge and drive to innovate through software and services startups is core to its mission: to help Samsung expand as a comprehensive technology company, beyond the proposition it’s consumers have traditionally known.

“Samsung has built itself as an incredible hardware company with great work being done in the software and services side, but the DNA and way it approaches its work is very much from its hardware core,” said Jacopo Lenzi, senior vice president at Samsung NEXT. “At NEXT, our mission is to co-drive the evolution of Samsung from a hardware manufacturer to a comprehensive tech company that ultimately is focused on delivering experiences and solutions for consumers, beyond devices.”

While many other tech companies in the valley may have disparate incubation, investments and acquisitions efforts that work independently to one another, Samsung NEXT deliberately eliminates these siloes and houses all of their functions under one organization. This unique approach gives early-stage software and services startups the opportunity to work with Samsung at any step in their journey and also allows NEXT to partner with entrepreneurs throughout the entire lifecycle of their startup, from idea to scale.

“If our Ventures investment group sees a startup that has a talented product and team, but may be a bit too early in development and haven’t quite found product-market fit, they may pass the company along to our Start team for an opportunity for that group to invest in the team at the incubation level.” said Lenzi. “This level-agnostic approach gives us the best opportunity to work with great entrepreneurs and provide Samsung’s rich resources to as many strong startups as we can. It’s our way of being able to utilize the right levers and tools to maximize achieving results for Samsung and startups everywhere.”

Strategic Objectives, the Key Aim Driving Startup Investments & Acquisitions

Samsung NEXT makes investments through the Samsung NEXT Fund, a USD 150 million vehicle for empowering early stage companies with capital. The Fund seeks to invest in startups—both their talented teams and ideas–that align with Samsung’s focus areas and objectives. Post investment, the NEXT team works closely with these startups to create partnerships that deliver strategic returns to Samsung and big financial returns to entrepreneurs and investors. Investments support Samsung’s current business initiatives, but more importantly, have the potential to create new, large business opportunities.

“Given the scope of Samsung’s interests, we invest in a variety of areas. We’re especially focused on AI, IoT, AR/VR, security, mobility and health,” said Brendon Kim, Managing Director of Samsung NEXT Ventures. “But, more than any specific tech category, we look for startups that have strong teams and disruptive solutions – startups where we can accelerate success and help us chart Samsung’s future.”

A majority of Samsung NEXT’s investments include companies based in the US, but the company has also invested in startups in Tel Aviv and are looking into Asia and Europe.

“Great ideas and entrepreneurs are definitely not limited to the US. They are found in all corners of the world and we are committed to finding and empowering great startups wherever they are,” said Kim.

In the case of acquisitions, Samsung NEXT will not only lead the purchase of a startup, but also the integration ofits management team and employees. Therefore, in the process of evaluating whether a company is a good fit for Samsung, Samsung NEXT needs to ascertain how well its product, people and processes will integrate into the larger fold.

One example of how the team at Samsung NEXT was able to do this successfully is with the acquisition of Loop Pay in 2015. Samsung NEXT identified that legacy systems were an obstacle in getting into the mobile payments market, so they found a company addressing this issue in a unique and scalable way. But the first step was to look for the right partner they could work with to build organically. It started with an investment before progressing through to a relationship with Samsung’s mobile business.

Lenzi explains, “In the case of Loop Pay, we didn’t immediately go for the acquisition. We didn’t see it as the ideal way to create a relationship with their company initially. It’s always about organically getting to the right place and solving the problem in the way that makes sense for both Samsung and the startup. It requires very close work with the startup, business units and our internal teams. That can only happen when all the right people are in one place and share a similar vision.”

Loop Pay became Samsung Pay and is now being rolled out around the world.

In other notable examples, late last year, Samsung NEXT spearheaded the acquisition of Viv Labs, the open AI platform, intended as a bold move to position Samsung firmly in AI and deliver down the line. In 2016, Samsung NEXT drove the acquisition of cloud-computing company Joyent to grow Samsung’s cloud-based services and capabilities for smartphones and internet-connected devices.

Samsung NEXT believes an acquisition is about finding the right fit within Samsung and that could be in a business unit or within Samsung NEXT’s own house. The latter is the case with connected and smart home IoT player, SmartThings which Samsung NEXT purchased in 2014.

These acquisitions as Lenzi explains should not be viewed in isolated verticals, but as part of the comprehensive evolution Samsung NEXT is seeking to effect throughout Samsung:

“In the transformation of Samsung to a comprehensive tech company, we have the opportunity to assemble and ultimately scale all the components of a software and services consumer stack. When looking at Viv, Joyent and Loop Pay, they may seem like three disparate dots on a very large map. It’s difficult to understand how they connect. But in thinking about the consumer experiences Samsung can deliver, these various acquisitions start to paint an amazing and surprising pointillistic picture. It’s Samsung NEXT’s job to execute against that vision.”

In the final part of this series, we’ll look at how Samsung plans to continue to spread the spirit of change being nurtured in Silicon Valley throughout its entire organization.

As more devices become connected, it is increasingly impractical to send all device data to the cloud for analysis. The need for local or “edge” processing of device data is already evident in manufacturing and other data-intensive industries. The SAMSUNG ARTIK 530 and 710 gateway modules provide a first-rate hardware platform for edge processing, combining an integrated, high-performance, multi-core processor, DRAM and flash memory and multiple radios in a compact module. With the new certification for SAP Leonardo, SAMSUNG ARTIK customers can now utilize SAP Leonardo for edge processing with full confidence, reducing development risk and accelerating the time-to-value for their IoT projects.

SAP Leonardo is the digital innovation system from SAP bringing together the software capabilities of IoT, machine learning, Big Data and analytics on the SAP Cloud Platform, and taking advantage of SAP’s experience, deep process and industry knowledge, and advanced design thinking methodology.

“This certification will help our customers configure edge and cloud processing functionality to meet their needs, allowing them to implement strong, differentiated IoT solutions in a variety of deployment scenarios,” said James Stansberry, Senior Vice President and U.S. head of ARTIK, Samsung Electronics. “SAMSUNG ARTIK will continue to add to our list of technology and distribution partners to support our customers, while expanding our core IoT interoperability, device lifecycle management, security and hardware product offerings.”

“We’re happy to have SAMSUNG ARTIK as our first partner with certified hardware supporting SAP Leonardo,” said Christoph Inauen, Vice President, IoT Go-to-Market and Partnerships for SAP. “The powerful ARTIK modules provide an excellent choice for customers looking to deploy SAP Leonardo IoT Edge computing in IoT projects. We see this capability as particularly important for OEMs and manufacturing customers that produce large quantities of data, and want to process some of that data locally for latency, cost or reliability reasons.”

The SAMSUNG ARTIK 530 and 710 gateway modules are available through worldwide distribution partners. For more information about the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform and development tools, please visit http://artik.io and http://artik.cloud.

SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. See http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

Forward-Looking Statement

Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions in this document are intended to identify such forward-looking statements, which include, but are not limited to, statements relating to the ability of  the partnership to allow customers, including OEMs and manufacturing customers, to implement enhanced solutions, reduce risk and accelerate time-to-value for their IoT projects. SAP and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.  undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. The factors that could affect SAP’s future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), including SAP’s most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

Samsung Electronics today announced new and advanced SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT platform products that will help companies get to market faster with more secure offerings and services, improve return on investment, and bring IoT another step closer to Samsung’s vision of intelligent things.

The advanced SAMSUNG ARTIK platform includes new end-to-end enterprise-grade security enhancements, and now enables easy-to-use, secure services for device onboarding, device and user management, edge node management, and secure OTA updates. Samsung is also introducing the new SAMSUNG ARTIK 053 module that will equip a new class of connected products with cutting-edge capabilities, and SAMSUNG ARTIK QuickStart, a design and development support program that will help customers and partners jumpstart their IoT businesses by making it easier and faster for companies to deliver secure IoT solutions that impact the lives of people across the globe.

The SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT platform makes it easier for businesses to securely activate, monitor, track, and add new functionality to products after deployment.  Together, with advanced SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud connectors and device orchestration and management tools, these new services will greatly increase the capabilities of connected products, promote secure interoperability, and elevate the value of customer solutions that depend on the interoperability of things.

“We believe security and interoperability are critical to enabling next-generation IoT products that can connect to, and work with, many different devices and services,” said James Stansberry, Senior Vice President and U.S. Head of ARTIK at Samsung Electronics. “A smart, powerful IoT platform is key to fostering an interoperable, and most importantly, secure ecosystem. That is why we developed the SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT platform from the ground up with end-to-end security, and why we continue to integrate new security enhancements across hardware, software, cloud and communications.”

“Leveraging SAMSUNG ARTIK is a value add for our customers,” said Youngsoo Do, Senior Vice President of Digital Control Group at Samsung Electronics. “SAMSUNG ARTIK is instrumental to Samsung in building secure IoT products, and getting to market faster. The ability to connect to other smart devices also enables new use cases, and is helping us realize our vision of making all Samsung products IoT-enabled.”

New capabilities and partners added to the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform include:

ARTIK 053 Module

The production-ready SAMSUNG ARTIK 053 module is an affordable IoT solution with high-performance and hardened security for next-generation edge products like connected home appliances, building products, health care devices, and industrial automation. The new SAMSUNG ARTIK 053 module can dramatically reduce development time with integrated real-time processing via a 320MHz ARM® Cortex® R4 core, 1.4MB RAM and 8MB Flash, software and a pre-certified Wi-Fi radio. The currently available SAMSUNG ARTIK family of IoT modules include pre-loaded access to the SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud platform secure services, and include software for faster and simpler development of new connected enterprise, industrial and consumer applications.

New Services and Platform Enhancements

The SAMSUNG ARTIK platform provides new, fully integrated end-to-end security enhancements across hardware, software and communications to make it easier for companies to deliver more secure connected IoT products and solutions.

New offerings in the SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud platform include fast device onboarding, edge node management, secure over the air (OTA) updates, integration with Amazon AWS Kinesis Stream, new cloud connectors including Google Assistant on Google Home and Amazon Alexa Smart Home Skill.

SAMSUNG ARTIK QuickStart Program

The new SAMSUNG ARTIK QuickStart program offers a wide-range of services that can cover the entire product design and development spectrum, including UX, UI, software, firmware, cloud, mobile app, end-to-end integration, and development, and elevate the user experience to support commercialization and IoT opportunities. It is accomplished through custom integration of the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform, on-site workshops, and training to suit the needs of customers and partners. It allows customers to start building solutions quickly and cost-effectively by significantly reducing the engineering time, effort and expertise needed to build IoT products.

Samsung Expands IoT Partnerships

Samsung and VMware today announced that VMware has joined the Samsung ARTIK Partner Program. The companies will work together to accelerate the development, deployment, and management of IoT solutions for enterprises.  Integration between the Little IoT Agent (Liota), a vendor-neutral open source software development kit (SDK) developed by VMware, and the Samsung ARTIK 530 module is being demonstrated in the Samsung booth at IoT World 2017. Also being demonstrated is the newly announced VMware Pulse IoT Center, a unified control panel that provides accurate and real-time visibility into the health of devices and can act on anomalies.  Samsung’s growing list of global technology and distribution partners will enable accelerated development and help deliver compelling new IoT solutions to their customers.

Additionally, to reach a wider audience and help speed up IoT development and time to market, Samsung reached a global distribution agreement with Mouser Electronics to distribute the SAMSUNG ARTIK family of modules, development kits and accessories.

The new SAMSUNG ARTIK 053 module is available for order today through worldwide distribution partners, including Arrow Electronics, Inc., Digi-Key, Mouser Electronics, Inc., and Mujin. You can find more information about the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform and development tools at http://artik.io and http://artik.cloud

Both Samsung and its partners’ solutions will be on exhibit at booth #210 at Internet of Things World 2017 at the Santa Clara Convention Center from May 16 – 18.

Also, the new SAMSUNG ARTIK 053 module will be showcased at TDC 2017 at the Hilton Union Square Hotel in San Francisco from May 16 – 17.

With the powerful combination of SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud and T-Mobile, companies like Breezie don’t have to sacrifice interoperability with other connected devices and services. The easy onboarding and interoperability of SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud allows connected devices – such as Amazon Alexa, Samsung SmartThings, iHealth Feel Wireless Blood Pressure Monitor and the Pulse Oximeter – to intelligently communicate with each other. SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud also offers a simplified development process that shortens time to market and enables healthcare solution platforms to focus on differentiation and innovation.

“We are proud that Breezie selected SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud and T-Mobile as their IoT solution partners,” said James Stansberry, senior vice president and U.S. head of SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT platform. “Through the SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud and T-Mobile platform, Breezie and other leading healthcare companies can utilize the power of the IoT to provide better healthcare services, improve the lives of patients and reduce costs.”

“Together, T-Mobile and SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud are removing the pain points in healthcare and IoT to deliver a market leading platform to customers,” said Doug Chartier, senior vice president of MVNO, IoT and national retail at T-Mobile. “By joining forces with SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud, we’ve streamlined the process for companies to bring their connected IoT solutions to market.”

The Samsung ARTIK Cloud is part of the SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT platform that unifies hardware, software, cloud, security and partner ecosystems in a single offering so that enterprises and healthcare companies can reduce the time, cost and risk typically associated with the delivery of complex IoT solutions. SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud complies with HIPAA requirements.

“After assessing available options, the combination of T-Mobile and SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud was the best IoT development solution to enable us to deliver a highly personalized IoT experience at scale,” said Jeh Kazimi, founder and CEO of Breezie. “The IoT offering allows Breezie to extend interface capabilities to a wide range of IoT devices, smart sensors and Bluetooth remote monitoring devices.”

Breezie’s Samsung tablet-based platform radically simplifies the complexities of connected devices to improve care and services for elderly individuals, as well as support day-to-day lives and post-surgical recovery. Each Breezie interface has more than 40 preconfigured accessibility settings and sensor driven analytics to adjust for different levels of digital literacy, as well as physical and cognitive ability.

To learn more about Breezie and Samsung, stop by booth 3673, and meeting rooms MP75 and MP76 at HIMSS17.

About SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud

SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud is an open data exchange platform for the Interoperability of Things (IoT). ARTIK Cloud provides easy-to-use, open APIs and tools to securely collect, store, and act on any data from any connected device or cloud service. ARTIK Cloud is designed to accelerate time to market and revenue of a new generation of IoT solutions and services. More information about Samsung ARTIK Cloud can be found at http://artik.cloud

About T-Mobile

As America’s Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. The Company’s advanced nationwide 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences to 71.5 million customers who are unwilling to compromise on quality and value. Based in Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile US provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile and MetroPCS. For more information, please visit http://www.t-mobile.com.

About Breezie Inc.

Breezie Inc. is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA with offices in London, United Kingdom. It offers a personalized, flexible and secure tablet platform that is proven to engage users irrespective of their technical capabilities. Its unique open platform enables healthcare companies to integrate their own proprietary content and third party services with ease.  The Caregiver’s Hub is a powerful engagement tool that allows a family member or caregiver to remotely select and personalize the services most relevant to the user. CDW and Samsung are partnering with Breezie to sell an integrated solution to that takes care of everything from hardware, set-up and configuration to ongoing support and warranty. To discover more, please visit www.breezie.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, including statements regarding the ability of the collaboration to enhance marketing of health care solutions, improve the lives of patients, and reduce costs, T-Mobile’s and Breezie’s future plans, the potential to produce new apps and services and the platform’s ability to connect with other Internet of Things (IoT) devices.  These and any other forward-looking statements in this release are based on management’s current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, changes in the healthcare and cloud computing markets and the regulatory environment, difficulties in integrating technologies of the companies in the collaboration, the inability of the new IoT solution to achieve wide market acceptance , and the ability to compete with other products in the market. The companies are providing the information in this release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The new funding will be used to accelerate growth, invest in international expansion and realize the company’s vision of Collective AI through its Houndify platform. Houndify is the first independent AI platform that enables developers and business owners to deploy it anywhere and retain control of their brand and users, while differentiating and innovating. Houndify provides all the technology ingredients necessary for voice and AI integration, including the world’s fastest speech recognition, the most sophisticated natural language understanding, easy to use developer tools, knowledge graphs, and a large and rapidly growing number of domains. Domains are programs that provide a natural and fully conversational interface on specific topics, without requiring the users to memorize and use the specific phrasing of hard coded commands or skills. Houndify technologies represent 10 years of R&D and innovation by SoundHound Inc., resulting in significant and unique advantages.

One of the key advantages of Houndify is its architecture for collaborative intelligence called “Collective AI,” a powerful mechanism that facilitates collaboration among developers in a conversational intelligence environment. Collective AI enables developers to extend the functionality of existing knowledge domains without needing access to or a full understanding of the underlying libraries. This results in a global AI with comprehensive knowledge that is always learning, is crowdsourced to domain experts, and is larger than the sum of its parts. Houndify’s Collective AI architecture already provides access to knowledge and data from Yelp, Uber and Expedia, as well as over 100 other domains such as weather, stocks, sports, local businesses, flights, hotels, mortgage, and even interactive games. Houndify also provides a large number of domains specifically targeted for the automotive industry.

“We are at the inflection point of our long-term vision that every product or service needs to have a smart voice-enabled interface, and consumers have increasingly high expectations for this requirement, beyond simple commands or skills,” said Keyvan Mohajer, co-founder and CEO of SoundHound Inc. “With this strategic investment, we will bring the power of the proprietary technology behind our independent Houndify platform to even more users globally and amplify the rollout of our Collective AI architecture.”

In addition to advancing this vision of Collective AI, the funding will be used to further drive international expansion, particularly to Asia and Europe. Several of SoundHound Inc.’s strategic investors will be shipping products or services that take advantage of the company’s Houndify AI platform and its patented Speech-to-Meaning and Deep Meaning Understanding technologies. Within the first year of its launch, over 20,000 developers have registered to use the Houndify platform for their products, including strategic partners Samsung ARTIK Smart IoT platform, and NVIDIA, which brings Houndify’s large vocabulary speech recognition and natural language understanding to cars even without cloud connection by utilizing NVIDIA GPUs. SoundHound also uses NVIDIA GPUs for fast training of the models powering its Houndify platform.

“AI and deep learning are fueling all areas of our business, allowing customers to tackle previously unsolvable computing problems,” said Jeff Herbst, Vice President of Business Development at NVIDIA. “Combining Houndify’s Collective AI technology with NVIDIA’s deep learning platform enables an exceptional solution to understanding complex natural conversation that scales rapidly and seamlessly into new products and applications.”

“Samsung Catalyst Fund accelerates technological innovation by inspiring the brightest minds and ideas and providing access to Samsung’s global resources and expertise,” said Shankar Chandran, managing director and head of Samsung Catalyst Fund. “We believe the best innovations occur when ideas are shared through open ecosystems and collaboration. That is at the heart of what the team at SoundHound Inc. is building with their vision of Collective AI, which provides the tools and platform for developers to build more intelligent solutions easily and rapidly.”

This funding round comes at a time when the projected $14.4 trillion Internet of Things market has an increasing need for practical and innovative AI technologies, including natural language processing and voice interfaces. With over 20,000 partners on Houndify, hundreds of millions of mobile app downloads globally, and more than 100 patents, SoundHound Inc. is the only privately held company to own an entire suite of proprietary speech and language understanding technologies. At a time when every company needs to have a strategy around AI, Houndify is the only independent platform that is allowing its partners to develop, own and control their own AI strategy, data, and brand.

Houndify is featured in SoundHound Inc.’s mobile apps: Hound, the voice search & assistant app, and SoundHound, the music search, discovery and play app, making them hands-free and voice interface enabled. Houndify supports other technology and service providers to make their offerings available to its large and growing developer community, such as the recent partnership with SELVAS AI, which allows Houndify users to incorporate more than 20 distinct text-to-speech solutions in multiple languages into their products or services. SoundHound Inc. recently announced several new partnerships that use the Houndify platform such as Rand McNally, which uses the company’s voice technology in its OverDryve connected car device; a collaboration with Onkyo, to develop and market a next-generation series of smart speakers powered by Houndify; an integration of Houndify in Sharp’s RoBoHoN® platform; and a collaboration with Shenzhen Tanscorp Technology Co. for the Robot LQ-101, an intelligent family service robot.

Developers interested in exploring the Houndify platform can visit Houndify.com to learn more and register. The Hound voice search and assistant app is available as a free iOS or Android app, and can be downloaded via SoundHound.com/Hound.

About SoundHound Inc.
SoundHound Inc. turns sound into understanding and actionable meaning. We believe in enabling humans to interact with the things around them in the same way we interact with each other: by speaking naturally to mobile phones, cars, TVs, music speakers, and every other part of the emerging ‘connected’ world. Our consumer product, Hound, leverages our Speech-to-Meaning and Deep Meaning Understanding technologies to create a groundbreaking smartphone experience, and is the first product to build on the Houndify platform. Our SoundHound product applies our technology to music, enabling people to discover, explore, and share the music around them, and even find the name of that song stuck in their heads by singing or humming. Through the Houndify platform, we aim to bring voice-enabled AI to everyone and enable others to build on top of it. We call this Collective AI Our Mission: Houndify everything.

Just about everyone has heard how the Internet of Things (IoT) will change lives across the globe by making our homes and buildings more efficient, our cars safer, our food supply more stable, and the air people breathe cleaner. In addition, recent study by 451 Group shows that 65 percent of businesses are using IoT to optimize their services and product offerings. But how can companies get the most from IoT to best benefit their business?

ARTIK, Samsung’s integrated Smart IoT platform, was announced in May 2015, and provides fast, secure, interoperable and intelligent products and services to help organizations quickly turn IoT concepts into a reality. The platform uses a family of highly integrated System on Modules (SOMs) to incorporate processing, memory and wireless connectivity.

The advanced ARTIK Cloud service collects, stores and acts upon data from any device or cloud service, giving businesses the opportunity to gain new insights into how their products are being used. These insights can then be utilized to generate new business opportunities.

All of this is secured with leading edge encryption, secure boot, hardened certificate storage and more, and is equipped with a suite of tools and services for a truly end-to-end platform.

A Focus on Ideas

Businesses are eager to add IoT capabilities to their products, but also understand the challenges of designing and building solutions on their own. By providing organizations with an integrated IoT platform, Samsung is helping companies focus on developing great ideas without having to worry as much about the underlying structure.

Faster Product Development, More Growth

Another challenge with delivering complex IoT solutions is the time, costs and risks associated with such projects. The Samsung ARTIK platform makes it easier to build IoT products and alleviates these challenges by unifying hardware, software, cloud, security and partner ecosystems in a single offering.

Samsung continues to build a strong ecosystem of global distributors, service providers and technology solution partners who can help companies get their IoT solutions to market faster.

For example, Samsung ARTIK partnered with Naver to create a new voice-controlled smart home assistant called AMICA. Likewise, at this year’s Korea Electronics Show, FS Studio shared an amazing demonstration of a spaceship toy that can search for, recognize and respond to different objects. The gadget was built with a powerful neural net and runs on ARTIK.

Furthermore, partners such as resin.io, Arduino and Ubuntu, among others, bring powerful tools and capabilities to the ARTIK platform that help to solve real problems that IoT vendors face.

Samsung has also partnered with Arrow and Mujin to distribute ARTIK, adding to its strong distribution partnership with Digi-Key to ensure the platform is available around the globe.

Samsung thinks the future is bright for IoT, and can’t wait to see what you build. Visit https://artik.io to learn more.

Samsung Electronics today introduced its expanded SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart Internet of Things (IoT) platform featuring two new module families, ARTIK 0 and ARTIK 7, new device management capabilities in SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud and an expanded partner ecosystem. The result is a complete IoT development solution to help companies take their IoT projects from concept to reality in record time.

According to a recent research study by 451 Group, 65 percent of enterprises are using the Internet of Things (IoT) to optimize their services and product offerings. With the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform, many of these enterprises now can build IoT solutions to further transform their businesses and enter new markets.

Today, businesses struggle to build IoT solutions in-house. They have to grapple with the tasks of building a scalable infrastructure, adding new expertise and managing cumbersome integrations. The SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT end-to-end platform provides companies with all the upfront IoT hardware and software they need, so they can focus on developing disruptive IoT products quickly and simply.

“IoT is one of Samsung’s major strategic areas of focus and growth,” said Dr. Byungse So, Executive Vice President & Chief Technology Officer for the Samsung Strategy & Innovation Center. “By enabling the product-development cycle to flourish, we can help usher in the next generation of IoT innovation. We’re paving the way for companies to reimagine how these new devices, apps and services can impact everyday life to address global challenges.”

Internal groups at Samsung are leveraging the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform to build fresh new IoT solutions of their own. For example, Samsung’s Consumer Electronics division has leveraged the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform to create an IoT smart air purifier. “The SAMSUNG ARTIK platform allowed us to cost-effectively build prototypes of our new solution and quickly get it to market,” said Youngsoo Do, Senior Vice President of Digital Control Group, Samsung Electronics. “With the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform, we also have the ability to connect intelligently to other smart devices, as well as to the cloud, which enables new use cases.”

An End-to-End IoT Solution

The SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT platform unifies hardware, software, cloud, security and partner ecosystems in a single offering so that enterprises can reduce the time, cost and risk typically associated with the delivery of complex IoT solutions. Unlike other IoT platforms, the SAMSUNG ARTIK Smart IoT platform makes it easy to build IoT products and services by addressing the complexity of IoT with easy-to-use, open and enterprise-grade APIs, SDKs and tools. Key additions to the new SAMSUNG ARTIK platform include:

• ARTIK 0 family: The ARTIK 0 family of modules enables low-power, lightweight, cost-optimized devices targeted at end-devices including HVAC, lighting, industrial sensors, personal health monitoring and more. The modules are built on power-optimized ARM® Cortex®-M microcontrollers and support low-power wireless standards, such as the ZigBee®, Thread®, or Bluetooth® Smart standards. They save customers time and money by providing a complete connectivity solution, including networking stacks, radio frequency (RF) components and precertification for regulatory approval.

• ARTIK 7 family: The ARTIK 7 family of modules is intended for high-end gateways and multimedia applications. With an 8-core 64-bit Cortex A-53 processor, the modules work well as gateways and also allow customers to run local analytics, which enables offloading of cloud computing locally to boost latency and responsiveness. The ARTIK 7 module provides unrivaled connectivity, with built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ZigBee, Thread and GbE MAC interfaces. It has a high-end multimedia processor for video and audio processing. The pre-installed Linux® operating system (OS) speeds time to revenue by providing a powerful OS supported by an extensive developer community.  The ARTIK 7 module is RF pre-certified and features enterprise-class security.

• Device management: the new SAMSUNG ARTIK modules are designed to work out of the box with the powerful SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud, an open data-exchange platform that connects devices, applications and other clouds, enabling the Interoperability of Things. Device manufacturers can now monitor and manage their fleet of deployed devices, both edge nodes and gateways, using SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud. They can uniquely identify each device, monitor its connectivity status, manage properties, such as firmware version and battery levels, and remotely execute functions on the device, including reboot, factory reset, firmware update, and reset error code.

An Expanded Partner Ecosystem

Today’s announcement is further endorsed by the addition of leading global distributors, service providers and technology solution partners. Together these partners provide a wide range of services and capabilities to help companies seamlessly build innovative IoT solutions and get them to market faster.

“Naver is leveraging the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform and partner ecosystem to introduce a new voice-controlled smart home assistant called AMICA as an entry into the world of IoT,” said Chang Song, CTO of Naver Corporation, a leading portal in Korea that invests heavily in the development of new technologies. “AMICA, running on the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform, will enable advanced natural language processing that can usher in exciting new IoT applications and consumer products. By partnering with Samsung, we can effectively grow our opportunities in IoT across Asia. Additionally, Naver developers can soon access SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud via a single sign-on, which will further speed new product development.”

“The SAMSUNG ARTIK platform delivers modular solutions with integrated connectivity and cloud enablement,” said Aiden Mitchell, Vice President of Global IoT Solutions at Arrow Electronics.  “We are pleased to support the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform with its low-power edge, control and gateway solutions, as the integration will help speed customers in their IoT development and time to market.”

“Samsung is a key partner and we look forward to offering our customers the option to purchase SAMSUNG ARTIK modules, thereby providing them with a powerful new way to build IoT products,” said Yunshik Kim, Executive Vice President at MUJIN. “We support Samsung’s vision for an end-to-end IoT platform and we are excited to take this step together as the Korean distributor for SAMSUNG ARTIK modules.”

As a proud member of the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), a leading IoT industry standard group, Samsung is also bringing open IoT technologies to advance interoperability between connected devices and enable the full operating potential of IoT by leveraging the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform and IoTivity open-source software.

The new SAMSUNG ARTIK modules are available for order immediately and worldwide through distribution partners, Arrow, Digi-Key and Mujin.  You can find more information about the Samsung ARTIK platform and development tools at www.artik.io.

About the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC)
SSIC is a global organization within Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. focused on innovation and new business creation, headquartered in Silicon Valley and with offices in Korea, Israel, France, and the U.K.  SSIC’s mission is to develop and accelerate disruptive technologies through open innovation, investments, and acquisitions by working in collaboration with entrepreneurs and strategic partners to enhance people’s lives and to help make the world a better place.

This collaboration aims to combine IoT, scientifically validated bio sensors, advanced multi-modal technology, and comprehensive nutritional approach to provide people with entirely new awareness into health and wellness.  In addition, the collaboration aims to empower individuals to better manage their own health and wellbeing by providing relevant and contextual recommendations around nutrition, lifestyle, and fitness, to help individuals live healthier and better lives.

“We are delighted to enter this collaboration with a global leader in the field of sensor technologies,” said Stefan Catsicas, Nestlé Chief Technology Officer. “It will advance our Nutrition, Health and Wellness strategy, to support people who want to live a healthier lifestyle.”

“We’re excited about the breakthroughs this collaboration will bring,” said Young Sohn, President and Chief Strategy Officer, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. “Today, we live in an era of smarter living brought about by the convergence of technology and life science. It’s an era where the data from smart sensors and devices in our daily life such as mobile phones, wearables, and smart refrigerators can help us to understand our nutrition and activity and to guide us towards a healthier lifestyle.

By combining the Samsung ARTIK IoT platform vision, deep semiconductor expertise, and a global platform of smart device solutions, together with Nestlé’s expertise in nutrition and biomedical science, the collaboration aims to better understand the voice of the body and empower millions of people to live well and be well.

The relationship extends beyond what millions of consumers already enjoy and experience with the global brands of Nestlé and Samsung. What makes this collaboration meaningful is that it combines digital and comprehensive nutritional sciences in a way that has great potential for worldwide reach. This relationship is underpinned by extensive research, the innovative, visionary people inside Samsung and Nestlé, and the recognition of this collaboration synergy.

Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center and Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences will work towards the development of a new digital health platform to provide more personal and meaningful insights that inspire healthy living.

More details about the platform are expected when the first pilots begin in early 2017.

About Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences
Nestlé Institute of Health Sciences carries out fundamental research for the understanding of health and disease and for developing science-based targeted nutritional solutions for the maintenance of health. It is based on the campus of the world-renowned Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale) in Lausanne, Switzerland, and is part of Nestlé’s global R&D network. https://www.nestleinstitutehealthsciences.com/

About the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC)
SSIC is a global organization within Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. focused on innovation and new business creation, headquartered in Silicon Valley and with offices in Korea, Israel, France, and the U.K.  SSIC’s mission is to develop and accelerate disruptive technologies through open innovation, investments, and acquisitions by working in collaboration with entrepreneurs and strategic partners to enhance people’s lives and to help make the world a better place.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the Internet of Things, Samsung’s and Nestlé’s plans, the potential of the combined platform to produce new apps and services, and the ability of the collaboration to improve the health and wellness of individuals. These and any other forward-looking statements in this release are based on management’s current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the changes in the digital health market and the regulatory environment, difficulties in integrating technologies of the two companies ,  inability of the companies to allocate sufficient financial and other resources to the collaboration; and early termination of the collaboration. The companies are providing the information in this release as of this date and do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Samsung Electronics and Legrand today showcased, at the Samsung Developer Conference in San Francisco, the world’s first Thread-enabled IoT light switch powered by the SAMSUNG ARTIK end-to-end platform.

The SAMSUNG ARTIK IoT platform is a fully integrated chip to cloud solution, which helps companies like Legrand speed up their product development process, reduce time to market, and improve total cost of ownership for their IoT products. Additionally, the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform provides world-class security from device to hub to cloud to data management, while adhering to the fundamental protocols of the Thread standard.

For Legrand, the SAMSUNG ARTIK IoT platform provided full support for the Thread standard, the foundation for the connected home. Thread was designed to easily and securely connect hundreds of devices to each other and to the cloud using real internet protocols over a low-power wireless mesh network. Built on open standards and with IPv6/6LoWPAN protocols, Thread’s innovative approach to networking offers many advantages over other wireless standards, including a secure and reliable mesh network with no single point of failure, simple connectivity and low power.

“Legrand is a world leader in home electrical devices and automation and we’re excited to partner with Samsung to offer more choices to our customers by delivering an industry leading, connected light switch,” said Brian DiBella, President Electrical Wiring Systems, Legrand, North America. “In combination with the SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud, our smart light switches interoperate with other smart-home products and effectively serve as the central nervous system of the home to make life simpler, more convenient and more secure for our customers.”

World-class companies like Legrand can focus on their core areas of expertise—designing devices, applications, end-user experiences and services – while leveraging the SAMSUNG ARTIK end-to-end IoT platform to help them transition faster to the world of digitization.

“We are thrilled with the tight collaboration between Legrand and the SAMSUNG ARTIK development and business teams,” said Dr. Byungse So, Executive Vice President and CTO, Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center. “Embracing new technologies like IoT is critical to future success in the ever-demanding smart home and building automation space. By leveraging the strength of the ARTIK end-to-end IoT platform, Legrand will delivered the world’s first Thread enabled IoT smart light switch. Furthermore, Samsung is committed to investing in both technology and business solutions that enable companies like Legrand to fully participate in the digital transformation.”

As a leader in electrical and digital infrastructure solutions for all types of buildings, Legrand helps enhance everyday life for its customers. It partnered with Samsung because it understands that the Internet of Things will open a new era of connected buildings. Legrand’s Eliot program (Electricity and IoT) is designed to hasten the arrival of this era by speeding deployment of Legrand’s connected devices and accelerating the evolution of connected buildings. Eliot will power development of new Legrand products for the benefit of private and professional users alike.

The Legrand reference design demonstrations will be available at Samsung Developer Conference in San Francisco. For more information or to schedule a meeting, please contact ssic@ssi.samsung.com

About SAMSUNG ARTIK Platform

Samsung ARTIK is an open platform designed to enable faster and simpler development of new enterprise, industrial and consumer applications for the Internet of Things. The platform is designed to deliver a superior end-to-end solution with integrated modules featuring best-in-class security, cloud connectivity, local intelligence and a wealth of partner applications through its rich developer ecosystem. Samsung ARTIK is designed to accelerate development of a new generation of better, smarter IoT devices, solutions and services. More information about Samsung ARTIK, partners and development tools can be found at www.artik.io.

About Legrand

Legrand is the global specialist in electrical and digital building infrastructures.  Its comprehensive offering of solutions for use in commercial, industrial and residential markets makes it a benchmark for customers worldwide.  Innovation for a steady flow of new products with high added value is a prime vector for growth, including in particular connected devices stemming from Legrand’s global Eliot (Electricity and IoT) program. Legrand reported sales of $5.3 billion in 2015.  Legrand has a strong presence in North America, with a portfolio of well-known product lines that include C2G, Cablofil, Electrorack, Middle Atlantic, Nuvo, On-Q, Ortronics, Pass & Seymour, QMotion, Quiktron, Raritan, Vantage, Watt Stopper, and Wiremold.  Legrand is listed on Euronext Paris and is a component stock of indexes including the CAC40, FTSE4Good, MSCI World, ASPI, Corporate Oekom Rating and DJSI (ISIN code FR0010307819). www.legrand.com.

Event attendees were especially passionate about wearables and virtual reality, as VR continues to expand its popularity. In two VR sessions, attendees explored the process of Gear VR game production and 3D content development.

Check out the enthusiastic atmosphere at the hands-on workshops in the photos below.

“Gear VR: Developing Apps for the Virtual World” was a hands-on workshop that looked at how developers can create contents and games for the Gear VR. Dustin Wish led the session, offering a wide range of tips for developers, such as how they can register their applications on the Oculus Store and software optimization.

At “Developing for Gear S2,” Dustin Wish also taught how to develop applications and widgets for the Gear S2 with SDKs (Software Development Kits) and tools. He even led an application development exercise session using the Gear Watch Designer, a watch-face making tool.

In “Developing IoT with the Samsung ARTIK Platform,” Dan Gross and Wei Xiao talked about how developers can connect sensors and make applications based on the ARTIK platform. As a production-ready, IoT platform, ARTIK can help developers commercialize their new IoT connected devices quickly and easily.

Samsung’s defense-grade security platform KNOX also got explored in the workshop “Getting to Know the KNOX SDKs.” Victor Okunev led the session, attracting much attention for his introduction on how applications can be efficiently integrated using the KNOX SDK.

In “Printing with the Smart UX SDK,” Ajay Sharma touched on Samsung’s Android-based Smart UX platform for its lineup of printers, which have been enjoying a rapid surge in demand lately. Sharma demonstrated how the Smart UX SDK is easy-to-use for inexperienced developers who want to create printing applications.

The “Project Beyond: Filming for VR” session covered how to create 3D content using pictures, with a lecture by a professional 3D content creator.

Samsung Electronics, a world leader in Internet of Things and advanced components, announced the Internet of Trousers, a new lineup of IoT-enabled smarter fashion products.

The new fashion range includes an exciting collection of pants abounding with innovative functions. And, boasting an array of unique, contemporary styles that fit just about any lifestyle, these smart wearables are just that… wearable.

The intelligent trousers, which combine the latest in high-tech with high fashion, were designed to address the pain points of everyday apparel. Samsung has made smarter fashion a reality by embedding the new garments with ARTIK Smarter Fashion chip modules, which communicate with the Smarter Fabric Care app.

Key Internet of Trousers functions include:

• Wi-Fly: Gone are the days of unnoticed, unzipped trouser zippers upon exiting the restroom. Should your fly remain open for more than three minutes, the ZipARTIK module will send a series of notifications to your smartphone to save you from further embarrassment.
• Get Up! Alert: Using pressure sensors, Samsung’s intelligent trousers detect prolonged periods of inactivity and send notifications to ‘get up off of that thing’ at least once an hour. Should you remain seated for more than three hours, devices embedded in each of the rear pockets send mild electrical shocks to provide extra motivation.
• Keep-Your-Pants-On Mode: Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away with the moment. The Samsung Bio-Processor in your pants checks your bio-data including your heart rate and perspiration level. If these indicators get too high, Samsung’s trousers will send you subtle notifications as a reminder of the importance of keeping your cool.
• Fridge Lock: If the tension around your waist gets too high, the embedded ARTIK chip module will send signals to your refrigerator to prevent you from overeating. The fridge door lock can then only be deactivated with consent from a designated person such as your mother or significant other.

Q.U.I.L.T. (Qommon User Inclusion: League of Threads)

As with many other initiatives, Samsung will open up its Smarter Fashion ecosystem to other players as an open platform. Whether it be traditional apparel companies, top-notch designers or your grandmother knitting your next Christmas sweater, ARTIK fashion chip modules will be available for anyone and everyone.

Starting with ZipARTIK for pants, the ARTIK Smarter Fashion portfolio will expand to ARTIK S (for shirts) and ARTIK Sx (for socks, to help solve the problem of lost and/or divorced socks). These modules can run on low power while ensuring security and privacy. (Much like ARTIK 1, 5 and 10.)

For more information on Smarter Fashion, please do not click here.

* Samsung respects user privacy and will treat as confidential any and all personal data obtained by smart pants (included but not limited to belly bulge tension and perspiration levels). We do not sell, trade, share or transfer your personal data to any third parties.

** All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this article including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, components, performance, availability and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.

*** The Internet of Trousers, and all related products and features, are not actual Samsung products or concepts – at least not yet! (We’re still waiting for approval on Eco Trees, Samsung Fingers and Galaxy Blade Edge.) Happy April Fools’!

Samsung Electronics announced significant momentum for the SAMSUNG ARTIK IoT platform. The company announced that the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform is commercially available – a big step forward in bringing the Internet of Things (IoT) to everyday life. SAMSUNG ARTIK development kits can be ordered from Samsung’s channel partner Digi-Key Electronics starting February 22. The company also introduced a new Certified ARTIK Partner Program (CAPP) to make partner services and platforms readily available to help accelerate the development and time-to-market for IoT projects.

“I’m very proud of the SAMSUNG ARTIK team and the strong momentum they have achieved. In less than 8 months, we’ve gone from product launch to commercial availability, while building multiple modules, operating systems, embedded security, and a growing ecosystem of actively engaged partners,” said Dr. Byungse So, Executive Vice President and CTO, Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center. “We believe in the power of open platforms and partner ecosystems, leveraging the wealth of expertise and experience available in the market to bring delightful experiences to our customers. We’re excited to see all the innovative projects that developers will come up with in the future.”

Thriving Ecosystem Extends Customer Options

Samsung’s new Certified ARTIK Partner Program is designed to help developers and companies jump start their development and take their ideas to market faster by working with carefully selected professional service providers and design houses. Whether customers need tailored hardware or help in defining a new system from scratch, CAPP partners can help make the design and deployment of IoT systems an effortless experience. For a list of Certified Partners and their expertise, please visit http://www.artik.io/partners. There is a unique opportunity to join the list of leading partners already working with Samsung to deliver superior-quality options to customers that want to develop IoT applications using the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform. Companies interested in applying for CAPP can visit https://www.artik.io/partners/programs/certified-partners.

The open SAMSUNG ARTIK platform provides all the essential hardware and software building blocks to allow faster, simpler development of new enterprise, industrial and consumer applications. This allows developers to focus on their areas of expertise in designing new applications and services rather than having to build entire systems from the ground up, enabling a faster time-to-market. New SAMSUNG ARTIK ecosystem collaborators include:

• Operating System. SAMSUNG ARTIK’s support for operating systems include Tizen, Nucleus Real Time OS and the open source Fedora Linux stack, enabling developers to select the platform they are most familiar with. The newest member to join the ecosystem is Canonical’s Operating System for the Internet of Things: Snappy Ubuntu Core, providing an ideal OS for secure, resource-constrained smart devices. The open-source, extensible and highly popular Ubuntu core enables carrier-grade updates and an application architecture for simple and secure software deployments, all built upon the core security features of SAMSUNG ARTIK.

• Tools and Services. SAMSUNG ARTIK offers a range of tools and services for both experienced developers and newcomers to IoT. For example, support for the Arduino web-based development environment popular with makers; and Temboo, which enables cloud connectivity and automatic code generation. For developers focused on local processing and analytics, Medium One’s workflow tools provide analytics and visualization running locally on SAMSUNG New services include Sensory’s speaker-independent on-device TrulyHandsfree Voice Control technology; Soundhound’s new contextual natural language and voice recognition engine; and Vayyar’s 3D imaging sensor technology.

• Microsoft has certified SAMSUNG ARTIK compatibility with the Azure IoT Suite and IoT Hub. Developers using SAMSUNG ARTIK modules with the Fedora operating system can get to work quickly and take advantage of the Azure Platform SDKs to create end-to-end implementations of common IoT scenarios. Together with Samsung SAMIIO, the Open Data Exchange platform that makes it easy to collect and share data from any device and in any format, developers now have more tools to build innovative cloud-based apps and services for IoT.

Link: http://azureiotpartners.azurewebsites.net/#partnerCategoryFilter=devices

• Security is a critical attribute for IoT devices. Samsung adds hardware-based security into every module and extends its capabilities by working with industry leading security partners. SAMSUNG ARTIK is enabling TEE support (Trusted Execution Environment) with Trustonic – the same technology that protects over 70 enterprise and payment apps in 500 million smartphones. Using hardware isolation, the TEE ensures secure storage and processing of private data.  It also allows users and trusted services to safely install and run new applications on SAMSUNG ARTIK enabled devices and sensors in the field. This greatly increases the usefulness of products and services that rely on a growing ecosystem of secure, connected devices and provides peace of mind for IoT users everywhere.

Get Onboard with SAMSUNG ARTIK

More information about the SAMSUNG ARTIK platform and development tools can be found at https://developer.artik.io/

Customers wishing to place volume orders can contact sales@artik.io.

For evaluation boards and low volume orders, Samsung is teaming with Digi-Key, one of the fastest-growing online distributors of electronic components.

Link: http://www.digikey.com/en/supplier-centers/s/samsung-semiconductor

“Digi-Key is proud to have the largest in-stock portfolio of connectivity devices and microprocessors in the industry, and we are excited to add the SAMSUNG ARTIK family of modules to our catalog. Samsung’s offering combines connectivity and processing power with an easy-to-use range of pre-certified connectivity options. This aligns perfectly with the customers demanding this functionality in devices needing a very small form factor. This flexibility complements many applications, and that is especially useful in this fast-evolving IoT market,” said David Stein, Vice President, Global Semiconductors at Digi-Key. “Businesses can now focus their efforts on application design, and get from idea to prototype faster.”

SAMSUNG ARTIK at Mobile World Congress 2016

The SAMSUNG ARTIK team will be at Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona. For more information or to schedule a meeting, please contact ssic@ssi.samsung.com

About the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center

The SAMSUNG ARTIK platform has been developed through work led by the Samsung Strategy and Innovation Center (SSIC). SSIC is a global organization with the core missions of open innovation in collaboration with entrepreneurs and strategic partners, investments in disruptive technologies and startups, and new business creation through M&A and partnerships. With offices in Silicon Valley, Korea, Israel, France and the U.K., SSIC’s focus areas include cloud infrastructure, smart health, Internet of Things, and smart machines.

Samsung Electronics announced that registration for the Samsung Developer Conference 2016 (SDC 2016), which will be held from April 27 to April 28 at San Francisco’s Moscone West Center, is now open.

Centered around the theme of “Connecting the Future Everywhere You Look”, the this year’s SDC will offer more than 60 technical sessions, interactive workshops, keynotes and hands-on device experiences across 10 different topics, including: The Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality (VR), Mobile, Wearables,  Business Opportunities, Enterprise, Smart TV, Games & Entertainment, Tizen and Health & Medical.

“We have been working to share our vision for technology, connection and collaboration with the global development community, by hosting the Samsung Developer Conference, since 2013.” said Seung-hwan Cho, Executive Vice President and Deputy Head of Software R&D Center at Samsung Electronics. “SDC 2016 will  offer the perfect chance for attendees to connect with Samsung in person, sharpen their skills, and meet other developers and partners from the Samsung ecosystem. There will also be new, unique technologies and demos that are simply not available anywhere else.”

SDC 2016 will showcase the latest IoT technologies including Samsung’s ‘ARTIK’ and the open source software framework ‘IoTivity’ of OIC*, along with the company’s ‘Tizen’ platform for Smart TVs, wearables such as the Gear S2, and more. Samsung will also unveil the latest plans and technology for its service ecosystem, and key partnership strategies for the likes of ‘Samsung Pay’, ‘S-Health’, gaming, and the enterprise security solution, ‘KNOX’.

The conference’s keynote speakers will introduce brand new products and reveal Samsung’s new initiatives to further support the worldwide developer community.

SDC 2016’s current speaker lineup includes:

• Injong Rhee, Executive Vice President, Head of R&D, Software and Services, Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics
• John Pleasants, Executive Vice President, Media Solutions Center America, Samsung Electronics America
• Pranav Mistry, Vice President, Head of Think Tank Team , Samsung Research America
• Genevieve Bell, Intel Fellow and Vice President, Corporate Strategy Office, Intel Corporation

Early bird registration is available until March 29 on the official SDC 2016 website (http://www.sdc2016.com), where attendees can also find more information about the conference schedule, key visitor information, planned sessions, speakers and technology showcases. Full two-day conference passes are available at early bird rate along with academic, alumni and group booking discounts.

*Open Interconnect Consortium
The Open Interconnect Consortium, a Delaware non-profit corporation, is being founded by leading technology companies with the goal of defining the connectivity requirements and ensuring interoperability of the billions of devices that will make up the emerging Internet of Things (IoT).

The President and Chief Strategy Officer of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Young Sohn has called on the technology industry to use the Internet of Things (IoT) to address major challenges the world faces today. He also emphasized the importance of open platforms and industry collaboration to accelerate development of new IoT applications and services.

“As an industry we must join together to use the power of IoT to address challenges posed by issues such as aging population demographics, water shortages, increasing traffic congestion, pollution and major health issues,” said Sohn. “We need to create powerful open platforms that will harness the information generated by IoT to develop new insights and new approaches to meet the challenges we face as a society.”

To enable faster deployment of IoT applications and services, Sohn announced the Samsung ARTIK platform. ARTIK is a production-ready, open platform that includes the hardware, software, development boards, drivers, tools, advanced security features and connectivity for rapidly building cloud-connected IoT devices. The ARTIK platform comes in a variety of configurations to meet the specific requirements of a wide range of IoT market segments from wearables and home automation, to smart lighting and industrial applications. More information on the ARTIK platform can be found by visiting www.artik.io.

SmartThings Founder and CEO Alex Hawkinson joined with Young Sohn during his keynote to introduce SmartThings Open Cloud. Open Cloud is powered by SAMI, a data driven development platform that Samsung announced last May that includes simple, open APIs and SDKs. The open platform is a cloud-based software layer that allows the sharing of diverse data sets from an unlimited number of sources. This vast amount of data, which previously would have been impossible to bring together, can then be broken up into smaller chunks for visualization and analysis.

SmartThings Open Cloud allows any device connected to the Internet to communicate with any other connected device, generating new information, new correlations and entirely new insights. It enables device makers to focus on building IoT devices and applications without having to build and maintain the cloud infrastructure required to connect those devices.

To demonstrate the potential for IoT to meet major societal challenges, Sohn also announced the Samsung ARTIK Challenge – offering a top prize of $100,000 for the most effective use of IoT and ARTIK technology for reducing water consumption by individuals or municipalities.

More information on the Samsung ARTIK Challenge can be found at ARTIK.challengepost.com.

Throughout his keynote address, Sohn underscored the importance of open platforms, security and an ecosystem of partners that are all necessary to accelerate the growth of IoT and achieve its full benefits. He was joined on stage by representatives of several startup companies Samsung is working with to develop technologies based on open platforms. In addition, the company announced that the Samsung ARTIK platform would be incorporated into future versions of Samsung digital appliances and that those appliances would also connect to the SmartThings Open Cloud.

Samsung Electronics announced the Samsung ARTIK platform to allow faster, simpler development of new enterprise, industrial and consumer applications for the Internet of Things (IoT). ARTIK is an open platform that includes a best-in-class family of integrated production-ready modules, advanced software, development boards, drivers, tools, security features and cloud connectivity designed to help accelerate development of a new generation of better, smarter IoT devices, solutions and services.

“We are providing the industry’s most advanced, open and secure platform for developing IoT products”, said Young Sohn, president and chief strategy officer, Samsung Electronics. “By leveraging Samsung’s high-volume manufacturing, advanced silicon process and packaging technologies, and extensive ecosystem, ARTIK allows developers to rapidly turn great ideas into market leading IoT products and applications.”

The ARTIK Family

All members of the Samsung ARTIK family incorporate unique embedded hardware security technology, on-board memory and advanced processing power in an open platform. Security is also a key element of the advanced software integrated into the module along with the ability to connect to the Internet for cloud-based data analytics and enhanced services. As an open platform, Samsung ARTIK can be easily customized for more rapid deployment of IoT devices and the services that can be delivered using them.

Samsung ARTIK platform comes in a variety of configurations to meet the specific requirements of a wide range of devices from wearables and home automation, to smart lighting and industrial applications. Initial members of the ARTIK family include:

• ARTIK 1, the smallest IoT module currently available in the industry at 12mm-by-12mm combines Bluetooth/BLE connectivity and a nine-axis sensor with best-in-class compute capabilities and power consumption. It is specifically designed for low-power, small form-factor IoT applications.
• ARTIK 5 delivers an outstanding balance of size, power and price-performance and is ideal for home hubs, drones and high-end wearables. It incorporates a 1GHz dual-core processor and on-board DRAM and flash memory.
• ARTIK 10 delivers advanced capabilities and high-performance to IoT with an eight-core processor, full 1080p video decoding/encoding, 5.1 audio and 2GB DRAM along with 16GB flash memory. The Samsung ARTIK 10 includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth/BLE and ZigBee connectivity and is designed for use with home servers, media applications, and in industrial settings.

“Industry requirements for IoT devices vary in terms of battery life, computational horse power and form factor,” said Sohn. “With this family of ARTIK offerings, Samsung is directly addressing the needs of the widest range of customers, uses and applications.”

Additional Technical Highlights of the Samsung ARTIK Family

• Security and Privacy: The ARTIK platform offers a best-in-class, end-to-end security solution. At the hardware level, ARTIK contains am embedded secure element that goes beyond software-based encryption solutions alone. At the application level, ARTIK is equipped with a machine learning based anomaly detection system. This allows the user to identify abnormalities and unusual behavior in order to address possible hacking or intrusion activity.
• IoT Software Stack: Samsung’s ARTIK platform comes with an extensive IoT software stack and tools needed to accelerate product development. Developers can go directly to application framework development, instead of spending time building low-level software libraries.
• Local Storage and Computational Capability: ARTIK supports unique local storage and computational capabilities that in most current IoT environments are generally only addressable by large-scale cloud servers. Depending on user requirements, data can be managed locally or in the cloud in encrypted or unencrypted formats.
• Low-Power Architecture: The ARTIK platform offers best-in-class power consumption to enable longer battery life for battery operated IoT devices like wearables. The platform includes a tiered architecture that allows applications and tasks to run at the right power-optimized performance and memory utilization.
• Small Form Factor: All ARTIK modules offer the smallest form factor in their class. Certain ARTIK modules use Samsung’s next generation ePoP (embedded Package-on-Package) technology. Samsung Electromechanics, a global leader in component manufacturing, played a key role in developing advanced packaging technology for ARTIK.
• Connectivity: Depending on the configuration, the ARTIK family offers all major connectivity protocols including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (including BLE) and ZigBee.

More information about the ARTIK platform and development tools may be found at www.artik.io.