Research shows that revenue from the smart home market is expected to show an annual growth rate of 17.6 percent, resulting in a global market volume of more than $141 billion by 2023. As the smart home market continues to rapidly grow, secure interoperability will be key in making the IoT successful. The OCF Certification Program helps manufacturers create products that “just work” with other OCF Certified IoT devices regardless of their form factors, operating systems, service providers or transports. OCF’s 2.1 specification, a recognized ISO standards specification, ensures this interoperability is built into all OCF Certified devices.

The OCF supports standardized procedures for bridging to other IoT ecosystems and provide detailed implementations for Bluetooth, EnOcean, Zigbee and Z-wave protocols.

“In the near future, smart homes and buildings will have typically over 200 different products improving comfort, security and energy usage.  Having all of these powered by mains cables or batteries which need to be regularly changed or re-charged is simply not practical,” said Jörg Hofmann, CEO, BSC Computer GmbH. “By introducing the EnOcean energy harvesting wireless standard into the OCF world, BSC Computer has enabled simple addition of multiple ‘peel and stick’ maintenance-free sensors and switches into their smart buildings via the BSC smart secure gateway, a major expansion and improvement of the excellent interoperable OCF eco-system.”

“The collaboration that occurs within OCF is a meaningful process that contributes to the proliferation of the global smart home industry and dramatically improve end user experience,” said Woo Seok Byun, CEO, COMMAX. “COMMAX has been providing smart door entry, home automation, and home security-related products in Korea and worldwide, and it is a market leader in the development and launch of high-tech applications in the smart home industry. COMMAX has plans to focus on realizing product supply through continuous investment and technology development for service connection through OCF in the future.”

“OCF brings the global IoT industry a fully interoperable and standardized solution with high-level security,” said Guohuo Chen, general manager, Haier Uplus Intelligent Technology. “Leveraging OCF bridging and the Universal Cloud Interface, Haier U+ will offer our customers the best user experience as always.”

“The world has become too complex and diverse for any one company to be able to meet all different demands of customers,” said I.P. Park, president and CTO of LG Electronics. “LG is driving digital transformation in manufacturing and integrating AI into a whole portfolio of products to eventually provide our customers with benefits of a seamless and intelligent connected experience. We will leverage standardized OCF Universal Cloud Interface to facilitate open collaboration across industries and to realize the full potential of AI for a truly better life.”

“The smart home today is anything but smart, there are too many apps and competing communication protocols to make it happen and homeowners are increasingly frustrated,” said Scott Harkins, vice president and general manager, Connected Home, Resideo. “The OCF Universal Cloud Interface standard will greatly simplify and reduce the work associated with IoT Cloud to Cloud communications.  By implementing this as an industry standard, we’ll reduce the need for one-off, cloud to cloud connections, streamlining our development work and helping simplify the smart home experience for consumers.”

“As a founding member of the OCF, over several years we have contributed much to deliver a standardized IoT solution to the market,” said Hyogun Lee, head of R&D, Visual Display Business, Samsung Electronics. “We anticipate that the OCF Universal Cloud Interface can resolve the current IoT market fragmentation and thus build the unified IoT ecosystem.”

“It has been a great experience and opportunity for SURE to be a part of the OCF community for the last four years,” said Viktor Ariel, CEO, SURE Universal. “During that time, SURE developed a complete turnkey IoT platform based on the OCF standard, including Cloud-to-Cloud API, set-top box gateway, IoT communications module, and mobile universal remote app. SURE IoT client, STB, and module have been certified by OCF, and the complete SURE IoT platform was successfully tested for interoperability with the leading OCF partners. Currently, it is in the process of evaluation by carrier operators and appliance vendors worldwide. The successful OCF implementation signifies the new beginning of the user-friendly, secure, and interoperable IoT, which is available for IoT products worldwide.”

The OCF Universal Cloud Interface

Today, the OCF is introducing the OCF Universal Cloud Interface (UCI), the industry’s first solution to unify the IoT ecosystem through cloud-to-cloud connectivity based on OCF’s work with Open Standards. The OCF UCI is a programming interface that can be used to standardize connectivity between different manufacturers’ cloud servers, and between devices and the cloud. This cloud application programming interface (API) helps the IoT industry to streamline partnerships and avoid implementing and maintaining numerous proprietary programming interfaces at once.

Developing and maintaining proprietary APIs when companies collaborate requires visibility and/or control between devices and services on both companies’ clouds. This is expensive in both time and money. As the number of IoT devices expands and the need for seamless operation between different manufacturers’ systems grows, the proprietary approach does not scale and thus slows the growth of the ecosystem. The OCF UCI is an industry-standard cloud API, solves this issue and can be used for communications with a plethora of collaborating companies.

“Different configurations of the same OCF UCI can simplify collaboration between device manufacturers who wish to produce IoT devices but do not have the ability to develop and support their own cloud applications,” said John Park, executive director, Open Connectivity Foundation. “This configuration can also help companies that have cloud applications and wish to expand the number of devices that can connect to them.  Specifically, the manufacturers can produce a single device that connects to any cloud application provided both implement the OCF UCI API. This enables a multitude of manufacturers to produce secure, interoperable IoT devices and delivers welcome flexibility to end users.”

The OCF UCI is based on the OCF’s proximity framework that enables communication between IoT devices and applications over a local network. It uses the same data models and core technology. As with OCF proximity communications, an open source implementation is available.

About the Open Connectivity Foundation

The Open Connectivity Foundation is dedicated to enabling an interoperable, scalable, reliable and secure Internet of Things for consumers, businesses and industries. OCF delivers a connectivity framework, IoTivity open source implementation, and certification program. OCF devices can securely communicate regardless of form factor, operating system, service provider, transport technology or ecosystem. Its solutions leverage industry standards that allow anyone to quickly build a complex device from a consistent set of building blocks and provided tools, driving scalability and interoperability. OCF specifications are ratified by ISO/IEC JTC1. Join our 400+ membership and learn more at OpenConnectivity.org.

For the past several years, the Internet of Things (IoT) has remained the industry’s biggest buzzword for its promise of delivering seamless connectivity across the multiple devices and technologies that we interact with in our daily lives – from our smartphones to smart TVs to Family Hub refrigerator to even our cars. Yet while the vision has been alluring, with IoT and related technologies still maturing, the promise has always remained ‘a few years off’.

At CES 2018, our aim, at Samsung, will be to show you the work we’ve done to change that, and to begin delivering on the promise of a connected world, today.

Across the many and various devices consumers interact with in their places of business, homes, and while on the go, each is typically encumbered by a different setup process, password to remember, and interface to learn and manage, which has made the connected experience anything but easy.

At Samsung, we decided to do something about this, and at this year’s CES, we’ll be sharing our breakthroughs to make the IoT experience easy and intuitive for you, which has involved delivering seamless connectivity between any device through a single experience, backed by an integrated ecosystem to manage all the devices in close, fluid synchronization.

The connected experience we will be introducing also is powered by a personalized intelligence interface, with the aim of ensuring you are able to tap into all the potential and power this connectedness provides, as easily as if you were flipping a switch. Understanding that innovation on this scale and delivering on a truly connected world can’t happen in a silo, we’ve also worked closely with industry partners as part of the largest IoT standardization body, the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), which I will also be sharing about further at the show.

Until now, the promise of a world of connected devices has remained too fragmented, and as result too complex and difficult for consumers to navigate or practically take advantage of. However, a connected world, should be anything but. It should work for you, and make life easier for you. I couldn’t be more excited to share with you further on how Samsung is bringing this vision to reality now in just a few days time at CES 2018.

Samsung’s exhibit at the event will offer visitors the exciting chance to experience the future smart home, where home appliances are all connected through the latest advancements in IoT, as well as showcase the Samsung Family Hub refrigerator, and Samsung Connect application, which are at the heart of Samsung’s smart home vision.

A Better Lifestyle with Family Hub

Just imagine the scene. You are busy in the kitchen when you say, “Bixby, run cleaning mode,” to your Family Hub refrigerator. In an instant, your robot vacuum cleaner, POWERbot, turns on and begins to clean. As Family Hub also plays your favorite tune, you glance over to check on the status of your laundry in your FlexWash laundry machine, which sits in another part of the house, via Family Hub’s display panel.

A refrigerator is a home appliance that runs 24/7, all year round, for families to use anytime they want. This is the main reason why Samsung has positioned Family Hub at the core of its smart home vision.

Samsung Family Hub refrigerator features a beautiful, large 21.5-inch screen, as well as utilizes the latest in voice recognition technology. Samsung, leveraging its leadership in IoT to build an ecosystem for contents and services beyond just products, provides users with vast content and services options. Families can manage food items, find recipes, shop for groceries, as well as enjoy various entertainment options. These smart options are only available on Family Hub, with Samsung continuing to grow Family Hub’s partner ecosystem by collaborating with more than 100 partner companies across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Samsung Connect Expands the Smart Home Ecosystem

Samsung Connect for the smart home was first demonstrated at IFA 2017, as an integrated application system that controls different home appliances, and based on the cloud, is compatible with any device or operating system. In the Samsung Smart Home with the Samsung Connect app, users can control as well as check on the status of nearly every device or appliance in their home. Voice support will also soon be integrated into the Connect app.

To illustrate how Samsung Connect works, picture this: While driving home, you say “Bixby, tell me the room temperature.” The sensor on your Wind-Free air conditioner at home, which is linked to the Samsung Connect App, measures the temperature of your home, and your mobile device communicates the reading to you by voice. Since you realize it is getting a little too warm at home, you ask Samsung Connect to turn on the air conditioner before you arrive.

Along these lines, Samsung has also been focusing on expanding its open ecosystem by closely interacting with other manufacturers. As a diamond member of the Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), the company is actively pursuing the standardization of the smart home and IoT platform.

Samsung is also working with various third parties to integrate voice support, for example, with Amazon to integrate the Alexa voice assistant into its refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners and robot vacuums, and also with Google Home for integration into its robotic vacuums. Samsung plans to focus on expanding services through collaboration with various smart home companies, and increase the range of devices compatible with SmartThings, building a comprehensive IoT ecosystem that ultimately connects everything.

Sounds very futuristic, right? Samsung Smart Home is already becoming the reality thanks to the endless efforts of Samsung to integrate a smart system and IoT functionality to connect across home appliances. It may not be very long before we all are living in smart homes ourselves!

The organization’s theme for this year is ‘All Things Connected’. And as OCF brings together many of the industry’s major players, including Samsung, it showcases how devices from different manufacturers can work well together on a connected platform. The exhibition is being held in Las Vegas Sand Hall from 5^th January to 8^th January 2017.

Although a rapidly growing industry, IoT currently suffers from fragmentation. A wide range of standards stymie cross-sector collaboration, which in turn hinders the industry from establishing a unified legacy.

In theory, the billions of connected phones, computers, sensors, and other devices should be able to communicate with each other regardless of manufacturer, operating system and chipset. OCF was created to make that vision a reality. The organization is creating a specification and sponsoring an open source project called IoTivity to make IoT an all-compassing ‘internet of everything’. OCF already has over 300 members, many of which include household names such as Samsung Electronics. Cooperation on this scale will unlock a huge opportunity in the IoT market, and will help developers and companies create solutions that map to a single open specification and codes.

Putting the Platform into Action

At CES 2017, OCF’s exhibition demonstrates working examples of how a unified IoT platform can provide benefits to users as well as developers and manufacturers. Here, Samsung displays its own products as part of the OCF Kiosk Zone and Demo Zone. Samsung has its own kiosk and is showing products including its robot vacuum cleaner and Gear S3. Meanwhile, in the Demo Zone, Samsung products are being featured alongside other OCF member products in connected platform use cases.

Some might say that a robot vacuum cleaner is in itself a ground-breaking innovation, and indeed it is. But what if it could be controlled remotely from a smartwatch? At the Samsung Kiosk in the OCF exhibition booth, how Samsung Gear S3 can be used to turn the autonomous vacuum cleaner on or off and to change modes on the device is demonstrated. The vacuum is also able to send notifications to the smartwatch to communicate any issues it detects, such as its wheels being stuck.

Grand Vision

A mock living room is set up in the OCF Demo Zone. At the living room, three different scenarios are demonstrated in which various devices can work in tandem as part of a smart home. The first two of these are Leaving Home Mode and Coming Home Mode. Here, a Gear or Windows 10 tablet is used to turn the TV on or off, change the volume and contents on TV as customized by the user, turn the robot vacuum and air conditioning on or off, and control the lights and temperature in accordance with practical experience in smart home. In Movie Mode, the same elements can be controlled to different parameters to create the perfect viewing experience – lights are dimmed, picture and sound setting of TV changes to Movie Mode, and air conditioning becomes wind-free.

But the smart home extends beyond the living room. In the garage that is recreated in the Demo Zone, a Gear S3 changes the settings of a car parked up inside – including its temperature. Also from inside the vehicle, mode of Family Hub 2.0 can be switched to Power Cool, Power Freeze and Ice-making Mode, realizing true convergence of smart home and connected car.

The smart home is just one of the ways that OCF will help bring about a more open IoT platform that benefits all. It will also be used in industrial, enterprise, healthcare and automotive settings. But the basic premise is the same throughout. A collaborative approach to IoT makes sense for all involved. Samsung’s work with OCF and partnership at CES 2017 is an important part of showing what a connected future could look like.

The goal of the Open Connectivity Foundation is to accelerate industry innovation in IoT by showcasing how devices from different manufacturers can work together on a connected platform.

The OCF’s theme for this year is ‘All Things Connected’.

The OCF brings together many of the industry’s major players, including Samsung.

The Samsung products presented at the OCF’s CES 2017 booth illustrated how a variety of devices can work together to create a convenient and connected ‘smart’ home.

The exhibit included ‘connected’ living room and garage setups, and provided specific examples of how a unified IoT platform can benefit users as they go about their day.

Both setups illustrated how connected devices could be set to conveniently automate everyday tasks. Here, Samsung’s Gear S3 is used to seamlessly adjust a thermostat and unlock and put the top down on a user’s convertible.

The Gear S3 was also used to control key functions on Samsung’s Family Hub refrigerator, allowing the user to adjust the refrigeration mode and alerting them when its door was ajar.

In the exhibit’s mock living room, a variety of electronics can be activated and powered off depending on whether the user was leaving, coming home or preparing to watch a movie.

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.