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.

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.

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/in/

For those of us in the tech and related industries, the start of each new year represents a period for our own personal moments of reflection, but also as professionals and those passionate about technology to share and envision together the latest in technology innovation at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

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.

The writer is President and Head of Consumer Electronics Division, Samsung Electronics