B+B SmartWorx is at M2M Evolution Conference & Expo this week talking about its recent rebranding and strategy relating to M2M and the Internet of Things.
The company formerly known as B&B Electronics just last week changed its name to B+B SmartWorx to emphasize its new focus on IoT, Mike Fahrion, director of product management at the company, told IoTevolutionworld this week in an interview at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
The company has been focused on edge connectivity, including M2M physical layer connectivity, for decades, he said. But starting in 2010 the company, which had previously never bought another company, made three acquisitions within 16 months, which drove a lot of change at the organization, he said. The company in the past 18 months really ramped up work on its IoT strategy, and as part of the effort decided to do the rebranding.
What remains the same is that the company will continue to be a hardware manufacturer. What’s new is the emphasis on M2M and IoT solutions. And what B+B SmartWorx brings to the table that is unique on this front, he said, is its ability to address the “messy edge of the network.” (The edge of the network is messy, he explained, in that it often needs to support an array of legacy devices, which means an array of different protocols and technologies.)
The Wzzard Intelligent Sensing Platform is among the new solutions resulting from this new strategy. Not only does it offer connectivity for any existing sensors, the Wzzard connectivity devices form wireless mesh networks among themselves. This solution also makes sense of the collected data, so that opens the door for more parties to be able to understand and use that data. Wzzard starter kits began shipping in November, and there are now 60 different partners and integrators evaluating Wzzard in various applications.
B+B is also working on adding SWARM capabilities to its cellular edge gateway devices, which is planned for the second half of this year. As a result, gateways will be able to share resources with one another, which will allow for backup in case connectivity to one or more of them becomes available; will be able to do load sharing; and will allow the network to make more intelligent decisions.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
