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Kevin Ashton, who first coined the phrase ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT), once rightly said:

“We’re physical, and so is our environment. Our economy, society and survival aren’t based on ideas or information — they’re based on things. You can’t eat bits, burn them to stay warm or put them in your gas tank. Ideas and information are important, but things matter much more. Yet today’s information technology is so dependent on data originated by people that our computers know more about ideas than things.”

A lot of people still don’t know what IoT really is. However, it’s easy to recognize a consumer IoT device by the actions it can take without you there. Such as an oven left on when not in use that can switch off on its own. Or a refrigerator being smart enough to check the availability of certain food items. In whole, IoT represents a network of interconnected ‘smart’ devices that communicate over the internet.

According to Statista, the number of connected products will triple from 2018 to 2025 and reach a massive 75 billion devices installed worldwide. That means, we hope to experience some of the best IoT solutions in our smart homes and buildings. But, this ‘smartness’ everywhere brings an underlying challenge — the actual ‘connection’ between various smart devices.

There’s no denying the fact that the world is interwoven with ‘connections’. For the effective implementation of consumer IoT devices, connectivity is one of the major components. The connectivity standards are considered the backbone of IoT, so in that case, you have to be very cautious in selecting them. The rapidly growing wireless technology gives us an array of options in selecting our connectivity standard. Some of the more commonly used standards employed in IoT are Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth LE, Thread, etc.

Now, the issue is that each of consumer IoT device works on a different wireless network or standard which means they all require a different wireless adapter. What happens is, to control the entire automation system requires the use of different apps that overload a customer’s smartphone and increase the time a device takes to perform certain functions.

Some of the common challenges in IoT communications are Interoperability, Multiple Controls, Maintainability and Power Consumption. When it comes to connecting diverse appliances, the one solution that comes to mind is creating a single unified tool instead of multiple controllers. As an open platform, the Arloid IoT Ecosystem works with multifarious IoT connectivity standards and enables easy-to-use device management.

We plan to solve compatibility problems in the industry with our upcoming IoT Ecosystem which will offer a complete suite of devices that can be accessed in one simple and easy-to-use mobile application. That’s because one of the simplest yet most thorough approaches to solving the problem of connectivity is to support a whole range of products for a certain purpose. This strategy helps avoid the issues with different connectivity standards, multiple control points and interoperability in a single effort. By integrating these services into a single app’s backend, you are no longer forced to manage your home appliances through a complex number of portals.

At Arloid, we want to create this user-friendly environment for the community, including consumers, third-party developers, engineers and more. Our IoT Ecosystem will be applied on blockchain technology and managed by the Arloid Community through smart contracts. The IoT Ecosystem in itself will begin with the Arloid Community, who will be able to use the platform to discover new IoT products. As a member, you will be able to choose and vote for the IoT products (devices or software) they wish to see integrated into the Arloid Ecosystem.