The future where all our devices are connected to each other along with our home appliances is nearly here. We know it as the Internet of Things, and with the help of Qualcomm, LG, the Linux Foundation, along with several other companies, an alliance will be formed that aims to make dreams a reality.
The new alliance is called AllSeen Alliance, and it will take on the task of creating and maintaining unified standards for device-to-device communication. You might not understand what that really means, so let us explain how such an alliance could change the future.
Instead of waiting until the year 2020, it is possible that, by next year, your smart fridge could become even smarter because it will share the same API and brain as your smart TV and other smart devices within your home. Basically, all device in your home would have the ability to communicate with each other which, in turn, brings to life the smart house.
Take a look at this scenario. If someone comes at your gate and rings the bell, it could activate your smart camera to show footage on your smart TV without you having to fiddle with anything. With this, you can choose whether to have words with the annoying neighbor, or collect the pizza from the pizza delivery guy. Endless possibilities here that could change our lives forever.
Here are the list of companies that are a part of the AllSeen alliance: Qualcomm, LG Electronics, Sharp, Haier, Panasonic, Silicon Image, Cisco, TP-LINK. Canary, doubleTwist, Fon, Harman, HTC, Le Shi, Lifx, Liteon, Moxtreme, Musaic, Sears Brand Management Corporation, Sproutling, The Sprosty Network, Weaved, and Wilocity.
The whole AllSeen framework is based on Qualcomm's AllJoyn open source project. It runs on Windows, Android, iOS and Linux operating systems.
Having a connected home could, however, open the door for malicious folks to gain access via all forms of hacking abilities. "Security was one of the key principles Qualcomm was keen to address in AllJoyn," Linux Foundation Director Mike Dolan said. "Anybody will be able to read and offer suggested improvements to the code base."
