Rivals ARM and Intel make peace to secure Internet of Things

SB Technology

15/10/2018 14:00

By Eric Auchard
    LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - Rival semiconductor giants ARM
and Intel  INTC.O  have agreed to work together to manage
networks of connected devices from both firms, clearing a major
stumbling block to market growth of the so-called Internet of
Things (IoT).
    Britain's ARM, a unit of Japan's Softbank Corp  4726.T ,
said on Monday it had struck a strategic partnership with Intel
to use common standards developed by Intel for managing IoT
devices, connections and data.
    The IoT involves connecting simple chips that detect
distance, motion, temperature, pressure and images to be used in
an ever wider range of electronics such as lights, parking
meters or refrigerators.
    Some of the world's dumbest electronics devices get smarter
by becoming connected into cloud networks, but also harder to
protect. 
    ARM's agreement to adopt Intel standards for securely
managing such networks marks a breakthrough that promises to
drive the spread of IoT across many industries, the two
companies said.
    "We see a significant acceleration in terms of how the
market will grow in terms of the number of managed devices and
the volume of data that moves through these systems," Himagiri
Mukkamala, an ARM senior vice president and general manager for
its IoT Cloud Services division, told Reuters in an interview.
    The announcement came ahead of ARM’s annual technical
conference set for this week in Silicon Valley.
    ARM and Intel have long competed more broadly in processors
for computers, networks and smartphones. 
    Most of the world's biggest suppliers of IoT chips rely on
low-power ARM designs, including NXP, Renesas and Microchip's
Atmel, while Intel, known for its powerful data-crunching
processors, dominates the cloud data centre market, where IoT
data are analysed and processed, Gartner analyst Bill Ray said. 
    Chipmakers are expected to ship around 100 billion ARM-based
IoT devices in the next four to five years, matching the total
number of ARM chips shipped in the last 25 years, Mukkamala
said. 
    ARM has predicted that as many as 1 trillion IoT devices
will be put to work in the world over the next two decades. 
    Typically, IoT devices come pre-loaded at the factory with
network access credentials, leaving them open to many security
vulnerabilities. Periodic fixes require manual upgrades by
technicians in the field. 
    By allowing their devices to be managed via a single
management platform, ARM and Intel are enabling such tasks to be
automated to keep them secure. 
    ARM's recently introduced Pelion IoT management platform
will rely on Intel's Secure Device Onboard specifications
announced a year ago. This will allow customers using IoT chips
based on either company's products to manage them in the same
system, executives at the two companies said in separate blog
posts.

 (Reporting by Eric Auchard in London; editing by Jason Neely)
 ((eric.auchard@thomsonreuters.com; +44 7775 028 015; Reuters
Messaging: eric.auchard.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))