In the age of intelligent hardware, what kind of company will live better and develop faster?

Absrtact: This year's netease future science and Technology Summit, the China partner Wan Haoki in the smart Hardware sub-forum, they voted four of their bullish platform-level companies. The Secret x Company, which provides cloud services, is the wit cloud. Recently received millions of U.S. dollars

At this year's NetEase future science and Technology Summit, Wan Haoki, a Chinese partner at the smart Hardware sub-forum, said they had voted four of their bullish platform-level companies. The Secret x Company, which provides cloud services, is the wit cloud. Recently won the millions of U.S. dollar a round of financing.

In the age of intelligent hardware, what kind of company will live better and develop faster? 360 Vice President Shen Haiyin that there are four types of companies: Chip companies, design companies, do small and beautiful products company, "Sell water" company. These "sell water" companies, often do is the algorithm and the top service, in essence are investors in the eyes of the platform or a possible platform for the company.

This is easy to sum up, but it is not easy to find a breakthrough. The wit cloud of the technology of Jie Sheng, very successful found the cut-in point. This period of time, the wit cloud has been doing the website revision. From the revised web site, their ideas are more clear, they are walking in the mobile internet era Friends of the road, from the statistical analysis of data, to WiFi routing access as the advantage to machine-to-machine services as the core, for developers to provide development, operation one-stop solution.

Smart cloud can be seen as a dedicated to intelligent hardware to provide background support for the cloud services platform, the current stage for intelligent hardware developers to provide four kinds of SDK and services: Data statistics analysis, machine-to-machine access, OTA firmware upgrades, hardware socialization. Among them, the data statistic analysis can analyze the equipment's usage and user's behavior from multidimensional degree; machine-to-machine access actually includes WiFi device router access, remote monitoring and management, and other things networking infrastructure services; OTA firmware upgrades support a variety of directional upgrade strategies to solve the continuous upgrade requirements after the factory Hardware social service is the mechanism of the device to connect the client, one-click support for micro-social communication.

In data statistics

Similar to the Alliance, wit Cloud provides a combination of standardization and personalization of data statistical Analysis Services, access to data collection, analysis and sharing three links. The smart cloud can collect data from hardware and software, and developers can export users and devices anytime, anywhere, in the form of reports, including reports that are common in the industry, such as the number of new devices added daily, equipment running status, and so on. At the same time, users can also use the smart cloud tools, according to their own needs, personalized customized data reports.

In the era of the king of data, the general manufacturers want to take the data for themselves. However, the smart cloud has gone another way, reserving the interface, supporting developers to output data to a different Third-party platform, so that the manufacturers of intelligent equipment to maintain maximum flexibility and autonomy, will not be limited by a single platform provider.

However, from the current point of view, the smart cloud now provides data statistics and analysis is still in the initial stage, but also relatively simple, including equipment on-line statistics, equipment active cycle statistics, client (app) use analysis, geographical distribution statistics. Like the development of the Alliance, I think the demand for statistical analysis of data is also mature and clear as the whole industry develops continuously. Now the intelligent hardware is still in the early development, the general data statistics demand is not clear, fine operation conditions are not yet ripe. Smart Cloud now first set up a platform, card good bit, the latter can flexibly adjust, optimize their services provided.

Advantage of WiFi routing access

Technology after years of development, has been and upstream chip manufacturers, downstream consumer goods manufacturers have established a good relationship, WiFi routing access is also a big advantage of wit cloud.

Upstream, with June Zheng, Bo Tong, Qualcomm, such as chip manufacturers and the Wi-Fi module manufacturers such as cooperation, can support the market mainstream Wi-Fi module, support all the production of Router access (onboarding), can be a variety of different hardware manufacturers of communication protocols into a unified standard agreement, It also supports the transition between different network connections, such as LAN, WAN, or mobile mobile network.

In the downstream, with Apple, Haier and other manufacturers have cooperated for many years, such as Foxconn's factory also has cooperation, can be compatible with the future of the major platform communication protocols, such as Apple HomeKit, Haier's u+, so that intelligent products support more platforms and mobile terminals.

Take Machine-to-machine service as the core

From what I've come to understand, in the logic of the Wisdom Cloud, the Machine-to-machine platform is like the brain of the intelligent hardware, including a set of IoT/Intelligent hardware function module based on wireless communication technology, which can realize the intelligent and interactive seamless and secure connection between human, machine and system, and integrates data acquisition, message push, Remote control and other services, can be connected to the third party open platform to achieve interoperability between heterogeneous devices.

From the product logic diagram above, Machine-to-machine platform, combined with iotagent (above the left part, is responsible for helping hardware devices to quickly establish network connectivity, data transmission and security authentication pathways and mechanisms) and IOTSDK (on the right-hand part of the picture, running the software development package in the smartphone), through the hardware, software, Cloud three links, forming a complete closed loop.

Why to connect Wit cloud

One of the most important issues for a cloud service provider is to solve the problem of why developers are accessing your services. Huang, the chief executive of Wit Cloud, felt that there were three reasons:

One is to shorten the development cycle. Generally speaking, a piece of hardware from the concept to the final market, generally need two quarters to one year time, where software development will probably take up half of the time. With the smart cloud, the software development cycle will be shortened to four weeks. Through the smart cloud, the shortest only need a two minutes, through the smart cloud background to develop equipment communications protocol, directly generate product development needs of the mobile application SDK, Demo App, equipment simulator, etc., so that your equipment quickly realize with the cloud, mobile phone end of the connection and remote control.

For example, to develop an air purifier, just in the background in order to fill in the relevant name, class name, communication protocol and other information, you can get the SDK, Demo App, as well as the simulator download link, click to download to run.

One is the wit cloud more professional. By implementing the above features, developers can do it all by themselves, with a similar SDK that other companies can do. But it's just a superficial thing, which also involves production, compatibility, security, and other issues that involve how to stabilize the code.

Huang said that over the past 4 years, after hundreds of iterations of software, the smart cloud has become the industry's mature intelligent hardware technology platform, providing software and cloud service support for many intelligent hardware already in production. Other platform products are still the concept of the majority of products, real access to production is not much. Mass production products for the stability of technology, compatibility, security requirements will be much higher.

Huang also cited a few examples. To improve the networking compatibility of our Wi-Fi access technology, they collected most of the routers on the market to test each, and repeatedly optimized the code. To improve the connectivity stability of Bluetooth low-power (BLE) devices and Android systems, they purchased hundreds of Android smartphones and tablets at home and abroad, and spent nearly half a year BLE SDK stability to the highest level in the industry. At the same time, in order to help partners improve the efficiency of production, they specialize in the system to produce quality inspection (QC) links specifically reserved for the test interface, to solve the problem of batch testing bottlenecks found.

The details of these problems are actually potholes. The wit cloud has crossed these pits for so many years and has accumulated experience and is a professional person in this field. This kind of professional thing should be given to the professionals such as wit Cloud to do, developers can focus more on product development.

The other is that the wit cloud is more neutral. Wit cloud does not sell hardware, do not do electrical business, only focus on software and cloud services, stand can be open and neutral. For example, in order to allow developers and manufacturers in the Wi-Fi module selection when there is enough room for choice, the smart Cloud Access Agent firmware (iotagent) can be run on different suppliers of the Wi-Fi module, to achieve the connection with the cloud; In order to facilitate the use of various Internet resources by manufacturers, The open interface of the wit cloud can simultaneously dock the hardware related service of Jingdong, Baidu, Tencent, Ali, Suning.

Starting with the partnership with Apple

Smart Cloud's parent company is the technology, founded in 2005 in New York, there are companies in Guangzhou, mainly responsible for research and development. Now in Beijing also set up a branch. 2010 years ago, the main software outsourcing services, has been in IOS, Android, W M, BlackBerry platform delivered more than 100 applications, games.

2009 Jie-sheng Technology received an invitation from Apple, began to do a soft and hard interaction research, got the Apple certified MFi certification, for MFi products to provide APP solutions. The software part of the IPhone's remote-control toy car, which landed at Apple's official store, was developed by them.

The company's CTO Liuyan is the original NetEase executives, but also a technology control, is very early in the IPhone users, at that time to determine the future hardware and software will be a trend, decisive, leading the company began to do standardized platform, that is now the wit and so service platform.

At that time, received the invitation of the Apple company about 35 domestic companies, basically did not like the wit cloud to stick down, bigger and stronger.

Now, the entire team of smart cloud has grown to more than 100 people, is still based on research and development, 80% are technical personnel. At the same time, they have targeted the past few years to recruit firmware development, recruit a lot of software architecture, data mining, system operation and maintenance of technical personnel, including many members are from Huawei, IBM, China Mobile, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. That's one of their big advantages.

How to get more small and medium developers to access

Wit cloud in the past has been working with large manufacturers, and Apple has a long-standing cooperation, now partners also include Haier, the United States and so on, the demand for these large manufacturers are clear to the heart, but also has straightened out with these large manufacturers of cooperation mechanism. Huang said that since 2010, there are more than 2 million intelligent hardware access to the services of the smart cloud, such as Le Cent, Haier have access to the wisdom of cloud services, AO Smith launched the first intelligent water heater has also been connected to the smart cloud, smart home, the top 10 of the manufacturers, half of the most used the wisdom cloud services, But it is not very convenient to disclose.

However, in the era of Internet of things, to expand the market share, only these large manufacturers of the volume of endorsement is not enough, but also need more developers to access. Small and medium-sized development team a large number of different needs, for open data will be more conservative, how early to attract and impress these users to connect wit cloud services, I think is also a need to consider and solve the problem.

The future of the wit cloud will not go the way of data realizable

Smart cloud services are now free and will continue to upgrade and provide technical support in the future. So how can we turn it into cash and make a profit?

For the company that wants to do intelligent hardware, the data is the resources, many are hope to spread the product, enlarge the data accumulation, hope to take this transformation platform, become the center or the entrance. In terms of data, the wit cloud itself is the platform, has the natural superiority, but, Huang said, they do not intend to walk the data to present the road, hoped can maintain the data the openness, lets the developer according to own demand will the data reuse, promotes the entire intelligent hardware market development, first puts the market to do. Now that they have accumulated data on more than 2 million hardware devices, the first issue of the industry report will be launched in August this year.

Smart cloud services are now free to use, the future will be further optimized, the future is likely to basic services free of charge from value-added services.