In the future, Social IoT will enable the boundless communication of IoT devices.

Just as WhatsApp has revolutionized simple communication between people, the Object.Chat cloud platform is revolutionizing information exchange in the Internet of Things (IoT) space. This turns IoT devices into "social devices" that can communicate purposefully, quickly, securely, platform-independently and worldwide. Networked thinking thus becomes practical reality.

The IoT Challenge

The Internet of Things is becoming increasingly important in industrial and private environments.  IoT systems and the resulting information are currently not sufficiently networked, verified and protected to fully exploit the existing potential. Existing devices for IoT automation (e.g. RFID tags, beacons, sensors, etc.) are mostly complex and proprietary. Because comprehensive verification and communication standards for IoT information simply do not exist. This causes unnecessary detours, controls and conversions as well as high processing times and costs along the "IoT added value" every day. The resulting information can often only be used with difficulty, in some cases simply not at all.

This existing deficit will increase even more, as the number of IoT devices (industrial and private) will increase rapidly and exponentially (125 billion by 2030, ihsmarkit.com , 2017).

So the precarious situation is increasingly arising, that although more and more IoT devices are being used, the information supplied by them remains largely unused due to missing or incompatible communication chains. The actual potential is thus exhausted.

Too little is thought in networks.

In summary, this means that the number of IoT devices will grow almost infinitely. The need to efficiently network and interrogate these devices is increasing. But there is no suitable and comprehensive solution that supports the data exchange of the devices in a secure, independent and simple way. So far there are mostly only proprietary, slow and expensive individual solutions from system integrators based on the IoT solution base of international providers (Microsoft, SAP, Amazon, Google etc.).

In the figurative sense this is comparable to the situation before e.g. WhatsApp revolutionized and conquered the secure, simple and cheap exchange between people through chat & status via mobile smartphone devices. The advantage of this is visible today and taken for granted by millions of people - because they have integrated WhatsApp into their lives as a kind of "simple communication middleware". The participating persons can address themselves worldwide, with a single ID, in real time, uncomplicatedly as well as surely, exchange, inform and co-ordinate - individually or in groups - occupationally as well as privately. And they can exchange content of any origin. Actually complex - but quite normal today. 

This state is currently still completely absent in the environment of the IoT landscape. And that can change.

Solution: Object.Chat

The "WhatsApp for Social IoT Devices"

With the IoT cloud platform Object.Chat, TecBakery-WavePointer works on a service that functions as a "WhatsApp for IoT devices". The simplicity of use, but also the specific functional orientation of the platform ensure a worldwide, high acceptance in the IoT segment and optimal networking of IoT information.

Object.chat thus takes up the philosophy of "social communication between people" and transfers this approach further into the IoT area. Thus IoT devices become not only "smart devices" but also "social devices and social objects". IoT becomes "social IoT".

Through Object.Chat, IoT devices receive a place worldwide and in a secure way where they can easily receive and deliver information - just as people "simply exchange information" on platforms today. Object.chat is thus a decentralized IoT communication middleware that significantly simplifies the comprehensive networking and use of IoT devices. This means that the IoT platforms of the large providers or even individual solutions can use the IoT devices together and across an entire value chain.

In the first step, the platform is aimed at common IoT devices such as beacons, tags, sensors, etc. These devices are registered very easily and quickly on the Object.Chat platform (individually or automatically) by the respective device owner. Unique identifiers are assigned and chat and status channels are opened automatically, which can be addressed via APIs (IN/OUT). Each of these devices now has its own "information channel", which can collect or display e.g. affiliation, status, status, location, task and requirements. Access to the respective information channel is granted exclusively to authorized applications. These authorizations can be regulated e.g. temporally, locally or task-related - or assigned in whole groups.

Example 1: Railroads and trains are increasingly being equipped by manufacturers with more and more IOT devices. These devices perform tasks and services that are partly service-oriented and partly customer-oriented. However, all railroad operators work with different programs, formats and applications in their daily operations. Therefore, a generic and overarching approach helps a lot to use the IOT data for individual rail operators and also across different rail operators. This also creates consistently usable information for rail operators, their alliances even across their own rail networks. This massively supports the customers as well as the service forces of these mobility networks.

Example 2: In the automated manufacturing and production control of drug production, for example, it can be guaranteed that the production material supplied to the factory has passed through all preliminary work stages and quality controls at the supplier's site. A reading device in the factory radio interrogates the beacon of the production material and automatically receives the relevant and desired background information of the last work step - or even entire process chains - within seconds via ObjectChat. In the future, it will no longer be just a matter of knowing about one's own processes, but also about relevant data from one's suppliers.

The use of Object.chat is not limited to any industry or region. Just as WhatsApp has no restrictions here.

Blockchain concept helps with data security

Object.chat offers essential core elements to meet the requirements of the IoT. In addition to the obligatory services, automation technology, flexible data models and, last but not least, security are required. System, communication and data security. Object.Chat uses the BlockChain approach for data security and validity. This ensures that a distributed, decentralized data structure stores the information transactions transparently, chronologically and unchangeably in a network. In addition to the security aspect, Blockchain offers transaction processing and verification at comparatively high speed as well as transaction and infrastructure cost reduction by bypassing intermediate services.

(C) by TecBakery-WavePointer