Two Industry Groups Sign ‘Strategic Liaison Agreement’ on IoT

Two industry groups seeking to draft device specifications to enable the Internet of Things used the CeBIT show in Hanover, Germany, Tuesday to announce a “strategic liaison agreement” to collaborate on developing open specs and certification programs. Under the agreement, the EEBus Initiative and the Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC) will work to increase device interoperability and ease of use, “while minimizing duplication of effort and fragmentation,” they said. EEBus is working to define “an end-to-end solution for the smart grid and smart home that will increase the efficiency, environmental protection, convenience and security of the energy supply and related Smart Home management,” that group said. OIC’s “connectivity framework simplifies the way application developers and device manufacturers manage common tasks of discovery and connectivity” over multiple interface standards, including Bluetooth, Zigbee and ZWave, OIC said. “This collaboration means both groups will reference or re-purpose work already done in the other organization, all while harmonizing future roadmaps,” they said.