Chia-Lin Simmons

On August 27, Broadcom announced that it was adding WiFi Direct (a Wifi standard) to its WICED (Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices) platform. And we wonder, “Hey, why did that take so long?”. As GigaOm so eloquently put it: “Broadcom, wireless. Peanut butter, jelly. Together, they just work.”

This would open more wearable devices like watches, pedometers, even your work keycard to transit data to the cloud via smartphone and tablet. This opens up a number of Internet of Things (IOT) opportunities. What most everyday consumers who are non-techies don’t realize is that there are a lot of embedded chips/platforms out there on everything from watches on your wrist to the speakers in your home. Having the embedded platform with built-in wifi will significantly move the momentum forward for those things to be connected to the internet because it cuts the cost of including wifi from the actual manufacturing of the hardware/wearable devices. That makes it easier to deliver that IOT product into your hands at a potentially lower price and shorter time from the device makers.

Very excited step forward as Broadcom is a big supplier and I do love IOT! That’s all on IOT from me today (I think!). Have to rush. For some reason, I’m really hungry for a PB&J sandwich…