22 May 2012
Electric Imp brings ‘Internet of Things’ to the home
US start up Electric Imp has developed an innovative user installable card featuring a Wi-Fi antennae and embedded processor that lets users connect their electronic devices to the internet in a cost effective and simple way.
Measuring 32 x 24 x 2.1mm, the Imp card is designed to connect to the company's proprietary cloud service, allowing users to monitor and control their device from a browser or smartphone and build personalised intelligent behaviours.
"Until now, creating connected devices was a huge challenge for any vendor," commented Hugo Fiennes, the company's founder and ceo. "Connected devices were expensive, didn't play well with others, and were generally disappointing to the consumer. Electric Imp changes all this by bringing the power of an easy to use, cloud based service to almost any device and allowing the internet to interact with everyday objects."
The company says that adding an imp slot is easy and cost effective for manufacturers, often costing less than a dollar in additional parts, so even niche and custom devices can be connected. Once enabled, the Imp connects the device to the cloud without the need to build or manage a web service. For consumers, this means that Imp enabled products can all work seamlessly together.
A developer preview bundle is expected to ship in June.
Author
Simon Fogg
Supporting Information
Websites
http://www.electricimp.com/
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