Cambridge's Campus of Things, ARMed and ready

It's logical: ARM specialises in the low-power processor designs which have found their way onto most of the mobile gadgets deployed over the past decade or two. Where does it go now? Into M2M/Internet of Things of course - or rather it develops chip designs that will enable its partners to build a position in what a myriad of reports and projections tells us is going to be huge, huge market. Billions of connected devices, billions of sensor chips to give them something to talk about.

ARM and its partners have just won £800,000 in a competitive funding call from the UK's Technology Strategy Board to deploy network technology and over 600 connected sensors across its premises in Cambridge. The idea is that the project will offer fine-grained control of the site and push back all sorts of information about ARM facility's 75 car park lights, 40 meeting rooms, heating and water management systems.

The end-result will be demonstrator project that can prove all sorts of tangible business benefits from IoT deployment.

ARM says the whole effort is based on open internet standards and is being designed to help application developers "mobilise connected assets of all kinds, the API specification will be made public to achieve broader deployment and to benefit businesses and individuals around the world."

The move is all part and parcel of ARM's broader vision of where IT in general is headed and how best to stay with the flow through open collaboration. At this year’s Future of Wireless International Conference in Cambridge, Warren East, retiring CEO of ARM told the delegates that "no one company can own the IoT space. " ARM is is all about collaboration and partnership.

And he emphasised the need for low power and-low cost if the large-scale IoT visions are ever to bear fruit, pointing out that there were already 50 cent microcontrollers for sensors.

ARM partners involved in the project include AlertMe, EnLight and IntelliSense.io.

AlertMe is providing smart solutions to detect occupancy of ARM meeting rooms. This technology will show employees when rooms are in use via an online booking system, enabling more efficient use of office space. AlertMe is also providing 75 kits for ARM employees that will enable them to monitor their own homes’ temperatures, energy consumption patterns and occupancy levels.

EnLight is upgrading ARM’s outdoor lighting in car parks and around building exteriors with a lighting management solution that will reduce energy consumption and enable ARM to intelligently control the lighting. The technology will enable ARM to remotely monitor data such as operating temperature, lamp status and energy consumption, plus lamps can be controlled and light levels adjusted during periods of low use to make additional savings.

Intellisense.io is providing solutions to measure pressure and flow in ARM’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. This technology will enable building temperatures to be read, zone-by-zone and will also enable the tracking of real-time maintenance needs, plus rates of water consumption and ARM’s overall carbon performance.