IoT via Wi-Fi: automating the setup via the cloud may be the answer

• IoT setups across Wi-Fi usually still involve some manual processes
• A swedish company claims it has the answer
• Its Zero-Touch IoT Connectivity Solution means never having to type ‘Help’ (it claims)

One of the problems with residential IoT (and any home networking, in fact) is that the setup via Wi-Fi is something that’s likely to annoy the new owner and, in perhaps one time in three, won’t work at all. As with flatpack furniture, our experience tells us that it’s going to be more difficult to assemble than its retailers were prepared to admit, and so we come to the task “pre-annoyed” and expecting the worst.

This must be one reason why the initial wave of IoT enabled gadgets failed to set the world on fire  - the other reason being that most of them were useless.

Setting up a single application gadget to automatically introduce itself across the network is probably more difficult than I just made it sound, but all the same it seems to me fairly achievable in the great scheme of things and lo (you knew this was coming) Aptilo Networks claims its Zero-Touch IoT Connectivity Solution completely automates IoT attachment via Wi-Fi.

While solutions like Probme have been around for a while and seem to get close to automating connections, there is inevitably still a manual process or two to be undertaken.

Sweden-based Aptilo claims its software makes a “just take it out of the box and turn it on’ solution available.

Aptilo says it’s using Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud and AWS IoT Core and the solution is available to  enterprises and telecom operators to add to their existing offerings.

“The only way for Wi-Fi to be used on a large scale for IoT is for onboarding to happen automatically, after powering up the device for the first time,” said Paul Mikkelsen, CEO, Aptilo Networks. And not just residential of course. Enterprise IoT can often involve dozens of devices requiring automatic setup at one time, so this solution fixes that problem as well. It supports Hotspot 2.0 and Passpoint along with legacy Wi-Fi equipment and devices.

The Zero-Touch IoT Connectivity Solution uses device identities that already exist in the AWS IoT Core. Through the integration with AWS IoT Core, Aptilo SMP can verify if the device is active and collect input to form connectivity policies. “The enterprise remains in control, but the service is seamless,” claims Aptilo.