Zentri’s “Silicon-to-Cloud” is Changing the IoT and M2M Game

An overview of Zentri's IoT and M2M Platform. Does it live up its predecessor?

If you’re looking to design connectivity into your new or existing products, Zentri has positioned themselves to provide a complete hardware and software platform that allows for quick IoT integration, saving months or even years of hardware and software development. Zentri sums it up best by stating, “Zentri delivers a production-ready platform that allows product companies to launch connected products 400% faster than typical product cycles. Zentri can help you launch a connected product in under 6 months as opposed to many years.”

At the core of the solution is the ZentriOS, an operating system built securely for connecting commercial devices in situ. Zentri offers turnkey WiFi and Smart Bluetooth modules to incorporate into your designs, but the ZentriOS is also fully capable of running on processors from Broadcom, NXP, ST Microelectronics, Freescale, and Atmel.

How Zentri's products work together

All of the technical difficulties, such as wireless networking, hardware design and certification, security, and cloud computing, have been solved by Zentri. They also incorporate a cloud-based device management service (DMS), via a DMS API, allowing for remote updates to devices in the field via OTA (over the air) connectivity. This is not required for use in production, but may be crucial for managing devices through their entire lifecycle.
Perhaps the coolest feature is the mobile app SDK, a software development kit that allows a developer to quickly build mobile apps that automatically communicate with devices in the field for precise control applications or for acquiring data.
According to Zentri, they are the only company that can deliver an intelligent operating system for connectivity on both Zentri modules (if you need to launch a product really fast) and large semiconductor partner hardware. This is what sets them apart from other IoT or M2M platforms. They have built an operating system that can run on different hardware platforms, while also providing their own hardware modules.
“OmniTrail Technologies, developers of the world’s most accurate and power efficient micro-location protocol, leverages Zentri Lab’s expertise to serve its enterprise customers. Zentri Labs has a unique and powerful model that helped us launch a connected product for our key customers without the inherent risks and delay of building a secure connectivity solution ourselves” said Richard Fuller, Head of R&D, Omnitrail Technologies.
In fact, over 800 companies have already incorporated Zentri technology into their business operations, products, or asset management, and the list is growing. Zentri technology has enabled companies to track consumer behavior in stores, build wireless audio products, wireless fitness equipment, and wireless white goods. They have also enabled companies to efficiently monitor industrial equipment for predictive maintenance, remotely control robotics, track moving assets, connect devices to an automobile's In-Vehicle-Network, and deliver wireless communications to battery-powered security cameras.
Included in Zentri’s cloud service portfolio is their Cloud Connector, which allows customers to connect to popular cloud services such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, ThingWorx Platform, Mocana, and OSIsoft infrastructure. Devices running ZentriOS, can easily connect to Zentri’s Cloud services using REST or WebSockets via the Cloud Connector API.

Zentri partnered with NXP for their production-grade IoT platform

In conclusion, Zentri offers the three main aspects of getting devices connected to the Internet of Things which includes:

1. The ZentriOS, an embedded software that runs on Zentri or third party hardware with Wi-Fi or Smart Bluetooth connectivity.
2. Cloud services for device management and device monitoring.
3. Mobile app SDK to build user applications for controlling and monitoring connected devices.

Myriad of resources are available at Zentri’s website, and you can get started by purchasing a development kit directly from Digi-Key.