Cisco Systems has long been making moves to stay at the forefront of the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution, positioning itself as a key player in the market. At a presentation at the Cisco Partner Summit this week, the company revealed its plans for IoT domination.
“The internet as we know it today, and the network that you operate, will not work for the Internet of Things,” said Rowan Trollope, Cisco senior vice president and general manager of the IoT and applications group.
“We can solve that problem because we own the network.”
With cyber security in mind, the company has announced the launch of a program within the next year to certify IoT devices as compatible with its network-based software. This software will work by automatically authorising these devices based on a “white-list”, rather than trying to find and block devices that are deemed unsafe.
Trollope has cited the company’s partnership with Apple as an example of its potential to secure and manage devices on Cisco networks.
Cisco is also hoping to contribute to IoT standards. For example, it is backing the MUD (Manufacturers Usage Description) approach. According to Trollope, Cisco can work faster than a standards body, which means it will deploy the technology ahead of time.
In February this year, the company purchased M2M communications company Jasper Technnologies for US$1.4 billion. As a result, Cisco gained over 3500 enterprise customers, including Tesla, Coco-Cola and McDonalds, as well as underlying partnerships with vendors such as SAP, IBM and Microsoft.