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Alps Electric has started provision of a new IoT system to help corporations quickly set up new businesses based on Internet of Things technology and launch new services utilizing gathered data. The IoT system employs IBM’s Bluemix platform-as-a-service (PaaS)^* to enable seamless connection of IoT Smart Modules—multiple sensors combined with a communication module in a single package—to cloud services.

Alps Electric builds close partnerships with electronics manufacturers and works constantly to put forward the best electronic components by getting involved right from the development stage. The company has been strengthening activities in the IoT domain since 2013 to accompany existing businesses, for example in the automotive and smartphone markets. Linking IoT Smart Modules to IBM Bluemix streamlines sensing of data through to cloud service deployment, making it easier for customers to develop new businesses utilizing collected information.

【IoT Smart Module Features】
IoT Smart Modules are modules that contain within a compact casing multiple sensors for detecting data on pressure, temperature, humidity, ambient light and other environmental parameters, along with wireless communication functions. There are two series: the “Sensor Network Module,” a world-smallest size module that even performs six-axis (geomagnetic and acceleration) sensing, and the “Environmental Sensor Module,” which can be installed outdoors due to its dust- and water-resistant design. The former supports Bluetooth® Smart while the latter is compatible with 920 MHz data communication. Both modules can be supplied as development kits with a gateway that links to IBM Bluemix, allowing a broad range of uses such as monitoring of living environments, health management and infrastructure monitoring.

【Advantages of Linking IoT Smart Modules to IBM Bluemix】
IoT sensor applications require solutions for connecting and controlling sensor devices, collecting and managing data output collected from sensors, and creating processing flows for IoT events among other functions. Bundling these solutions together with sensor modules makes it easier to utilize the sensing data.

IBM Bluemix employs Node-RED and MQTT (Message Queue Telemetry Transport) open technologies that enable visual assembly of logic flows and defining of processing logic for applications, and which simplify use of IoT data by anyone. Providing a framework to which everyone can connect, IBM Bluemix is expected to grow as a platform easily and quickly accessible by IoT Smart Modules users. In addition, the benefits of cloud-based managed services and access to global IT infrastructure are considered vital for IoT business expansion.

Alps Electric seeks to enhance its IoT system looking ahead to potential uses in the nursing care, person monitoring, industrial equipment, agriculture and wearable device fields and development of applications for individual industries. The Environmental Sensing Module and the Sensor Network Module were made available for general sale as development kits in June and October 2015 respectively. By linking these modules to the IBM Bluemix cloud platform, Alps Electric will support the establishment of IoT businesses in diverse markets.