Samsung Launches IoT Cloud Platform

It’s with no small degree of irony that the budding Internet of Things will depend on software, not a thing at all, to tie all the devices themselves together for perfect smart home harmony. Now, Samsung is throwing its hat into that paradoxical ring while the market share iron is hot.

Samsung announced on Wednesday (April 27) that it had launched the Samsung ARTIK Cloud, a data exchange platform optimized for IoT connectivity support. With built-in APIs and other tools, Samsung is marketing ARTIK as a turnkey solution for enterprise and consumer product development alike, and Young Sohn, president and chief strategy officer at Samsung, explained that the experience should be exactly what’s come to be expected of seamless cloud services.

“Our vision for the ARTIK platform is an end-to-end experience that reduces the obstacles, challenges and time-to-market for IoT solutions,” Sohn said in a statement. “We’re excited to announce the SAMSUNG ARTIK Cloud after three years of development and feedback from hundreds of developers. Unlike many other IoT cloud platforms, ARTIK Cloud breaks down data silos between devices and enables a new class of IoT applications and services. The launch of this exciting new platform not only signals Samsung’s foray into the cloud services market but reinforces our belief that, by creating powerful open platforms, we can harness the information generated by IoT to develop new insights and new approaches to address the major global challenges of today and tomorrow.”

Samsung has already garnered some partnerships for its ARTIK platform, including electrical and digital building services firm Legrand and smart home startup SmartThings.

It’s not as if the IoT space is hurting for more entrants, but having a company the size of Samsung throwing its weight behind cloud support for all the devices yet to make their names can’t hurt.