Startup wants to make a secure platform that works on all objects

Feb 21, 2012 10:45 GMT  ·  By

It is one thing to say that all electronics devices should connect to the Internet, and another to say that all objects, powered or otherwise, should be hooked to the web.

Nevertheless, the latter is precisely what startup company Evrythng says should happen: all physical things should be hooked up to the net.

Niall Murphy and Andy Hobsbawm are the people who founded the company, which backing from Niklas Zennstrom’s Atomico Ventures.

Their goal, advertised as “The Internet of Things”, is to create a secure, universal platform that lets all objects access the online environment.

This extends to things that don't normally have any electrical components to speak of, like bikes (ignoring the front light).

An online identifier could be built into a bicycle, which then gets linked to an online profile that always lets new owners know the service history etc.

There should be only a small leap between this and web-connected windows, table/display hybrids and everything else seen in Sci-Fi.

There were ideas and hopes for this sort of interconnection in the past, but Evrythng wants to finally make it happen this year.

Whatever chip or device they create will probably not be truly universal, but manufacturers of consumer goods are already discussing the idea with the company.

If it plays its cards right and avoids being bought off, Evrythng could become a very important IT player in the long run.

After all, its platform could be the perfect partner for Samsung's technology that turns all windows into displays.

With analysts already expecting buildings to become ”alive” by 2020, what Evrythng invents could become a default architectural element.

In the meantime, we are bound to witness the emergence of toasters that relay the weather, cameras that tell us when and where to make the best photos and streetlights that can tell you how warm or cold another part of the city you want to visit is.