Cisco has announced plans to open an Internet of Everything (IoE) Innovation centre in Australia. It will be Cisco’s eighth around the world, and will, says Cisco “serve as a hub for open innovation …. And accelerate innovation and the adoption of IoE in Australia.”
Cisco distinguishes Io T from the Internet of Things by saying: “The Internet of Everything is built on the connections among people, processes, data, and things. However, it is not about these four dimensions in isolation. Each amplifies the capabilities of the other three. It is in the intersection of all of these elements that the true power of IoE is realised.”
Cisco says it will invest $15m in the centre over five years. It will be located in Curtin University in Perth and in a commercial organisation, Sirca, a provider of online services owned by 40 Australian and New Zealand universities that provides support to finance and other data-intensive research at universities, Government and financial market participant. Woodside Energy will also be a partner in the project.
Sirca CEO, Dr Micahel Briers, said the organisation had a proven track record of handling very large data sets and providing data analysis for organisations to enable better visibility and decision support.
Sirca intends to have a particular focus on agricultural applications of IoE. Chief strategy advisor, Ros Harvey, said the world faced a huge challenge in feeding its population in the future. “Technology, particularly IoT, is seen as a potential solution to this urgent challenge. As a member of the Centre our aim is to combine Australia’s strengths in agriculture with technology innovation to make Australia the epicentre for IoT R&D in agriculture.
Both Cisco and Curtin University have been involved in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project for several years and Curtin sees the experience developed for the analysis of large data sets will be applicable to IoE. Professor Steven Tingay, from the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy, said: “We see the [IoE Centre] as a good platform to extend our partnership with Cisco and to collaborate with other companies who are producing big data sets and struggling with the same sorts of things that we are struggling with as scientists.”
At the centre, Cisco says: “Cisco experts with industry partners and ecosystem startups will develop proofs of concept, features and functionalities, do rapid prototyping.” The centre will include “dedicated space to demonstrate IoE in action and open areas where customers, startups, open communities, researchers, entrepreneurs and technology enthusiasts are invited to work and brainstorm on new ideas and technologies.”
