SMARTRAC to Enhance Smart Cosmos IoT Monetization Ecosystem
Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Las Vegas (USA), October 6, 2015 – At the AWS re:Invent Conference (booth no. 1242), SMARTRAC is introducing the next stage of its Smart Cosmos Internet of Things (IoT) platform. The RFID pacesetter has launched “Lessons,” an educational training portal for everybody interested in the technical aspects of a connected RFID-centric IoT ecosystem, and a $50k contest for software developers.
Since its first introduction in early 2014, the world’s leading supplier of RFID tags and inlays has continued to develop Smart Cosmos into an IoT Monetization Ecosystem. The launch of the “Lessons” training portal and the $50k contest for software developers are milestones in that development, which will lead to the opening of a Smart Cosmos Market in early 2016.
Smart Cosmos is a growing array of tightly integrated Cloud-based services that helps software engineers rapidly deliver enterprise value and return-on-investment, at better orders of magnitude than if they had to build their own IoT ecosystem from scratch. All core Smart Cosmos services (Profiles, Objects, Flows) are available in the AWS Marketplace.
$50,000 in cash for the best Smart Cosmos Extension
Though monetization will be fully effective through the Smart Cosmos Market, SMARTRAC’s contest for developers, called the “$50k IoT Challenge,” provides an early chance for them to make money. Developers are invited to upload software extensions for Smart Cosmos that make the platform more comprehensive.
The Challenge has several award categories: Best Authentication Service Extension Plugin, Best Storage Service Extension, Best Analytics Integration, Best Sensor Integration and – as the main category – Best Server Extension. The winner of the latter will receive the Grand Prize of US$25,000, while the other category winners will take home between $5,000 and $10,000. The Challenge will be held from October 1, 2015 until January 31, 2016. For details, potential contestants should visit https://partner.smart-cosmos.com/contest.
Training (not only) for developers
To encourage and enable as many potential participants as possible to develop extensions, SMARTRAC has created “Lessons,” a training portal for developers, solution architects, IT administrators and others interested in a connected, RFID-centric IoT ecosystem. Under
http://lessons.smart-cosmos.com, registered users can check out the course catalog and pursue one of several learning paths. Upon request, SMARTRAC will provide a code that enables, under specific conditions, free-of-charge self-registration until the end of 2015.
The path to monetization
“In our time of hyper-connectivity, there is an increasing awareness among developers concerning the tremendous monetization opportunities the IoT has to offer. Monetization of the IoT can be accomplished by connecting simple, everyday items to enterprise and consumer digital ecosystems by leveraging things like RFID tags and the Cloud. With the next development stage of Smart Cosmos, we are definitely offering developers a big bang: a starting point on the path that leads to monetization,” says Jason Weiss, Vice President, Cloud Platform & Applications at SMARTRAC.
Next step: the Smart Cosmos Market
Regardless of the submitted software’s success in the Challenge, contributions can be distributed via the future Smart Cosmos Market, giving all contestants the chance to sell their extensions to enterprises interested in custom IoT solutions, and thus further monetize their efforts after the Challenge.
Partners trust in Smart Cosmos
Meanwhile, SMARTRAC has attracted Keen IO, MachineShop, Sasken, Senitron and Stormpath as initial Smart Cosmos Partners. “We are extremely proud that, by developing extensions for Smart Cosmos, such well-known market players are explicitly demonstrating their trust in our IoT platform and its monetization potential,” says Christian Uhl, Chief Executive Officer of SMARTRAC Technology Group. “We warmly welcome collaborators to Smart Cosmos, and look forward to welcoming more partners soon, as Smart Cosmos is designed to be an open platform for everyone who wants to reap the benefits the IoT has to offer.”
Meet SMARTRAC @ AWS re:Invent 2015, booth no. 1242,
October 6-9, 2015, The Venetian, Las Vegas, NV, USA.
About SMARTRAC:
SMARTRAC is the world’s leading developer, manufacturer and supplier of RFID products and services, providing both ready-made and customized products and services suitable for a large number of applications. SMARTRAC makes products smart, and enables businesses to identify, authenticate, track and complement product offerings. Leveraging its global R&D, production and sales network, SMARTRAC combines physical products with its Internet of Things platform Smart Cosmos, empowering the ecosystem of connected things. The company’s solution portfolio is used in a wide array of applications: access control, automated fare collection, automotive, border control, contactless payment, electronic product identification, industry, libraries and media management, logistics, retail, public transport, and many more. SMARTRAC has its registered headquarters in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.smartrac-group.com
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