IoT is {hardware} plus software program, however many individuals nonetheless develop it as if it was simply {hardware}. Semir Haddad from MicroEJ joins Ryan Chacon on the IoT For All Podcast to debate software-defined IoT. They speak about the advantages of a software-defined strategy, inexperienced software program, efficiency trade-offs, and sustainable design ideas.
About Semir Haddad
Semir Haddad is the Chief Product and Technique Officer at MicroEJ. Semir has over 20 years of expertise working with business leaders and startups, bringing revolutionary applied sciences to industrial and shopper markets. Early in his profession, he labored on digital video and audio, creating the primary DVD participant, and growing one of many earliest PVR software program options for which he acquired 4 patents. At STMicro and Renesas, he drove the creation of award profitable strains of microcontrollers and microprocessors, together with the STM32, RX, and RZ. Lately, Semir was a part of the innovators at Eta Compute that created one of many first TinyML implementations.
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About MicroEJ
MicroEJ is a software program vendor of cost-driven options for embedded and IoT gadgets. With MicroEJ options, sensible machine producers remodel digital merchandise from single-purpose to software-defined, growing scalability, flexibility, and extensibility. Their flagship product, MICROEJ VEE, is an optimized normal software program container utilized in hundreds of thousands of shopper and IoT merchandise, similar to sensible dwelling gadgets, dwelling home equipment, wearables, medical gadgets, sensible meters, and industrial gadgets.
Key Questions and Subjects from this Episode:
(00:12) Semir Haddad and MicroEJ
(02:13) What’s software-defined IoT?
(04:55) How do different IoT parts slot in?
(06:37) Advantages of a software-defined strategy
(09:05) What’s inexperienced software program?
(13:46) Sustainable design efficiency trade-offs
(14:55) What are sustainable design ideas?
(17:08) Study extra and comply with up
Transcript:
– [Ryan] Welcome Semir to the IoT For All Podcast. Thanks for being right here this week.
– [Semir] Yeah. Good day, Ryan. Thanks for having me on this podcast.
– [Ryan] Yeah. It’s nice to have you ever. Previous to moving into our dialog, I wished to have you ever do a fast introduction about your self and the corporate for our viewers.
– [Semir] I’m a veteran within the embedded house and the IoT house. So, I’ve began my life as an engineer, and I develop broad embedded software program. I obtained 4 patents for numerous tasks I’ve carried out, after which I moved to the product aspect, and I used to be within the semiconductor business with STMicro, I created the STM32 there. So, I used to be actually the unique product proprietor of the entire STM32 product line, which is now very talked-about.
I additionally work with Renesas Electronics, and I used to be managing the micro controllers and micro processors for Renesas for all of the American areas. After which lately, so I joined the MicroEJ. And as a product, Chief Product Officer and Chief Technique Officer. And at MicroEJ, what we do, we offer, we carry the software program capabilities that you’ve and say you will have you, that exists within the cloud and the IT house for a very long time within the embedded house. And we try this by offering what you name a digital execution setting, which is a really distinctive virtualization and containerization software program that permits individuals to write down code as in the event that they had been a containerized utility and utilizing excessive degree language. And this comes with many advantages by way of time to market, isolation of {hardware}, capability to make use of {hardware} with the identical code and reuse and port your code very simply.
And the corporate is has been within the enterprise for a bit round 10 years and we’re based mostly in France and the USA.
– [Ryan] So, I wished to leap into a subject that I assumed was actually fascinating to speak about based mostly in your all’s strategy and experience. And the subject is software program outlined, or the, I assume, it’s extra of a software program outlined pattern on the earth of IoT that’s taking place or beginning to occur. What does that imply precisely?
– [Semir] It is a topic expensive to my coronary heart as a result of we’re a software program firm with {hardware} root. And I’m personally, I’m a {hardware} skilled with software program collaboration. And Fred Rivard, our CEO, is a software program skilled, is a pc science man, pure laptop science with {hardware} collaboration.
So, it’s an excellent mixture. And what we do is basically carry this software program functionality to the IoT house. And whenever you discuss software program outlined, it’s a pattern that has been within the business for a really very long time. If you concentrate on it, the very software program, the very first software program outlined factor was a software program outlined radio that folks after they developed radio, they used to develop every part in {hardware}.
After which one time a man stated, oh, let’s attempt to software-ize that and make it extra programmable. And this was the very first one, then you definitely noticed coming software program outlined networks when individuals had been constructing huge networks, let’s say, and like notably mobile networks, one thing like that, they are saying, what, why don’t we make it extra programmable, extra moveable, extra versatile.
After which the final newest pattern in software program outlined is a software program outlined automotive. Chances are you’ll hear from the individuals in automotive, they are saying, oh, we’re growing the software program outlined automotive. They usually attempt to, for a similar, put every part extra versatile, moveable, and agile. And that’s mainly the concept of software program outlined.
Software program outlined implies that you outline, you will have a product that was once purely {hardware}. So sometimes in IoT house, all of the merchandise had been purely {hardware}, even mechanical. If you concentrate on a meter, it was once, an electrical energy meter, it was once only a mechanical meter. Now it’s {hardware} plus software program.
However individuals nonetheless develop as if it was {hardware}. In order that they have, they use technique, the methodology the place they’ve a waterfall technique they usually outline every part from the beginning after which develop it, and it’s not versatile. And the software program outlined pattern implies that make all this extra like a software program product, precisely like whenever you develop cell phone utility, or whenever you develop cloud utility.
– [Ryan] Okay so the opposite items of the answer, the {hardware}, the connectivity and issues like that, how is that seen in whenever you’re fascinated about extra defining issues based mostly on the software program and are the opposite issues extra simply accompanying it in an effort to permit the answer to gather info, join, ship the information backwards and forwards, these sorts of issues, or how is that, how does every part match collectively whenever you’re coming at it from a software program outlined form of strategy?
– [Semir] Yeah. So whenever you include a software program outlined strategy, the primary factor that I might say may be very related for the IoT is that you just develop with the concept your software program will evolve so much. In order that’s the primary distinction and the primary mindset is strictly like in software program. If you concentrate on, you speak about, we speak with software program individuals within the cloud or in IT, they only do sprints, that they’ve agile methodology they usually do sprints, and each, let’s say 15 days, there’s a new model of the product, a brand new model of the product. And that is one thing that was exceptional within the IoT house. Meaning this may occur. So this may occur, look, extra updates. That’s one facet. Fairly often updates after which utilizing the connectivity a part of the IoT, the truth that you’re all the time linked, you can even provision new providers to your machine.
So your machine will turn out to be one other kind of machine. We, with the lifetime of the, in the course of the lifetime of the product, and this comes with two points. One is that you may customise your product later after cargo, after which you may carry additionally new providers that you may monetize.
– [Ryan] And let me ask the final query round this subject is that if I’m listening to this, what are the most important advantages of the software program outlined pattern for companies? You talked about the pliability, being extra agile, issues like that, however simply to sum it up, what are these huge advantages which can be, that approaching it from this aspect versus perhaps how issues have been carried out earlier than that folks don’t understand or want to grasp?
– [Semir] The primary profit is that you may have a product which can be rather more tuned to the top buyer. You possibly can phase for area of interest markets very simply since you use software program that may be very versatile, so it’s very straightforward so that you can create a software program on your {hardware} that’s devoted for every area of interest. Okay, in order that’s the primary facet.
So we name it, they name that hyper segmentation. And now we have an instance, as an illustration, one buyer Workplace Zebra that’s growing printers. They had been in a position to customise the printer for his or her finish person. So as an illustration, considered one of their finish customers was FedEx. They’ve a printer particularly for FedEx with every part tuned for FedEx. After which considered one of our prospects was UPS they usually wrap every part for UPS. It was very personalized for UPS. In order that’s one facet. So there’s customization, hyper segmentation. In order that’s one. The second factor that that you may gain advantage for the corporate is you can even, as I stated, add providers after the very fact.
And that is, we will name them apps. It’s actually like your cell phone apps whenever you obtain apps, besides that it’s within the context of a enterprise to enterprise, or it may very well be additionally a enterprise to shopper facet, however so this allow you to create actually new providers and new product.
And now we have one case with Landis+Gyr, considered one of our buyer within the metering house. In order that they have an electrical energy meter. They name it a Revelo. And this electrical energy meter is customizable by the utility firms and utility firms can present, can provision some functions of providers, like as an illustration, how you can handle your photo voltaic panels or how you can handle your electrical energy and so forth, and that assist them handle the grid and that additionally assist them present paid providers to the top buyer, the top person.
– [Ryan] One of many issues I wished to ask you. So after we’re speaking about software program and constructing IoT options, sustainability is a subject that comes up so much. Particularly now it’s extra of a scorching subject to debate. So inform me about your all’s perspective or simply how do you concentrate on sustainability with regards to IoT as a result of there’s this, I’ve heard the phrase thrown round inexperienced software program, and I’d like to higher perceive what that precisely means. As a result of after we take into consideration software program, quite a lot of our listeners take into consideration software program, we don’t give it some thought in every other manner or actually linked essentially to sustainability.
So what does inexperienced software program imply and the way does that form of contribute to the sustainability objectives that quite a lot of firms have with regards to IoT?
– [Semir] So sustainability may be very, it’s an important subject proper now within the business. So that as we speak the outdated ICT, I’d say IT and communication and telecommunication contribution to the greenhouse gasoline is like 4%.
Nevertheless it’s deliberate to be 14% by 2030. So it’s fairly, fairly excessive. It’s beginning to develop as a result of all the opposite industries are decreasing their footprint, like even the massive contributors, so now it’s very seen, every part associated to electronics. So it’s undoubtedly, as you stated, many firms have this local weather pledge they usually wish to do a greater for the local weather. And after we speak, take into consideration IoT merchandise, it has an influence as a result of it’s not as a result of the product is eat so much, unfavourable product doesn’t eat a lot, however as a result of there are such a lot of of them. So now we have to consider like 30 billion IoT merchandise, linked IoT merchandise, that’s quite a lot of merchandise. So even a small contribution can have a huge impact. One, when you speak about inexperienced software program is implies that, okay, let’s, you may,, there are other ways to do software program, however there’s a manner, let’s do a, let’s do it in a manner that’s the most optimized by way of energy.
And what it means, it begins already with the selection of the platform that you just use on your software program improvement. As I discussed, there’s a power for software program outlined merchandise. So everyone’s transferring and leaping on the prepare. However there are a number of methods to do it, to attain it.
And a method, which is the best way that many individuals coming from the IT world took, is to say, Oh now we have Linux and Android expertise that works within the cloud. Let’s use it in IoT merchandise. And that provides you merchandise just like the Google Nest Thermostat, which is Linux Android based mostly, or I might say the Android watch, which is totally based mostly on Android.
So you may have wi-fi watches and so forth, however these, the issue with this expertise, they’re completely good by way of software program, and they’re very nice to do software program outlined options, however they require plenty of {hardware} assets. So plenty of reminiscence, plenty of efficiency, and on the finish, plenty of, they eat quite a lot of energy.
What’s the finest strategy whenever you wish to do good for the planet is to optimize, to decide on an answer that’s optimized. And at MicroEJ, that’s actually what we offer. In truth, we, individuals name us the tiny sibling of Android. So it’s actually like the identical expertise as you will have with Android however 1,000 instances extra optimized.
So we will run on microcontrollers and beginning with Cortex-M0. So quite simple microcontrollers. And that implies that you employ a product that is less expensive. So prices as a, I might say the {hardware} as a, it’s round 50 to 80 % of the contribution for the inexperienced home emission.
So already selecting a {hardware} that is less expensive, that’s smaller, you save quite a lot of gasoline. After which it’s a lot better by way of energy. As an example, considered one of our buyer, Polar, they’ve a smartwatch that’s powered by MicroEJ, and they can transfer from sooner or later with the Android watch to greater than seven day of operation with a single cost.
So that is, yeah, that is the easiest way, in reality, to do inexperienced software program is to make use of essentially the most optimized {hardware} on your software program.
– [Ryan] Do you ever run into conditions the place you’re not ready, not essentially you all, however is there ever a scenario that you may envision the place there’s, you’re not in a position to perhaps develop it as sustainably as you’d prefer to due to it creates too limiting of the expertise for what the use case requires from both an influence consumption standpoint, or is there all the time ways in which optimization will be carried out, it simply could solely go to a sure extent as a result of clearly you may’t pull every part out of an answer that wants sure energy consumption, wants sure totally different components which can be vital to it. Like how do you, is that one thing ever that it’s a must to fear about?
– [Semir] I feel it’s a commerce off. What we see is that it have to be, that you must be critical about your inexperienced initiative, and generally some firms simply do some greenwashing. So they are saying, yeah, we do inexperienced, however whenever you speak to them, they are saying no, we wish to do that. That’s going to efficiency. It’s higher for us and value is extra vital than inexperienced.
I might say the target right here of being inexperienced is to be on the similar degree as goal. And if it’s on the similar degree goal is that you may put the effort and time to the perfect optimized answer. So it’s actually about placing the effort and time into this.
– [Ryan] In the case of the design components of it, and also you’re fascinated about all of the totally different items, what does it imply whenever you say sustainable design ideas? Is that simply the perfect practices and the issues that you just attempt to comply with with regards to designing the system and the answer as an entire? Is that form of when that’s used, is that what you’re speaking about?
– [Semir] To place the optimization on the core of your design. So not, what we see once more is corporate that for the consolation of the engineer, so as a result of they like some instruments or some software program, they’ll select an answer that’s fully suboptimal. So in reality, we’re studying and strain when you comply with the business, there’s a huge, I might say, plenty of strain across the Kubernetes and containers for this type of Docker answer for the embedded house. However that is once more, very unoptimized, very pricey. So if you wish to use Docker and Kubernetes on your embedded house at one time, Microsoft tried to do this, which they stated, oh, we’re going to place Kubernetes and Docker all over the place, implies that you want a really highly effective {hardware} with plenty of energy consumption and plenty of price.
It’s not sustainable in any respect. It’s only for the consolation of the engineer. That is undoubtedly not a system, there’s a higher manner. You could have actually to consider, okay, no, that’s, sustainability is our objective, and the consolation of the engineer will come after. However there are answers that present virtually the identical consolation and the identical performance as I’d say the digital containers from MicroEJ.
– [Ryan] Nicely, Semir, thanks a lot for taking the time to speak about this. We’ve talked about sustainability earlier than, however we actually haven’t damaged down and talked extra in depth concerning the components that go into actually contributing sustainability on the software program aspect and the software program improvement aspect.
In order that software program outlined pattern, the inexperienced software program that we’re speaking about as we speak, so I’m glad we had been in a position to clarify that to our viewers and actually make clear what’s happening. It seems like there’s quite a lot of thrilling issues happening at MicroEJ relating to the way you all are in a position to carry these options to life and comply with these ideas and actually construct one thing that does meet these sustainability matters that we’re speaking about. For our viewers who needs to be taught extra, comply with up, interact additional, what’s the easiest way they’ll try this?
– [Semir] Yeah, positive. They will go on our web site, so www dot microej, m i c r o e j dot com. They usually may contact me on LinkedIn. So I’m on LinkedIn. So Semir Haddad, simply ship me any message, and I’ll reply.
– [Ryan] Semir, thanks once more a lot. I look ahead to getting this out for our viewers.
– [Semir] Thanks very a lot, Ryan.