Dell launches region’s first Internet of Things lab in Singapore

IT Company Dell on Tuesday (Jan 19) announced the opening of its Internet of Things (IoT) lab in Singapore in conjunction with chipmaker Intel – the first such facility in Asia Pacific. According to Dell, the lab will focus on enabling intelligent devices, speeding up the connection of legacy IT systems to cloud computing-based ones, and analyzing big data for usable information. It will also allow developers and independent software vendors to benefit as they can use the space to develop IoT solutions using the two tech companies’ offerings, the press release said.

“The IoT market continues to experience strong growth across Asia Pacific and Japan. We see vast opportunities from IoT with companies benefiting by identifying new business models, increasing operational efficiency and fueling innovation,” Mr Glen Burrows (pictured below), Area Vice President, Dell OEM, Asia Pacific and Japan. “With a strong connectivity infrastructure and the government’s vision to create a Smart Nation, Singapore is the ideal choice for the location of our first IoT lab in the region.”

Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim on Monday said IoT will be one of the key parts of the nation’s Smart Nation vision as the tech allows for intelligent, connected devices in the country’s urban and living environments. However, Dr Yaacob did note that developing “open and interoperable standards is the crucial next step in unlocking the potential of IoT”, as it will help open up market access for industries to innovate in this area of technology.

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore also said it is working with SPRING Singapore and the Information Technology Standards Committee (ITSC), under the purview of the Singapore Standards Council, to develop various technical references with regard to IoT. The agencies recently published two technical references in the area of sensor network for public areas and homes, and IDA said another three are expected to be completed by March 2016. Additionally, IDA said on Monday it will be calling a Request for Proposal to conduct a trial on over-the-air mobile subscription management for embedded SIMs on IoT. These SIMs tend to be fixed on a device and are not easily removed, if at all, so making it easier for companies to switch between networks without having to change the SIM will remove a pain point for such deployments.