Picture credit: Intel
Among the plethora of releases, announcements and titbits to come out of Intel’s Developer Forum this week was the Intel Joule compute module, a developer platform aimed squarely at Internet of Things (IoT) development projects.
It perhaps didn’t garner the same amount of column inches as Project Alloy, Intel’s new virtual reality headset. Indeed, VR formed the bulk of Intel CEO Brian Krzanich’s keynote. In a Medium article, the term ‘merged reality’ was coined – “a new way of experiencing physical and virtual interactions and environments through a suite of next-generation sensing and digitising technologies” – which garnered reactions at both ends of the spectrum.
Yet the importance of Joule should not be understated. Priced at $369 and available in two models – 570x and 550x – it perhaps reflects the nature of the product and how it is more aimed at enterprises rather than amateur enthusiasts. Microsoft and Canonical are among the companies who are aiming to show the possibilities of Joule, as well as PivotHead, a French-based wearable imaging firm who are building AR safety glasses.
Intel’s traditional position in powering hardware is in evidence again here, and should see the company in relatively good stead in an IoT-enabled world. Raghu Gopal, an analyst at CCS Insight, argues that Intel is currently putting together a ‘respectable’ performance in moving towards emerging technologies.
“Like many maturing tech companies, Intel is leaning on major trends – in this case IoT – for growth,” argued Gopal in a blog post. “After missing out on the smartphone boom, Intel is well down the path on a journey to transition out of its PC-centric environment.
“The company is doing a respectable job of building a thought-leading position and remaining a major force as the next wave of connected products builds – reflected in Intel’s products for virtual reality headsets and drones that it highlighted at the Intel Developer Forum,” he added.
You can find out more about Joule here.
Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and sharing their IoT use-cases? Attend the IoT Tech Expo World Series events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London and Amsterdam to learn more.
The show is co-located with the AI & Big Data Expo, Cyber Security & Cloud Expo and Blockchain Expo so you can explore the entire ecosystem in one place.
