Google’s ‘Brillo’ IoT platform in the works

21 May 2015

Almost as if they know Irish slang, Google are reportedly developing a new internet of things (IoT) platform known as ‘Brillo’, with the aim of powering low-energy IoT technology.

A source close to The Information said that in terms of processing power, Brillo is aimed at devices requiring as little as 32MB or 64 MB of RAM but plan to launch the service under the Android brand.

Much of the reasoning behind Google’s decision relates to the current Android operating system being capable of handling a network of interconnected devices, the only problem is that it’s currently rather bulky and memory-heavy for small operations clocking in at 512MB in RAM.

To help speed up the process of adaptation by phone manufacturers, Google will offer Brillo for free to be put into Android-powered phones.

Many of the largest tech companies are now well aware of the growing power of IoT, with Chinese mobile giant Huawei in the Huawei IoT platform announcing its own IoT architecture in the form of Agile Network 3.0.

According to Ars Technica, this won’t be the first time Google has attempted to create its own IoT platform, having tried and failed with Android@Home, which quietly disappeared with Google executives having said that it was too early for launch at the time.

Brillo is expected to be revealed in more detail at Google’s I/O developer conference next week.

Brillo pads image via David Hilowitz/Flickr

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

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