Silver Spring Networks launches Starfish for IoT

Silver Spring Networks has announced Starfish, an international wireless IPv6 network service for the Internet of Things (IoT).

The networking platform and solutions provider for smart energy networks has already delivered more than 22 million connected devices globally for IoT networks — and is eager to build on this footprint. Starfish will enable commercial enterprises, cities, utilities and developers to access a reliable, secure and scalable IoT network service with service level agreements (SLAs) that meet their needs. 

Starfish essentially builds on the open IEEE 802.15.4g wireless interoperability standard (Wi-SUN), delivering up to 1.2 Mbps in speed, 10 ms latency and up to 80 km in point-to-point range. It also provides nearly limitless mesh range, multiple network transports and industrial-grade security, reliability and scalability. 

Added to this, Starfish will also offer device and application management and control functions, an IoT-scale data platform and access to one of the industry’s largest open partner ecosystems. As part of Starfish’s larger set of tiered service offerings, the company has also introduced the Haiku service plan, which will deliver 5000 messages x 16 bytes per month for free.

“We have entered a new era — ubiquitous connectivity of billions of devices and real-time data across massive-scale networks are unlocking untold social and economic opportunities,” said Mike Bell, president and CEO, Silver Spring Networks. “Today, with the Starfish IoT network service, Silver Spring is opening up one of the most reliable, scalable and secure IoT networks on the face of the Earth. We want to make connecting to the potential of the Internet of Things as simple as subscribing to the plan of your choice.” 

Starfish will first be available in the American cities of Chicago, San Antonio and San Jose and the European cities of Bristol, Copenhagen and Glasgow. Sam Liccardo, the mayor of San Jose, said deploying a secured IoT network across the city will help further San Jose’s smart city goals by connecting the next generation of critical-infrastructure, power-modern smart city services, as well as establish a platform for future IoT innovations, business investment and entrepreneurship.

“I’d like to thank Silver Spring for choosing to demonstrate this next wave of growth right here in the heart of Silicon Valley,” he said. 

Silver Spring intends to expand Starfish’s IoT service coverage across North and South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific throughout 2016 and beyond.

Time is ripe for IoT makers

As part of Starfish, the company said it is making it easy for start-ups, academics, entrepreneurs and developers to participate in the IoT market. Haiku is a free service plan for users with smaller data needs that also exceeds the paid options offered by many others in the industry. In addition, the 2016 IoT Hackathon Series, which is planned for the cities of Bristol, Kolkata, Chicago, Copenhagen, San Jose and Singapore, is designed to help IoT developers and device makers bring products to market. The new IoT hardware development kit (HDK) and software development kit (SDK) offerings will speed up integration development and testing. It will provide specifications and documentation, access to test hardware and networks, a verification process and development support, while an IoT SDK offers a cloud-based development sandbox, access to APIs and documentation, reference material and a sample code, a verification process and development support.

Winners of the Hackathon Series will receive development grants and an opportunity to offer their products into the global Silver Spring customer and partner ecosystem. Registrations open in January 2016.

Image caption: San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo joins Silver Spring to announce the deployment of Starfish across San Jose, the capital of Silicon Valley and the 10th largest city in the US. ©Silver Spring Networks.