Intel has expanded its Internet of Things (IoT) portfolio even further with the recent purchase of Lantiq (News - Alert), a connected home startup specializing in smart home gateway and intelligent access networks. In addition to furthering Intel IoT initiatives, the acquisition will benefit Lantiq by accelerating its smart home gateway and intelligent access networks business. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
As a primary goal of this purchase, Intel is looking to improve its offerings of cable residential gateways and gateways for digital subscriber lines (DSL) over phone, fiber and LTE (News - Alert) networks as well as IoT smart routers, with an end-goal of providing a full smart-home solution. At the center of Intel’s IoT program is the Curie module, a new chip introduced in January that contains a Quark processor, sensor hub and Bluetooth connection while remaining the size of a small button. The chip can be used to connect a wide variety of household items to the Web and let them communicate with each other.
After only one year in existence, Intel’s (News - Alert) IoT division generated a whopping $2.1 billion in revenue, demonstrating the company’s strong interest and success in the industry. Intel purchased Basis Science in late 2013, launching a new smart watch under the brand, partnered with Opening Ceremony last year to develop its wearable tech bracelet and provided chips to power a set of SMS Audio smart headphones. Furthermore, the company recently joined forces with several high profile companies -- including Accenture, Dell and SAP (News - Alert) -- to build a new IoT platform.
Many other technology giants are competing for dominance in this sector, including Intel’s archrival Qualcomm (News - Alert), which announced a similar smart home initiative last month. Similarly, Google paid a hefty sum for the smart thermostat company Nest Labs and Samsung recently acquired SmartThings, a connected home company.
“By 2018, we expect more than 800 million broadband connected households worldwide,” said Kirk Skaugen, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s Client Computing Group. “Intel has been a global leader in driving broadband into the home and to connected compute devices. The combination of our cable gateway business with Lantiq’s technology and talent can allow global service providers to introduce new home computing experiences and enable consumers to take advantage of a more smart and connected home.”
The IoT market -- including connected home initiatives -- currently has no clear leader as it continues to grow rapidly. According to research from BI Intelligence, this year’s revenue for connected home devices is expected to approach $61 billion, and grow to $490 billion by 2019. Tech companies are doing all they can -- such as is the case with Intel’s purchase of Lantiq -- to be at the forefront of that growth.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson