ARM, the British company that makes instruction set architectures for computer processors, is certainly not a household name—not the way Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android are, anyway. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less ubiquitous. If you’ve got a smartphone in your pocket, there’s a good—no, make that very good—chance that it’s ARM-powered.

    The company’s microprocessor technology can now be found in more than 95 percent of the world’s smart handsets, it said, not to mention a sizable proportion of the smart TVs, wearables, gaming consoles, and automotive gadgetry. More than 50 billion ARM-based chips are out in the world right now, quietly powering much of the technological world.

    So what does a highly successful company do once it has reached the top? Find another mountain to climb. The frontier known as the “Internet of Things,” or IoT for short, continues to grow as more appliances, vehicles, machines, and objects gain wireless Internet access. The field is getting bigger every year, and ARM has already begun making inroads.

    “There’s a real opportunity here,” said Ian Ferguson, ARM’s vice president of segment marketing. “If we have technology embedded in a bunch of things, clearly there’s an opportunity to be more efficient. But the question also becomes how to improve quality of life.”

    There are now roughly 13 billion wirelessly connected devices in the world, according to Cisco estimates. By 2020, there will be more than 30 billion, ABI Research predicts. Revenue for technology and services pertaining to the Internet of Things is expected to reach $7.3 trillion by 2017. The future of the global technology market, it seems, is at stake.

    ‘It might be controversial’

    It can be difficult to describe ARM’s efforts for the Internet of Things because the company does not actually manufacture the chips for which it is known. Rather, it licenses its designs to a number of semiconductor companies, which in turn build chips based on them.

    AMD , Broadcom , and Qualcomm are among many licensees of ARM’s technology, which makes its way into consumers’ hands when original equipment manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, or Sony use those companies’ chips to create new phones, tablets and other devices.

    “You need a very different chip in a phone, a smart watch and a connected microwave oven,” Ferguson said. “We provide the core building blocks, and partners take the technology and harness it to connected things. It’s really that customization that’s key.”

    With such a strong presence on phones—consumers’ preferred gateway to the Internet today—ARM believes it is in a natural position to enable further connectivity.

    “Using the phone as a conduit for information about yourself and your surroundings will be a big area in the Internet of Things,” Ferguson said. Some examples? Apps or services for monitoring asthma and heart health.

    ARM’s technology is also finding its way into wearables such as headgear and smart bands, he noted. “That whole area is going to move forward—you’ll see those wearables become a more integrated part of the experience.”

    A larger opportunity lies in business, where connected devices are used to reduce cost and improve efficiency. Manufacturing and oil and gas exploration are two examples of applications with strong potential, Ferguson said. “You’ve got highly valued assets, so preventative mechanical services can help improve efficiency by detecting problems before they break down,” he added.

    In cities, public lighting and trash collection are functions that can be more effective through the use of embedded sensor technology. Ferguson cited the success of BigBelly Solar‘s intelligent trash receptacles as one example.

    Even street parking is covered. “In San Francisco, some areas have parking spaces that can detect if they’re empty or not, and you can book them on the phone—that’s an efficiency sort of play,” Ferguson said. “But if the city knows some areas are getting booked up more frequently, there might be new valuable services they could sell there. You might even see the pricing change based on availability. It might be controversial.”

    That technology is already under evaluation in several cities including Los Angeles and Berkeley, both in California.

    Narrower than a human hair

    ARM’s answer for all of this is its Cortex-M microprocessor series, which is notable for its energy efficiency and miniaturization and targets wearable technology and embedded applications. (The Cortex-M0+ processor, for instance, can fit within the width of the average human hair.)

    In June, the company announced the establishment of new CPU Design Center in Hsinchu, Taiwan—its first such center in Asia—which will be dedicated to the series. It also held an IoT Tech Seminar in Singapore this month.

    “I think ARM is going to play a big role in the Internet of Things,” said Linley Gwennap, principal analyst with The Linley Group. “It already offers a lot of good technology for very low-cost, low-power applications.”

    作为一家为计算机处理器生产指令集构架的英国公司，ARM绝对算不上家喻户晓，至少没有苹果（Apple）的iPhone和谷歌（Google）的Android那么出名。但是，ARM与iPhone和Android一样无处不在。如果你兜里揣着一部智能手机，很有可能——不对，是极有可能——它的芯片是ARM出品。

    ARM表示，目前全球95％以上的智能手机都在采用该公司的微处理器技术，更不用提相当比例的智能电视、可穿戴设备、游戏机和汽车配件了。目前，500多亿块基于ARM设计的芯片在默默地为大半个科技界提供动力。

    在某个领域登峰造极后，一家极度成功的公司该何去何从？自然是另找一座高峰去攀登。随着更多的家电、汽车、机器和其它物品连入无线网，“物联网”的疆域越来越大。这个领域年年都在扩张，而ARM已经开始出击。

    ARM公司负责细分市场营销的副总裁伊恩•弗格森表示：“这一领域确实有大把机会。如果我们将技术广泛应用到各类设备中，显然就有机会提高效率。但问题也变成了如何提高生活质量。”

    据思科公司（Cisco）估算，目前全球约有130亿部无线联网设备。ABI Research预测，到2020年，这个数字将超过300亿。到2017年，与物联网相关的技术和服务收入预计将达到7.3万亿美元。这似乎关系到全球科技市场的未来。

    ‘这可能具有争议性’

    要描述ARM在物联网方面的努力有些困难，因为这家举世闻名的芯片公司本身并不制造芯片，而是将自己的设计授权给一些半导体公司，由它们来生产基于ARM设计的芯片。

    获得授权使用ARM技术的公司包括AMD、博通（Broadcom）和高通（Qualcomm）等。三星（Samsung）、宏达电（HTC）、索尼（Sony）等原始设备制造商（OEM）则使用上述公司的芯片制造新手机、平板以及其他设备，ARM的技术就是通过这种途径进入消费者的手中。

    弗格森表示：“手机、智能手表和联网微波炉所需的芯片极为不同。我们提供核心模块，合作伙伴采取我们的技术，并将其用于联网设备。关键在于定制。”

    鉴于ARM在手机市场占据主导地位，而手机又是消费者首选的联网设备，该公司认为它在推动互联互通方面处于有利地位。

    弗格森说道：“把手机用作获得自身和周边信息的管道，将成为物联网的一大应用领域。”用于监测哮喘和心脏健康的应用程序或服务就是很好的例子。

    弗格森表示，ARM的技术也开始被应用于可穿戴设备，比如头戴式设备以及智能手环等。“整个领域都将向前推进——可穿戴设备将成为整个体验中协调性更高的一部分。”

    更大的商机在于企业——联网设备可以被用来降低成本，提高效率。弗格森称，制造和油气勘探是两项极具潜力的应用范例。他表示：“许多企业都有价值极高的资产，而预防性机械服务能在机械发生故障前就检测到问题，从而提高效率。”

    在城市，采用嵌入式传感器技术有望提升公共照明和垃圾收集的效率。弗格森还特意列举了BigBelly Solar公司研制智能垃圾箱的成功范例。

    就连街边停车问题也有望通过物联网予以解决。弗格森表示：“在旧金山，有些区域的停车位可以检测出车位上是否有车，而且人们可以电话预订停车位，这很有效率。但是，如果城市有关部门得知某些地区的停车位常常被预订一空，它们或许可以在这些地区销售有价值的新服务。你甚至可能看到基于火爆程度做出的定价调整。这样做可能会引发争议。”

    同在加州的洛杉矶和伯克利等城市已经开始评估这项技术。

    比人的头发丝还要细

    针对这些问题，ARM推出了Cortex-M微处理器系列，这些以节能和微型著称的微处理器主要面向可穿戴技术和嵌入式应用。（举例来说，Cortex-M0+处理器就比人类头发丝的平均宽度还小。）

    今年六月，ARM宣布在台湾新竹成立一座专门研发这款微处理器的CPU设计中心。这也是该公司在亚洲成立的首个CPU设计中心。此外，ARM本月还在新加坡举办了一场物联网技术研讨会。

    Working in the company’s favor: a wide array of partners. “This being a new market, it will require a lot of innovation to get started,” Gwennap said. “ARM and its partners have a leg up.”

    Still, ARM may confront challenges that it wouldn’t otherwise face in the smartphone market it dominates. “All smartphones want to run pretty much the same software,” Gwennap said. Internet of Things devices may not work the same way. “In the IoT, I don’t think we’ll see apps running on a lightbulb, for example. There will be more diversity there, and more opportunity for other companies to play a role.”

    One of those companies: Intel. The leading microprocessor company has been ramping up its efforts for the Internet of Things, including establishing an IoT subgroup with sectors devoted to retail, transportation, manufacturing and industrial applications, and smart homes and buildings.

    “We believe the IoT is a huge transformational opportunity,” said Eric Free, a vice president within Intel’s Internet of Things subgroup. “We expect there will be billions and billions of intelligent connected devices that will essentially bring data from a variety of business and industrial environments into the cloud and unlock a ton of business transformations.”

    Intel’s Quark, Atom, Core, and Xeon lines of microprocessors are each playing a role in the Internet of Things, Free said. The company is also working to promote security and standards—it helped found the Industrial Internet Consortium—and shape public policy around the topic, he added.

    ‘We’re only just scratching the surface’

    ARM is also concerned about standardization, of course. The company pitches its chip designs as a way not only to enable Internet of Things devices, but also as a way to avoid what it calls the “Internet of Silos,” where data is created but not shared among service providers.

    “Clearly what we need to do as an industry across verticals is look at how all these things connect together and communicate information in a sensible way,” Ferguson said. “Besides security, we have to work on standards.”

    Toward that end, ARM has been heavily involved in efforts such as 6LoWPAN, which concerns the interoperability of networks of low-power devices and today’s dominant Internet protocol, and the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), an Internet protocol tailored to simple electronics, he said.

    “I think they are being a fantastic enabler to all the semiconductor companies,” said Alfonso Velosa III, a research director with Gartner. “The Internet of Things requires low power and an ability to enable a broad variety of programmers. ARM has provided a common language.”

    With a three-pronged approach—microchips, software, and “a very good ecosystem,” Velosa said—ARM will continue to shape the evolving standards and architecture of the Internet of Things.

    “A lot of people think the Internet of Things is just smart refrigerators and toasters,” Ferguson said. “The bigger opportunity is, how do you improve people’s lives? We’re only just scratching the surface on what technology for good can do.”

    林利集团（The Linley Group）首席分析师林利•葛文那普表示：“我认为ARM将在物联网中扮演重要角色。该公司已经为低成本、低功率的应用提供了很多好技术。”

    对ARM有利的是，该公司拥有大量合作伙伴。葛文那普表示：“这是一个需要大量创新才能撬开的新市场。ARM及其合作伙伴在这方面有优势。”

    不过，ARM也可能面临它在自己主宰的智能手机市场不曾遇到的挑战。葛文那普指出，“所有智能手机想要运行的软件都大同小异。”而物联网设备可能不一样。“举例来说，在物联网中，我认为我们不会看到在灯泡上运行的应用。这一领域将更具多样性，其它公司将有更多机会参与其中。”

    这些公司中就包括英特尔（Intel）。作为领先的微处理器公司，英特尔加大物联网技术的研发力度，专门成立物联网事业部，下设部门分别致力于零售、运输、制造和工业应用，以及智能家居和建筑等行业的研发工作。

    英特尔物联网部门副总裁埃里克•弗里表示：“我们认为物联网是一个巨大的转型机遇。根据我们的预测，未来将出现数以十亿计的智能联网设备，究其根本，这些设备将把各种企业和工业环境的数据带入云端，从而将启动大量的业务转型。”

    弗里称，英特尔的夸克（Quark）、凌动（Atom）、酷睿（Core）和至强（Xeon）等微处理器系列都将在物联网中发挥各自的作用。他补充道，英特尔还在努力提升安全和标准——该公司策划建立了工业互联网联盟（Industrial Internet Consortium）——并塑造围绕这项主题的公共政策。

    “我们才触及表面”

    当然，ARM也非常想确定行业标准。该公司宣称，其芯片设计不仅能启动物联网设备，还能避免它所说的“筒仓网（Internet of Silos）”，即产生的数据无法由各家服务供应商共享。

    弗格森表示：“显然，我们整个行业需要上下一心，审视所有设备是如何互联，并合理地传达信息。除安全性外，我们还必须制定标准。”

    出于这一目的，ARM一直深度参与6LoWPAN等技术规范的确定，后者涉及低功率设备网络、如今盛行的互联网协议以及约束应用协议（CoAP，一项专门针对简单电子设备的互联网协议）之间的互操作性，他说。

    高德纳公司（Gartner）调研总监阿方索•韦罗萨称：“我认为他们对所有半导体公司而言都是一大助力。物联网需要低功率以及调动各种程序员的能力。ARM提供了一门公用语言。”

    韦罗萨称，微芯片、软件和“很好的生态系统”三管齐下，ARM将继续打造物联网不断提升的标准和架构。

    弗格森表示：“很多人都认为，物联网不过就是智能冰箱和烤面包机。事实上，更大的商机在于如何改善人们的生活。而说到好的技术能有何作为，我们的研究还停留在表面。”(财富中文网)

    译者：项航