Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to devices that can automatically collect usage and environmental data, process this data, and transmit it to other connected devices and systems. These devices are so prevalent that there are easily billions more IoT devices on the planet than there are people. Estimates range from 25 to 35 billion devices by the end of the year.

For consumers, IoT-enabled devices are used to unlock doors, turn on lights, play music, and even monitor personal health. But for businesses, these same devices collect data to help enhance their customers' experiences, and even improve the businesses themselves. For example, knowledge gained through IoT data can provide ways to streamline processes, lead to cost-saving automations, and more.

The true value of IoT technology is the data it collects. This data can be leveraged to provide actionable insights that give businesses a competitive advantage.

Businesses in most industries can benefit from the data and resulting insights gathered using IoT technology. Instantiations can work with you to determine where IoT can best integrate into your systems and business processes, and then create a comprehensive project plan.

During this planning phase, we'll focus on your goals and design the application architecture and functionality around them. Your existing infrastructure will be evaluated to ensure all security and connectivity needs (and constraints) are accounted for and addressed.

The development phase of the project will produce regular software builds to be used for continuous testing and quality assurance (QA) checks to assess software stability and feature completeness.

After development and testing are complete, Instantiations will spearhead the hardware and software deployment process, doing final production-environment stress tests, and training your internal staff on system usage to provide a framework for long-term success[1].

[1] Additional post-deployment support and maintenance services are available for all of Instantiations' custom developed software.

Instantiations’ primary technology used for IoT is the VAST Platform. It's an ideal collection of features for productivity and functionality that were originally developed for enterprise-grade applications and embedded systems. VAST's purely object-oriented development environment is highly-suited to creating IoT systems where stability, security, and efficiency are paramount.

The VAST Platform runs well on Windows® and Linux® with a wide range of both Intel® (x86, x64) and ARM® (32bit, 64bit) systems/devices. This enables IoT solution development for everything from cloud servers down to most single board computer (SBC) hardware.

Instantiations can help augment a current VAST application to include IoT functionality as well as create new VAST-based IoT software to complement existing systems.

Most IoT systems require a fleet of small, energy-efficient devices for taking measurements, performing basic functions, and sending data back to a parent system. When these devices don't support an operating system, like Linux, the Toit language and its cloud management platform are an exceptional technology choice.

Toit is the only object-oriented programming language specifically created for Internet of Things (IoT) development on microcontrollers. As a result, users of Toit enjoy easier development, deployment, updates, and maintenance of their software and devices. 

Devices that run Toit are inexpensive, yet decently performant, like the ESP32 (around $2 USD). They are managed through WiFi or cellular by Toit's cloud platform and its gRPC-based API. For VAST users, the OsProcess framework (VAST 2021 and later), can manage Toit devices directly from Smalltalk.

Instantiations can help add Toit devices and functionality to a VAST system, or upgrade existing systems that use languages like Java, Dart, or Python.