Filament Demonstrates How the Blockchain Will Transform our Industrial Future
FIlament is pioneering decentralized IoT technology at the O'Reilly Solid Conference today in San Francisco. The company offers wireless connectivity through devices that work on the Blockchain.
San Francisco, CA, June 24, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Today, Filament, a technology platform company developing long-range wireless sensor networks for industrial settings, is launching their flagship service offering at the O’Reilly Solid Conference. Among the wave of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, Filament offers the first solution in market aimed at bringing legacy industrial infrastructure online using a fully distributed network, highly secured and leveraging blockchain technology. Filament‘s wireless sensor devices, or Taps, allow companies to blanket industrial areas with low power autonomous mesh networks for data collection and asset monitoring. Taps have built-in environmental sensors, USB for expansion, and are equipped with hardware cryptographic chips and long range radios for secure accessibility and communication across large geographic areas.
With these devices, Filament is enabling industries to enable connected physical assets in a way that has never been possible at scale. The company’s demonstration employs a dozen Taps placed around Fort Mason, allowing conference attendees to access noise levels, a temperature map, and find quiet zones using their uniquely designed sensor-as-a-service payment model. Filament is pioneering a future of infrastructure management that will allow temporary access and data distribution from shared sensors.
Filament’s service operates in distributed environments; removing the need for a “cloud”, or central network authority. Taps are designed to operate without existing cellular or wifi networks, and will be able to process bitcoin-based payments and enforce digital smart contracts independently. The company is leveraging existing blockchain technologies to create an open platform for Distributed Sensor Transactions, or DIST for short. DIST builds on the blockchain (Bitcoin and Ethereum for transactions), Telehash (private communication), JOSE (smart contracts), TMesh (low-power mesh networking), and BitTorrent (firmware and remote management updates).
CTO of Filament, Jeremie Miller says, “We believe that all economic elements, digital and physical, old and new, must be fundamentally autonomous and distributed in order to maximize their potential.” Miller was creator of Jabber/XMPP, and most recently authored Telehash and TMesh. Earlier this year, IBM had previously announced a system named ADEPT that it is developing in partnership with Samsung which leverages Telehash to coordinate a truly decentralized Internet of Things.
The company has shipped an early version of its hardware and service offering to pilot customers, among a myriad of industries and for use within a broad range of applications. Filament’s secure networks offer tremendous value where risk and operational efficiency is critical to success. By deploying a Filament network, companies and cities will be able to:
Minimize downtime on a manufacturing line
Avoid collisions between vehicles on remote work sites
Automate climate control in data centers
Assess foot traffic patterns within retail stores
Network LEED building and facility systems
Locate thousands of bikes across an urban bike sharing service
Follow shipments around the globe, in real time
Monitor weather and soil conditions across large farms
Evaluate usage in zero-net energy homes
Connect sensor buoys in oceanic operations
Remotely control street lights across a city
Track contaminate levels throughout diverse geographies
Filament has recently raised a $5 million Series A Round led by Bullpen Capital.
About Filament: Filament offers secure, large-scale distributed wireless sensor networks. Their long range, low power Tap hardware can be deployed with legacy infrastructure or embedded in new devices and can connect to existing WiFi, wired, or cellular networks. The company is also the team behind Telehash and previously pioneered the XMPP instant messaging protocol, which is used by more than 1 billion people daily. Learn more at filament.com.