Comcast to Open IoT Lab in Accelerator
Comcast is doing its bit to try and help populate the Internet of Things (IoT) with more things by partnering with the Boomtown tech accelerator in Boulder to open an IoT development lab.
The lab is intended to serve resident startup entrepreneurs at Boomtown, as well as other entrepreneurs looking to create products and applications for the IoT.
Comcast Corp. (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK), like other communications service providers, is seeking to define the role it will potentially play in the IoT sector — one that, companies like Comcast hope, will extend beyond being a provider of undifferentiated connectivity and encompass the creation of IoT apps that add revenue to its network. (See Will 2015 Bring IoT Resolution for Operators?, AT&T Links With GE on IoT, Smart Energy and Verizon Helps Manage IoT Security.)
“When people throw around terms like Internet of Things, they tend to think of stuff like connected thermostats and FitBits,” Joshua Seiden, executive director of Comcast Labs, tells Light Reading. “With the network we’ve built and are continuing to build, we look at IoT as much bigger than that. In the future there’s going to be class of services and connected devices that run on top of our network, and for us this lab is a way of getting a good idea of what’s possible creating an ecosystem.”