Samsung seeks to make own components core of Internet of Things

By Ian King

Samsung is introducing new components that will connect electronic appliances and devices to the Internet, seeking to tap into growing demand for gadgets that can be controlled and monitored via the Web.

Its Artik modules contain all of the elements -processors, memory, communications chips and software -needed for device makers to make connected gadgets, the company said at an event in San Francisco on Tuesday.

Samsung, which makes more than 600 million devices a year including refrigerators, air conditioners and vacuum cleaners wants to accelerate the introduction of connected devices, called the Internet of Things. While the components will be used for Samsung's own devices, the company is betting that sales of Artik to other manufacturers will speed up the introduction of connected devices and bolster component sales.“We think we have a solution that's competitive and that's needed,“ Young Sohn, Samsung's president and chief strategy officer, said at the event.

While Samsung's consumer electronics division will offer Artik the chance to grow quickly, the business unit won't get preferential treatment over external customers, company executives said. The software will be open and capable of supporting Android mobile operating system and Apple's iOS.

The Artik modules are circuit boards that can be used as basic building blocks for all kind of devices, such as those that have to go weeks between battery charges or more powerful devices with capabilities that rival those of smartphones. ­