The term "connected device” is typically used to mean a device or machine that is capable of connecting to a network - i.e. it can send and receive data via cellular, WiFi, or bluetooth connections. But is this really a connected device? Integration and interoperability are required for a device to be relevant in the Internet of Things, and Web APIs are the de facto standard enabling true connectivity. By looking at some successful implementations around connected “things”, we’ll understand the key requirements for an API First approach to IoT - including backend integration, mediation and security.

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Is this “thing” connected?
API Days San Francisco
Ross Garrett
rgarrett@axway.com
@gssor
June 17th, 2015

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We usually start with the hype…
“… By 2020 …”

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So tell me something new.

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Uhhh…
“If we had computers that knew everything there was to know about things—
using data they gathered without any help from us—we would be able to track
and count everything, and greatly reduce waste, loss and cost. We would know
when things needed replacing, repairing or recalling, and whether they were
fresh or past their best. The Internet of Things has the
potential to change the world, just as the Internet did. Maybe even more so.”
—Kevin Ashton, "That 'Internet of Things' Thing", RFID
Journal, July 22, 1999

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Ok cool.
But we read the wrong part.

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“If we had computers that knew everything
there was to know about things—using data
they gathered without any help from us—
we would be able to track and count everything, and greatly reduce
waste, loss and cost. We would know when things needed replacing,
repairing or recalling, and whether they were fresh or past their best.
The Internet of Things has the potential to change the world, just as
the Internet did. Maybe even more so.”

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We don’t have an
Internet of Things!!

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#1 - Most “things” know nothing about
the Internet

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#2 - Most “things” aren’t really
connected!

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#2 - Most “things” aren’t really
connected!

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#2 - Most “things” aren’t really
connected!

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#3 – By 2020…

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#3 – By 2020…
Things
Humans

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Humans don’t scale!

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How do we build & scale the Internet of
Things?

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We need to design for
machines rather than humans

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Everyone wants an ecosystem
• Today, each application integration is specific to a
device or service provider.
• Vertically integrated silos!

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We are at least using open standards

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But all services are different

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Each “thing” or service requires:
• Documentation on how to use the API
• New code specific to that service

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Humans don’t scale!
• 10 APIs for 10 separate services might be
reasonable.
• But for 1000s of services ???

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Services are not machine browsable
• An application cannot automatically discover a new
service’s resources or actions
• Requiring developers to integrate with new APIs

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A step in the right direction

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Make services machine browse-able

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Very simple specification
• Servers should serve a catalogue on
http://hub.com/cat
• The catalogue is a JSON document with MIME type
application/vnd.tsbiot.catalogue+json
h,p://www.hypercat.io

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How to use HyperCat
• GET http(s)://cat
• Returns a catalogue:
– Tagged with metadata
– Containing zero or more resource items
• Each resource item:
– Has an HREF pointer to the resource
– Is tagged with metadata so you can tell what it is
• Supports basic search

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Server provides a catalogue
• Servers provide catalogues of resources to clients
• A catalogue is an array of URIs

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Resource Metadata
• Each resource in the catalogue is annotated with
metadata (RDF-like triples)

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Not a panacea
• Applications and services still must agree on high
level semantics
– E.g. Temperature is defined in oC
• HyperCat can allow an application to find things it
does understand from any service
– E.g. Show me all resources in oC

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Thank You!
Ross Garrett
rgarrett@axway.com
@gssor