Microsoft has believed in strong partnerships to create opportunity across the ecosystem, while also creating an open and interoperable environment to fuel innovation. Aligned with this vision, Microsoft has united with other industry leaders to create Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF) which is committed to furthering industry standards for the Internet of Things. Microsoft joins the world’s largest open IoT standard group with other founding members such as Cisco, Electrolux, General Electric, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung and others. Together, their goal is to accelerate industry innovation for all of the users, ultimately benefiting billions of people around the world.
The OCF will create a set of open specifications and protocols to enable devices from a variety of manufactures to securely and seamlessly interact with one another. Regardless of the manufacturer, operating system, chipset or transport – devices that adhere to the OCF specifications will simply work together. Windows 10 devices will natively interoperate with the new OCF standard, making it easy for Windows to discover, communicate, and orchestrate multiple IoT devices in the home, in business, and beyond. The OCF standards will also be fully compatible with the 200 million Windows 10 devices that are “designed for AllSeen”. Microsoft is designing Windows 10 to be the ideal OS platform for Things, and the Azure IoT platform to be the best cloud companion for Things, and for both of them to interoperate with all Things. Today, Windows and Azure are the platforms powering a variety of IoT devices across the home and many industries including manufacturing, retail, healthcare, and much more.
Soon, Windows 10 will include APIs to help developers easily integrate with OCF compatible devices.
