Startup’s API Services Exchange aims to simplify interactions a few of the Internet of factors’ billions of connected devices, applications, and systems.

The term “Internet of Things” has become as popular as “big data,” perhaps more so. It now extends beyond its original scope — radio-frequency identification tagging of objects within the physical world — to incorporate a broader view of machine-to-machine interaction.

Here’s how the University of Cambridge’s Auto-ID Lab, considered one of seven global research centers studying automatic identification of supply chain objects, describes how enterprises may benefit from the IoT:

Put a tag — a microchip with an antenna — on a can of Coke or a car axle, and suddenly a working laptop or computer can “see” it. Put tags on every can of Coke and each car axle, and suddenly the area changes. Not more inventory counts. Not more lost or misdirected shipments. Not more guessing how much material is within the supply chain — or how much product is at the store shelves.

Expanded beyond manufacturing, the IoT could enable countless data interactions and transactions as billions of devices — everything from set-top TV boxes to home thermostats to automobile sensors — join the worldwide network.

[Connected cars are gaining traction — but what about privacy? Read Internet Of items Meets Cars: Security Threats Ahead.]

MachineShop is a Boston-based startup that gives authenticated, metered, and managed APIs for connecting devices to the net of items. Both-year-old company, which exited stealth mode on March 20, provides what it calls a Services Exchange: an API store with business logic, event management, and communications services for developers building and integrating IoT solutions.

Communication at the IoT will occur via standard services or APIs in preference to legacy platforms, middleware, or proprietary protocols, said MachineShop CEO Michael Campbell in a phone interview with InformationWeek.

“It’s really a brand new-generation middleware approach,” said Campbell. “What we’re hoping to do is get folks to grasp that there’s this domain often known as the web of Services, a group of APIs… that probably is as important because the Internet of items layer itself.”

MachineShop faces a lot of entrenched competition, Campbell noted, including “traditional enterprise middleware platform guys” which includes IBM, Oracle, and SAP.

“In case you are an electrical utility and feature billions of greenbacks invested in infrastructure systems which are now being connected to the net — and spewing out terabytes and petabytes of knowledge an afternoon — your typical course is to work with one of several big enterprise platforms and say, ‘Hey, help me get the information out of those systems.’ So that you put a platform between the applications and the underlying systems.”

The second variety of competitor is the do-it-yourself enterprise that writes interfaces between data silos and applications. And the third is an API management company similar to Mashery (purchased by Intel last year), Apigee, and 3scale.

“The third category i do not view a lot as competitors, but as kindred spirits who’re portion of this new wave of infrastructure software companies,” said Campbell. “These companies embraced the API revolution — that each product, each piece of content would have an API.”

One of MachineShop’s strategic investors is Diebold, a financial services and security firm best known for its ATM transaction systems. Diebold also employs quite a lot of Internet-connected devices, including security cameras, DVRs, and fire-suppression systems to be used at retail, bank, and manufacturing sites. “They wanted the power to supply an excessively unique, managed service to their customers — a portal for the pinnacle of security operations to get visibility of a whole security operation.”

Working with MachineShop, Diebold developed an answer that separates the applying layer from the underlying systems and devices. “Literally there are tens of millions of alternative pieces of equipment… all talking over several different networks as much as the appliance,” Campbell said. “We normalize all of that, and make allowance Diebold to construct an incredibly cool new managed service.”

MachineShop’s public or private Services Exchange allows customers to enroll in thousands of managed API-centric services, including those developed by MachineShop, its customers, or third parties, the corporate said.

Improved platforms, standards, bandwidth rates, and information models mean more IT shops are taking a “cloud-first” solution to new services, keeping only select jobs in house. But what’s often passed over of the calculus is the impact at the end-user once you outsource most services. Register for this InformationWeek editorial webinar and find out how to avoid the pitfalls of outsourcing IT. The Performance From The User’s Perspective webinar happens March 28. Registration is free.

Jeff Bertolucci is a technology journalist in L. a. who writes mostly for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, The Saturday Evening Post, and InformationWeek. View Full Bio

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