The Importance Of Simplicity In IoT
January, 2019At Raspberry Street, we’re all about simplicity. It’s part of the reason that we started our business.
As we looked around at all of the major IoT (Internet of Things) solutions on the market, one thing became clear – we needed a way to empower non-technical stakeholders to understand the power of IoT, and to use it without requiring the skills (and expense) of an internal or external development team.
Learn more about our approach to simple, intuitive IoT design – and why it’s so important – below!
No API? No Problem!
No API? In an IoT application? You must be crazy!
We’re not. That was our main goal when developing Raspberry Street. We wanted to find a way for a device to gain access to IoT without using an API.
Why? Well, it’s in the name. Application Programming Interface. Guess what you need to use an API? Programmers and developers! Even if the API is quite simple, you need some kind of development specialist to integrate it into your IoT solution.
Device level access to the IoT should not require an API. Just like Steve Jobs was told that he can’t make a PDA without a stylus, many would think that an IoT platform should have an API to run properly. And that’s just not the case.
Reflecting On The Value Of Accessible IoT
Writing this, I’m reminded of a conversation that I had a while back, with an IT solutions provider. I was discussing how easy it was to use Raspberry Pi devices for just about anything – including IoT.
I showed him one commercial IoT solution that we had developed with Raspberry Pi, and explained to him that the reason our IoT product worked so well was because of our API – our “Secret Sauce” which made the project work.
I won’t forget his reply. “That’s not the secret sauce,” he said. “The secret sauce is that you’re a developer. I’m not – and I’d have to hire a developer to get this working!”
I thought about that response for some time. In fact, you could say that’s where the whole idea of Raspberry Street first began to develop. Independently, I’d been using Pis for a number of different purposes. But after this conversation, I decided that we needed to build an IoT platform that allowed EVERYBODY to have access – providing them with a comprehensive, easy to use Raspberry Pi management platform that didn’t require a team of developers to be usable.
That’s why Raspberry Street was founded. Our solution allows you to control the IoT data flowing out of your device, and gives you complete control over your devices, without an API or a complicated third-party program.
Raspberry Street – A “Smart” Platform For Everyone!
The result of creating an end-user IoT device is typically deemed “smart”.
A “smart home” uses IoT sensors to control temperature, lighting, and more. A “smart container” can be tracked and monitored using GPS data, and so on.
At Raspberry Street, we’re working to make the Raspberry Pi natively “smart” – allowing you to quickly deploy and modify your own “smart” IoT solutions.
So don’t just sit there. Start working with us. Because IoT starts here – and IoT Smarts here! (Sorry, we couldn’t resist.)
