News

Electrolux Joins the AllSeen Alliance as Premier Member

August 28, 2014 by Jeff Shepard

The AllSeen Alliance, the broadest Internet of Everything open source project, announced that Electrolux, has joined the group as a Premier Member. With the addition of Electrolux, the world's second-largest appliance maker, the AllSeen Alliance has grown to 63 total members in the few months since its creation in December 2013. Electrolux joins the AllSeen Alliance Premier Member roster of Haier, LG, Microsoft, Panasonic, Qualcomm Connected Experiences, Inc., Sharp, Silicon Image, Technicolor and TP-Link.

Members are working to advance the Internet of Everything’s promise to seamlessly connect devices in businesses and homes by collaboratively building out an open source software framework, called AllJoyn™. Through open source code that is available today and updated through contributions by members and the open source community, AllJoyn acts as a universal translator for objects and devices to interact regardless of brand and other infrastructure considerations commercially deployed today.

According to McKinsey Global Institute, the Internet of Everything has the potential to create an economic impact of $2.7 trillion to $6.2 trillion annually by 2025. However, AllSeen Alliance members believe widespread adoption is dependent on allowing disparate devices to autonomously discover and interact with nearby products regardless of their underlying proprietary technology or communications protocols.

Electrolux, headquartered in Stockholm, is a global company with a full range of appliances for domestic and professional use, selling more than 50 million products to customers in 150 markets every year. Products include ovens and cooktops, refrigerators, dishwashers, vacuums, washers and dryers, compactors and ventilation systems. Its brands include Electrolux, AEG, Zanussi, Eureka, Frigidaire, Molteni and Westinghouse.

“Electrolux strongly believes that this technology, where appliances communicate with each other, with consumers and with other devices, offers a great potential to develop products and services that improve how we cook our food and clean our homes. For instance, we are working on solutions for smarter cooking, which will leverage our professional capabilities to help people achieve great tasting food with minimum effort,” said Jan Brockmann, Chief Technology Officer, Electrolux. “We also recognize that making this reality requires that major players from across industries come together and make sure devices and systems can work together seamlessly regardless of brand. The AllSeen Alliance is working to overcome this challenge, and we’re proud to, as a premier member, be the first appliances-only company to choose this collaborative approach.”

“We’ve said from the beginning that only a pan-industry effort using open source and collaboration can advance the technology required to build a truly connected world,” said Liat Ben-Zur, chairman of the AllSeen Alliance. “The decision by Electrolux to join with the other signature companies is an important step forward for the AllSeen Alliance and we look forward to Electrolux AllJoyn-enabled products being commercially available.”

The Alliance represents the largest and most diverse open source effort to advance the Internet of Everything, including top consumer electronics manufacturers, appliance makers, service providers, retailers, automotive and enterprise technology companies, innovative startups, developers and chipset manufacturers.