Google is apparently preparing to release its own lightweight operating system for the Internet-of-Things. Codenamed Brillo, the operating system will be released under the Android Brand; which fuels the assumption that it is a reduced version of Android.
The IoT is the next step for many companies, with manufacturers like Xiaomi, Apple, and Samsung all racing to get their smart devices out the door. Alongside these major companies are smaller groups who are also trying to build their own IoT ready devices, which is increasingly leading to a very fragmented eco-system. It looks like Google is preparing to do what it did with Android, and release Brillo for free.
Google is working on technology that will allow Brillo to run on extremely low powered devices; meaning devices with as few as 64- or 32MB of RAM. Considering how much processing power the current version of Android uses, it might be a little difficult to imagine many of the components being used in Brillo.
Mountain View has not hid its IoT ambitions, at least not after buying up Nest – a company that builds smart home thermostats and smoke detectors. Interestingly, the original report does not indicate that the Next team is leading the development of Brillo. One would have assumed that the group that has the most experience with smart devices and the IoT would have a greater involvement, unless Google has something else in mind for them.
[Source: The Information]
