In 2007, the IP500� vision to form an open, fully interoperable and robust IP-based sensor network solution for commercial building and other sensor applications began.   Formally established in 2010, the IP500� Alliance is comprised of international OEMs and system manufacturers. These member companies are focused on the end user and have created the desired industry standard IP500� solution. Suppliers of the IP500� solution are key technology partners of the IP500� Alliance, but primary decision making is carried out by the Alliance members. In this way, the IP500� Alliance maintains its attention on the market requirements (the OEMs) and its end-customer.

Another Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone; as usual, vendors announced technologies ranging from broadly beneficial to patently absurd. Based on actual product introductions, a number of categories seemed to make concrete market progress over the previous twelve months, including less insanely expensive ultra high definition television (UHDTV, also known as 4K for the nearly four thousand horizontal pixels in its 3840x2160 format, delivering four times the resolution of today's 1920x1080 sets), advanced vehicle infotainment and navigation solutions, even more Android-based devices, and-as one might expect-a wide range of Smart Objects.

IPSO members stood front and center at CES with announcements incorporating IP-connected devices; whether classified as Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Everything (IoE), or machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions, members announced and demonstrated a wide range of solutions ranging from software and hardware ingredients to complete systems for networking Smart Objects using Internet Protocol.

The IPSO Alliance promotes a future where everyday objects include technology that allows them to communicate via the Internet. At the IETF, IPSO had invited NXP, Sensinode, Nivis, Proto6, and Ericsson to demonstrate IP-based smart object technology. The demonstration included IP-based light bulbs, control of city lights on a web-based platform, smart electric meters, and motion sensors. Ericsson demonstrated how social networking can be integrated with smart objects.

Showing full-size street lights on a demo table is a bit difficult, so Sensinode had built a Lego-model of a street with office and home buildings. The street had lights on both side, the home couple of lights at the front porch, and the office building lights in the cubicles inside. All these lights could be controlled directly by communicating with the lights using IPv6 and CoAP (Constrained Application Protocol). The lights were also connected to servers running in the cloud, so that a web user interface with regular HTTP/REST API could be used to control them.