If your one of those people obsessed with Google Cars, Smart toilets, and the “Internet of Things” then Hypercat must have got you pretty excited already.
And if you’re not one of those people, please allow me a few minutes to get you just as interested.
So what is Hypercat? Hypercat is a new specification, developed by 40 UK based tech companies, that allows an app to ask data hubs what types of data it holds and whether it can access them, and then if it can store that data in an address book.
If implemented, Hypercat would remove the need for humans to write an API to specify how the software between two different sources should interact. Hypercat would provide a standard way to conduct dialogue.
Hypercat could be the missing link between today’s networks and the Internet of Things of the future.
Pilgrim Beart, chief executive of internet-of-things start-up 1248, which is involved in the project told the BBC. “Everyone’s interface is different and there is no standard way for an application that has not been specially written for that service to come along and find what the devices are and what data they’ve got. That’s the problem that Hypercat solves.
“An example would be if an application understands temperatures, Hypercat would provide a uniform way the application could ask any service if it has temperature data in it and ask to get hold of it.”
As more and more devices, from fitness bands to lamposts become connected to the internet, Hypercat could be just what is needed to increase the growth in this exciting new era.
Hypercat is still a long way off from implementation and is not yet without concerns. US based tech giants such as Apple and Google have yet to be consulted and there are still privacy issues being raised about Hypercat. Industry experts argue that Hypercat would make the smart market easier for new companies to enter, so it should be unsurprising if ones who are already leading the industry try to make it harder for newcomers to enter.
Hypercat at least shows a serious attempt of companies working together to providing a fully compatible automated world.
For 40 companies to seriously embark on an open source project that allows devices from different companies access to their data demonstrates a real move forward.