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A Chip Off the

New Block
From lights to front doors, your smart gadgets are
ready to talk to your devices and to each other.
Welcome to the Internet of Things

At home and at work, the pattern of daily life is soon set to change
device in your pocket reads your cars movement and underthanks to the rapidly approaching M2M wave. As machines comstands your destination. Within a mile or two it performs some IoT
municate with devices, sensors and each other, the power of cloud
magic and turns on your porch light. As you reach your street, it
computing and storage will be tapped. But the Internet is even
opens the garage door. Headed toward the front door with your
more fundamental to this evolutionthus that well-coined phrase,
hands full, you hear a click to indicate that the phone has unlocked
the Internet of Things (IoT).
it. By next year, someone on your block will have this experience,
Marvell, the Silicon Valley semiconductor brand known for
Poulidis asserts.
leadership in wireless and processor solutions, is well positioned
Healthcare is another dynamic application in IoT, with cost-savto plunge into IoT entrepreneurship. Evidence of its commitment to
ingeven lifesavingimplications, and Marvell is putting resources
innovation can be found on the business card of executive Philip
into this sector. The companys proprietary IP in this endeavor
Poulidis, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Marvells
is called EZ-Connecta wireless microcontroller product family
Mobile and Internet of Things business units. The IoT unit doesnt
designed to make it easier for OEMs to bring innovative IoT services
yet represent a major portion of the billion-plus integrated circuits
to market, thanks to system-on-chip (SoC) solutions and accompaMarvell ships annually, but no segment of the company surpasses
nying software, which are optimized for low power and minimize the
it in potential.
number of external components needed to build a product.
We decided early on that IoT would change
Market needs continually come to light. For
just about everything for everyone, says Poulidis.
Poulidis and his team, the standard exercise is to
The Marvell chip
That judgment prompted Marvell to build a fully
assess a projects engineering time and cost, and
that powers any
integrated interdisciplinary team of specialties into
understand how the partner company will build
supplied module
its IoT unitfrom Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity
its IoT-enabled product, then forecast whether the
to multimedia capability, united with broadband sohas to be tiny, use end-user market will demonstrate sufficient demand
lutions, a microcontroller platform and the software, minimal energy and for the solution.
marketing and sales parts of the puzzle. IntegraIn the case of a door-lock vendor, our value
meet the emerging
tion of all these functions has immediately led to
proposition is to produce a chip, work with partners
standards of IoT.
synergies that are getting us to market faster, adds
to load it into a module that is roughly 1/2 inch by 1
Poulidis. We see that advantage in our ability to win
inch and give the manufacturer a simple way to plug
new business.
this into the product, Poulidis says. Were letting
There has been a struggle to establish prothem focus on what they do best, while adding
tocols in the nascent IoT industry. As organizatechnology that elevates their product into the
tions work to create a consensus, the arrival of
smart-function sphere.
a player like Apple promises to fast-track some
The Marvell chip that powers any supplied
standardization, which Marvell applauds. We
module has to be tiny, use minimal energy
were an early partner on HomeKit, Poulidis
and meet the emerging standards of IoT. Our
notes. We have engineered the HomeKit
company has a clear path forward designing
protocol into our chip in order to make it easy
products for our partners, Poulidis adds.
for the consumer to adopt the system.
The push for standardization is really
The example Poulidis sketches out is an
about a bigger picturehow quickly and
evening run to the supermarket, relieved of
effectively IoT can scale up and change
customary annoyances. Driving home, the
peoples lives for the better.

A Smart World at Your Fingertips

The Internet of Things is changing the way people interact with their world. Why
have electronics vendors, both large and small, chosen Marvell to enable their
smart products? Marvells comprehensive platforms feature market-leading
integrated circuits, reference designs and commercially-proven software combined
with an ecosystem of industry-leading partners to provide all the necessary tools for
the rapid prototyping and development of smart products and applications.

Marvell. Smart Life and Smart Lifestyle

www.marvell.com/IoT