Thought Leaders in Internet of Things: Danny Yu, CEO of DainTree (Part 2)

Danny Yu: We have one application in retail. It’s a restaurant chain. They actually use a temperature sensor to detect whether or not their freezers have stayed cold. The reason why they do that is because if the power goes out and they’re not able to monitor and track the temperature of the freezer; then as per Federal Regulations, they have to throw out their food. That’s thousands of dollars. In this case, the sensors are located near the freezer.

Sramana Mitra: Double-clicking one more level down, how does a sensor pick-up occupancy? Temperature is easier.

Danny Yu: There are a number of technologies that can be used to detect whether or not someone is in a room. The most common technology is known as Passive Infrared (PIR). Effectively, everybody has a heat signature. You have sensors that can detect that. If you’re close and within range, it will detect heat. That’s one example.

Sramana Mitra: Is that what you’re used to?

Danny Yu: In our case, we are really focused on the network and the software, not on the sensors and the end products. In fact, we believe this is a very good point in terms of Internet of Things. One of the most important things to enable mass scale of this capability for these applications is open standards and inter-operability. In our case, we provide an open standards network that can talk to these devices from any third-party who also subscribes to the standard. This is obviously what we see everyday at home. Standards-based networking technology is used in your iPad or PC. We use open standards for the building management set of applications. Those device manufacturers are our partners.

Sramana Mitra: They all follow whatever open standards the industry has agreed on and you operate with all of those open standards.

Danny Yu: Yes. We see ourselves as the leader in that movement using wireless technology.

Sramana Mitra: On that topic, help me understand the ecosystem that you’re operating in and what does the competitive landscape look like. There have been a lot of companies doing what you’re doing.

Danny Yu: What’s gotten the most attention is home automation. You typically have simple systems around point products. You may have someone controlling lights or maybe your thermostat. They create awareness, but you often see point products as opposed to multi-application solutions.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s focus on the commercial energy saving space. What does the ecosystem look like there?

Danny Yu: The ecosystem there is very different. In the commercial space, you actually have products that are very siloed that for example provide only lighting control. Those are typically siloed and proprietary. Then there are other applications of devices that, frankly, aren’t even networked. They are just end devices that aren’t connected to any system. You end up having these expensive siloed systems that don’t inter-operate. Therefore, the user doesn’t get the advantage of deploying these technologies.

What we’ve done is simplified building energy management by having one platform that’s wireless-centric, that then connects lights, HVAC, plug load, and the Internet of Things through this inter-operable approach. We’ve integrated and broken those siloes and now have a single platform that is far more cost-effective. With the ecosystem of devices, the customer has many device choices. Frankly, that gives them the confidence to commit to actually deploying a platform. We’re basically expanding the market by taking a new architecture to addressing these applications. The combination of embedded wireless, open standards, and centralized management is what DainTree is bringing to the table, as opposed to the more industrial and equipment-oriented approach that has existed historically. We’re bringing a software-focused innovation.

Sramana Mitra: With that map that you sketched out, in the open wireless architecture part, are you the only player?

Danny Yu: We are. We have not seen anyone who has brought the combination of multiple applications and open standards together. When I say multiple applications, I mean lighting, HVAC, and plug load control across an enterprise scale. That comes from our heritage that we’ve had since we started the company.

Sramana Mitra: How long have you been around?

Danny Yu: The company started in 2003. Wireless was applied to embedded task solutions versus a platform. The original business was actually solving problems for device manufacturers and making their wireless end devices work in a wireless network. We used to solve these problems for close to 400 companies.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Thought Leaders in Internet of Things: Danny Yu, CEO of DainTree
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