CALABASAS, Calif. & CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ixia (Nasdaq: XXIA), a leading provider of network test, visibility, and security solutions, and K2-Inc., provider of an Internet of Things (IoT) software platform, today announced their collaboration in the IoT space. The integration of the Ixia IoT™ solution and K2’s Software Defined IoT Platform will automate testing, simplifying the development and quality assurance of IoT devices. This includes Wi-Fi-connected white goods (smart appliances) and industrial equipment.
IoT is bringing about a paradigm shift in the industry with home appliance vendors moving to Wi-Fi-based connectivity for smart appliances, device maintenance, and diagnostics. In fact, according to a new research report by Markets and Markets, entitled "Smart Appliances Market by Smart Home Appliances - Global Forecast to 2020", the smart appliances market is estimated to reach USD $37.2 billion by 2020. Factors driving this market include rising energy prices, availability of wireless solutions, and the changing lifestyles of consumers. However, companies moving to adopt these technologies are finding that overall complexity, combined with the lack of test tools, are substantially impacting their go-to-market plans.
K2’s Software Defined IoT Platform allows equipment manufacturers to build IoT applications that can monitor, analyze, and visualize data on a real-time basis. It also provides controllable actions which make use of that data. The Ixia IoT solution, available today, is already being used by K2 to quickly and thoroughly qualify wireless chipsets for IoT deployments, and to rapidly test IoT devices over distance, channel models, roaming, ecosystems, and interference. It also validates interoperability, stability, and functionality, speeding time to market and dramatically improving reliability.
According to Ranjit Deshpande, CTO at K2-Inc., “Unlike manufacturers of typical consumer electronic devices, appliance manufacturers have certain specific requirements such as hidden line of sight, temperature variations, and longevity of product—K2’s IoT software stack integrated with the Ixia IoT suite will help appliance manufacturers to seamlessly qualify different wireless connectivity solutions.”
The integration of the two platforms, scheduled for availability in the first quarter of 2017, will enable K2’s original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers to cost-effectively add Wi-Fi into their mainstream products. By simulating a wide range of Wi-Fi networks and deployment conditions in a minimalist testbed, customers can choose a cost-effective Wi-Fi vendor, while ensuring robust performance in the field. The resulting analytics around performance and insights into failures will enable vendors and OEM partners to identify potential performance issues and quickly evaluate their final products before deployment.
“As the world becomes increasingly connected, adding reliable, cost-effective and secure Wi-Fi to mainstream products is a major challenge. Rigorous testing is crucial in a connected world where issues are no longer isolated. Ixia is proud to work with K2 in helping their customers to meet this challenge,” stated Scott Westlake, Vice President of Business Development for Ixia.
Ixia’s Xceed Technology Partner Program
Ixia’s Xceed program creates a complete ecosystem for its technology partners—from development to deployment—that facilitates collaboration amongst the industry’s leading security, performance, and virtualization experts in key technology areas including IoT, network functions virtualization (NFV), and application and network management. This collaboration helps ensure that customer networks, analysis tools, and applications are strong and reliable.
Ixia’s unique combination of test and visibility products enables Xceed technology partners to provide their customers with full and immediate value from their testing, security, and performance monitoring solutions.
Safe Harbor under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
Certain statements made in this press release may be deemed to be forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements regarding the integration of the Ixia IoT solution with K2’s Software Defined IoT Platform, the scheduled availability of such integrated offering in the first quarter of 2017, the performance and cost benefits that the integrated platform will provide to customers, and the anticipated growth of the smart appliances market. In some cases, such forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "would," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "project," "predict," "potential," or the like. These statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties, as well as other factors, may cause Ixia’s future results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause Ixia’s actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements include, among others, Ixia’s and K2’s success in integrating the Ixia IoT solution with K2’s Software Defined IoT Platform; the timing of the completion of such integration; whether and the extent to which such integration provides performance and cost benefits to customers; the actual growth rate of the smart appliances market; changes in the global economy and in market conditions; and war, terrorism, political unrest, natural disasters, cybersecurity attacks, and other circumstances that could, among other consequences, reduce the demand for our products, disrupt our supply chain, and/or impact the delivery of our products. The factors that may cause Ixia’s future results to differ materially from our current expectations also include, without limitation, the risks identified in Ixia’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and in Ixia’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
About K2-Inc.
K2 is founded by a seasoned team of Silicon Valley veterans with extensive experience in Enterprise Software and Networking. K2’s team has been a pioneer in building Connected Home and Consumer Electronics devices for the past 16 years. Today, K2’s flagship product Service Technician allows Industrial Manufacturers to monitor and service equipment in the field with predictive & pre-emptive maintenance and action driven analytics to reduce the cost of truck rolls and greater customer satisfaction. For more info – www.k2-inc.com.
About Ixia
Ixia (Nasdaq: XXIA) provides testing, visibility, and security solutions, strengthening applications across physical and virtual networks for enterprises, service providers, and network equipment manufacturers. Ixia offers companies trusted environments in which to develop, deploy, and operate. Customers worldwide rely on Ixia to verify their designs, optimize their performance, and ensure protection of their networks to make their applications stronger. Learn more at www.ixiacom.com.
Ixia, Xceed, Ixia IoT, and the Ixia logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Ixia in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.
