Ayla Networks, a global Internet of Things (IoT) platform for manufacturers, announced it has worked with smart energy management company Encycle Corp. to create a new IoT-connected thermostat for United Technologies Electronic Controls (UTEC).

As building energy management systems (BEMS) gain greater market penetration, building control algorithms are beginning to provide data beyond energy efficiency, including details on space utilization and operational efficiency.

Gartner Inc. forecasts that 6.4 billion connected devices will be in use worldwide in 2016, up 30 percent from 2015, and will reach 20.8 billion by 2020. In 2016, 5.5 million new devices will get connected every day.

The ZigBee Alliance, an association creating open standards that define the Internet of Things (IoT), announced with the EnOcean Alliance, a consortium for battery-less, wireless smart buildings and homes, that the organizations will cooperate on combining the benefits of EnOcean energy harvesting wireless solutions with ZigBee 3.0.

While the Internet of Things (IoT) continues to evolve and expand, moving from planning to execution, commercial enterprise momentum is growing. According to a new global IoT decision maker survey from International Data Corp., 73 percent of respondents have already deployed IoT solutions or plan to deploy in the next 12 months.

Daintree Networks Inc. won both customer project and product honors, taking home four awards in all, at the 2015 Golden Bridge Awards. More than 40 judges from a broad spectrum of industries from around the globe determined the winners from competitors including public and private firms, for-profits and non-profits, and start-ups.

Daikin Applied Americas announced it is acquiring a minority ownership stake in Riptide IO, a Santa Barbara, California-based software company that focuses on helping building owners connect, manage, and automate building equipment by bringing the benefit of the Internet of Things (IoT) to commercial buildings.

Through devices such as smart thermostats that allow users to remotely control household temperatures or LED lights that can be switched on and off from a smartphone, the much-hyped Internet of Things (IoT) concept has arrived in the residential setting, says Navigant Research.