London, UK and Taipei, Taiwan, July 1, 2014 – Red Bend Software, a provider of products and solutions for managing mobile software, with more than two billion Red Bend-enabled™ devices deployed, has announced that MediaTek, Inc., the fabless semiconductor company, has chosen to partner with Red Bend to deliver firmware over-the-air (FOTA) software as a Service (SaaS) designed to update wearables.
The recently announced Aster “all-in-one” SoC for wearables is MediaTek’s first chip to be integrated with Red Bend’s FOTA SaaS. Red Bend’s FOTA service ensures that manufacturers building on the Aster platform, and consumers of Aster-based devices, always have the latest firmware from the moment their wearable comes out of the box. Wearable consumers can also secure their investment in the device with proactive updates throughout the device lifetime.
“MediaTek’s Aster SoC supports over-the-air updates, making installation and updating of apps and services in wearable devices incredibly easy. This is all possible because of the MediaTek capsule, which enables apps to be pushed and installed, along with sensor algorithms and drivers. This is done remotely through the wireless links between phones, tablets and their wearable devices. Red Bend’s FOTA allows MediaTek to provide a more complete update solution for our customers to manage devices over-the-air,” said J.C. Hsu, General Manager of New Business Development at MediaTek.
According to IDC, the worldwide wearable computing device market will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 83.2% growing to US$20.6 billion by 2018*. As wearables, including smart watches, fitness devices and personal healthcare monitors become an integral part of everyday life, consumers will expect them to be updated with the same reliability and efficiency as their smartphone.
Red Bend’s FOTA service is already used by leading smartphone, tablet and automotive customers. The cloud-based service allows manufacturers to update all their device models anywhere, anytime without requiring specialised expertise in designing and operating a FOTA updating system or needing to make large, upfront capital expenditures in service infrastructure. The flexibility of the solution enables manufacturers to proactively push updates to devices, as well as for consumers to periodically check if new updates are available.
For device manufacturers, FOTA updating strengthens customer loyalty through improved user experiences, minimises customer services costs and provides a channel to deliver new firmware and increase revenue.
“We are excited about the opportunities in front of us based on our partnership with MediaTek. With such a sophisticated SoC as Aster, the opportunities for innovation are endless,” said Oren Betzaleli, EVP, Products, Strategy and Marketing, at Red Bend Software. “Red Bend will ensure manufacturers can bring innovative wearables to market quickly, be able to continuously make those devices better and allow consumers to have the best experience possible.”
*IDC Worldwide Wearable Computing Device 2014-2018 Forecast and Analysis, doc #247318, March 2014.
