The past some hours have been very exciting for sensornet researchers world wide with one of the leading hardware companies (Moteiv) making a huge change of direction and embracing Java as the de facto development platform for sensornets. This move by Sentilla (previously known as Moteiv) can potentially broaden the field of sensornets and bring us closer to the “orginal” vision of pervasive computing of the late 90s (think Project Oxygen).

This move spawns a lot of open questions; what implications would it have on the direction in which sensornet research is heading? what happens to tailored operating systems for sensornets? are the days of C and NesC over? We don’t know and are open to debate!

At this point the Sentilla development kit is in beta version and is available by invitation only. We already know a number of people who simply can’t wait to get their hands on this development kit - you can try your luck here.

You may have heard of a field of computing and electronics called “Ubiquitous Computing” (a.k.a. “pervasive computing”, “everware”, etc.) which has always held great promise but has never taken off. Well, it’s about to and I suspect that the product being introduced as a beta by Sentilla will get things going and change the world as we know it.

Ubiquitous computing is the idea that everyday things everywhere are intelligent and networked. Is that a big deal? Why yes, because the possible applications of this type of technology are seemingly infinite and their impact will be immeasurable huge. The rise of ubiquitous computing, which thanks to Sentilla will take place sooner rather than later, is what I refer to as a Technami: A mega technology trend that fundamentally alters our world. To give you some context, other technamis include the internal combustion engine, the telephone, the computer, and the Internet. Technamis on the rise include genetic engineering and nanotechnology. And now I can add “ubiquitous computing” to the list because, for the first time, it actually seems feasible on a grand commercial scale.

More info here.