In September 2008, a group of high-tech companies that included Cisco, Sun, and Dust Networks, announced the formation of the IP for Smart Objects Alliance, or IPSO. Simply stated, the organization intends to create a new kind of network that will allow sensor-enabled physical objects-appliances in your home, products in a factory, cars in a city-to talk to one another, the same way people communicate over the Internet.

The IPSO Alliance, in support of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), is focused on the use of Internet Protocol (IP) networking in urban infrastructure, building automation, utility metering, and other wireless sensor networking applications.

Founder and CTO of Dust Networks, Kris Pister, also co-authored a set of formal requirements for routing in low power and lossy networks that was approved by the IETF. The technical framework lays the foundation for next generation IP-based wireless sensor networks, ensuring end-users long battery life, and high reliability when connecting wireless sensors in the physical world to the Internet.

With proven success in the harsh industrial environment of dense steel and glass, formerly the bane of wireless, Dust Networks continues to maintain first-mover advantage in urban infrastructure and building automation as IP-based standards play an increasingly important role in these environments.