ARM, the British company that makes instruction set architectures for computer processors, is certainly not a household name—not the way Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android are, anyway. But that doesn’t mean it’s any less ubiquitous. If you’ve got a smartphone in your pocket, there’s a good—no, make that very good—chance that it’s ARM-powered.作为一家为计算机处理器生产指令集构架的英国公司，ARM意味著算不上家喻户晓，最少没苹果（Apple）的iPhone和谷歌（Google）的Android那么有名。但是，ARM与iPhone和Android一样无处不在。
如果你兜里揣着一部智能手机，很有可能——不对，是近于有可能——它的芯片是ARM出品。The company’s microprocessor technology can now be found in more than 95 percent of the world’s smart handsets, it said, not to mention a sizable proportion of the smart TVs, wearables, gaming consoles, and automotive gadgetry. More than 50 billion ARM-based chips are out in the world right now, quietly powering much of the technological world.ARM回应，目前全球95％以上的智能手机都在使用该公司的微处理器技术，更加不必托非常比例的智能电视、可穿着设备、游戏机和汽车配件了。目前，500多亿块基于ARM设计的芯片在默默地为大半个科技界获取动力。
So what does a highly successful company do once it has reached the top? Find another mountain to climb. The frontier known as the “Internet of Things,” or IoT for short, continues to grow as more appliances, vehicles, machines, and objects gain wireless Internet access. The field is getting bigger every year, and ARM has already begun making inroads.在某个领域登峰造极后，一家极为顺利的公司该何去何从？大自然是另去找一座高峰去登顶。随着更好的家电、汽车、机器和其它物品连进无线网，“物联网”的疆域更加大。这个领域年年都在扩展，而ARM早已开始迎击。“There’s a real opportunity here,” said Ian Ferguson, ARM’s vice president of segment marketing. “If we have technology embedded in a bunch of things, clearly there’s an opportunity to be more efficient. But the question also becomes how to improve quality of life.”ARM公司负责管理细分市场营销的副总裁伊恩o弗格森回应：“这一领域显然都有把机会。
如果我们将技术广泛应用到各类设备中，似乎就有机会提高效率。但问题也变为了如何提升生活质量。”There are now roughly 13 billion wirelessly connected devices in the world, according to Cisco estimates. By 2020, there will be more than 30 billion, ABI Research predicts. Revenue for technology and services pertaining to the Internet of Things is expected to reach $7.3 trillion by 2017. The future of the global technology market, it seems, is at stake.据思科公司（Cisco）估计，目前全球大约有130亿部无线联网设备。
ABI Research预测，到2020年，这个数字将多达300亿。到2017年，与物联网涉及的技术和服务收入预计将超过7.3万亿美元。这或许关系到全球科技市场的未来。‘It might be controversial’‘这有可能具备争议性’It can be difficult to describe ARM’s efforts for the Internet of Things because the company does not actually manufacture the chips for which it is known. Rather, it licenses its designs to a number of semiconductor companies, which in turn build chips based on them.要叙述ARM在物联网方面的希望有些艰难，因为这家举世闻名的芯片公司本身并不生产芯片，而是将自己的设计许可给一些半导体公司，由它们来生产基于ARM设计的芯片。
AMD , Broadcom , and Qualcomm are among many licensees of ARM’s technology, which makes its way into consumers’ hands when original equipment manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, or Sony use those companies’ chips to create new phones, tablets and other devices.取得许可用于ARM技术的公司还包括AMD、博通（Broadcom）和高通（Qualcomm）等。三星（Samsung）、宏达电（HTC）、索尼（Sony）等完整设备制造商（OEM）则用于上述公司的芯片生产新手机、平板以及其他设备，ARM的技术就是通过这种途径转入消费者的手中。“You need a very different chip in a phone, a smart watch and a connected microwave oven,” Ferguson said. “We provide the core building blocks, and partners take the technology and harness it to connected things. It’s really that customization that’s key.”弗格森回应：“手机、智能手表和联网微波炉所需的芯片十分有所不同。
我们获取核心模块，合作伙伴采行我们的技术，并将其用作联网设备。关键在于自定义。”With such a strong presence on phones—consumers’ preferred gateway to the Internet today—ARM believes it is in a natural position to enable further connectivity.鉴于ARM在手机市场占有主导地位，而手机又是消费者选用的联网设备，该公司指出它在推展互联互通方面正处于不利地位。“Using the phone as a conduit for information about yourself and your surroundings will be a big area in the Internet of Things,” Ferguson said. Some examples? Apps or services for monitoring asthma and heart health.弗格森说：“把手机用于取得自身和周边信息的管道，将沦为物联网的众多应用领域。
”用作监测哮喘和心脏身体健康的应用程序或服务就是很好的例子。ARM’s technology is also finding its way into wearables such as headgear and smart bands, he noted. “That whole area is going to move forward—you’ll see those wearables become a more integrated part of the experience.”弗格森回应，ARM的技术也开始被应用于可穿着设备，比如头戴式设备以及智能手环等。“整个领域都将向前前进——可穿着设备将沦为整个体验中协调性更高的一部分。
”A larger opportunity lies in business, where connected devices are used to reduce cost and improve efficiency. Manufacturing and oil and gas exploration are two examples of applications with strong potential, Ferguson said. “You’ve got highly valued assets, so preventative mechanical services can help improve efficiency by detecting problems before they break down,” he added.更大的商机在于企业——联网设备可以被用来降低成本，提高效率。弗格森称之为，生产和油气勘探是两项极具潜力的应用于范例。他回应：“许多企业都有价值极高的资产，而预防性机械服务能在机械再次发生故障前就检测到问题，从而提高效率。”In cities, public lighting and trash collection are functions that can be more effective through the use of embedded sensor technology. Ferguson cited the success of BigBelly Solar‘s intelligent trash receptacles as one example.在城市，使用嵌入式传感器技术未来将会提高公共灯光和垃圾搜集的效率。
弗格森还特地列出了BigBelly Solar公司研制智能垃圾箱的顺利范例。Even street parking is covered. “In San Francisco, some areas have parking spaces that can detect if they’re empty or not, and you can book them on the phone—that’s an efficiency sort of play,” Ferguson said. “But if the city knows some areas are getting booked up more frequently, there might be new valuable services they could sell there. You might even see the pricing change based on availability. It might be controversial.”就连街边行驶问题也未来将会通过物联网不予解决问题。
弗格森回应：“在旧金山，有些区域的停车位可以检测出有车位上否有车，而且人们可以电话预约停车位，这很有效率。但是，如果城市有关部门获知某些地区的停车位经常被预约一空，它们也许可以在这些地区销售有价值的新服务。你甚至有可能看见基于疯狂程度作出的定价调整。这样做到可能会引起争议。
”That technology is already under evaluation in several cities including Los Angeles and Berkeley, both in California.同在加州的洛杉矶和伯克利等城市早已开始评估这项技术。Narrower than a human hair比人的头发丝还要细ARM’s answer for all of this is its Cortex-M microprocessor series, which is notable for its energy efficiency and miniaturization and targets wearable technology and embedded applications. (The Cortex-M0+ processor, for instance, can fit within the width of the average human hair.)针对这些问题，ARM发售了Cortex-M微处理器系列，这些以节约能源和微型闻名的微处理器主要面向可穿着技术和嵌入式应用。（举例来说，Cortex-M0+处理器就比人类头发丝的平均值宽度还小。
）In June, the company announced the establishment of new CPU Design Center in Hsinchu, Taiwan—its first such center in Asia—which will be dedicated to the series. It also held an IoT Tech Seminar in Singapore this month.今年六月，ARM宣告在台湾新竹正式成立一座专门研发这款微处理器的CPU设计中心。这也是该公司在亚洲正式成立的首个CPU设计中心。
此外，ARM本月还在新加坡举行了一场物联网技术研讨会。Working in the company’s favor: a wide array of partners. “This being a new market, it will require a lot of innovation to get started,” Gwennap said. “ARM and its partners have a leg up.”林利集团（The Linley Group）首席分析师林利o葛文那弗回应：“我指出ARM将在物联网中扮演着最重要角色。该公司早已为低成本、较低功率的应用于获取了很多好技术。
”Still, ARM may confront challenges that it wouldn’t otherwise face in the smartphone market it dominates. “All smartphones want to run pretty much the same software,” Gwennap said. Internet of Things devices may not work the same way. “In the IoT, I don’t think we’ll see apps running on a lightbulb, for example. There will be more diversity there, and more opportunity for other companies to play a role.”对ARM不利的是，该公司享有大量合作伙伴。葛文那弗回应：“这是一个必须大量创意才能锁上的新市场。ARM及其合作伙伴在这方面有优势。
”One of those companies: Intel. The leading microprocessor company has been ramping up its efforts for the Internet of Things, including establishing an IoT subgroup with sectors devoted to retail, transportation, manufacturing and industrial applications, and smart homes and buildings.不过，ARM也有可能面对它在自己支配的智能手机市场未曾遇上的挑战。葛文那弗认为，“所有智能手机想运营的软件都大同小异。”而物联网设备有可能不一样。
“举例来说，在物联网中，我指出我们会看见在灯泡上运营的应用于。这一领域将极具多样性，其它公司将有更加多机会参予其中。
”“We believe the IoT is a huge transformational opportunity,” said Eric Free, a vice president within Intel’s Internet of Things subgroup. “We expect there will be billions and billions of intelligent connected devices that will essentially bring data from a variety of business and industrial environments into the cloud and unlock a ton of business transformations.”这些公司中就还包括英特尔（Intel）。作为领先的微处理器公司，英特尔增大物联网技术的研发力度，专门正式成立物联网事业部，分设部门分别致力于零售、运输、生产和工业应用于，以及智能家居和建筑等行业的研发工作。Intel’s Quark, Atom, Core, and Xeon lines of microprocessors are each playing a role in the Internet of Things, Free said. The company is also working to promote security and standards—it helped found the Industrial Internet Consortium—and shape public policy around the topic, he added.英特尔物联网部门副总裁埃里克o弗里回应：“我们指出物联网是一个极大的转型机遇。
根据我们的预测，未来将经常出现数以十亿收的智能联网设备，不谋而合显然，这些设备将把各种企业和工业环境的数据带进云端，从而将启动大量的业务转型。”‘We’re only just scratching the surface’弗里称之为，英特尔的夸克（Quark）、凌动（Atom）、酷睿（Core）和至强劲（Xeon）等微处理器系列都将在物联网中充分发挥各自的起到。他补足道，英特尔还在希望提高安全性和标准——该公司策划创建了工业互联网联盟（Industrial Internet Consortium）——并塑造成环绕这项主题的公共政策。ARM is also concerned about standardization, of course. The company pitches its chip designs as a way not only to enable Internet of Things devices, but also as a way to avoid what it calls the “Internet of Silos,” where data is created but not shared among service providers.“我们才看清表面”“Clearly what we need to do as an industry across verticals is look at how all these things connect together and communicate information in a sensible way,” Ferguson said. “Besides security, we have to work on standards.”当然，ARM也十分想要确认行业标准。
该公司声称，其芯片设计不仅能启动物联网设备，还能避免它所说的“筒仓网（Internet of Silos）”，即产生的数据无法由各家服务供应商分享。Toward that end, ARM has been heavily involved in efforts such as 6LoWPAN, which concerns the interoperability of networks of low-power devices and today’s dominant Internet protocol, and the Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP), an Internet protocol tailored to simple electronics, he said.弗格森回应：“似乎，我们整个行业必须上下一心，检视所有设备是如何网络，并合理地表达信息。除安全性外，我们还必需制订标准。”“I think they are being a fantastic enabler to all the semiconductor companies,” said Alfonso Velosa III, a research director with Gartner. “The Internet of Things requires low power and an ability to enable a broad variety of programmers. ARM has provided a common language.”出于这一目的，ARM仍然深度参予6LoWPAN等技术规范的确认，后者牵涉到较低功率设备网络、如今流行的互联网协议以及约束应用于协议（CoAP，一项专门针对非常简单电子设备的互联网协议）之间的互操作性，他说道。
With a three-pronged approach—microchips, software, and “a very good ecosystem,” Velosa said—ARM will continue to shape the evolving standards and architecture of the Internet of Things.低德纳公司（Gartner）调研总监阿方索o韦罗萨称之为：“我指出他们对所有半导体公司而言都是众多助力。物联网必须较低功率以及调动各种程序员的能力。ARM获取了一门公用语言。
”“A lot of people think the Internet of Things is just smart refrigerators and toasters,” Ferguson said. “The bigger opportunity is, how do you improve people’s lives? We’re only just scratching the surface on what technology for good can do.”韦罗萨称之为，微芯片、软件和“很好的生态系统”三管齐下，ARM将之后打造出物联网大大提高的标准和架构。
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