Platform Group

The Platform Group is responsible for our internal network infrastructure, and also the development of embedded delivery technology for emerging devices. We're working to improve existing systems in terms of reliability, security and power consumption (saving the planet is just as important to a network engineer), however our prime interest is in making the devices you take for granted talk to you, and each other. The WebFridge may be reality, and browsing text, video, live TV and emails on your cellphone is part of normal life - but we're playing with web-enabled cars, active clothing, low-cost computing for the developing world, smart paper, RFID, and of course the MP3-playing-sunglasses (not new, but damn cool all the same).

The problem with this emerging technology is nobody really knows what it will be used for. Sure, we predict that being able to email your video recorder with a list of shows you forgot about is one thing everyone will like, but what exactly would you do with a WebFridge? It can order stuff, but that means the technology used by your food store needs to cope with what's being sent. Should it remind you the milk's about to expire, or will you prefer to just sniff like you used to? Our job is to create the software and protocols that will let it do this stuff, but also to work with users and social engineers to decide if it's worthwhile.