ARM and IBM are partnering to provide a development kit for early adopters of Internet of Things technology and offering a range of hardware and software for beginners.

Similar to Raspberry Pi for the computer coding market, the new IoT Starter Kit offers a simple board for developers to run programs and modules on without having to spend a large amount to get a hold of the technology.

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The board includes a Freescale K64F Kinetis microcontroller, 120 MHz ARM Cortex M4 processor, 256 KB of RAM, 1 MB of flash storage, a 128 x 32 LCD and a whole list of sensors for tracking and detecting different things.

It will feature ARM's mbed operating system that can connect to IBM's BlueMix cloud service. ARM will handle the hardware and some of the platform but most of the software will be distributed by IBM.

Early investment into the internet of things market could be vital for ARM and IBM. Both are heavy investors in smaller startups working on innovative smart-home and sensor modules for the IoT revolution.

Verizon earlier this week claimed over one billion IoT devices are out in the world today and this includes business-to-business services utilizing small connectors. By 2020, this number could hit 5.4 billion.

There's a big worry regarding platform fragmentation on most IoT consumer devices although the business sector seems to be fine working out the software and platform issues when implementing the IoT devices.

Security is another big issue for IoT. The Federal Trade Commission is already looking into more security protocols for smaller devices to make sure user's information is safe in the cloud.

TagsArm, modules, smart home