It would be very correct if I say this is the season of IoT Technology for Sri Lanka. IoT or Internet of Things technology has been the buzz for quite some time and with recently held IoT events; the IoT Technology event by Garnes Labs & Qi-Code and importantly Google I/O Extended 2015 by Mobitel giving much attention by making it the theme for this time’s hackathon made IoT the talk of the town in the digital community. Things became more interesting when IdeaBash too revolved around IoT. IdeaBash, the tech meetup organized by the award winning, world recognized Eco system, Dialog IdeaMart which facilitates Sri Lankan developers by providing them with a platform to create important services and as they say which offer means of living for many Sri Lankans… which you will have to agree.
Roshanth Gardiarachchi, Product Manager – IdeaMart Services, Dialog Axiata PLC was the first speaker on stage gave the perfect intro for IdeaBash as well as what IdeaMart is and its importance of existence. The journey Ideamart has come and where it today is definitely inspiring and beyond comparison for which they won the World Award for Best Technology Enabler at the 20th Global Mobile Awards further proving it. In the Big Announcements for this year Roshanth unveiled Apptizer, which allows you to build an Android app within less than 10 minutes. Isn’t that interesting? Also two new APIs; IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and WebRTC (Web Real Time Communication) APIs which would sure maximize the opportunities and possibilities for developers, it’s a matter of letting your creative ideas to flow in.
It was Balathasan Sayanthan, Chief Business Development Officer, Hsenid Mobile ran a live demo of Apptizer, by creating his “Chocolate Store” and sold few Chocos to the audience. He showed how easy it is to setup your own online store with Apptizer by using its predefined templates, which is few clicks away.
“We are the Enablers, you are the Innovators – Balathasan”
The father of Mobile Connect took stage next (“but I am the father of many
things… – Geethan”); Geethan Samarawickrama, Assistant Manager – Product Service Innovation, Dialog Axiata PLC. Simplifying login authentication, Geethan introduced Mobile Connect which is one of the best solutions in the Market. Geethan explained why more than 70% of visitors to a site drop as you ask them to register and how Mobile Connect comes handy at this point.
Time for the real show, IoT for Cool People by Sachith Perera was a presentation full of inspiration, and yes it was for Cool People. Sachith, a Technical Architect from 99xTechnology shared his experiences both in his real life and career from the “Smart Office Project” at 99XT to his “Feed my Pet” project which he tinkers at home. He indeed overflowed the room with Ideas. Long live “Pi Culture”.
Undergraduates from University of Moratuwa also got a space in the event. They presented their projects based on IoT technology, which were real life applications. “Towards Interconnected Living Space”, Imesh Lihhnikaduarachchi showed IoT devices at work, from various sensors measuring different conditions and parameters inside buildings such as temperature, humidity and human activity which is then controlled autonomously.
As the last speaker was Heshan Perera, a Tech Lead at Zone24X7 and spoke on Enterprise IoT. He stated that IoT can be categorized into three forms; Home, Government and Enterprise. Heshan showed the less talked perspective of IoT; how we can get this thing in business… It was a bit techie talk but was very informative, he did unlocked a whole new way of thinking, a new mindset.
Towards the end of the evening was the Solve IT session, where the audience was split in teams and asked to identify a day to day issue they face. The problems were shuffled between the teams and each team got a problem from another team. Time to Solve IT! Gifts were handed out for the team with the best solution, Best Selfie and the Best Tweet.
Empowering People with Idea’s… And was the conclusion of the 3rd annual IdeaBash. How can we forget to mention Shafraz Rahim and his awesome team; a big shoutout to them for bringing together an Evening of Geekiness.