[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]The IPSO (Internet Protocol for Smart Objects) Alliance successfully concluded IPSO CHALLENGE 2013 today by awarding first, second and third place prizes at Sensors Expo in Chicago. This contest was launched by IPSO in February to both promote and contribute to the development of the Internet of Things.

All finalist teams were flown in by IPSO to participate in the IoT Pavilion at Sensors Expo and be on-hand for the award ceremony. “IPSO CHALLENGE was a great experience and event to present our Energy Monitoring platform,” said Mariano Alvira, CEO of Redwire Consulting.

“As a small company, this has been a unique opportunity to get international exposure for our smart objects,” shared Colin O'Flynn, CTO of Colorado Micro Devices.

Antonio Jara, CTO of viBrain, stated: “This contest motivated and challenged us to move from an idea to a real, working prototype.”

Awarded First Place and the grand prize of $10,000 was Redwire Consulting and their Energy Harvesting Transformer -- a self-powered current sensor that wirelessly connects to the internet. “The innovation, simplicity and end-to-end utilization of IP technology made this entry stand out to the judges,” stated Nick Ashworth, IPSO CHALLENGE Chairman.

Taking Second Place and a prize of $5,000 was Colorado Micro Devices and their CMD Asset Management -- a network of low-power wireless nodes that simplify security and asset management applications. Geoff Mulligan, Chairman of IPSO Alliance, was impressed by the simplicity of the design and effective use of IP, “If this was on the market today, I would purchase it to take advantage of IP enabled home security.”