Toby Considine

Architecture and Technology Strategy and Mentoring

Toby Considine is acknowledged as an original visionary of the Internet of Things (IoT).  His writings and worldwide presentations have shaped the way our world is designed today. Many communications between the systems in the IoT are based on the standards he developed. From smart energy and smart grids, to building-to-enterprise coordination, to using our smart televisions to program our houses, we all use his work.

Cyberphysical systems present new challenges to cybersecurity. As the machines and systems in our lives are increasingly connected, we must keep their operations and their communications secure. As we claim the convenience that we consumers now demand, our intimate interactions with these systems demand that we design in privacy protections. Toby Considine is at the forefront of cybersecurity initiatives for cyberphysical systems and “things”.

TC9 specializes in human and business centered communications with control systems and the Internet of Things. TC9 helped write the US national smart grid roadmap and advises start-ups that you don’t know you need yet. We have applied our work to the toughest problems in smart medicine delivery. Our focus is on architectures and communication standards for integrating diverse systems..

We can quickly put together a small team to address your most challenging technology problems.

Interview requests accepted.

 

Contact Us

TC9, Inc
169 Durham Eubanks Rd Pittsboro, NC 27312

Toby.Considine@gmail.com
(919) 619-2104

Areas of Practice


Smart Grids and Smart Energy

 

Smart Energy is about just-in-time delivery of the right amount of energy to the right place. Smart grids a means to manage energy logistics, but they cannot can determine when and where. Smart actors representing systems that consume, provide, or store energy determine when and where. It can take considerable effort to integrate more than a very small set of such systems. For these solutions to scale, they must be self-assembling into self-optimizing collections or microgrids.


Cybersecurity for Cyberphysical Systems

 

Most cybsersecurity solutions are still defending the model of the 1980s local area network (LAN). Detect and block network traffic. Protect the file server. Ensure the integrity of the database.
Cyberphysical systems present new classes of challenges. A physical attack on sensor may serve the same purpose as a software exploit. Systems must still provide service safely even if their performance is degraded. System resilience is often more important than exploit defense.


Internet of Things (IoT)

 

Old things are set and forget. New things interact dynamically with us and the wider world using the internet. Commercial buildings interact with tenants to improve amenity, increase security, and to improve worker productivity. Internal systems are now expected to respond not only to use, but also to participate in the wider environment of smart energy, smart water, and smart agriculture. Modular infrastructure is expected to self-assemble into self-optimizing systems, whether in the industrial park or during disaster relief and reconstruction.


Tech Mentoring

 

Your new technology is a game changer—but what are the rules of the new game? The success of your product may rely on its ability to interact with other systems—or may require other systems that are not yet on the market. You are an expert in your new stuff, but you may need help with the database, or the network. You may just need an “ignorant expert”, to talk through your new technology without the assumptions that are now built into your team.

You need to transform programmers into high-performing architects. You need powerful whitepapers and tutorials to educate and develop customers and staff. You must define and convey the business value of your technology.

Call us to help.


“Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.”

– Ovid

Call us for an initial no-obligation consultation