Google's Android Team to Unveil Brillo OS for IoT Devices at I/O 2015: Report

Following Huawei's announcement of its own OS for Internet of Things (IoT) devices from earlier this week, a new report indicates that Google might be secretly readying its own IoT operating system codenamed Brillo, set to be unveiled at I/O 2015 next week.

The report published by The Information (via Ars Technica) says the OS is reportedly being developed by members of the Android team, and will also feature Android branding, leaving us to infer that it will in some way be based on the Android OS.

The Information claims that Brillo will work on devices with as little as 64MB or 32MB of RAM, and is aimed to work with such IoT devices as sensors and dongles. The Android-based OS for now is being worked upon to support connected home devices, a section that comes under Google's Nest. Some of the home devices that can fall under the reach of Brillo are smart light bulbs, door locks, sensors and more.

While the OS will probably be available for OEMs to license for their IoT devices, there is not much information on this front. The report also fails to mention how exactly Google is planning to merge both Brillo and its smart thermostat, Nest, together. Brillo may also work with Dropcam and Revolv, both of which now have been acquired by the search giant.

Google I/O 2015 is also anticipated to witness the new Android M OS, and its native support for fingerprint authentication. It is said that most of Google's apps would support the reported fingerprint authentication feature. Besides support for third-party apps, Google Chrome might also use it to let users sign-in to websites without typing the password. Google Wallet authentication and Google Play purchases can also use the feature.