Abstract
The application of the Internet of Things to manufacturing is the driving force of the new industrial revolution (Industrie 4.0). In fact, most activities in the manufacturing industry can benefit from the data collected in the context of the industrial process. The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), whose pillars are the usage of IP communication between the devices and making the devices accessible through the Internet, can maximize the benefits of the information by the integration between multiple data sources, and by the ubiquitous fruition of the information itself. It is common belief that IIoT will transform companies and countries, opening up a new era of economic growth and competitiveness, since it has great potential for improving quality control, sustainable and green practices, supply chain traceability, and maintenance of the user in the loop. Anyway, a number of challenges arise in this context, related for example to adaptability and scalability, real-time communication and QoS, and system deployment and management. A communication middleware can support the IIoT vision by coping with these issues. This talk introduces the IIoT, discusses its benefits and challenges, and presents communication middleware developed in different sub-areas of IIoT (service-oriented industrial informatics [1], smart grids [2], maintenance of industrial machines [3]) that enable the IIoT vision.

Abstract
The Arrowhead project [1] considers to normalize all interactions involving embedded systems by mediating them through services. The Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) paradigm is applied to both the interactions that provide the service requested by the user, and other support actions such as the authentication and registration of the devices, and the services they provide, the look-up of devices and service provided, and orchestration of services for creation of more complex services. To this purpose, services are divided into Core Services, which are present in every environment supporting Arrowhead applications, and user services that implement the applications. The Core Services set comprises, at least, Authentication Service, Registration Service and Orchestration Service.

Abstract
Infotainment applications in vehicles are currently supported both by the in-vehicle platform, as well as by user's smart devices, such as smartphones and tablets. More and more the user expects that there is a continuous service of applications inside or outside of the vehicle, provided in any of these devices (a simple but common example is hands-free mobile phone calls provided by the vehicle platform). With the increasing complexity of 'apps', it is necessary to support increasing levels of Quality of Service (QoS), with varying resource requirements. Users may want to start listening to music in the smartphone, or video in the tablet, being this application transparently 'moved' into the vehicle when it is started. This paper presents an adaptable offloading mechanism, following a service-oriented architecture pattern, which takes into account the QoS requirements of the applications being executed when making decisions.

Abstract
The FlexOffer (FO) concept was initially created within the EU FP7 project MIRABEL [1]. It permits exposing demand and supply loads with associated flexibilities in time and quantity for energy commerce, load levelling, and different use-cases. To put it in a simple way, a FO specifies an amount of energy, a duration, an earliest begin time, a latest finish time, and a price, e.g., "I want 50 KWh over 3 hours between 5 PM and 12 PM, for a value of 0.25 €/kWh".

Abstract
This communication describes research and development directions that are being explored for the creation of a maintenance system for home appliances. The solution will enable a faster and more accurate automation of after-sale services for home appliances. It will be based on three tiers: data acquisition, data analysis and business tiers. The communication provides a context for the work, both regarding the application area in general and the three tiers, and then describes the objectives of the system being designed.

Abstract
The electricity field is facing major challenges in the implementation of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) at a large scale. End users are taking on the role of electricity producers and consumers simultaneously (prosumers), acting like Distributed Energy Resources (DER), injecting their excess electricity into the grid. This challenges the management of grid load balance, increases running costs, and is later reflected in the tariffs paid by consumers, thus threatening the widespread of RES. The Flexigy project explores a solution to this topic by proposing a smart-grid architecture for day-ahead flexibility scheduling of individual and Renewable Energy Community (REC) resources. Our solution is prepared to allow Transmission System Operators (TSO) to request Demand Response (DR) services in emergency situations. This paper overviews the grid balance problematic, introduces the main concepts of energy flexibility and DR, and focuses its content on explaining the Flexigy architecture.