We tend to think of our mobile devices as separate entities from, say, our cable boxes or thermostats or garage door openers. But someday – in the not-too-distant future—the connected home trend will bring together a wide range of disparate devices to give us complete control over our domiciles at the push of a touchscreen. And, as we move closer to that paradigm, Myriad will be instrumental in providing embedded software to enable that revolution.

The company is headquartered in Zurich and boasts 450 employees, most of whom are engineers. It has centers in Canada, China, France and other locations across the globe, and has two primary business units: embedded software for the mobile and connected home space and another division that provides mobile solutions to mobile operators. Its social messaging business unit works with mobile operators in Latin America, Africa and the rest of the developing world, providing end-to-end solutions that act as the backend for IM, e-mail and social messaging on a variety of phones, from low-end devices to cutting edge smartphones.

The company has been around since 2006, and has acquired more than a dozen companies since then. It has its roots in embedded software, including browser messaging clients and Java virtual machines. In the connected home space, it is big in the set-top box market, working with giants in the industry, from Time Warner (News - Alert) to Comcast.

Nowadays, it is focusing on two new products. The first is a remote UI HTLM5 client that enables multiscreen content sharing. As operators integrate new services and reach every device without a dedicated app for each one, the goal is to reduce costs and achieve faster integration. To enable this, Myriad puts the server on the main gateway and clients on the IP box and mobile devices. This allows viewers to watch content on whichever device they wish, as the power of HTML5 allows for distribution anywhere. This also lets cable operators upsell premium content as well.

The other initiative from Myriad involves Alien, a platform to run apps on set-top boxes powered by Linux. In other words, the box can run Android (News - Alert) apps without running Android! It should be available soon, according to company sources.