Fitness Industry Technology Council Holds Webinar on Fitness Networks and APIs

The Fitness Industry Technology Council (FIT-C) held a webinar on the technical aspects of fitness networks and APIs on November 11.

The Fitness Industry Technology Council (FIT-C) held its second webinar on November 11 to discuss the technical aspects of networked systems and application programming interfaces (APIs). The webinar was introduced by FIT-C President Bryan O'Rourke and presented by Phil Rankine, Director at ECOFIT Networks, a Canadian company specialising in networking communications for cardio fitness equipment, and Chuck Freedman, Director of Platform Strategy at Mashery, a leading provider of API technology and services, owned by Intel.

Webinar participants were provided with a technical overview of fitness networking and API standards and introduced to ECO Wireless and other networked fitness systems that enable a seamless connection of fitness equipment, devices, applications and sensors to enhance users' workouts and improve facility management. ECO Wireless is a communication platform for cardio equipment that improves users' training experience and allows fitness clubs to network all their cardio machines at a relatively low cost. The platform also enables asset management and the integration of smartphone apps, real-time digital media, and social media.

Phil Rankine focused on the benefits of introducing networked systems to fitness facilities, their implementation, and the need for a consistent industry standard interface between equipment and some of the applications that are currently available on the market. These applications' capabilities increase significantly when networking is introduced. Asset management software, for instance, can provide hour-by-hour statistics on equipment usage and other real-time metrics, allowing manufacturers to see usage trends, error codes, and other key data that enables them to provide proactive service support. Club operators, on the other hand, can benefit from the software by using the objective usage data to make better purchasing decisions.

Rankine also touched on the technical aspects of networked systems and the use of C-SAFE ports, industry standard data ports used on most commercial cardio machines, that provide real-time metric reporting and allow operators to introduce networking without having to develop their own systems, which would come with additional costs.

Additionally, he talked about criteria for achieving connectivity, including wireless technology, lower power or self-powered equipment, cross platform functionality, and low cost. Networking solutions must also be easy to install and maintain, and not require an IT staff for support.

Chuck Freedman had a presentation on APIs in fitness with a focus on fitness platform innovation, the different ways to improve the industry, and API best practices for supporting developers, which include a welcoming portal, easy onboarding, and great documentation and support. Good programs also encourage integration with SDKs and similar tools that help developers get started and give them access to the API.

Rankine and Freedman covered the topics in great detail and finished off with a Q&A. The webinar is available on Slideshare.

The Fitness Industry Technology Council is a non-profit organisation that represents fitness industry innovators and leaders, including Polar, Fitpro, Gold's Gym, Star Trac, Nexersys and other major industry brands. FIT-C aims to create interoperability standards for fitness devices and minimise the need for every fitness facility or organisation to create a new solution for each situation. The organisation was founded in 2012 to provide an open platform for developers and manufacturers to collaborate on developing technology standards for fitness devices, equipment, software, and APIs.

The next webinar, scheduled for December 9, will be presented by Paul Lockington (Garmin) and focus on ANT+ and Bluetooth technologies.