According to a Reuters report, tech giant has recently joined the AllSeen Alliance as a Premier Member. The AllSeen Alliance is considered as the broadest open-source project related to the so-called 'Internet of Things.' It was started by the nonprofit consortium the Linux Foundation in December 2013.

With the addition of Microsoft as a new member of the collective, the AllSeen Alliance now has a total of 51 members. Some of the other Premier Members of the Alliance include Qualcomm Connected Experiences, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Haier, Sharp, Silicon Image, Technicolor and TP-Link.

Overall, the members of the AllSeen Alliance include bigwig consumer electronics manufacturers, home appliance makers, automotive firms, chipset manufacturers, Internet of Things cloud providers, enterprise technology companies, innovative startups, software developers, service providers, and retailers.

As part of the AllSeen Alliance, the member-companies expect to give a boost to the connected home market by setting up standard protocols to facilitate wireless communication between gadgets, cars and wearable devices.

In reference to the efforts being undertaken by the AllSeen Alliance, Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon said: "All these things need a standard. Nobody wants to buy a TV and have to make sure their speakers are compliant. But we're in an experimentation phase with the Internet of Things. It's early days and nobody knows what it's eventually going to look like."