Microsoft and Qualcomm have joined the Open Interconnect Consortium (OIC), prompting the device connectivity body to relaunch as the Open Connectivity Forum. The move brings Qualcomm, the founder of the river AllJoyn project, now an open source endeavour, endorse the OIC’s IoTivity standard, in what sounds like the beginning of future consolidation. Not that either body would or will publicly confirm such a move. The Open Interconnect Consortium has been pushing its spec, and the accompanying IoTivity open source implementation, as a way of connecting devices in local proximity to each other, and also to cloud platforms. Its main rival, the AllSeen Alliance’s AllJoyn protocol, also has the backing of quite a few members of the now-OCF, but its main…