In April, Microsoft announced a new service to help
alleviate the layers of headaches that can accompany building software for the
Internet of Things. The solution, called IoT
Central, is touted as an end-to-end, cloud-based software as a service to
help developers build and support the back end of their connected devices.
IoT Central promises to be great fit for companies that want
to realize the benefits of connected devices but may not have the necessary
resources to do so.
Microsoft IoT Central. Source: blogs.microsoft.com.
Consider a manufacturer of specialized industrial equipment
that could better maintain its products in the field with always-connected,
real-time monitoring. The manufacturer may have very few software developers to
begin with. Perhaps none at all. Creating an IoT development team from scratch
would be expensive in both time and money. The developers already there may not
have the necessary skills to build an IoT solution in-house.
This is where IoT Central plays its part, the gap between building
an Internet of Things device and connecting it. IoT Central promises to greatly
simplify the various technology layers necessary to keep IoT devices up and
running, smoothing out typically complex configuration and deployment
procedures. Plus, since IoT Central is built atop Microsoft’s Azure cloud, it
boasts the reliability, scalability, and security of Azure.
For now, IoT Central is locked away behind a product
page, but hopefully it will be available soon. You can register here to
receive updates on the service as they’re rolled out. Anyone currently
developing IoT devices, or who has already deployed their own but finds the
back-end maintenance and upkeep exhausting, should definitely check out IoT
Central for themselves.
Do you have an IoT project in the works? Are you fed up with
your current IoT solution and ready to see what Microsoft can offer? Let us
know in the comments below, or on Twitter
and Facebook.