The term IoT Platform or “Internet of Things” is not new in today’s world, and a new ecosystem has emerged due to the fusion of the Internet of Things with physical world objects. Numerous industries worldwide are experiencing this trend and are adopting it for their advantages, such as higher revenues, better consumer engagement, and improved team management.
What is an IoT Platform?
IoT aims to connect devices for smooth operation and user-friendliness remotely. An IoT platform fills the gap between device sensors and data networks. It gives information on the data used in the backend application. An IoT platform is a collection of parts that enable programmers to disperse applications, gather data from a distance, secure connectivity, and manage sensors. It makes business transformation possible and makes it easier to collect data from devices.
How does an IoT platform Work?
IoT devices have various sensors that communicate with real-world objects to gather data. Several sensors could have been installed on a single object. The sensor data from IoT devices is configured to be pushed to the cloud, where anyone can perform the necessary transformation and analytics.
What are the Top Benefits of IoT Platform?
IoT is a ground-breaking technological development that has revolutionised our world and made it easier for people to live and innovate. I’ve listed a few of the major advantages of IoT below:
- The Smart Home is put in place using IoT devices.
- IoT devices help support industrial sector monitoring.
- It facilitates data collection from various devices and produces alerts when any threshold is reached.
- Intelligence Businesses and industries
- IoT in healthcare can monitor patients remotely and administer necessary treatments from a distance.
Why Does IoT Adoption Make a difference?
The famous quote which says ‘change is the only constant’ is pretty true. One must take the reins of change rather than allowing themselves to be the victim. Technology advancement is completely changing how we continue to do business. According to the most recent report by IDC (international data corporation), global IoT spending is expected to reach $772.5 billion in 2018. This demonstrates that businesses have planned their future investments and predicted future developments. So, now you can survive the change or go extinct. What do you think?
What is the best way to use the Internet of Things Platform?
The only aspect of IoT common across all industries is its use to connect physical devices to the cloud.
IoT in Healthcare: IoT can track a patient’s heart rate or blood pressure in the healthcare industry. It can produce an alert to let the doctor know and help him, or her make quick decisions. Additionally, it can assist with managing assets and remotely configuring or tuning any device in hospitals.
IoT & Home AutomationIoT: Devices used in home automation and security are widely used and are available in the market. Moreover, with the use of IoT, we can monitor smart home appliances, such as door sensors, cameras, smoke or fire detectors, and smart electric devices intelligently with the help of IoT.
Industrial IoT: Industrial Internet of Things IoT aids the industrial sector’s asset monitoring. In order to reduce the loss in the event of a failure, it may be used to implement predictive maintenance. For example, if you can replace any of the machine parts being serviced in real-time, IoT may be able to send out an alert and stop the enormous loss.
IoT for Environmental Monitoring: IoT devices can gather data from sensors in real-time when it comes to monitoring the environment. This data makes forecasting data much easier.
IoT in Retail: In the retail industry, IoT can assist retailers in revamping for better customer service and theft prevention and analytics based on sales.
Best Practices for Adopting & Implementing IoT Cloud Platform
The security of an IoT solution should be prioritised when it is deployed. When everything is online, there is a chance that the system could be compromised, allowing hackers to use the devices for their purposes.
Network Security: The first step in implementing IoT is for the person or entity (organisation?) to secure their network, which connects to the IoT devices. For instance, if someone needs to adopt home automation, he should keep the network private and secure. If using Wi-Fi connectivity, he must use proper encryption techniques, an authentication process, and access control to connect to the network.
Data Security: Following the network and the device, everyone is responsible for securing the database or warehouse where they keep the data gathered from IoT devices.
Device Security: Preventing unauthorised access to the devices always comes first, and if we need to do that, in addition to network security, considering the device-level security is also a key factor. Choosing a reputable device manufacturer that releases security updates regularly is recommended.
Top-notch IoT Cloud Platforms
Azure IoT Hub
IoT Hub is Azure’s central hub for connecting, managing and monitoring millions of devices through bi-directional messaging. It supports the AMQP, MQTT, and HTTP protocols for IoT device communication. If a device doesn’t support AMQP, MQTT, or HTTP, it also uses its protocol gateway, Azure IoT Protocol Gateway.
Google Cloud IoT Core
Google’s managed service, Cloud IoT Core, enables users to connect to, control, and ingest data from millions of IoT devices quickly and securely. It also makes it easy for us to exchange information with other Google Cloud services to gather, handle, process, analyse, and visualise the data. A serverless service called Google Cloud IoT Core automatically scales in response to Real-Time events. It also supports the HTTP and MQTT protocols for interacting with IoT devices.
AWS IoT Core
One of AWS’s managed Cloud platforms, AWS IoT Core, enables the safe connection of various connected devices (sensors) and cloud services. It makes it possible to manage trillions of messages and billions of devices. Additionally, it facilitates the creation of analytics and machine learning models and allows the routing of those messages to various AWS cloud services.
Bottomline
The IoT is a popular technology buzzword. The Internconcept entails connecting all of the world’s objects to the internet. As a result, in the fast-moving pace of digitisation, enterprises are investing significant time and effort into this wave, which varies by industry. Adopting and adapting powerful IoT Services is the only way to gain a firm grip and grow.