Microsoft has plans for the Internet of Things on Windows 10 and Azure
The name Internet of Things (IoT) might sound rather nebulous, but that’s kind of the point. It will become a connected gathering of millions, if not billions, of devices, all having a small impact on our daily lives in the near future. From smart home devices for heat and lighting or smart traffic and parking technology, to gizmos monitoring our office and outside air quality, they will be everywhere, all talking to each other and to cloud servers around the world.
Naturally, Microsoft wants a piece of that infrastructure pie, and is aiming to get Windows 10 embedded in as many of those “things” as possible, and its Azure cloud service running in the background. These type of advances mean that companies big and small can starting making their own IoT tools, without the need for huge hardware investment and infrastructure, which is why so many IoT ideas are coming from small start-up or crowd-funded companies. Tiny devices like the Qualcomm Dragonboard (https://developer.qualcomm.com/mobile-development/development-devices/dragonboard/410c) are powering the “things”. Basically a smartphone on a chipset, they can be connected to a range of sensors and send back data over Wi-Fi or mobile networks.
So, if your business sells a product that currently requires time consuming interactions or regular check-ups, look to the Internet of Things to provide a remote sensing solution that can send live data or periodical maintenance information straight to a server, or a smartphone app, making your product cheaper for buyers to manage. Then imagine every company on Earth doing that, from your healthcare provider to the people who ship your components, hardware or goods around the world or country. That neatly sums up the IoT, and how Microsoft’s Azure IoT suite of tools announced in March (http://blogs.microsoft.com/iot/2015/03/16/microsoft-announces-azure-iot-suite/) will come in use for developing the services needed to run them.
Along with a small, compact Windows 10 installation for IoT devices, the combined service will offer a secure and efficient way of sending data between Internet of Things devices and servers, and then providing that data to workers in report or live form. From smartbands monitoring worker attendance, building access and health to office security cameras or GPS-enabled transmitters on your company fleet, businesses will soon be able to monitor every aspect of performance and maintenance, all in an easily expandable, small-business friendly manner.
