In 2020 there will be 15 Billion connected devices and possibly higher as more vendors are building connected products. In our experience, key challenge is not a number of devices, instead of the ability of these devices to feature heterogeneity, security, and diversity across multiple industries. Instead, it is reliably addressing the heterogeneity, security, and diversity of constantly evolving IoT devices.
In effect, enterprises and OEMs want to integrate multiple systems to achieve efficiencies, which requires continuous data collection from multiple sensors later to be consumed by applications to make intelligent business decisions. To facilitate interaction among connected devices and business applications, there comes evolution of IoT Gateways and Cloud-based IoT Platforms.
Challenges: Connecting IoT Device to Cloud Services
Billions of devices are connected today, but not all are able to communicate with cloud-based applications or platform. These devices are known as “Edge” devices, which can be hardware sensors, consumer appliances, industrial controllers, or other industrial devices residing on private or potentially proprietary networks. And, to develop a path for information flow from these Edge devices to the gateway to cloud services brings several challenges, which includes:
- Connected Devices built using Diverse Hardware Platforms: OEMs put in an excessive amount of time and resources on the hardware platforms that involves sophisticated processors, optimal memory, efficient power management, multiple sensors, and many other electronics modules along with embedded software applications and embedded operating systems.
- Reducing Network Latency: Many IoT devices send data at a very high rate which can sometimes swamp available network bandwidth. This requires a powerful networking topology architecture that enables faster device-to-cloud communications. For an example, the temperature sensors send hundreds of bytes in a fraction of seconds which could generate Terra Bytes of data in a single month, generating potentially very large data transport cost.
- Complexities in Gateway Orchestration / Data Routing: Potential flood of data over a variety of proprietary network protocols can be dealt via gateways for seamless edge devices connectivity. But, Converting the data into a common format sending to multiple systems/applications simultaneously, possibly using different methods or protocols is a challenge in itself. Moreover, Gateways need to incorporate specific rules or orchestrations which helps an application to define what data is actionable and which data is redundant based on specific business requirements.
The Solution: Building unified Cloud IoT Platform-as-a-Service that connect multiple devices to Cloud Services
IoT platforms host a comprehensive suite of integrated technologies that enable OEMs and enterprises to easily and quickly configure and manage almost any IoT product deployment. The cloud based IoT platform enables enterprises to connect diverse hardware-platform based devices, collect Terra Bytes of data and send processed and contextual data to different cloud applications that can scale from simple proof-of-concept to full commercial deployment across diverse industries. But, on the other side its reliability, scalability, and robustness are constantly questioned. Any IoT cloud platform should involve the following key features into it:
- Device Connectivity: IoT cloud platform allows out-of-box connectivity using different protocols using MQTT, AMQP (both over WebSocket) and HTTPS along with prebuilt patterns for BLE, Zigbee, Thread, and more along with protocol conversion functions.
- Device Management: IoT cloud platform provides out-of-box strong device management mechanism to provision and connects list of devices, track their operational status with an ability to handle configuration, firmware updates and manage device level error reporting and handling as it keeps devices and sensors up to date and functional.
- Data Collection: IoT cloud platform services enable bi-directional data transfer from remote devices to cloud web services by ingesting many different data formats and types, normalizing the incoming data, and storing it. Further, cloud IoT platform-as-service makes it easy for manufacturers to understand a connected product’s performance and end users’ experience, that will enable them to provide better customer service, reduce their support and maintenance costs, offer new value-added services and features to end-users, and improve the design and functionality of future products.
- End-to-end Security: To ensure end-to-end security of IoT solution, IoT Platform facilitates layered security right from sensors and hardware platform to network topology to cloud based software platform with features like RSA key-based device authentication and verification, secure web-socket, fully encrypted sessions over a wireless local-area network (WLAN), SSL powered HTTPS protocol, password protected secured access to IoT Platform. The cloud platform ensures that
- only authorized users can gain access to a particular connected device;
- end users’ data access is blocked by unauthorized entities;
- cloud data access is prevented by another cloud entity;
- user’s network is safeguarded from hacking and phishing attempts.
Build vs. Buy Approach: Selecting right Cloud IoT Platform-as-a-Service implementation strategy
Evaluation Criteria | Build | Buy |
Scalability |
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Interoperability |
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Security |
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Faster Time-to-market |
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Performance Evaluation |
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Analytics – Actionable Business Intelligence |
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Regulations and Compliances |
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Pricing |
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Summary:
To conclude, IoT cloud platforms are revolutionizing businesses-models as we know it with rapid adoption and expansion.
In our experience, most manufacturers will find that building an IoT platform, considering all the factors and skills involved in the process would be too difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. To jump-start IoT projects with confidence, OEM and enterprises leverage industry-leading and most well-known platforms that are tested for readiness, compatibility, and usability.
About VOLANSYS
VOLANSYS is a one-stop solution enabler having expertise in implementation of IoT Products with end-to-end IoT system engineering services. We build solutions comprising of custom hardware development for embedded systems combined with custom cloud platform, mobile apps, and performance tuning. VOLANSYS IoT platform partnerships include Ayla Networks, EVRYTHNG, ClearBlade, ThingWorx, IBM Watson and People Power. VOLANSYS has extensive experience of implementing IoT solutions for diverse domains including Industrial IoT(IIoT), Manufacturing, Healthcare, Smart Appliances for Home & Office, Smart Energy Devices, Automobile, Freight & Logistics, and Smart Consumer Devices.