An increasingly popular term emerging across the digital marketplace is IoT Platform. For many businesses and enterprises, utilizing an IoT Platform appears to be the way of the future. It promises untold analytical and digital prowess in an ever-evolving digital marketplace.
However, what an IoT Platform is and how it operates is a mystery to many business owners. While most would agree that they need to engage in IoT platform solutions to maintain a competitive edge in their market, few understand exactly what an IoT Platform can bring to their business.
At TeleData, we are pulling back the curtain on IoT platforms and showing you how to take advantage of this innovative technology.
What Is An IoT PlatForm?
In short, an IoT Platform provides a multi-layered technological solution for the management and automation of the various remote and connected devices on an Internet of Things environment.
The platform allows for the connection of hardware devices to the cloud to transfer data. It also allows for increased usability and capabilities. They allow for greater engagement with these digital resources in developing data-driven applications and improved security and device compatibility.
True IoT platforms can vary depending on the usage needed by a company or enterprise. Typically, IoT platforms play the role of “middleware” – offering connectivity between devices and the cloud software that collects data and utilizes it for specific purposes.
The primary source of interest with an IoT platform is the ready-made cloud connectivity that allows devices to send data in real-time to a cloud-based database. This can be vital for devices operating simultaneously across the globe – such as autonomous vehicles or shipping solutions.
What Is The Platform IoT Platform Technology Stack?
In most of the platforms, there is a stack of technological solutions working simultaneously to provide state-of-the-art connectivity and data collection services:
● Things
● Connectivity
● IoT Features
● Analytics
Understanding how these elements work together is vital for understanding the capabilities of an IoT platform. A high-end IoT platform will allow an enterprise to access the various benefits of all four of these elements across their particular industry.
At the most basic layer, your remote devices in the IoT environment will connect to your IoT platform in the cloud. A gateway will create the communication point by which data can quickly move between devices and the platform for utilization. The strong your gateway and IoT platform are, the more effective each layer of your IoT solution will be.
The bottom layer of the IoT platform solution is known as the infrastructure layer, which is your platform’s base functionality. This is where unique and specialized communication components, container management, internal messages, and IoT solution centers reside. A robust infrastructure is vital to a successful IoT implementation.
The next layer is communication – how the various remote devices connected to the IoT platform connect and interact with the cloud system that your IoT platform utilizes. A high-functioning IoT platform will have capabilities that allow for data collection, messaging, configuration management, device management, and OTA software updates.
Finally, you will need to ensure that your IoT platform allows for analytics. In your IoT platform, analytics is vital for generating data-driven reports that help you visualize the data your system is ingesting. These reports will help you analyze your system’s effectiveness and efficiency and notify you of any anomalies that may be causing data loss.
High-level IoT platforms will allow you to add your own unique and industry-specific components to the platform that allow for great flexibility and customization. Depending on your particular industry or IoT remote device needs, having the ability to customize your IoT platform can help you effectively utilize the data you are receiving most effectively.
IoT & The Cloud
For an IoT to truly live up to its expectations, it needs an IoT cloud solution’s added functionality. Sometimes, IoT cloud and platform terminology is used interchangeably due to the common usage as an IoT platform-as-a-service (PaaS). A PaaS solution allows companies to use specific cloud infrastructure and IoT platforms from a single technology distributor. These commonly include IoT cloud services that are built on the hosted infrastructure.
A vital element of a modern, effective IoT platform is private IoT cloud enablement. Private enablement offers a greater level of control and privacy for the data being transferred between devices and the cloud and the addition of customization and addition of third-party integrations.
Current IoT Platform Trends
As businesses and the digital marketplace take advantage of IoT capabilities, new IoT trends are emerging across industries. Learning more about each and which are proving most successful can help your organization learn which may be perfect for your unique needs:
Digital Twins
Digital twins offer a comprehensive digital representation of various devices and systems. They allow for faster responses to both internal and external events. Successful implementation of a digital twin solution requires a flexible device management system that can adapt to specific use cases. These cases must be able to handle applications such as predictive maintenance to usage analytics across a variety of systems. In most IoT environments, Digital Twins offers a highly functional way for ecosystems to interact and engage.
Intelligent Things
Intelligent Things use automation and AI algorithms to interact with usage insights and analytics across the connected remote devices in an IoT ecosystem. From autonomous cars to manufacturing robots, intelligent things allow for greater customization and usability of IoT environments for nearly any business or operation. Allowing speed and precision through constant connectivity make Intelligent Things an incredibly valuable asset of the future!
Cloud to Edge
As IoT environments continue to grow in their complexity, robust systems by which to manage and process the data are becoming increasingly necessary to ensure high level system functions. By combining cloud and edge computing, the benefits of a flexible cloud-native model allow for separate services to be managed and distributed across connected assets. This allows for the effective operation of disconnected entities and allows them to respond to new data in faster ways.
Cloud to Edge systems is becoming the primary method for utilizing powerful IoT platforms in new and emerging business technologies due to their effectiveness in harnessing data in a real-time format.
Take On The IoT With The Team At TeleData
With so many benefits to be found when utilizing an IoT platform, it’s no wonder that companies big and small are interested in the capabilities that this technology offers. If you are interested in learning more about how IoT solutions can boost your company’s effectiveness, let the team at TeleData guide the way.
Our team of experienced communication professionals has the tools your company needs to take your data to new heights using the latest IoT, cloud, and managed IT services.
Want to learn more about IoT and the services that come with a telecommunications platform built for the future? Contact TeleData today to learn more about our full suite of services, as well as how you can bring IoT platform solutions to your business.
Recent Comments