In our article, Cloud computing 101: Advantages and disadvantages, we defined cloud computing and discussed some of the benefits and challenges that come with transitioning from local servers to the cloud. We also took a look at the top 5 industrial IoT companies, excluding cloud providers. Now, we will list the top 10 cloud providers for the industrial “internet of things,” and describe some of the main features found in each offering.
The top 10 cloud providers
Amazon
Amazon dominates the market share for providing cloud services to consumers. The Amazon Web Services cloud operates 35 “availability zones” within 13 geographic regions around the world, with nine more availability zones and four more regions coming online throughout the next year. Here are some of the features offered with Amazon’s AWS IoT platform:
AWS IoT Device SDK
AWS IoT provides a software development kit to help enterprises connect to hardware devices or mobile applications. The AWS IoT Device SDK enables devices to connect, authenticate and exchange messages with AWS IoT using the MQTT, HTTP or WebSockets protocols. The Device SDK supports C, JavaScript and Arduino, and includes the client libraries, and developer and porting guides for manufacturers. Users also can employ an open source alternative or write their own SDK.
Device Gateway
The AWS IoT Device Gateway enables devices to securely and efficiently communicate with AWS IoT. The gateway can exchange messages using a publication/subscription model, which enables one-to-one and one-to-many communications, making it possible for a connected device to broadcast data to multiple subscribers for a given topic. The Device Gateway supports MQTT, WebSockets and HTTP 1.1 protocols.
Authentication and authorization
AWS IoT provides mutual authentication and encryption at all points of connection, so data is never exchanged between a device and AWS IoT without proven identity. AWS IoT supports the AWS method of authentication – called ‘SigV4’ – as well as X.509 certificate-based authentication. Connections using HTTP can use either of these methods, while connections using MQTT use certificate-based authentication, and connections using WebSockets can use SigV4.
Registry
The registry establishes identities for devices and tracks metadata such as the device’s attributes and capabilities. The registry assigns a unique identity to each device that is consistently formatted regardless of the type of device or how it connects. It also supports metadata that describes the capabilities of a device.
The registry allows the storage of metadata for devices at no additional charge, and metadata in the registry does not expire as long as users access or update their registry entry at least once every seven years.
Microsoft
Microsoft’s Azure cloud comes in second place to Amazon in terms of reach, but had a greater quarter-to-quarter growth rate than any other cloud in late 2015, according to Channele2e. Here are some of the things you can do with Azure, according to Microsoft:
- Capture and analyze untapped data to improve business results;
- Get started quickly with preconfigured solutions;
- Tailor preconfigured solutions to meet your needs;
- Enhance the security of your IoT solutions;
- Support a broad set of operating systems and protocols;
- Easily connect millions of devices;
- Analyze and visualize large quantities of operational data;
- Integrate with your existing systems and applications; and
- Scale from proof of concept to broad deployment.
Microsoft also strongly promotes the cloud’s ability to use predictive maintenance to anticipate failures before they happen, as well as remote monitoring for increased visibility.
IBM
According to IBM, the company’s Bluemix cloud offers a clean and simple user interface in which users can add and manage devices, control access to their IoT service and monitor usage. It also offers:
Device management
Using IBM’s device management service, companies can perform actions like rebooting or updating firmware, receive diagnostics and metadata, or perform bulk device addition and removal.
Responsive, scalable connectivity
The IBM IoT cloud uses the industry-standard MQTT protocol (OASIS ratified) to connect devices and applications. MQTT is designed for efficient exchange of data to and from devices in real time.
Secure communication
Securely receives data from and sends commands to devices. Do this using MQTT with TLS to secure all communication between devices and Bluemix service.
Storage and access to data
As well as having access to real-time data coming from devices, enterprises can opt to store data for a period of their choice, allowing them to have access to historical and real-time data for their devices.
IBM combines its well-known Watson IoT platform with its Bluemix cloud to allow powerful application access to IoT devices and data.
Google operates its own private fiber network with over 70 “points of presence” across 33 countries, ensuring data to and from devices gets delivered at ultra-low latency. Google said this allows enhanced security because enterprise IoT devices avoid having to travel the public internet through the majority of their time in transit. Here are some other key features of the Google Cloud Platform, according to the company:
Google-Grade Security
Whether device-to-cloud or cloud-to-device, security is a first-class concern as IoT is increasingly used to support business-critical operations. All Cloud Platform application programming interfaces are secure by default with full encryption, backed by integrated and pervasive security across the entire infrastructure.
Real-time, actionable insight
From a ride-sharing car blipping toward a user on her mobile device, to sensors tracking the location of buses and trains, users no longer tolerate stale information. With Cloud Platform as the base of users’ IoT capability, the expectation of real time is built-in: Stream and transform data as it arrives with Cloud Dataflow, a unified programming model for both batch and streaming data sources.
From small to big (data)
Each sensor-equipped device may be small and yields only incremental insight. Multiply this by hundreds, thousands, or millions of sensors all supplying data to the cloud, and the collective stream presents as a big data problem. Cloud Pub/Sub makes real-time, reliable processing of IoT data easy, and Google’s storage products hold all data efficiently and economically.
Salesforce
Powered by Thunder, an event processing engine, the Salesforce IoT Cloud connects data from the IoT to the rest of Salesforce for better insights and real-time customer actions, according to the cloud computing company.
Sales
Create opportunities and sales orders.
Service
Automatically request and schedule repairs.
Marketing
Trigger customer notifications and texts by devices.
Apps
Initiate automatic inspections based on the delivery of supplies.
Cisco
The Cisco IoT Cloud Connect platform, a subscription-based horizontal IoT platform, is suitable for various vertical applications:
- Purpose built and IoT optimized;
- Modular to suit business needs;
- SIM management;
- Flexible billing;
- Data management and APIs;
- Flexible deployment models including in-country hosting;
- Part of Cisco IoT vision and strategy; and
- Partner technology combined with Cisco value adds – packet core, network intelligence, multiaccess, global reach and vertical use cases.
Oracle
The database management company also has features within its cloud designed specifically for IoT uses:
Device virtualization
Standardize integration of devices with the enterprise.
High-speed mssaging
Enable reliable, secure and bidirectional communication between devices and the cloud.
Endpoint management
Manage all your device endpoint identity, metadata and lifecycle states.
Stream processing
Real time analysis of incoming data streams with event aggregation, filtering, and correlation.
Data enrichment
Enrich raw data streams with contextual information and generate composite streams.
Event store
Query and visualize massive amounts of data with integrated Oracle BI Cloud Service support and enable big data analysis.
Enterprise connectivity
Dynamically dispatch critical IoT data and events to applications and process flows.
Representational state transfer APIs
API-based integration with Oracle and non-Oracle Apps and IoT devices.
Command and control
Send messages to devices from enterprise and mobile apps, independent of device connectivity.
SAP
SAP’s in-memory platform-as-a-service, the SAP HANA Cloud Platform, makes it easy to build, deploy and run applications that leverage the internet of things, the German software company said. Here are a few of its features:
- Connect and control devices;
- Access and connect all devices, manage their individual lifecycles – and control them remotely;
- Analyze machine and sensor data;
- Leverage the analytical capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud Platform to detect patterns in data streams from machines and sensors; and
- Optimize processes and create new business models
Bosch
The Bosch IoT Cloud comprises a large portfolio of ready-to-use cloud services. The cloud design helps you to:
- Accelerate IoT projects;
- Improve time-to-market for new IoT solutions;
- Profit from integrated security mechanisms; and
- Lower complexity and costs in IoT projects.
The Bosch IoT Cloud is hosted in a dedicated data center near Stuttgart, Germany. Additional cloud locations are planned for the United States and Singapore.
This offering ensures strict data protection using the latest protective mechanisms. According to the Bosch Group, it has set itself fixed rules for dealing with personal customer data – respecting the right of its customers to know what happens with their personal data.
General Electric
According to the creators of the term “IoT,” industrial companies need a software platform that:
• Is specialized for industrial machines and processes;
• Supports heterogeneous data acquisition, storage, management, integration and access;
• Provides advanced predictive analytics;
• Guides personnel with intuitive user experiences; and
• Is delivered securely in the cloud using open standards and community processes.
GE’s Predix cloud is based on a multitenant “gated community” model, ensuring that tenants of the Predix cloud belong to the industrial ecosystem. The company said this reduces the risk of bad actors entering the community and, unlike public cloud platforms, enables Predix to comply with rigorous regulatory requirements. Support for a variety of data governance, federation and privacy protection is included, as are stringent security features such as perimeter security, data encryption in flight and at rest, access control, and data visibility:
- Industrial-grade security;
- Connectivity as a Service;
- Asset models, analytics and applications;
- Advisory services;
- Managed services; and
- Starter kits.
