Sierra Wireless has released its new Octave IoT platform, first announced in June as an integrated offer with Microsoft’s Azure IoT cloud solution. It claims the platform is “unique” as the only ‘full-stack’ IoT package on the market, combining hardware, connectivity, and management software in a single bundle.
The Octave pack is targeted mainly at original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) serving industrial markets, looking to offer analytics-based services on top of their hardware. The platform — containing analytics dashboards, control functions, and device and connectivity management — is being sold as an ‘all-in-one’ solution with Sierra Wireless’ IoT hardware modules and IoT connectivity bundles.
It said no other company, out of “over 500” IoT platform providers, can offer such a tightly integrated solution for connecting and servicing OEM equipment. It saves hardware manufacturers time and money scouting for and stitching together hardware, connectivity, and data management to be able to monetise insights about their equipment in the field.
Research from Forrester, commissioned by Sierra Wireless, said companies could be able to get to market 12 months faster with Octave, versus sourcing discrete solutions. It suggested they could also reduce research and development costs by 45 per cent, making money back on their loT investments in three months.
Sierra Wireless said one in four IoT ventures fail because of the complexity of integrating solutions. It said Octave allows hardware makers and system integrators to get applications running in days instead of months, to focus on “building business rather than reinventing technical infrastructure”, which they are not typically schooled in.
Industrial companies can de-risk their IoT deployments, it said, as Octave integrates Sierra Wireless-owned hardware-connectivity-software stack. Octave works with sundry cloud platforms and applications via open APIs, with Azure already pre-integrated, and the likes of AWS and Google IoT easily connected.
Sierra Wireless owns cellular infrastructure in the US and Europe. It offers 2G, 3G, LTE, and some NB-IoT connectivity via MVNO relationships across the planet. It said pricing for the new platform is aligned with standard as-a-service and cloud fees, and set at $1 per device per month and $1 per 1,000 messages (see below).
Kent Thexton, president and chief executive at Sierra Wireless, commented: “It’s extremely difficult to integrate wireless IoT technology. Octave is built on 25 years of Sierra Wireless IoT experience to deliver a whole new way for OEMs and industrial companies to access machine data in the cloud. Octave eliminates the complex hardware integration, certification and security concerns and allows businesses to seamlessly access their operational data in the cloud and integrate it with their IT systems.”
