The global IoT market is rapidly growing, with forecasts predicting it will reach USD 650.5 billion by 2026 and over $2.4 trillion annually by 2027. The demand for IoT among businesses is booming, particularly in custom development services and IoT application development.
This article will explore the best IoT cloud platforms for 2024, their significance, and the challenges in IoT software development.
What is an IoT platform?
An IoT platform is a middleware that manages interactions between users’ applications and remote devices. Generally, IoT platforms handle various tasks related to the management and automation of connected devices. This includes:
- Data collection, storage, and processing.
- Coordination and control of remote devices.
- Deployment of cloud and device software.
- Support for third-party integration.
With ready-made features and a reusable technology stack, IoT cloud platforms can significantly reduce development time, optimizing processes and mitigating risks. For a comprehensive approach, consider using the guide IoT development from Purrweb to further streamline your IoT project.
Amazon Web Services IoT platform
Amazon offers a comprehensive suite of cloud IoT services, boasting a proven, scalable infrastructure capable of supporting billions of devices and processing trillions of messages. The Amazon IoT platform caters to a variety of needs, including industrial, consumer, and commercial applications.
Features:
- Comprehensive IoT tools from the edge to the cloud.
- Multi-layered security, featuring encryption and access control.
- Advanced AI integrations for faster solutions.
- Highly scalable platform.
AWS IoT core allows secure and straightforward connections between devices and cloud applications. It supports billions of devices, processing messages efficiently without requiring users to manage infrastructure.
AWS IoT device management simplifies secure, large-scale device organization and monitoring with troubleshooting capabilities.
AWS IoT device defender adheres to security best practices, managing device authentication and authorization, ensuring identity, and encrypting data.
With the FreeRTOS operating system for microcontrollers, you can manage and control small, low-power edge devices, connecting them to AWS cloud services or locally to other devices.
AWS IoT greengrass enables local storage, synchronization, and management of connected devices with machine learning capabilities.
AWS IoT analytics facilitates the automatic analysis of vast data from diverse devices, providing sophisticated insights and machine learning use cases.
ThingsBoard Open-source IoT platform
ThingsBoard is a cloud platform for IoT device management, data collection, processing, and visualization.
Features:
- Reliable telemetry data collection.
- Customizable data visualization.
- IoT Rule Engine.
- Advanced device and asset management.
- Multi-tenancy and horizontal scalability.
- Fault tolerance and security.
- Customization and integration.
- Alarm management.
- SQL, NoSQL, and hybrid database support.
ThingsBoard also offers training sessions and support packages.
Microsoft Azure IoT
Microsoft Azure IoT solutions offer ready-made workflows or customizable ones to fit your business needs. The Azure IoT Suite is quite flexible, covering everything from device connection to giving you actionable insights.
Services and features:
- Azure IoT central makes it easy to create IoT solutions with ready-to-go templates.
- Azure IoT hub helps manage billions of devices, allowing for two-way communication and the development of hybrid IoT apps.
- Azure IoT edge lets apps run locally, speeding up processes by shifting the business logic from the cloud to your devices.
- Azure time series insights offers real-time data insights with great visualization tools, perfect for performance checks and spotting anomalies.
- Azure digital twins is great for creating virtual models of real-world environments to optimize operations and cut costs.
Use Cases:
- Monitoring conditions in industrial IoT.
- Predictive maintenance for industrial IoT.
- Creating safer buildings.