Statii News: Amazon introduces host of new IoT services

Thursday, 7 December 2017

Amazon introduces host of new IoT services

At its Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent conference last week, Amazon announced a number of new services for its AWS IoT platform.

AWS IoT is one of the leading cloud-based IoT platforms, and Amazon is looking to expand its capabilities to meet more of its potential clients’ needs, ranging from wider edge computing to fast scaling to device management.

Embracing more of the IoT stack — the various components a company needs to use an IoT solution — makes Amazon a more attractive IoT partner and could help it grow in the vital IoT platforms space.

Here are the biggest new services and capabilities coming to AWS IoT, and how they’ll impact the platform:

New and improved onboarding and device management. Given the sheer numberof IoT devices that companies may use, bringing them all online can be an ordeal for a company’s workforce. Intel recently introduced a new initiative to make device onboarding simpler, and Amazon is similarly looking to remove this barrier to IoT growth by enabling devices to be added to AWS more seamlessly. Also, though AWS IoT already offered some device management services, it’s expanding on those with features to allow customers to group and track connected devices through the AWS IoT console, find devices nearly in real time, and remotely update software.
Expanded IoT security and analytics services. Early next year, Amazon will introduce AWS IoT Device Defender, a continuous auditing service to make sure connected devices are kept secure. Additionally, it’s expanding its IoT analytics capabilities by offering a fully managed service that cleans, processes, stores, and analyzes data from IoT devices to provide users with simple reports and visualizations of data they can use to make decisions.
Edge-based machine learning capabilities. Amazon introduced AWS Greengrass earlier this year to allow companies to use AWS services on edge computing systems that process data close to where it’s created rather than using a cloud server. Now, Amazon is rolling out machine learning capabilities for AWS Greengrass systems, which will let companies train systems to use IoT data to make decisions in real time based on past observations. Systems will be able to leverage machine learning insights without needing constant connectivity, allowing for more efficient decision-making and greater automation.

Amazon will likely continue to improve on AWS IoT, making it a more compelling choice for companies as a full-service platform, rather than just a cloud analytics option. This will give the company a chance to grab an even larger slice of the critical IoT platforms market, which BI Intelligence projects to grow to more than $300 billion by 2021.

BI Intelligence, Business Insider’s premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on the evolving IoT platform ecosystem that: