Microsoft is expanding its IoT offerings (MSFT)

BI Intelligence

This story was delivered to BI Intelligence IoT Briefing subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here.

Microsoft is expanding its IoT offerings, announcing three new services that augment its cloud-based Azure IoT suite. Here's what's new:

• The firm launched IoT Central, a new service that can deploy and manage the entirety of a company's IoT ecosystem, including the devices, cloud functionality, analytics, networks, and software. Microsoft's offering is essentially IoT-as-a-service and is one of the only solutions on the market that can manage all these aspects in full.
• Microsoft is also updating Azure IoT offerings. It's expanding Azure Stream Analytics, an existing platform, to edge computing systems, which analyze data where it's generated rather than in the cloud or at remote data centers. Microsoft is also launching a new tool, based on an existing Azure offering, that leverages the cloud to analyze time-series data, something commonplace in the IoT. This gives Microsoft customers more tools that allow them to analyze data more quickly than they could with the company's previous offerings.

The move could bring the IoT to companies for whom it was previously out of reach, which benefits Microsoft. A lot of companies don't have the resources or people to make the most out of IoT solutions, and basically outsourcing their management to Microsoft via IoT Central may be an attractive option. The service should help Microsoft expand the reach of its IoT solutions to new segments of the market.

And the new offerings could give Microsoft a competitive advantage. It's logistically easier and less expensive for a company to get all IoT services bundled from a single player than to rely on different ones for different pieces of the ecosystem. Microsoft's wide array of expanded services coupled with the convenience of IoT Central — Microsoft's IoT offerings are some of the only in the market that can implement and manage all aspects of a company's IoT ecosystem — could distinguish it from competitors like Cisco's Jasper or Amazon's AWS IoT, and help it gain a lead in the space.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is growing rapidly as companies around the world connect thousands of devices every day. But behind those devices, there’s a sector worth hundreds of billions of dollars supporting the IoT. 

Platforms are the glue that holds the IoT together, allowing users to take full advantage of the disruptive potential of connected devices. These platforms allow the IoT to achieve its transformational potential, letting businesses manage devices, analyze data, and automate the workflow.

Peter Newman, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on the evolving IoT platform ecosystem. This report sizes the market and identifies the primary growth drivers that will power the IoT platform space in the next five years. It also profiles many of the top IoT platforms by discussing key trends in the platform industry such as platform consolidation. 

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• The IoT platforms market is set to expand rapidly in the years to come, with current leading platforms expanding and others entering the space.
• We define the key categories into which IoT platforms fall: building block open platforms, closed high-end platforms, and product management platforms.
• We highlight the ways platforms can help companies reach the full five stage potential of the IoT.

In full, the report:

• Explains the coming growth of the IoT platforms.
• Profiles a number of leading platforms.
• Highlights the central role platforms play in the IoT.
• Looks to the future of the IoT platforms market.

Interested in getting the full report? Here are two ways to access it:

1. Subscribe to an All-Access pass to BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report and over 100 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you'll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> START A MEMBERSHIP
2. Purchase & download the full report from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT