Microsoft Launches Azure IoT Edge At Build 2017 Developer Conference In Seattle

Microsoft introduced on Thursday at the Build 2017 Developer Conference in Seattle the Azure Internet of Things Edge. The Azure IoT Edge would avoid the round trip between the gadget and the data center and address weak network connection. The service allows devices to begin running cloud intelligence locally.

Azure IoT Edge was given that name because the service enables gadgets to run cloud intelligence out on the edge. Developers could move some of their computing needs to the IoT devices. It runs on Windows and Linux and even on a small device such as the 128MB-memory Raspberry Pi, Tech Crunch reported. The Microsoft services could run the devices on Azure Machine Learning, Stream Analytics, Azure Functions, Microsoft AI services, and Azure IoT Hub.

Sam George, the partner director for Azure IoT of Microsoft, explains that the Azure IoT Edge processes data in near real-time. It also communicates with sensors and other devices connected to the service despite intermittent cloud connectivity. He says the service empowers the device owner to make faster and smarter decisions and reduces at the same time bandwidth costs because only critical information are sent to the cloud for further analysis since it enables processing, analytics, and action to take place nearer the source of data, according to Internet of Business.

Azure IoT Edge addresses the situation of smartphones and other Internet-connected devices not having enough strong processors to handle the intelligence layer, resulting in processing power shifted to the cloud. With the Microsoft newly launched service, the personal digital assistant would become available on all devices. In other words, it has made centralized computing model, client, and server, outmoded, Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO says, The Register reports.

Besides Microsoft’s Azure IoT Edge, a similar service is being offered by Amazon Web Service. It rolled out in November 2016 the AWS Greengrass for IoT. It is a service that allows local compute, messaging, and data caching for IoT.