Month: October 2020

Best Platforms for Iot development

What is the Internet of Things?

The Internet of Things (or IoT) revolves around our everyday life, collecting data depending on a person’s shopping tastes, sleep and work timings, browser cookies and much more. The IoT is a giant network of a cluster of numerous data collected from around the environment. That includes different objects of all shapes and sizes with in-built sensors that transmit data – from microwaves to self-driving cars and fitness devices to alarm clocks.

How does IoT work?

The IoT collects data from various sources and uses that to provide a proper solution based on the user’s requirements.

For instance, you set your alarm at a specific time every day to wake up for work. However, when something goes wrong – a cancelled train or an alternate route due to bad weather, you’ll have to wake up early in order to reach your office on time. An IoT-enabled alarm collects data with the factors like driving distance, travel time for the alternate route and the current weather conditions. Based on the data, it calculates when to wake you up so you are not late for work.

Furthermore, to develop, manage and host all these applications you need a fully-functional and flexible technology infrastructure platform. The IoT development platform is a multi-layered technology that helps in management, provisioning and automation of the hardware devices connected to the IoT. The development platform helps a user to develop, deploy and manage various IoT applications. It acts as a powerful toolkit to connect numerous sensors and devices from across the world to the cloud wherein the entire data is stored for further usage.

The platforms are evaluated based on the following fundamental components –

  • Device management
  • Integration
  • Security
  • Data collection
  • Analytics
  • Support for visualizations

Best platforms for IoT development

Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT

Owned by Amazon, the AWS IoT development platform enables the user to connect different hardware devices or the mobile application to not only AWS services but also other devices. It also helps the user to secure the data interactions, act upon the data available and even the authority to allow applications to interact with the devices even when they are offline.

The AWS IoT Software Development Kit (SDK) helps the user to enable the hardware devices to connect, authenticate and exchange data using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) or WebSockets protocols. The AWS enables the user to use a source alternative and even write their own SDK.

A few of the benefits provided by the AWS IoT SDK are –

  • Device Gateway
  • Message Broker
  • Mutual authentication and authorization
  • Registry
  • Device shadow
  • Rules Engine

Microsoft Azure IoT

Developed by Microsoft, Azure is one of the topmost IoT platforms. The Azure IoT platform has been designed and developed in order to deliver the data collection and analysis in the most efficient way possible. This helps the organizations to make not only quick but also accurate decisions which in turn enables them to build more products at more competitive prices.

A few of the benefits provided by the Microsoft Azure IoT are –

  • Application services
  • Messaging facility
  • Condition monitoring
  • Virtual mechanisms
  • Data storage services
  • Highly efficient database management structures

Google Cloud Platform

Google cloud platform is one of the most popular platforms, which is easy to use and provides different user-friendly features. With the ability to provide advanced analytics owing to Google’s Cloud Data Studio and Big Query, this platform stands out from the rest. Google cloud’s main purpose is to provide intelligence and data security.

A few of the benefits provided by the Google cloud platform are –

  • Data management
  • Application development
  • Smart business analytics and AI
  • Productivity and work transformation
  • Expandable NoSQL database systems

ThingWorx IoT Platform

ThingWorx IoT Platform is owned by PTC – the creator of CAD. This IoT platform enables the users to gain new insights from the data sourced from various devices and at the same time, it maintains the transfer speed. It also allows the organization to upgrade or replace back-end systems without disrupting the user experience in any way.

This IoT platform allows the users to connect to various devices across the network and also provides a quick analysis of complicated data and content.

A few of the benefits provided by the ThingWorx IoT Platform are –

  • Easy connectivity across the network
  • Ability to share the platform among developers
  • User-friendly interface for developing applications
  • Integrated machine learning
  • Ability to deploy embedded, cloud and on-premise IoT solutions on the go

Cisco IoT Cloud Connect

Created by Cisco, this IoT platform is mainly designed for mobile operators. This platform offers various services such as completely customizable billing and reporting system, effective and efficient data and voice connectivity, security and a user-friendly interface for managing the applications. While enabling mobile operators to enjoy IoT services, Cisco IoT can also be used to build multiple products and utilize the resources at the same time.

A few of the benefits provided by the Cisco IoT Cloud Connect are –

  • Voice and data connectivity
  • SIM life-cycle management
  • IP session control
  • Customizable billing and reporting

Fundamentals of an E-commerce Application

E-commerce is one of the most profitable businesses of the digital age we currently live in. Leveraging the internet and understanding people’s mindsets, e-commerce grew out of thin air and eventually into an economy of its own.

And it’s not just one company earning the most out of e-commerce platform; multiple vendors are warring to sell a product to millions of customers. No wonder it is one of the most profitable businesses.

But not all the e-commerce applications succeed, so we have put together the fundamentals every Ecommerce application should have to perform better in the industry.

  • Speed of the E-commerce Application

    We are in 2020 and yet, even some of the leading e-commerce applications lag in responsiveness. While you can argue that it also depends on internet connectivity, it shouldn’t stop you from making your app extremely light-weight and supportable in all the devices.

    One more advantage of having an application of considerable speed is that when people have to wait to view a product, they simply move to another product, if not exit from the application. App speed empowers e-commerce with quick conversions and thus increases sales and revenue.

  • Simple E-commerce App Layout

    E-commerce applications’ layout can differ according to the products listed to be sold. An e-commerce company that specifically sells garments has a different layout and features compared to a general-category application where everything is sold.

    E-commerce application that only targets sports equipment and children’s products must have different layouts. Although it is the adults who use the application, crafting it uniquely to address the audience improves the business.

  • Intuitive Navigation

    The users who opened your e-commerce application are not going to buy the first product that pops up unless the product is exactly what they were looking for.Typically, your customers scroll through the endless ocean of products, compare the reviews, check out the images, and visualize themselves using the product before adding it to the cart.

    And it is navigation that allows them to go through the process, except maybe without the visualizing part. Without the right interactive tools, the process gets interrupted in the middle and that’s how you lose a potential sale.

  • A Formidable Payment Gateway

    A secured payment gateway for e-commerce applications is the crux of the business model. One of the hazardous events that can happen to e-commerce business is when a hacker exploits the vulnerability of the payment gateway.

    This is much more than a privacy breach or stolen-data; this is robbery, and as the ruler of your business empire, you are responsible for protecting your customers.

  • Active Customer Support

    Customer Support is crucial, especially for e-commerce businesses. Although you have explained the how-to-dos, people will have doubts which can only be cleared through customer support. Sometimes, your users are aware of the procedures, but still want to confirm it with customer care.

    But above all, customer support assures your customers that if something goes wrong, they can rely on customer support to solve the problem.

Business is projected towards success only when its fundamentals are sound and rock solid. Times can get tough, but the foundation with which the business is built on will provide unwavering support for the business to thrive. It also doesn’t mean that the business should remain unaltered. After all, people are constantly in need of something new.What we have discussed in the blog are essentials to build successful e-commerce businesses, but it requires the most prudent decisions to dominate the industry.

How to Build an Ecommerce Application?

he always-trending shopping is now highly concentrated on online markets than it is on the traditional brick-and-mortar counterparts. It is no wonder e-commerce business is booming beyond stellar ratings.

Although e-commerce giants strengthening their roots all over the world, there is still humongous room for improvement which startups and enterprises can capitalize on. If there is a good time to start an e-commerce business, it is now.

Here is how you should start building an e-commerce application.

Steps to Build an Ecommerce Application

  • Step 1: Market Analysis

    Market analysis is crucial for an e-commerce application to succeed and remain successful in the long run.Identify to whom you are going to sell. This should give you insights into what your potential customers use and want as a necessity so that you can build an application that promotes your products.

    Even if you don’t limit yourself to one category of products, understanding your customers — likes, dislikes, behaviour, and pattern — will assist you in building an e-commerce application that is relatable to your audience.

  • Step 2: Competitor Analysis

    Make a list of all the competitors who are competing in your target location. Identify what everyone is selling, how much they are selling, who they are selling to, what is their business model, how they are promoting their business, and why people are preferring a specific company, among other aspects.

    Instead of trying to copy an Ecommerce company business model, making use of your analysis results will get you the track of what you should do and how you should it.

  • Step 3: Platform and Technology

    The next step is to identify what platform you are launching your business in. Web, Android, and iOS are the most preferred platforms as they are the ones majorly used. If your audience uses one platform predominantly, you can also decide to target the platform or go for hybrid e-commerce app development.

    The difference between native and hybrid is that native apps can be highly customized and have unique features, while the hybrid is ideal for a simple application. You should also research the compatible combination of CMS, database, front-end, and back-end frameworks to build your e-commerce apps.

  • Step 4: List of Features

    Now that you know everything you need to build an e-commerce application, it is time to work your brain to the core. List all the features you want to see in your applications.

    While you may have to choose almost all of the features your competitors are providing, you can customize them or add new features to win over the customers.There are also specific target-audience and domain-related features you can add to provide a better service.

  • Step 5: Designing and Development

    Contemplate on a unique design for your e-commerce app, for uniqueness always has a special place in people’s minds. It also has to be simple for people to understand and interact, and it shouldn’t take a toll on the performance.

    Make sure every feature is built meticulously to function effectively and in unison with other features. And see to the testing iterations to make your application bug-free.

If you are done with the last step (fifth step), you have one more thing to do. It is, in fact, what makes your business and application a ground-breaking success: Marketing.Although you have a killer e-commerce application, it is no good if you don’t reach out to your audience and tell them what you have in your application.We are an e-commerce app development company with a sound portfolio of successful applications. You can also get in touch with our consultation wing to clarify your queries and have a clear path towards the launch of your application.

Types of digital marketing

Digital marketing is the form of marketing that requires the usage of an electronic device or the internet. According to a research, the number of people using the internet constantly has increased by 5% in just a period of three years. The way people shop has changed a lot compared to the old times and traditional offline marketing is not as effective as it used to be. Marketing is all about connecting with the audience and today, with digital marketing, we connect with the audience where they spend most of their time – the internet.

Here are a few types of digital marketing methods that are used to reach the audience-

  • Content marketing:

    Content marketing is a type of digital marketing that completely focusses on a target audience by creating and distributing content for them. With the ultimate goal to drive profitable customer action, enterprises must aim the content at being relevant, valuable and constant. Moreover, instead of pitching products or services, the enterprise needs to provide relevant and useful content to potential customers in order to solve their issues. Content marketing increases the possibility of an increase in sales, potential and loyal customers and cost-saving methods. A few examples of content marketing include videos, podcasts, white papers, ebooks, blog posts and case studies.

  • Search Engine Optimization:

    Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is where certain changes are made to the website design and content in order to make it look more attractive to a search engine. It is the process of getting quality traffic by twerking and updating relevant keywords and phrases for the search engine to recognize it. The SEO process enables an enterprise to make sure that their website ranks high in the search engines by making the relevant changes.

    Moreover, it is important that an enterprise drives relevant traffic to its website. For instance, if an enterprise manages to attract huge traffic searching for shoes towards its website that is selling bottles, the traffic will do no good. SEO techniques include researching relevant keywords and adding them into an enterprise’s website copy, optimizing website titles, loading speed, backlinks and description.

  • Search Engine Marketing:

    Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the form of digital marketing that uses paid methods to increase the visibility of an enterprise’s website in search engines. Earlier, SEM was used for both free and paid traffic but over time, it is now solely used by various organizations and businesses for paid marketing.

    To simplify it further, SEM refers to the ads an enterprise puts out there on Google AdWords and Bing Ads. The combination of SEO and SEM increases the possibility of routing quality traffic to your website and further put yourself in front of potential customers that are actively searching for the services you offer.

  • Social Media Marketing:

    Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the form of digital marketing that uses various social media platforms to attract traffic and attention. Nowadays people frequently use social media, this enables enterprises to target potential customers towards their products and services. Enterprises are not only able to increase their exposure but also build a meaningful relationship with their customers.

    Business-to-Consumer (B2C) and Software as a Service (SaaS) enterprises benefit the most from SMM as it is mostly about listening to customers, engaging in a conversation and providing valuable content.

  • Pay-per-click:

    Pay-per-click advertising is a form of digital marketing where enterprises pay a fee for every time a person clicks on their advertisement. It is the process of pulling paid traffic towards your website instead of getting them organically via SEO and other methods.

  • Affiliate marketing:

    Affiliate marketing is a popular form of digital marketing where an individual partners up with an enterprise to receive a commission for diverting traffic towards their website. For example, an individual’s blog or website contains the link of an enterprise’s website and the individual receives a commission each time a user makes a purchase using that link.

  • Television advertising:

    The list of the types of digital marketing will never be complete without television advertising, one of the most popular, powerful and effective medium for marketing. On average, people generally spend over five hours in front of the TV and most enterprises utilize that to market their products and services. However, enterprises need to come up with an engaging advertisement which not only takes a lot of time but also requires more funds.

Digital marketing

With over 4 billion internet users worldwide, the term digital marketing seems familiar but we still end up searching online when a related question arises. Digital marketing is a method of marketing products or services with the use of digital technologies over the internet, mobile applications and other digital mediums. Its channels are systems based on the internet that can create, accelerate and transfer product value from producer to a consumer with the help of digital networks.

The term digital marketing was first coined in the 1990s with the first clickable banner ad going live in 1994; around 44% of the people who saw the ad clicked on it. The further development of digital marketing has completely changed the way businesses use technology for marketing. Eventually, when digital platforms started getting incorporated into everyday life, people ended up using digital devices rather than visiting shops physically. Digital marketing further extends to non-internet channels that provide digital media including SMS, MMS, callback and television.

Why digital marketing?

Traditional marketing exists in print ads, physical marketing and phone communication while digital marketing can occur electronically and online. This increases potential opportunities for various brands including social media, video, email and website-based marketing.

Moreover, digital marketing provides many options and strategies associated with it and enables the user to take a creative approach and experiment with a variety of marketing tactics on a budget. Marketing tools including analytics dashboards enables a business to monitor the reach of their campaigns.

Advantages and disadvantages of digital marketing –

Advantages-

  • Global reach:

    Digital marketing enables a business to find new markets and expand their trade globally for a small investment. It further allows them to increase brand loyalty and effectively drive online sales.

  • Lower cost:

    With the help of a properly planned and targeted campaign, the business is able to reach the right potential customers at a much lower cost compared to traditional marketing methods.

  • Trackable and measurable results:

    The business is able to use web analytics and other metric tools to establish their campaign as well as track and measure the reach of their online campaign. Furthermore, they are able to obtain a detailed report on how customers use their website and respond to their campaign.

  • Personalization:

    On linking customer database to their website, organizations are able to greet the customers with targeted offers whenever they visit the site. With an increase in sales, business is able to refine its customer profile and market effectively to them.

  • Social media presence:

    By expanding and managing their presence in social media, businesses are not only able to build customer loyalty but also create and maintain a reputation for being easy to engage with. Moreover, digital marketing enables them to create engaging campaigns using content marketing tactics which increases the possibility of being shared and passed forward by potential customers.

  • Competitive advantage:

    With the help of various internet platforms, businesses are able to reach the maximum potential of digital marketing and further pinpoint the behavioural patterns of their customers. The data from potential customers along with social media reach enables them to improve brand awareness and compete with similar businesses.

Disadvantages-

  • Skilled employees:

    Businesses will have to ensure that their staff are skilled in the area of expertise in order to carry out digital marketing successfully. Moreover, it is also important that their staff are up to date with the latest trends and changes in the market.

  • Time consumption:

    Tasks like creating and optimizing online advertising campaigns and marketing content consume a lot of time, so it is important for the businesses to measure their results to ensure a proper return-on-investment.

  • Highly competitive:

    Along with reaching a global audience with digital marketing, the enterprise is also up against global competitors. It can be highly challenging to stand on par with the competitors and attract customers using tactics from outside the box.

  • Customer feedback:

    Negative feedback and criticism related to a brand are visible throughout the internet including social media and review websites that might damage the brand reputation.

  • Security and privacy:

    There are numerous legal considerations pertaining to collecting and utilizing customer data for digital marketing purposes. Every organization must ensure that customer data is handled with the utmost care.

Interesting Developments in IoT Technology

The world we live in is highly connected beyond imagination enabling us to know what happened in the furthest corner of the world with just a few clicks. All thanks to the Internet, the information exchange is extraordinarily fast like that of a neural network.

But this requires human intervention to request and send information over the internet. With Inter of Things, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Here is a Brief on IoT before We Dig Deep into Its Development

IoT is a system of machines or computing devices connected over the internet to exchange information without any human involvement.Simply put, IoT is about connecting all the things in the world to the internet and allowing them to exchange information.

Developments in IoT that Will Make You Think Twice

  • IoT: The Fuel Of Big Data Analytics and AI

    Big Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence thrive on data. Larget the data, better the analytics and learning that leads to a better understanding of the underlying logic.

    With IoT, every device: from a surveillance camera to the moving car it shoots sends data continuously to the server. The change in data or time can be programmed to trigger a specific action. Like turning on and off the irrigation system in agriculture, dial emergency during accidents, automatically apply brakes after closing a certain distance calculated by sensors, and so.

    The constant feed of data requires big data management to keep them sorted and checked. And when fed to the AI, it can map the seemingly irrelevant data to valuable information: could change businesses and lead to better understanding.

  • IoT Goes Hand in Hand With Healthcare

    A lot of diseases go unnoticed at their nascent stages and become evident only when they become a threat to life. IoT can potentially shield the diseases from becoming potent.

    Wearable devices can actively keep track of the functions of the body and transmit the information to the server which can check if everything is normal. Even the slightest of the change in the body can be identified immediately and help can be sent if required.

    Healthy habits can also be suggested to keep the body balanced and to prevent it from falling behind in the wellness scale.

    Further, this could potentially lead to ground-breaking discoveries, for new symptoms and anomalies can also be detected at the early stage.

  • IoT and its Cloud Counterpart

    IoT-enabled devices constantly and continuously send data over the internet making it susceptible and an easy target for hackers to dwell. Or worse would be to alter the data bringing down efficiency and analytics of the entire system.

    Being a part of the information age where data is the new oil, it is imperative to secure every byte of data.Not to mention, the data stolen is rotated between the organizations and are always sold for a hefty price.

    This calls for cloud computing with which the data can be stored securely away from the reach of the online decoits. Cloud Computing also ensures that the data is sent and received on time, and thus amplifies the efficiency of IoT devices.

  • The Meteoric Rise of Edge Computing

    One of the aspects where IoT becomes cringe-worthy is that it transmits the data raw and unprocessed. This calls for the cloud to do the processing and that requires more time.

    This delay might not sound too critical as IoT is yet to be adopted by all the industries. But in the future, this could hinder the efficiency of the system. After all, it takes less than a second of data inconsistency to cause the self-driving cars to go bust.

    Edge Computing sends data to the storage points in the vicinity that takes care of processing, sorting, and filtering of raw data into meaningful information before they are sent to the cloud.

    Known for its cost efficiency and speed, edge computing serves the IoT in the best way possible to keep the latency low. The tech is also going through regular upgrades that it could potentially take the place of the cloud for IoT.

  • IoT and Blockchain for Amplified Security

    The security concerns of IoT is much imperative than what is known and emphasized at the ground level. The stakeholders’ and the public’s skeptical reviews should be relieved before IOT can cover more solid ground.

    And Blockchain does just that. The decentralized, immutable, and self-governing technology can effectively provide the security layer much needed for IoT.

    Any data once approved by the system can never be changed unless more than 50 percent of the machines in the network verify and nod to the change. But that can’t be happening as it would render the previous proof-of-work false.

    Also, unlike the centralized and authoritative data storage, Blockchain doesn’t fall apart once a link or node is broken. The information can always be fetched from other machines.

  • Smart Homes and Smart Cities

    People voice their input and the technology merged with the house responds to the command. That’s how it has been functioning until recently.

    Improvements in IOT can automatically jot the route map for the day, take precautions in the home for child safety, deploy power-saving modules, auto-adjust according to the mood and even make coffee when the inmates come home.

    Cities will also receive a mammoth’s upgrade from redirecting the traffic for a quicker commute to preventing accidents.

    Further, the government can also reach people better and ensure that their services reach and benefit people.

  • IOT Unleashes the True Potential of Marketing

    Today, marketing is already highly personalized powered by data analytics. Companies are already reaching the prospects better and have multiplied their conversion. But still, the room for improvement is towering beyond imagination.

    IoT will assist enterprises and their respective industries to leap steps in marketing and sales. With the constant stream of data pouring into the system, the companies will know exactly what is expected of them.

    They will know when their products and services are most wanted and who uses them. This, along with the insights on the customers, will also shed light on how they can improve their services.

    Or more, the IoT will also provide data on the people’s sentiment and how to capitalize on the sentiments based on the regions. Better offers and discounts can be crafted, and best of the prospects can be identified without hassles

  • A Safer Internet Ecosystem

    IoT can better identify the scammers, fraudsters, and hackers preying on the innocent and ignorant. It can also automatically block unauthorized and unverified users from accessing protected websites.

    Can warn people of the people they are talking to. If children, it can e programmed to send a caution message to the parents.Further, hackers accessing even from remote locations can be pinpointed to make the internet safe and sound.

    Wrapping Up

    Internet of Things, as a technology, empowers better businesses to thrive in the competitive world. It could also be said that IoT is a boon to business personnel and the public alike.

    The ecosystem will be easily cleansed of dirt and blemishes for honest and genuine people to live in harmony.

    The blog is but a speckle of game-changing advancements happening in the IoT.

What is IT Infrastructure?

What is IT Infrastructure?

Information Technology (IT) infrastructure refers to a foundation or framework composed of virtual and physical resources that support a system or an organization; resources supporting the storage, flow, processing and data analysis. Furthermore, IT infrastructure can also be termed as a cluster of hardware, software, network and facilities that are used to develop, monitor, test, control, deliver and support IT services. Infrastructure can be centralized within a data centre, or it may be decentralized and spread across several data centres which are controlled by an organization or third party facilities and providers.

Similarly, enterprise IT infrastructure is the collection of various components required for the existence, operation and management of an enterprise IT environment. This infrastructure can be deployed within the organization’s facilities, deployed within a cloud computing system or a combination of both.

How is an IT infrastructure created?

To build a data centre, organizations usually follow a formalized process starting with analyzing and assessing business goals and making architectural designs eventually leading to the building and implementing the design and optimizing the infrastructure. This entire process requires detailed expertise in quality construction techniques, component section, and data centre building design.

With the world advancing with each passing year, the way IT infrastructures are created is improvised. The manual traditional methods require enormous optimization, integration and management effort. Today’s infrastructure consists of pre-integrated and pre-optimized storage and network equipment that enables a person to deploy the IT hardware and virtualization platforms into a single system. Moreover, this hyper-converged infrastructure is an advanced approach that can be deployed, expanded and managed easily without the need to hire more workforce.

Layers of an IT infrastructure

IT infrastructure consists of a set of layers that enable it to work smoothly. A common feature of each provided layer is that it completely depends upon the proper and timely operation of the layer available beneath it. For example, an application might depend on the proper operation of a remote service availed by a person but it also depends on the condition of the operating system used by the person.

  • Hardware layer:

    The components in this layer include hard-wired circuitry, cables, mechanical switches, non-programmable discrete components, physical memory, disk drive controller circuitry and other infrastructure which is either non-programmable or provides volatile storage. User interaction with the hardware layer is limited to physical manipulation of buttons, audio and video I/O and power switch.

  • Firmware layer:

    The firmware layer consists of various hardware components that are field-programmable. The components of this layer consist of boot configuration parameters stored in Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS), field-replaceable microcode and boot loader code. The proper operation of this layer depends on the hardware layer.

  • System layer:

    The system later consists of various software required to communicate and control with the firmware layer. This layer provides a common set of standard and publicly documented system calls for the further layers to build upon. The components in this software layer consist of device drivers, configuration files, kernel and the disk-resident boot loader code.

  • Service layer:

    The service layer consists of various central and backend services that provide computation and data storage for the application layer. The components of this service layer include database, web, directory, mail, compute and file servers.

  • Application layer:

    The application layer consists of various software components that users predominantly interact with. For instance, this is also called the operating system layer in a real-time environment. The application layer consists of various components including compilers, office productivity tools, mail readers, shell command interpreters, web browsers, network control utilities, file system and file manipulation programs.

  • Infrastructure management

    Regardless of how an IT infrastructure is created; it must provide a suitable platform for all the necessary functions and applications as per the requirement of an organization or an individual. The software tools available in the infrastructure must enable IT, administrators, to view the entire lot as a single entity as well as access and configure the operating details of the devices available in the infrastructure.

The infrastructure management is divided into multiple categories like Building Management System (BMS) and system management. The BMS provides tools that enable a person to report on data centre facilities parameters including efficiency, temperature and cooling operation, power usage and physical security activities. System management consists of tools that enable a person to configure and manage servers, network and storage devices. Proper management of the IT infrastructure enables a person to not only optimize resources for different workloads but also easily understand and handle the impact of any changes on interrelated resources.

Best Platforms for IoT development

What is Internet of Things?

The IoT is a giant network of a cluster of numerous data collected from around the environment. That includes different objects of all shapes and sizes with in-built sensors that transmit data – from microwaves to self-driving cars and fitness devices to alarm clocks.

How does IoT work?

The IoT collects data from various sources and uses that to provide a proper solution based on the user’s requirements.

For instance, you set your alarm at a specific time every day to wake up for work. However, when something goes wrong – a cancelled train or an alternate route due to bad weather, you’ll have to wake up early in order to reach your office on time. An IoT-enabled alarm collects data with the factors like driving distance, travel time for the alternate route and the current weather conditions. Based on the data, it calculates when to wake you up so you are not late for work.

Furthermore, to develop, manage and host all these applications you need a fully-functional and flexible technology infrastructure platform. The IoT development platform is a multi-layered technology that helps in management, provisioning and automation of the hardware devices connected to the IoT. The development platform helps a user to develop, deploy and manage various IoT applications. It acts as a powerful toolkit to connect numerous sensors and devices from across the world to the cloud wherein the entire data is stored for further usage.

The platforms are evaluated based on the following fundamental components –

  • Device management
  • Integration
  • Security
  • Data collection
  • Analytics
  • Support for visualizations

Best platforms for IoT development

Amazon Web Services (AWS) IoT

Owned by Amazon, the AWS IoT development platform enables the user to connect different hardware devices or the mobile application to not only AWS services but also other devices. It also helps the user to secure the data interactions, act upon the data available and even the authority to allow applications to interact with the devices even when they are offline.

The AWS IoT Software Development Kit (SDK) helps the user to enable the hardware devices to connect, authenticate and exchange data using HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) or WebSockets protocols. The AWS enables the user to use a source alternative and even write their own SDK.

A few of the benefits provided by the AWS IoT SDK are –

  • Device Gateway
  • Message Broker
  • Mutual authentication and authorization
  • Registry
  • Device shadow
  • Rules Engine
Microsoft Azure IoT

Developed by Microsoft, Azure is one of the topmost IoT platforms. The Azure IoT platform has been designed and developed in order to deliver the data collection and analysis in the most efficient way possible. This helps the organizations to make not only quick but also accurate decisions which in turn enables them to build more products at more competitive prices.

A few of the benefits provided by the Microsoft Azure IoT are –

  • Application services
  • Messaging
  • Condition monitoring
  • Virtual mechanisms
  • Data storage services
  • Highly efficient database management structures
Google Cloud Platform

Google cloud platform is one of the most popular platforms, which is easy to use and provides different user-friendly features. With the ability to provide advanced analytics owing to Google’s Cloud Data Studio and Big Query, this platform stands out from the rest. Google cloud’s main purpose is to provide intelligence and data security.

A few of the benefits provided by the Google cloud platform are –

  • Data management
  • Application development
  • Smart business analytics and AI
  • Productivity and work transformation
  • Expandable NoSQL database systems
ThingWorx IoT Platform

ThingWorx IoT Platform is owned by PTC – the creator of CAD. This IoT platform enables the users to gain new insights from the data sourced from various devices and at the same time, it maintains the transfer speed. It also allows the organization to upgrade or replace back-end systems without disrupting the user experience in any way. This IoT platform allows the users to connect to various devices across the network and also provides a quick analysis of complicated data and content.

A few of the benefits provided by the ThingWorx IoT Platform are –

  • Easy connectivity across the network
  • Ability to share the platform among developers
  • User-friendly interface for developing applications
  • Integrated machine learning
  • Ability to deploy embedded, cloud and on-premise IoT solutions on the go
Cisco IoT Cloud Connect

Created by Cisco, this IoT platform is mainly designed for mobile operators. This platform offers various services such as completely customizable billing and reporting system, effective and efficient data and voice connectivity, security and a user-friendly interface for managing the applications. While enabling mobile operators to enjoy IoT services, Cisco IoT can also be used to build multiple products and utilize the resources at the same time.

A few of the benefits provided by the Cisco IoT Cloud Connect are –

  • Voice and data connectivity
  • SIM life-cycle management
  • IP session control
  • Customizable billing and reporting