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Understanding Microsoft’s“Internet of Things” Story

In 11 Slides

Image source: Microsoft.

Cloud platforms are at the heart of connecting IoT devices and running applications, and winning in the cloud space will open up massive global opportunities for Microsoft.

The company’s Azure platform is growing rapidly, but it’s still trailing market-leader Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Image source: Microsoft.

Microsoft is making IoT a key part of the Azure cloud platform, delivering storage, analytics, data services, remote monitoring, and asset management solutions for the Internet of Things.

Image source: Microsoft.

Increasing connectivity and machine-to-machine communication will continue to drive demand for cloud services, and Microsoft believes that Azure’s IoT functionality is one of its key advantages over AWS and other competitors.

Image source: Microsoft.

Azure’s Cortana analytics suite delivers a wide range of tools for managing data and generating insights.

Cortana is also the name of Microsoft’s voice assistant, which is featured on Windows 10 PCs and mobile devices and will be making its way to other IoT devices this spring.

Image source: Microsoft.

Dynamics 365 is Microsoft’s enterprise resource planning and customer relations management platform. It uses IoT data to deliver predictive customer service and field service operations management.

Image source: Microsoft.

”One of the bigger growth areas we have in Azure is IoT. But it’s not just people connecting sensors and collecting data. They collect the data, they store the data, they analyze and do predictions on it. Then, after you do predictions on it, you’ve got to do something about the predictions. So, in many cases, they choose to use the new Dynamics 365 field-service module.”

--Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Microsoft purchased IoT-platform Solair in May 2016 in order to integrate its technologies into the Azure suite.

It’s likely that Microsoft will make additional IoT-related acquisitions in the near future.

Image source: Microsoft.

Microsoft’s IoT push is mostly concentrated on software, but its HoloLens headset is one of the most impressive pieces of hardware in the augmented reality category.

Image source: Microsoft.

Successful hardware products have the potential to strengthen Microsoft’s IoT ecosystem by offering developers and users specialized integration with Azure and Windows 10.

Image source: Microsoft.

Windows 10 is the other core component of Microsoft’s Internet-of-Things strategy. Devices and sensors will require an operating system, and the cross-device functionality of Microsoft’s latest OS makes it well-suited for IoT applications.

Image source: Microsoft.

”The Internet of Things end points will need an operating system that’s manageable and secure. I feel Windows will be a fantastic operating system to run on the edge. That’s really our IoT strategy.”

--Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

Image source: Microsoft.

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