Page 14 - EngineerIT October 2022

INTERNET OF THINGS

Understanding an IoT platform

By Anna Branquinho, product marketing associate at Trinity IoT

lobal spending on Internet of Things (IoT) technology is expected to top Understanding the IoT
$1.1 trillion by 2023. Despite the complexities associated with managing the environment and its components
Genvironment, it is well worth the risk. In fact, 23% of European IoT adopters Of course, each layer of IoT comes
cite improving their security posture as the main reason for adopting IoT. However, it with its own set of challenges. These
is something even non-technology focused businesses can benefit from. Whether you typically require specialists, high capital
are dealing with a food delivery services provider or a clothing retailer, IoT can unlock investment, and more than a handful of
significant growth opportunities. administrative hurdles. There is also a fair
In an increasingly mobile-first, digitally driven global economy, IoT platforms are amount of trial and error when it comes
becoming commonplace. But what is an IoT platform and what makes one better to designing, testing, launching and
than the other? Terms like SaaS and PaaS are being thrown around without a real scaling an IoT solution, let alone building
understanding of what they encompass. Many organisations we have been dealing with a management platform.
ask whether they can build their own infrastructure and IoT platforms or if they should
even attempt it.

What is an IoT platform?
Generally, IoT platforms focus on one of the foundations that make up the technology:
connectivity management, device management, mobile device management, and other
digital services.
There are thousands of articles that define IoT, but it all comes down to how IoT
is centred around the communication and interconnection of ‘things.’ Essentially,
any ‘thing’ (device or asset) is something that connects to a network. IoT, being
a collective of multiple things, typically involves a plethora of physical objects
talking to one another through networks. Cloud-based management platforms
have emerged as a new wave of business plug-and-play IoT solutions. They enable
visibility, management and control of specific elements associated with an IoT
deployment.

EngineerIT | October 2022 | 12