Page 15 - EngineerIT October 2022

INTERNET OF THINGS

Usually, specialist IoT platforms Furthermore, inter-operability is an important characteristic of a successful IoT platform.
are built solely for connectivity, This means that businesses and service providers need to build IoT systems, platforms
device management, or mobile and solutions that can adapt to the ever-evolving technological landscape. Businesses
device management. Not all business simply cannot risk building (or buying) a ‘future-proof’ IoT solution that is built on siloed
cases require a combination of legacy infrastructure.
device, connectivity and mobile Along with inter-operability, businesses require complete visibility of their IoT
device management. However, some estate. This is where web-based dashboards and other visualisation tools can provide
service providers do offer integrated an overview of the state of devices, as well as how they interact and engage with one
systems that cover all three of these another.
components.
There are several common features PaaS versus SaaS
found on virtually any IoT platform. Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings account for approximately 20% of global cloud
These include the digital services that services. As the name suggests, a PaaS environment provides the business with
run in the cloud to which the physical everything from the runtime to middleware and operating systems. It delivers the
devices connect. building blocks to do most things required from an IoT system. This is very much a
The firmware that runs do-it-yourself solution. And although many service providers advertise PaaS
on IoT devices is also Many service offerings to be ‘easy’ DIY IoT solutions, there is a fair amount of expertise
critical to enable providers advertise and knowledge required to know how disparate elements fit together
communication with PaaS offerings to be ‘easy’ and exactly how to integrate each layer of IoT.
digital services. DIY IoT solutions, but there is Even though the company does not have to focus on the
As part of this, a fair amount of expertise and underlying infrastructure needed for IoT, it must create an
companies can knowledge required to know how environment in which the hardware and software integrate and
send firmware disparate elements fit together deliver on business requirements. Despite significant upfront
updates to the and exactly how to integrate investment in terms of resources, from hardware and software
devices through the each layer of IoT. experts, going the PaaS route means the company can customise
cloud, to ensure the everything according to its unique needs, with costs coming down once
devices continually evolve the environment is operational.
with new functionality and The big cloud providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and
features as required by the business. Google Cloud all provide PaaS IoT offerings. Yet, it remains up to the organisation to get
Alternatively, businesses are faced the specialist skills in place to deliver an optimal working system.
with manually updating the devices’
firmware by pulling devices out of SaaS – on-demand access… but only when you need it
the field (resulting in downtime and Expected to grow at 11% annually to 2028, the global SaaS market was valued at almost
an increase in operational costs). $166 billion at the end of 2021. Think of SaaS as a cloud service where applications are
Furthermore, they could leave devices delivered virtually.
on stagnant firmware, which leads to SaaS requires less software development and maintenance work as the service provider
security risks or compatibility issues takes care of that, but it offers limited flexibility to build customised business logic.
with other applications that rely on the
critical transmission of data from these Flexibility
devices. It is therefore essential to have IoT platforms can be used to manage many different elements within an application: from
tools and infrastructure in place to managing each ‘layer’ like connectivity or device management, to building unique rules-
update the device firmware over-the-air engine-based applications that use internal logic to leverage data into actionable insights.
(FOTA). Whether a company is going the PaaS or SaaS route, the cloud and infrastructure
Central to the success of any environment delivers the virtual plumbing to create an IoT platform capable of dealing
IoT platform is the framework or with immense loads to meet a company’s IoT needs. All that is left for the organisation
infrastructure for data transmission and is to introduce its customised services on top of the foundation provided by the cloud
remote access to control devices. This services providers.
facilitates how the components interact Having an IoT platform to operate from can inject a level of efficiency and productivity
with one another. Without this in place, into processes which were previously not possible by remaining with a traditional,
the platform will merely be a set of on-premises approach. Most importantly, an IoT platform built in the cloud delivers a
disparate systems not communicating hands-off, efficiency enabling businesses to improve their own customers’ experience -
and integrating with one another. an essential in today’s digital market. n

EngineerIT | October 2022 | 13