Microsoft Releases Public Preview of Azure IoT Device Management and Azure IoT Gateway SDK Beta

FREMONT, CA: Microsoft announces the device management features for its Azure Internet of Things (IoT) Hub will be available for public preview. Microsoft also announced that the new Azure IoT Gateway Software Development Kit (SDK) will be available in a beta version.

The new device management features of the Microsoft’s  Azure IoT Hub enables administrators to maintain complete control over the enrollment, configuration, update and monitoring of millions of devices.

The Azure IoT Gateway SDK provides even more control over the Azure IoT Hub, by allowing developers and independent software vendors to build and deploy code to integrate legacy devices. The Azure IoT Gateway SDK can otherwise incorporate new business logic and workflows for handling data as soon as it is collected from the IoT device.

Microsoft also announces that it has joined the Object Linking and Embedding for Process Control (OPC) board and furthermore supports the OPC Foundation. Microsoft is expanding its technical support of the OPC Unified Architecture (UA) open-source software stack, which will enable deep integration with Azure IoT and the Universal Windows Platform (UWP).

Customers who use the Azure IoT Hub will be able to effortlessly send OPC UA telemetry data to the Azure cloud, and command and control their OPC UA devices remotely.

OPC is the interoperability standard for the secure and reliable exchange of data in the industrial automation space and in other industries. It is platform independent and ensures the seamless flow of information among devices from multiple vendors.

“These capabilities will help usher manufacturers into the era of IoT, Big Data, machine learning and human-computing interfaces, resulting in an ecosystem of intelligence made up of services, people, devices and assets that work together to improve operations,” says Sam George, director of Microsoft Azure IoT.