The pace of technological change is relentless across all markets. Edge computing continues to play an essential role in allowing data to be managed closer to its source, where workloads can range from basic services like data filtering and de-duplication to advanced capabilities like event-driven processing. Gartner estimates that by 2025 75 percent of Enterprise data will be generated at the Edge. As computing resources and IoT networking devices become more powerful, the ability to manage vast amounts of data near the edge will mean infrastructure and operations teams are required to manage more advanced data workloads, while keeping pace with business needs.

Our leadership in the cloud and the Internet of Things is no coincidence and they are intertwined. These technology trends are accelerating ubiquitous computing and bringing unparalleled opportunities for transformation across industries. Our goal has been to create trusted, scalable solutions that our customers and partners can build on, no matter where they are starting in their IoT journey.

What if there was an integrated set of hardware, software, and cloud capabilities that allowed seamless connectivity and streamlined edge data flow directly from essential operations like autonomous driving, robotic factory lines, and oil and gas refinery operations into Azure IoT? This is where Azure IoT is partnering with Cisco to provide to customers a pre-integrated Cisco Edge to Microsoft Azure IoT Hub solution.

Value of the partnership, Microsoft Azure IoT and Cisco IoT

With both Azure IoT and Cisco IoT being known as leaders in the industrial IoT market, we have decided to team up to share the availability of an integrated Azure IoT solution, that provides the necessary software, hardware, and cloud services that businesses need to rapidly launch IoT initiatives and quickly realize business value. Using software-based intelligence pre-loaded onto Cisco IoT network devices, telemetry data pipelines from industry-standard protocols like OPC-Unified Architecture (OPC-UA) and Modbus can be easily established using a friendly UI directly into Azure IoT Hub. Services like Microsoft Azure Stream Analytics, Microsoft Azure Machine Learning, and Microsoft Azure Notification Hub services can be used to quickly build IoT applications for the enterprise. Additional telemetry processing is also supported by Cisco through local scripts developed in Microsoft Visual Studio, where filtered data can also be uploaded directly into Azure IoT Hub. This collaboration provides customers with a fully integrated solution that will give access to powerful design tools, global connectivity, advance analytics, and cognitive services for analyzing IoT data.

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