Sam George, director of Microsoft’s Azure IoT program, sat down with us to discuss how Azure IoT came about, his views on what IoT means today, why the hype is real — and what it will all mean in the future.

George describes Microsoft’s decision to launch Azure IoT as an opportunity to examine what’s next in computing.

“We knew IoT was going to be the next wave of computing after mobile,” he says. “(We are) seeing some amazing traction; it’s a great growth area. My team does an unbelievable amount of things now from open-source device software development kits (SDKs) to open source field gateways SDKs for IoT.”

He adds that’s one of the biggest challenges of a broad IoT solution. “One of the most daunting things about IoT is that it spans all of these topics, (so we) simplify that so (customers) can get started quickly.”

George: IoT is “the new normal”

George believes that “IoT is the new normal, just like web and mobile before it.”

“It’s very much here and it’s very much happening, which is nice to see. It’s not hype anymore. It’s happening all over industries which is really refreshing to see.”

However, George admits that today, IoT still largely interests the early adopters.

“Right now, the gold rush or land rush that’s happening is that the early adopters have all figured out that IoT is ready for business, and they’re rushing in right now and doing lots of things, like making sure they’re servicing less by using data analytics to predict their servicing needs.”

George hopes that in the next couple years, “IoT will enter the mainstream more and more, (with) people realizing it’s no longer hype and hasn’t been.” “It’s an exciting space to be in,” he says. “We’re thrilled to be in it. It’s fun to be at the forefront of this new wave.”