The next step in smart factory evolution

Kontron presented first IoT/embedded boards, Computer on Modules, Box PCs, Panel PCs, and embedded servers certified for Microsoft Azure IoT Edge at SPS IPC Drives in Nuremberg in November of 2017.

SUSiEtec aims to enhance Microsoft Azure IoT Edge to be an individual, customised solution. With flexible SUSiEtec platform, S&T Technologies offers an end to end IoT solution that enables customers to build scalable edge computing solution with Microsoft Azure. As a software competence centre, the Kontron affiliate focuses on software solutions and related services.

Kontron offer comprehensive Microsoft Azure IoT Edge integration and customisation services based on SUSiEtec to our customers. Microsoft Azure IoT Edge and SUSiEtec provide to customers computing power scalability between the device's computing resource, the on premise data centre’s Embedded Cloud or the public cloud. Depending on the security or performance level required, they can dynamically decide where data analysis will be handled.

One service, many advantages

Customers will profit from Microsoft Azure IoT Edge in several ways. One aspect often overlooked in connection to Microsoft Azure IoT Edge, but of high relevance for many companies, are the integrated device management capabilities. They simplify centralised managing of distributed devices regardless of their quantity or location. Bringing new Microsoft Azure IoT Edge modules to the IoT devices, for instance for edge analytics, is greatly facilitated.

Another customer benefit is short time to market periods. The runtime provided by Microsoft Azure IoT Edge is available under an open source license on GitHub. This enables quicker adaption and integration. By using Docker technology and the containerisation that comes with it, applications can be quickly and easily distributed, and seamlessly applied on an edge device or in the cloud, as flexible as in IT based virtualisation.

Kontron expects Microsoft to expand the Microsoft Azure IoT Edge services continuously over the coming months. Even now, SUSiEtec with Microsoft Azure IoT Edge is in early field trial phase at some Kontron customers. Kontron perceives great interest in Microsoft Azure IoT Edge and the SUSiEtec IoT platform, especially from customers from the Smart Manufacturing and Smart Energy sectors, and project to have the first customers using Microsoft Azure IoT Edge in live production by 2019.