Robert Stackowiak - Azure Internet of Things Revealed

Any source code or other supplementary material referenced by the author in this book is available to readers on GitHub via the books product page, located at www.apress.com/9781484254691 . For more detailed information, please visit http://www.apress.com/source-code .

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been widely discussed and written about over the past decade. So, why did we believe this book was needed?

As many companies began deploying IoT solutions, new needs became evident. These needs drove advances in components and changes in IoT architecture. Microsoft was at the forefront of this development, responding to these requirements with new Azure backend analytics tools and data management solutions, an Azure IoT Hub enabling the landing data streams in the cloud and managing of devices, and pushing analytics and other functions to the devices themselves.

As the number of components and options for deployment has increased, Microsoft has sought to simplify deployment for certain scenarios by producing solution accelerators. Many of Microsofts partners have also embraced some or all these components in commercial product and service offerings.

It occurred to us that the time was right to describe all these components and offerings in a single volume since the complexity of all of this can appear to be overwhelming. Our goal in this book is to explain the capabilities, options, and architecture patterns that you might choose to incorporate in your own designs and implementations.

The book begins with a chapter covering generic architecture patterns and key components in IoT. In the second chapter, we provide an overview of major Microsoft components typically found in the architecture.

In Chapters, we provide more detail regarding the Microsoft components and include chapters on IoT devices, the Azure IoT Hub, analyzing and visualizing data in Azure, IoT Central and the solution accelerators, and infrastructure integration considerations.

We conclude the book with a chapter describing how you might develop a plan for success using proven techniques that include design thinking.

We realize that this book is likely the start of your exploration of this topic or that you are using the book to refresh your knowledge with what is new and current. As further exploration of these topics will likely be desired, weve included an extensive list of sources at the end of the book.

We hope that you will find the book to be a valuable reference wherever you are on your IoT journey.

I have learned a lot about the Internet of Things since being the lead author on the topic for an Apress book about 4 years ago. My clients have deployed a variety of these solutions and increasingly look for cloud-based resources, such as those found in Microsoft Azure, to scale the analysis of incoming data. More recently, many of these clients are also deploying Microsofts intelligent edge.

I have found particularly useful my meetings with major manufacturers and other companies, especially as they shared their vision and experiences. Many are using data from sensors for monitoring their connected factories, monitoring the remote devices that they build, and analyzing data from equipment and devices in performing predictive maintenance. Thanks to them for sharing.

During IoT briefings for clients, I frequently collaborated with other specialists within Microsoft. I would like to call out Michael Walton and Eddy Saad for helping our clients see a vision of what is possible.

Microsoft has a broad array of partners helping clients design and deploy these solutions. Some of those that I have worked with include Accenture, Avanade, and Hitachi Solutions, as well as many of Microsofts analytics partners and solution providers. Thanks especially to Jerry Hawk and his team for their support and guidance in many of these opportunities.

As I wrote this book, extensive changes were occurring in the Chicago Microsoft Technology Center where I worked. I would especially like to thank my former Director, Beth Malloy, and my current Director, Adetayo Adegoke, and long-time associates Charles Drayton and Ross LoForte for their support.

Of course, this book would not be possible without the efforts of Microsoft engineers and product managers who bring these offerings to market. The documentation that they produced was extremely useful in building the content presented here. Thanks for continuing to respond to our clients needs by providing a comprehensive set of offerings.

Writing and publishing a book usually takes about 9 months, and that period can be a time of smooth collaboration with a publisher (including continuity of support from a few key players) or one in which the key players come and go. I have experienced both. This is the third book that I have written for Apress, and they have become my favorite publisher. Jonathan Gennick, Assistant Editorial Director, once again saw the need and value for a book like this and gained swift approval for its production. He and I have now collaborated on producing books for over 20 years. Jill Balzano was once again the Coordinating Editor, my third collaboration with her. She makes staging a book like this one extremely easy.