Introducing NetCloud Edge Connector for Microsoft Azure IoT Central

The explosion of IoT use cases is both overwhelming and exciting. Enterprises in every vertical have invested in IoT with the intent to drive business outcomes — whether it’s increasing operational efficiency, lowering CAPEX/OPEX, or improving customer satisfaction. Gaining actionable insights from a wide array of devices and sensors with reliable and secure connectivity has been a challenge for most enterprise deployments.

Today’s IoT landscape requires tighter information technology and operational technology (IT/OT) convergence; however, the solutions available in the market don’t bridge the divide. In fact, according to a Cisco survey, more than 60 percent of IoT deployments never make the leap from proof of concept to production.

Cradlepoint’s recent collaboration with Microsoft has resulted in a powerful IoT framework that solves the aforementioned challenges. The joint solution that includes NetCloud Edge Connector, a new feature within Cradlepoint’s NetCloud Service, and Microsoft Azure IoT Central simplifies time-to-deployment of IoT applications without compromising features, performance, and security.

Intrigued by what this package had to offer, I fired up my cloud managed IBR600C and registered for a trial Azure IoT Central account. The knowledgebase provides detailed steps with screenshots to create a secure authentication for IoT devices between NetCloud Edge Connector and Azure IoT Central.

In less than 20 minutes, I was able to configure NetCloud Manager and ingest IoT sensor data into Azure IoT Central using an off-the-shelf IoT developer board. The customizable templates in Azure IoT Central made it easy to visualize and create basic rules for managing IoT assets. For example, a rule can be set up to trigger an alert to turn on a fan when temperature exceeds a specified threshold. Going through this exercise made me realize how easy it would be for enterprises to scale this for real world IoT deployments.

NetCloud Edge Connector – Data selection pane

Microsoft Azure IoT Central – Increasing temperature, triggers fan to enable

KORE Wireless, a Cradlepoint and Microsoft partner worked with Sagegreenlife, a company that makes indoor living plant walls, to develop a smart irrigation system. Thanks to this solution, Sagegreenlife was able to automate remote monitoring of its systems, minimize costly support tickets, and manage multiple locations in a matter of minutes— taking its business to new levels. Click here to read the customer success story.

I’m excited about this partnership and the opportunities this brings to both Cradlepoint and Microsoft partners! We look forward to hearing how this solution can solve your customer’s IoT business needs.

Explore NetCloud Edge Connector

To learn more about NetCloud Edge Connector for Microsoft Azure IoT Central, click here.