Microsoft Azure IoT Hub vs. SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence

We are using the Azure IOT hub for solving the multitenancy problem within our research project. We are consuming data from various resources and communicating it with different devices on our hybrid cloud. We also use Azure IoT as a bridge between two business Intelligence sources which are really hard to connect devices.

Incentivized

SAP Manufacturing Integration and Intelligence as a stand-alone platform seems to be quite powerful with a wide range of capabilities and integration options. The integration itself proved to be challenging which was mentioned before. We also had some issues with delays in data queries which resulted in delays of the visual representation on the SSCE dashboards.

Incentivized

• Massive registration and deployment of new devices.
• Easy integration with other Azure services.
• Handling security if devices.

Incentivized

• MII is particularly good at providing and customizing dashboards for quick analysis of industrial IoT data.
• MII also has built-in analysis functionality to make more sense of all the IoT data being streamed.
• MII (and ME) are particularly effective at identifying outliers and problems with equipment/processes before they cause delays or other cascading issues. This allows for effective preventative maintenance.

Incentivized

• Hardware and embedded integration could improve or be at parity with competitor.
• Pricing model not as flexible as competitor.

Incentivized

• MII is a system to build custom solutions which may not solve industry 4.0 solutions
• SSCE component is not really a no code low code platform
• Standard OEE module is very complex to implement

Incentivized

If a proper UI5-based implementation is done, the system works at best if a proper application server and database exist. However, from a customization perspective and an easy-to-implement application-from-scratch perspective, MII is top-notch compared to the other mentioned systems. SAP ME sits on top of SAP MII as a foundation.

Incentivized

Azure IoT support professionals are strong, and always provide timely responses. Vast documentation and examples are available, plus a network of professionals in the market. It's very comparable to the main competitor offer, and easily integrated into the main Azure product offer. Azure IoT is not a new solution, so it is very mature and support can easily address any day to day or architectural concern you have.

Incentivized

Documentation on some of our implementations was lacking. As an example, creating the query that reads the tag is explained through the documentation but this only explains very specific data models. Other models are not explained and take time to debug. Customer support was willing to help and an official note was created after we found some issues with the integration tools.

Incentivized

We require Azure integration, data security and simple development. IoT Hub ticked all those boxes.

Incentivized

SAP MII is a robust platform for data visualization and data integration. It isn't very intuitive and has the shortcomings explained throughout the review. It still uses old Java versions which is incompatible with updated versions. The SAP ME and SAP CP provide cloud-based solutions that seem to provide a more innovative approach.

Incentivized

• As a student, we are using student program subscription which is cheaper than an individual or business subscription.
• Our school devices our efficiently communicating with each other which has increased the revenue of our school.
• It provides strong and robust cloud communication within the premises which also helped in increased in the school reputation.

Incentivized

• SAP MII is a more robust, feature-rich solution than any in-house application would be.
• Our experiments have granted us the skills necessary to help our clients with their own industrial IoT journey.

Incentivized