#1 most frequent
United States of America
48.7%151 installations of 310
What is Azure IoT Edge?
Azure IoT Edge is a fully managed service built on Azure IoT Hub. Users can deploy cloud workloads—artificial intelligence, Azure and third-party services, or business logic—to run on Internet of Things (IoT) edge devices via standard containers. The vendor states that by moving certain workloads to the edge of the network, devices spend less time communicating with the cloud, react more quickly to local changes, and operate reliably even in extended offline periods.
Categories & Use Cases
Product Demos
Top Performing Features
Device Security
Security to prevent connected devices from being hacked or compromised.
Category average: 8.3
IoT Data Management
Support for ingesting edge data and storing it to enterprise platforms, providing data accessibility, and managing data flows.
Category average: 8.3
IoT Device Management
Software for provisioning configuring, troubleshooting and managing IoT devices and gateways remotely.
Category average: 8.3
Areas for Improvement
IoT Integration
Software integration and APIs to support business processes and applications.
Category average: 8
IoT Analytics
Rich analytics to transform large quantities of sensor data into actionable insights.
Category average: 7.7
Who Buys & Uses Microsoft Azure IoT Edge
#2 most frequent
Germany
9.0%28 installations of 310
#3 most frequent
India
5.8%18 installations of 310
Microsoft Azure IoT Edge Review
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I used Microsoft Azure IoT Edge in the past to connect our devices in the factory floor to Azure IoT service. Microsoft Azure IoT Edge has the functionality to support certain protocols, like in our case, it was OPC-UA where we get the data from PLCs and push it towards Azure IoT Services in the cloud in a secure way.
Pros
- IoT Connectivity: IoT edge can store and forward messages / telemetry data really well to the IoT Hub.
- Containerized architecture: It lets you deploy AI/ML Models on edge
- The data is cached in Microsoft Azure IoT Edge in case of connection issues
Cons
- For some reason, the containerized architecture was also making this very hard
- Had some issues when debugging edge modules, needs a professional grade remote debugging
- Industrial automation still requires attention. OPC-UA was good but Modbus or custom PLCs etc was painful to set up
Return on Investment
- I wasn't involved fully on the commmercial side, but as far as I understand, it was much cheaper than other options e.g. SAP IoT etc.
- We've got support from MS during Piloting phase
- During go-live the support was a bit thinner than piloting...
Usability
Alternatives Considered
SAP IoT Application Enablement and Software AG Cumulocity IoT
Other Software Used
SAP IoT Application Enablement, Software AG Cumulocity IoT, ThingWorx
Microsoft Azure IoT Edge: From Cloud to Edge for Real Time Processing.
Pros
- It works even if there is no internet at client location. It will record all the generated data and only send them to cloud storage when there is internet connection.
- It allows you to bring cloud functionality down to Edge location in the form of docker container.
- It also supports two way communication from device to cloud and vice-versa.
Cons
- We had some trouble such as latency issues [and] connectivity while using Azure blob storage as an Edge Module on Azure IoT Edge runtime, so they should look into it.
- We were stuck while defining the routes for different Edge Modules on Azure IoT Edge, so they should simplify it and improve the related documentation section as well.
Return on Investment
- ROI was high, as we were able to impress our clients with POC of Microsoft Azure IoT Edge with our IoT based ERP product.
- We were able to perform our POC for almost free, as there no charges for Azure IoT Edge, only minimal charges for storage.
Alternatives Considered
Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Docker and Microsoft Azure IoT Hub
Other Software Used
Kubernetes, Docker, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
Microsoft Azure IoT Edge: A Complete Suite for Edge Computing and Real-time Analytics
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Data needs to gather from devices and needs to be processed before pushing it to the Microsoft Azure IoT Edge hub. Also, Device servers are present in network but it doesn't have access of internet for the security purpose. So to solve this issue Microsoft Azure IoT Edge is used, Microsoft Azure IoT Edge communicates with the server using MQTT protocol, customize module is used to process the data, and then it pushes to the IoT hub.
Pros
- secure communication through proxy
- dockerize module can be pushed from Microsoft Azure IoT Edge to achieve business needs
- edge computing and edge analytics can be done using Microsoft Azure IoT Edge
Cons
- Microsoft Azure IoT Edge must support more Azure services for Edge computing.
- Like stream analytics integration with Microsoft Azure IoT Edge. Other services also should be integrated with Microsoft Azure IoT Edge for alerts and notifications.
- Buffering issue needs to be resolved.
Return on Investment
- Very High ROI as Microsoft Azure IoT Edge completely enables the features of Edge computing.
- Real-time analytics can be achieved with Microsoft Azure IoT Edge.
- No Negative impact as such.
Alternatives Considered
AWS IoT Greengrass
Other Software Used
Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, Azure Stream Analytics, Azure Cosmos DB
My experience with Microsoft Azure IoT Edge
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Microsoft Azure IoT Edge has enabled us to accelerate our educational service delivery and business at the edge with data from students, staff members, places and connected devices in unique ways that unleash innovation with IoT. Our mobile IoT deployments helps us drive efficiency and engage various stakeholder groups within our university environment, to develop new business with greater insights.
Pros
- Innovative virtual learning environments that fasttracked our transition to remote learning at the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020
- Mission critical business solutions for academic members of staff
- Video conferencing and IoT devices connections
Cons
- In technical support to customers who may not be very conversant with technical implementation
- Payment solutions
- And connection of legacy devices for organisations that still use such
Return on Investment
- Very valuable return on investment for IT capex committed to the deployment
- Improvements in overall organisational efficiency and agility
- Repositioning the organisation to become digitally transformed
Other Software Used
Amazon Connect, Google ARCore, Fortinet on IBM Cloud