It’s been a good few months for Microsoft. Ever since it released its IoT platform, Microsoft Azure, the code has been implemented in large-scale projects such as teaching Chinese farmers how to use new technology.
Counterpoint named Microsoft the top IoT platform available now, beating Amazon and Huawei. This is a huge boon to Microsoft’s recent excursions into IoT and may result in Azure becoming an industry standard.
Why this Award Matters
IoT is booming, but it also has a problem for its developers. While people want to design and sell products as fast as they can, there’s a big concern with ensuring the devices are secure enough to sell.
Countries are beginning to crack down on insecure IoT, which is a big problem for developers. Everything from the login process to inter-device communication has to be secure and safe. Otherwise, they may be on the receiving end of a privacy scandal.
However, instead of reinventing the wheel, why not use someone else’s solution? Big players in the technology market offer developers a service which handles all the complicated elements like security. That way, developers can use the service to ensure everything is secure without needing to lift a finger.
This makes it a competition to become the best IoT platform. Many big companies have thrown in their hats to earn the top spot. Amazon and Huawei are in the running, as we mentioned above. However, players such as IBM, Alibaba, Cisco, and Google also have stakes in this race.
How Did Microsoft Win?
To see who comes out on top of the IoT platform race, Checkpoint conducted a study that tested each one on specific traits. Of these tests, Microsoft came out as number one in almost every single one.
Overall, out of 350, Microsoft scored an impressive 276.6. Amazon was a little behind with 254.8, closely followed by Huawei at 249.1.
Microsoft Leading the Way
We’ve seen Microsoft put a lot of work into ensuring that Azure is ready for the world of IoT. From security testing to design work, they want to ensure IoT developers not only use Azure but stick with it for the forseeable future.
Of course, none of their efforts mean much if nobody uses their product. As we’ve seen with their browser, Microsoft Edge, they struggled to get a foothold in the browser market until they swapped the browser to one that has a Chromium base.
Fortunately, it looks as if their efforts this time around have been rewarded, as Azure impressed the Counterpoint reviewers enough to give it the top score. This is huge, given that Google and Amazon – the current champions of smart home hubs – were also in the running.
As such, given that Microsoft is offering a quality platform for developers, we may see many more implementations of Azure in the future. Keep your eyes on IoT Tech Trends where we’ll keep you updated on how Azure fairs in the current IoT world.
Fighting to the Top
Despite vicious competition (some of which comes with being smart home IoT experts), Microsoft was deemed the best IoT platform available. The company has already seen some success in the real world, so this news is likely to spur on developers to use Microsoft Azure.
If you want to see what Microsoft is doing to support Azure, be sure to read about the $100,000 bug bounty they put on it.
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