Microsoft Releases Azure IoT (Internet of Things) Suite

Tech giant Microsoft has released its Azure Internet of Things suite to the general public, allowing customers to use preconfigured data and machine learning solutions to better run their businesses.

Microsoft said a number of companies understand the benefits of IoT, the term used for the network of physical objects embedded with sensors and network connectivity, but encounter roadblocks to deployment.

Microsoft Australia’s business group lead for IoT Lee Hickin said the Azure IoT suite would take the heavy lifting out of IoT, and would allow businesses to quickly pilot and prove its value.

One early customer is Manly Council, which used Microsoft Azure Machine Learning technology with a number of its CCTV cameras in parking areas, which use software to ensure its parking rules aren’t violated.

“A few months ago Microsoft released a demonstration into what was possible, it was a website to upload a photo to see how old you are,” said Manly Council CIO Nathan Rogers.

“I saw that and I know we have a lot of cameras on the internet, so I wondered what we could do with that technology for our council. It took us a couple of hours and we set it up with our beach at Manly.

“We want to make sure the tourist buses aren’t parking improperly, so they’re not ruining the view or leaving their engine running, things like that.

Mr Rogers said his team receives photos via email, and the machine learning technology means he’s only alerted if there’s an anomaly.

“Azure Machine Learning has been previously trained on 10,000 ‘normal’ or ‘control’ images from the camera, so each time we upload an image it makes a judgment as to whether it’s normal or whether there’s some sort of anomaly,” he said.

“If Azure Machine Learning tells us there’s an anomaly, we have a script on our end that will email the right people so they can immediately go and check out what’s happening.”

He said the team can now have more of a response model to working, rather than need to patrol for incidents, therefore saving ratepayers a significant amount of money that can be used elsewhere.

Mr Rogers also said he was planning on using the technology to predict surf conditions, given Manly’s title as the birthplace of surfing in Australia.

The city attracts around eight million visitors each year.

Darren Younger, Founder of TechBeach in Manly, said “it is great to see Council working to bring positive change to their community through adopting this type of technology. They are obviously a very innovative organisation and are showing strong leadership in adopting this new technology”.

Microsoft said its Azure IoT Suite pricing averages at roughly $1.50 per device/month.

It also announced today the launch of its Microsoft Azure Certified for IoT program, an ecosystem of partners including Intel, Raspberry Pi, and Texas Instruments among others.