Never mind the desktops, Microsoft wants to dominate the internet of things

31 Jul 2015

Microsoft's latest alliance with Jasper Partners will enable it to bring the internet of things to thousands of companies in dozens of industries.

Microsoft has begun its big push into the internet of things (IoT) by forging an alliance with Jasper Partners that will see the Microsoft Azure IoT Suite potentially embraced by thousands of businesses in dozens of industries.

Microsoft is on a roll, with Windows 10 having achieved the first 14m updates out of a target of 1.5bn in just two days. But that’s just part of the opportunity when you consider billions of connected devices and sensors that form both the consumer and industrial internet of things.

The partnership with Jasper will see both companies focus engineering efforts to combine Jasper IoT services with Azure IoT Suite.

“More than 2,000 enterprises across dozens of industries worldwide have selected the Jasper Platform to enable them to deliver IoT services that increase customer value and grow revenues,” said Macario Namie, VP of strategy at Jasper.

“Through this strategic partnership with Microsoft, we continue to increase the business value of IoT by making it easier and faster for enterprises to bring their IoT services to market, and to scale those services globally.”

As well as working with thousands of businesses in more than 20 industries, Jasper partners with 25 mobile operator groups, representing more than 100 mobile operator networks worldwide.

Jasper Control Center, Jasper’s IoT services platform, is a cloud-based IoT platform that enables companies of all sizes to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy, manage and monetise IoT services for any connected device.

Microsoft’s internet of things vision: Small start-ups to large enterprises

The Azure IoT Suite extends existing Azure capabilities to connect devices and “things”, capture the diverse and voluminous data they generate, and integrate and orchestrate the flow of that data. The suite also manages, analyses and presents device data as usable information to help businesses make better decisions, while also intelligently automating operations.

“Our vision for the Azure IoT Suite is to help companies thrive in this era of IoT by delivering preconfigured solutions and world-class services that any company, whether start-up or the most established global enterprises, can use to create new value,” said Sam George, director of Azure IoT.

“Jasper’s IoT services platform is a critical component of delivering on this vision. By bringing together the Jasper Platform and the Azure IoT Suite, businesses of any size and in any industry can build cost effective IoT solutions for themselves or their customers.”

Internet of things image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

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