Advantech announced at its Embedded World Partner Conference (WPC) that it would collaborate with Microsoft to build Asia’s first IoT WISE-Cloud (Wireless IoT Solutions Embedded, WISE) platform. Advantech and Microsoft will jointly develop solutions and products intended for the Internet of Things (IoT) with the aim of establishing a cloud application model.
Chaney Ho, Advantech President, said that in recent years, the applications for IoT have been widely established in people’s daily lives and work. Advantech not only established “Enabling an Intelligent Planet” as its corporate vision in 2012, it has been fully engaged in the development of Smart City and IoT technology from the beginning. In the course of its evolution, Advantech found that the embedded board is at the core IoT and so the development of all types of intelligent systems could naturally be realized for a diverse range of fields.”
Chaney further stated that Advantech is deepening its concept of the traditional IoT 3I (Instrumented, Interconnected and Intelligent) concept to develop an IoT cloud platform called WISE-Cloud by using comprehensive wireless networking technology. Moreover, in order to fully perceive the information collected (data) and then convert it into service and effectively apply it to business intelligence, Advantech collaborated with Microsoft at the Platform as a Service (PaaS) layer through the use of Advantech’s SusiAccess and Microsoft Azure.
Miller Chang, vice president of Advantech Embedded Core Computing Group stated, “WISE-Cloud cooperation by Advantech and Microsoft not only enhances enterprise management efficiency but also integrates various cloud service applications. In addition, there will be synergy through the various integrated cloud services, especially when used in business intelligence after data analysis.”
“Big data analytics and machine learning have created more possibilities for business application. Microsoft Azure provides computing and analysis service in the context of the Internet of Things and enables the IoT industry to move toward the intelligent industry via machine learning,” said Roan Kang, General Manager of M&O, Microsoft Taiwan. “The strategic alliance between Advantech and Microsoft Taiwan allows Advantech to use Microsoft Azure cloud platform to process comprehensive data gathered from SUSIAccess solutions. Moreover, by introducing machine learning as a service, Advantech can leverage the IoT to enable smart, value-added business applications, creating more business opportunities. This collaboration not only demonstrates that the combination of the IoT and cloud computing has reached a new milestone but creates a synergistic effect for both parties. Microsoft will provide consulting services to help the establishment of the WISE-Cloud platform while joining hands with Advantech to expand the global reach of the IoT application.”
Steve Teixeira, Director of Microsoft Program Management IoT Operating System Group, said: “Embracing IoT enables business to become truly data-driven in their decision making. Businesses can gain enormous new insights by ingesting device telemetry into the cloud, combining it with other relevant enterprise and industry data sets, and feeding it all into a rich analytics pipeline. As companies mature in their mastery of IoT, we them transition from operational efficiency gains through improved insights to competitive advantage through predictive analytics to business transformation by discovering new revenue opportunities in IoT.”
Enabling Technologies
Networking, especially Ethernet, is a backbone technology platform for the IoT. Advantech also plays in that market recently unveiling its ProView series of SCADA manageable Ethernet switches which are the convergence switches for process control and IT networking management.
The ProView range of switches use Modbus/TCP to communicate with the SCADA software and SNMP that communicates with the NMS (Networking Management System) at the same time, thereby allowing full read control over the devices either from control engineers or for IT administrator.
The ProView series of Ethernet switches come with fast Ethernet or Gigabit Ethernet and a variety of ports. The port-based QoS VIP port for deterministic data transmission allow the priority ports to control the data traffic for process control by tightening delay/jitter times. This is especially useful for process control networking such as I/O scanning data will be sent out ahead of other traffic (even if it has been received after the other traffic) through prioritization applied by VIP port connected to embedded computing.
To further enhance the benefits of the ProView series Ethernet switches, the highest quality components are used to enable an operating temperature range of -40 to 75°C along with EMS Level-3 protection to repel electromagnetic interface for industrial resistance therefore the ProView series of Ethernet switches are able to provide industrial grade reliability in the harshest of environments.
