Cradlepoint and Microsoft Announce Integration

Cradlepoint has announced a platform integration with Microsoft Azure to enable “Build Your Own IoT” (BYOIoT).

The solution includes Cradlepoint’s new NetCloud Edge Connector for Azure IoT Central, which the company says should help simplify and accelerate the process of building and deploying IoT applications and devices.

According to a study by Cisco, 74 percent of IoT initiatives fell short of achieving success with 54 percent citing the lack of collaboration between IT and other business units and 48 percent attributing it to a lack of IoT expertise. The new platform integration between Microsoft and Cradlepoint helps provide operational technology (OT) teams the freedom and ability to build and deploy IoT solutions that improve business competitiveness and efficiency, while giving IT teams the tools they need to ensure secure, reliable and compliant device connectivity at the wide-area-network (WAN) edge.

Azure IoT Central is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that lets customers build and deploy production-grade IoT applications in hours without cloud computing experience or specialized skills.

Cradlepoint will also join the Azure IoT Central partner program, allowing the two companies to collaborate on marketing the solution to enterprise and public sector customers.

Cradlepoint will offer a pre-built integration for its NetCloud service, called NetCloud Edge Connector for Azure IoT Central, that allows organizations to connect IoT devices to applications built on the Microsoft Azure IoT Central platform with complete visibility, security and control. For example, a vendor that uses kiosks in airports, campuses, or storefronts can rapidly develop and deploy a new IoT solution to monitor the video terminal, the door alarm, the temperature and the WAN connectivity of the application running in the kiosk. Previously, developing such a solution would require complex application programming and introduce significant network connectivity and management challenges.

The new IoT solution will provide a blank canvas for rapidly developing, deploying and managing custom IoT applications for specific customers sparing companies from having to invest in cloud infrastructure or specialized resources.

The Cradlepoint NetCloud Edge Connector for Azure IoT Central provides a simple-to-setup, reliable, and secure edge-to-cloud connection for sending IoT data directly into Azure IoT Central and runs on select Cradlepoint wireless router solutions for branch, mobile, and IoT networking. It includes an update to the NetCloud Operating System (NCOS) as well as simplified workflow within NetCloud Manager.

The NetCloud Edge Connector for Azure IoT Central is scheduled for limited availability in April 2019 for active subscribers of the Cradlepoint NetCloud service.