By
Chimamanda U. Martha
March 11th, 2024
Amazon has intorduced AWS IoT, a new IoT platform for managing and analyzing data, that will enable devices interact with each other.
US-based retail website Amazon has launched the beta version of AWS IoT, a platform for processing data from the Internet of Things appliances that is expected to become the dominant system for the IoT. The solution was presented by the company’s CTO Werner Vogels at the re:Invent conference in Las Vegas on Thursday.
The IoT is a network of devices, including allowing devices to collect and exchange data. According to the research company IDC, the annual spending on IoT services will achieve $1.7 trillion in 2020, up from $656 billion in 2014.
Launched in 2006, the Amazon Web Services cloud platform has turned into a profitable business, bringing about $7.3 billion in revenues.
AWS IoT will also integrate with Amazon Kinesis, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon S3, Lambda and Amazon Machine Learning to develop IoT applications.
During the conference, Vogels also unveiled its first partners, including automobile manufacturer BMW, to show how the platform could be applied. The solution can help BMW to monitor the drives of its users and the security of their vehicles.
“The IoT service will work across a range of protocols, Amazon says, and set automatic triggers to send data to other processing tools. Perhaps most interestingly, AWS IoT has a “shadow” mode, which keeps the latest virtual version of a device in the system for others to interact with, even if the actual device goes offline,” Forbes wrote.
The IoT platform will use a lightweight messaging protocol, dubbed MQTT, that is designed to handle intermittent connections.
Amazon’s earlier experiments with the IoT include a Dash Button, a small hardware that allows you make instant product orderings, from toilet paper to diapers, by just pressing the button. The idea behind the product was to simplify the process of making purchases and at the same time raising the usage of Amazon’s services.
There is already a number of manufacturers that are working with Amazon on incorporating the technology into their products. For instance, Whirlpool is creating a washer which can directly buy detergent. Brita is developing a pitcher which can automatically purchase water filters, while Brother is developing a printer with an option if ordering ink.
Last year, Amazon presented Echo, a $180-priced smart voice device that reports the news, sets alarms, plays music and makes lists. Besides, it can also be utilized for ordering products from Amazon. The Echo can also work with smart home devices like Philips Hue, Wink and Belkin WeMo, what lets users to turn on lights, space heaters and other appliances with voice commands.
With Amazon’s expansion to the IoT market, the company could significantly change the way we interact with our connected homes and how we make purchases.