The IoT world is becoming more interesting, has an impact on all areas of business in the world, and this transformation is accelerating. Advances in AI and machine learning help companies across all industries increase efficiency, reduce downtime, cost and error rates, and increase customer satisfaction by leveraging the capabilities of Intelligent Edge Devices and the Intelligent Cloud. This article will talk more about Windows for IoT.
Windows has been working on embedded industrial devices for more than two decades, and during a speech at CEATEC in Japan, I shared a Microsoft strategy, according to which Windows for IoT gives device developers of various levels the ability to quickly create IoT solutions and help customers conduct digital transformation with using smart and secure IoT devices. At CEATEC, special attention is paid to the development of smart cities, smart buildings and smart infrastructure as part of the Society 5.0 strategy (“Society 5.0”), and we are pleased that Windows for IoT provides a scalable family of operating systems as the basis for building smart peripherals. This family includes:
- Windows 10 IoT Core . This OS is designed for small smart devices, but at the same time provides manageability and security at the level that Windows users expect. Together with Windows 10 IoT Core Services , long-term OS support is provided, as well as services for managing wireless updates (OTA) and device health. A great example of a Windows 10 IoT Core application is Hourfleet , a car- sharing platform that addresses urban mobility issues that many cities and communities face. The Hourfleet Platform is a globally-deployed, reliable and cost-effective product based on Windows 10 IoT Core and Azure IoT.
- Windows 10 IoT Enterprise . This full-featured version of Windows 10 IoT provides enterprise-level manageability and limits the capabilities of smart devices with fixed features. Companies like City Beacon are building the next generation of intelligent infrastructure based on Windows 10 IoT Enterprise. City Beacon has built a smart hub Smart Hub, which can be placed on city streets. These are multifunctional kiosks with a variety of IoT devices that are connected to fast networks and can provide citizens with access to hyperlocal applications and services.
- Windows Server IoT 2019 . Servers running Windows Server IoT are designed for the most demanding workloads, for connecting, storing and analyzing information from large databases used by connected applications, networks and web services.
More hardware platforms
On October 14, we announced the general availability of the Windows 10 IoT Core Board Support Packages for the NXP i.MX family of processors, including the i.MX6, i.MX7, i.MX 8M and i.MX 8M Mini processor families.
NXP is a leader in high-security solutions for connecting embedded applications, and the combination of NXP i.MX and Windows 10 IoT Core provides developers with additional options for creating secure, connected devices of a commercial level.
Windows 10 IoT Core lets you take full advantage of secure, smart devices with optimized power consumption. Developers can quickly create new smart devices using the familiar powerful Windows development environment and commercialize them using our Azure IoT platform. By adding support for NXP processors, we give the creators of IoT projects the opportunity to use a number of new industrial-grade microcircuits.
“We are pleased to have reached the stage of general availability, and we continue to build partnerships with Microsoft,” said Jeff Miles, NXP Vice President of Business Development, Secure IoT Devices and Cloud Products. “NXP customers now have access to industry-leading smart device solutions and can use i.MX 6, i.MX 7 and i.MX 8M processors with Windows 10 IoT Core for industrial applications, including for IoT projects, Discovering the power of Azure for your smart products. ”
Consumers Start Using NXP i.MX and Windows 10 IoT Core
There are already boards and devices using NXP i.MX processors. Our partners have released and are developing more than 15 such boards. For example, Diagramics developed an NXP i.MX8-based solution with Windows 10 IoT Core to create multi-functional client devices certified according to the Azure IoT device catalog and made it possible to register these IoT devices in the Azure IoT Hub Device Provisioning Service on a plug-in basis n-play Learn more about this here .
In my speech, I also talked about the new solution from Smart Tower, based on a combination of Windows 10 IoT Core, NXP and Azure IoT. This solution is designed to increase reliability and reduce downtime of critical infrastructure, such as cell towers or power distribution networks. Smart Tower has developed a solution that allows you to fully use the advantages of processing on border devices by creating a sensor module attached to the tower and a ground control unit that analyzes the state of the tower in real time, taking into account the possibility of a high delay or mute signal. In addition, the solution uses the Azure IoT Hub to manage and connect devices and allows historical analysis of the entire controlled network of towers. Smart Tower chose a combination of NXP, i.MX and Windows 10 IoT Core due to the extreme conditions of the devices, and the familiar Windows IoT platform reduced development costs and time to market.
Continuous Edge Border Innovation
Earlier this year, we included Azure IoT Edge support in Windows 10 IoT Enterprise and Windows Server IoT 2019. This makes it easy to integrate the IoT Edge runtime, allowing you to transfer machine learning algorithms and other equally sophisticated computing functions from the cloud to peripheral devices. Windows for IoT also supports Windows Machine Learning and Windows Vision Skills, which allows you to run advanced AI algorithms developed in Azure on any Windows IoT device.
Industry-leading Edge Learning Machine Learning Tools: New Windows ML Container
The new Windows ML container, already available to members of the Insider Program, is designed specifically for tasks that require intelligent workloads created using the Windows ML API. The Windows ML container provides enterprises with a fast and flexible platform for creating enterprise-class IoT solutions. It combines advanced Windows features with Windows 10 IoT platform security and Azure IoT Edge manageability.
Windows ML containers provide intelligent hardware-accelerated workloads and direct access to host peripherals. Hosted workloads can use sensors or cameras connected via USB, I2C, SPI, or GPIO. For hardware acceleration, you can use any DirectX 12 GPUs or host-integrated ASICs compatible with the Microsoft Compute Driver Model.
Thanks to container optimization specifically for AI workloads, the container size on the disk is approximately 350 MB, which is significantly smaller than any other container on the market that supports GPU processing. The smaller size makes managing Windows ML containers easier and reduces costs. Learn more about the preview version of the Windows ML container here .
Introducing SQL Server IoT 2019: Windows Data Storage and Analysis for IoT
SQL Server has been available for use with embedded devices for many years, and we are pleased to introduce the latest SQL Server 2019 features to embedded device developers. Introducing SQL Server IoT 2019, the binary equivalent of SQL Server 2019, which will be licensed through the OEM channel and specifically designed for use on specialized servers running on edge devices with applications. Combined with Windows Server IoT 2019, Microsoft SQL Server IoT 2019 provides a comprehensive database platform for mission-critical data analysis with unmatched scalability, industry-leading performance, security and the ability to intelligently process any data. SQL Server IoT enables real-time analysis of operational data using in-memory technologies for higher parallelism and scaling through read-only memory. Microsoft SQL Server IoT 2019 will be available later this year.
Microsoft is investing heavily in cloud technology and leveraging the power of Windows to accelerate the transition of customers to the cloud with connected smart devices. The innovations that we announced at CEATEC and the practical IoT solutions created by our customers and partners are just the beginning of an exciting journey that opens up for Windows for IoT. Be sure to get acquainted with these Windows IoT solutions first-hand or over the Internet .