This post was co-authored by the extended Azure Mobility Team.
The past year has been eventful for a lot of reasons. At Microsoft, we’ve expanded our partnerships, including Volkswagen, LG Electronics, Faurecia, TomTom, and more, and taken the wraps off new thinking such as at CES, where we recently demonstrated our approach to in-vehicle compute and software architecture.
Looking ahead, areas that were once nominally related now come into sharper focus as the supporting technologies are deployed and the various industry verticals mature. The welcoming of a new year is a good time to pause and take in what is happening in our industry and in related ones with an aim to developing a view on where it’s all heading.
In this blog, we will talk about the trends that we see in connected vehicles and smart cities and describe how we see ourselves fitting in and contributing.
Trends
Mobility as a Service (Maas)
MaaS (sometimes referred to as Transportation as a Service, or TaaS) is about people getting to goods and services and getting those goods and services to people. Ride-hailing and ride-sharing come to mind, but so do many other forms of MaaS offerings such as air taxis, autonomous drone fleets, and last-mile delivery services. We inherently believe that completing a single trip—of a person or goods—will soon require a combination of passenger-owned vehicles, ride-sharing, ride-hailing, autonomous taxis, bicycle-and scooter-sharing services transporting people on land, sea, and in the air (what we refer to as “multi-modal routing”). Service offerings that link these different modes of transportation will be key to making this natural for users.
With Ford, we are exploring how quantum algorithms can help improve urban traffic congestion and develop a more balanced routing system. We’ve also built strong partnerships with TomTom for traffic-based routing as well as with AccuWeather for current and forecast weather reports to increase awareness of weather events that will occur along the route. In 2020, we will be integrating these routing methods together and making them available as part of the Azure Maps service and API. Because mobility constitutes experiences throughout the day across various modes of transportation, finding pickup locations, planning trips from home and work, and doing errands along the way, Azure Maps ties the mobility journey with cloud APIs and iOS and Android SDKs to deliver in-app mobility and mapping experiences. Coupled with the connected vehicle architecture of integration with federated user authentication, integration with the Microsoft Graph, and secure provisioning of vehicles, digital assistants can support mobility end-to-end. The same technologies can be used in moving goods and retail delivery systems.
The pressure to become profitable will force changes and consolidation among the MaaS providers and will keep their focus on approaches to reducing costs such as through autonomous driving. Incumbent original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are expanding their businesses to include elements of car-sharing to continue evolving their businesses as private car ownership is likely to decline over time.
Connecting vehicles to the cloud
We refer holistically to these various signals that can inform vehicle routing (traffic, weather, available modalities, municipal infrastructure, and more) as “navigation intelligence.” Taking advantage of this navigation intelligence will require connected vehicles to become more sophisticated than just logging telematics to the cloud.
The reporting of basic telematics (car-to-cloud) is barely table-stakes; over-the-air updates (OTA, or cloud-to-car) will become key to delivering a market-competitive vehicle, as will command-and-control (more cloud-to-car, via phone apps). Forward-thinking car manufacturers deserve a lot of credit here for showing what’s possible and for creating in consumers the expectation that the appearance of new features in the car after it is purchased isn’t just cool, but normal.
Future steps include the integration of in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) with voice assistants that blend the in- and out-of-vehicle experiences, updating AI models for in-market vehicles for automated driving levels one through five, and of course pre-processing the telemetry at the edge in order to better enable reinforcement learning in the cloud as well as just generally improving services.
Delivering value from the cloud to vehicles and phones
As vehicles become more richly connected and deliver experiences that overlap with what we’ve come to expect from our phones, an emerging question is, what is the right way to make these work together? Projecting to the IVI system of the vehicle is one approach, but most agree that vehicles should have a great experience without a phone present.
Separately, phones are a great proxy for “a vehicle” in some contexts, such as bicycle sharing, providing speed, location, and various other probe data, as well as providing connectivity (as well as subsidizing the associated costs) for low-powered electronics on the vehicle.
This is probably a good time to mention 5G. The opportunity 5G brings will have a ripple effect across industries. It will be a critical foundation for the continued rise of smart devices, machines, and things. They can speak, listen, see, feel, and act using sensitive sensor technology as well as data analytics and machine learning algorithms without requiring “always on” connectivity. This is what we call the intelligent edge. Our strategy is to enable 5G at the edge through cloud partnerships, with a focus on security and developer experience.
Optimizations through a system-of-systems approach
Connecting things to the cloud, getting data into the cloud, and then bringing the insights gained through cloud-enabled analytics back to the things is how optimizations in one area can be brought to bear in another area. This is the essence of digital transformation. Vehicles gathering high-resolution imagery for improving HD maps can also inform municipalities about maintenance issues. Accident information coupled with vehicle telemetry data can inform better PHYD (pay how you drive) insurance plans as well as the deployment of first responder infrastructure to reduce incident response time.
As the vehicle fleet electrifies, the demand for charging stations will grow. The way in-car routing works for an electric car is based only on knowledge of existing charging stations along the route—regardless of the current or predicted wait-times at those stations. But what if that route could also be informed by historical use patterns and live use data of individual charging stations in order to avoid arriving and having three cars ahead of you? Suddenly, your 20-minute charge time is actually a 60-minute stop, and an alternate route would have made more sense, even if, on paper, it’s more miles driven.
Realizing these kinds of scenarios means tying together knowledge about the electrical grid, traffic patterns, vehicle types, and incident data. The opportunities here for brokering the relationships among these systems are immense, as are the challenges to do so in a way that encourages the interconnection and sharing while maintaining privacy, compliance, and security.
Laws, policies, and ethics
The past several years of data breaches and elections are evidence of a continuously evolving nature of the security threats that we face. That kind of environment requires platforms that continuously invest in security as a fundamental cost of doing business.
Laws, regulatory compliance, and ethics must figure into the design and implementation of our technologies to as great a degree as goals like performance and scalability do. Smart city initiatives, where having visibility into the movement of people, goods, and vehicles is key to doing the kinds of optimizations that increase the quality of life in these cities, will confront these issues head-on.
Routing today is informed by traffic conditions but is still fairly “selfish:” routing for “me” rather than for “we.” Cities would like a hand in shaping traffic, especially if they can factor in deeper insights such as the types of vehicles on the road (sending freight one way versus passenger traffic another way), whether or not there is an upcoming sporting event or road closure, weather, and so on.
Doing this in a way that is cognizant of local infrastructure and the environment is what smart cities initiatives are all about.
For these reasons, we have joined the Open Mobility Foundation. We are also involved with Stanford’s Digital Cities Program, the Smart Transportation Council, the Alliance to Save Energy by the 50×50 Transportation Initiative, and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
With the Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform (MCVP) and an ecosystem of partners across the industry, Microsoft offers a consistent horizontal platform on top of which customer-facing solutions can be built. MCVP helps mobility companies accelerate the delivery of digital services across vehicle provisioning, two-way network connectivity, and continuous over-the-air updates of containerized functionality. MCVP provides support for command-and-control, hot/warm/cold path for telematics, and extension hooks for customer/third-party differentiation. Being built on Azure, MCVP then includes the hyperscale, global availability, and regulatory compliance that comes as part of Azure. OEMs and fleet operators leverage MCVP as a way to “move up the stack” and focus on their customers rather than spend resources on non-differentiating infrastructure.
Innovation in the automotive industry
At Microsoft, and within the Azure IoT organization specifically, we have a front-row seat on the transformative work that is being done in many different industries, using sensors to gather data and develop insights that inform better decision-making. We are excited to see these industries on paths that are trending to converging, mutually beneficial paths. Our colleague Sanjay Ravi shares his thoughts from an automotive industry perspective in this great article.
Turning our attention to our customer and partner ecosystem, the traction we’ve gotten across the industry has been overwhelming:
The Volkswagen Automotive Cloud will be one of the largest dedicated clouds of its kind in the automotive industry and will provide all future digital services and mobility offerings across its entire fleet. More than 5 million new Volkswagen-specific brand vehicles are to be fully connected on Microsoft’s Azure cloud and edge platform each year. The Automotive Cloud subsequently will be rolled out on all Group brands and models.
Cerence is working with us to integrate Cerence Drive products with MCVP. This new integration is part of Cerence’s ongoing commitment to delivering a superior user experience in the car through interoperability across voice-powered platforms and operating systems. Automakers developing their connected vehicle solutions on MCVP can now benefit from Cerence’s industry-leading conversational AI, in turn delivering a seamless, connected, voice-powered experience to their drivers.
Ericsson, whose Connected Vehicle Cloud connects more than 4 million vehicles across 180 countries, is integrating their Connected Vehicle Cloud with Microsoft’s Connected Vehicle Platform to accelerate the delivery of safe, comfortable, and personalized connected driving experiences with our cloud, AI, and IoT technologies.
LG Electronics is working with Microsoft to build its automotive infotainment systems, building management systems and other business-to-business collaborations. LG will leverage Microsoft Azure cloud and AI services to accelerate the digital transformation of LG’s B2B business growth engines, as well as Automotive Intelligent Edge, the in-vehicle runtime environment provided as part of MCVP.
Global technology company ZF Friedrichshafen is transforming into a provider of software-driven mobility solutions, leveraging Azure cloud services and developer tools to promote faster development and validation of connected vehicle functions on a global scale.
Faurecia is collaborating with Microsoft to develop services that improve comfort, wellness, and infotainment as well as bring digital continuity from home or the office to the car. At CES, Faurecia demonstrated how its cockpit integration will enable Microsoft Teams video conferencing. Using Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform, Faurecia also showcased its vision of playing games on the go, using Microsoft’s new Project xCloud streaming game preview.
Bell has revealed AerOS, a digital mobility platform that will give operators a 360° view into their aircraft fleet. By leveraging technologies like artificial intelligence and IoT, AerOS provides powerful capabilities like fleet master scheduling and real-time aircraft monitoring, enhancing Bell’s Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) experience. Bell chose Microsoft Azure as the technology platform to manage fleet information, observe aircraft health, and manage the throughput of goods, products, predictive data, and maintenance.
Luxoft is expanding its collaboration with Microsoft to accelerate the delivery of connected vehicle solutions and mobility experiences. By leveraging MCVP, Luxoft will enable and accelerate the delivery of vehicle-centric solutions and services that will allow automakers to deliver unique features such as advanced vehicle diagnostics, remote access and repair, and preventive maintenance. Collecting real usage data will also support vehicle engineering to improve manufacturing quality.
We are incredibly excited to be a part of the connected vehicle space. With MCVP, our ecosystem partners and our partnerships with leading automotive players, both vehicle OEMs and automotive technology suppliers, we believe we have a uniquely capable offering enabling at global scale the next wave of innovation in the automotive industry as well as related verticals such as smart cities, smart infrastructure, insurance, transportation, and beyond.
FAQs
What is Microsoft Connected Vehicle platform? ›
MCVP helps mobility companies accelerate the delivery of digital services across vehicle provisioning, two-way network connectivity, and continuous over-the-air updates of containerized functionality.
What is Azure Stack Hub? ›Microsoft Azure Stack Hub is a hybrid cloud platform that lets you deliver services from your datacenter. Services include virtual machines (VMs), SQL Server databases, and even Azure Marketplace items. As a service provider, you can offer services to your tenants.
What is Azure Edge? ›Azure Stack Edge acts as a cloud storage gateway and enables eyes-off data transfers to Azure, while retaining local access to files. With its local cache capability and bandwidth throttling, to limit usage during peak business hours, Azure Stack Edge can be used to optimize your data transfers to Azure and back.
How much does Microsoft invest in Azure? ›In 2019, Microsoft announced that it would invest $1 billion in OpenAI (roughly half in the form of Azure credits) to jointly develop new technologies for the Azure platform and “further extend” OpenAI's large-scale AI capabilities.
What is ECU platform? ›An electronic control unit (ECU), also known as an electronic control module (ECM), is an embedded system in automotive electronics that controls one or more of the electrical systems or subsystems in a car or other motor vehicle.
What is Microsoft Azure AD Connect? ›Azure AD Connect is an on-premises Microsoft application that's designed to meet and accomplish your hybrid identity goals. If you're evaluating how to best meet your goals, you should also consider the cloud-managed solution Azure AD Connect cloud sync.
What is the difference between Azure Stack hub and Azure? ›Microsoft Azure Stack is an extension of Azure, bringing the agility and fast-paced innovation of cloud computing to on-premises environments. In short, Microsoft launches azure local cloud solution. You can also opt for Azure Consulting Services for a smoother transition to the cloud.
What is the difference between Azure Stack and Azure Stack hub? ›When to use Azure Stack HCI versus Azure Stack Hub. Use Azure Stack HCI for the minimum footprint for remote offices and branches. Start with just two servers and switchless back-to-back networking for peak simplicity and affordability. Azure Stack Hub requires minimum of four servers and its own network switches.
What is the difference between Azure arc and Stack hub? ›Azure Stack is a hardware solution that enables you to run an Azure environment on-premises. Whereas Azure Arc is a software solution that enables you to project your on-premises and multi cloud resources, such as virtual or physical servers and Kubernetes clusters, into Azure Resource Manager.
Why is Edge better than cloud? ›Edge computing is used to process time-sensitive data, while cloud computing is used to process data that is not time-driven. Besides latency, edge computing is preferred over cloud computing in remote locations, where there is limited or no connectivity to a centralized location.
What is the difference between Edge and serverless? ›
Edge computing refers to executing functions at the edge of the network where data originates (or as close as possible). Serverless has a long cold start as it stops dormant functions. Edge has a lower latency and faster response time. Serverless is more cost-effective as almost no infrastructure cost is required.
What are the benefits of Azure Stack Edge? ›Azure Stack Edge acts as a cloud storage gateway and enables eyes-off data transfers to Azure, while retaining local access to files. With its local cache capability and bandwidth throttling, to limit usage during peak business hours, Azure Stack Edge can be used to optimize your data transfers to Azure and back.
What is the high salary of Azure? ›Azure Cloud Engineer salary in India ranges between ₹ 3.4 Lakhs to ₹ 14.0 Lakhs with an average annual salary of ₹ 5.9 Lakhs.
Why do Fortune 500 companies use Azure? ›It's no accident that 95% of Fortune 500 companies use Microsoft Azure for their cloud infrastructure needs. It has the most sophisticated security, the most powerful software-building tools and services, and unparalleled speed.
What is the average salary of Microsoft Azure? ›The national average salary for a Azure Cloud Engineer is ₹6,66,385 in India.
What is ECU problems? ›For example, poor performance or unexplained drops in fuel economy or efficiency are often related to onboard car computer problems, or faulty ECU issues. A damaged ECU can cause problems when shifting gears in an automatic transmission, or cause sudden jerking or stopping that's similar to transmission problems.
What is the difference ECU and ECM? ›ECM stands for Engine Control Module, and ECU is short for Engine Control Unit. These two acronyms represent the same component and are used interchangeably.
What is the difference between Microsoft AD and Azure AD? ›AD vs Azure AD Summary
AD is great at managing traditional on-premise infrastructure and applications. Azure AD is great at managing user access to cloud applications. You can use both together, or if you want to have a purely cloud based environment you can just use Azure AD.
As of August 31, 2022, all 1. x versions of Azure AD Connect are retired because they include SQL Server 2012 components that will no longer be supported. Upgrade to the most recent version of Azure AD Connect (2. x version) by that date or evaluate and switch to Azure AD cloud sync.
What are the different types of Azure AD Connect? ›Azure AD Connect has two installation types for new installation: Express and customized. This topic helps you to decide which option to use during installation.
What is the difference between Azure load balancer and Azure API gateway? ›
So, how do API gateways and load balancers differ? The main difference between these two services is that API gateways provide secure access to backend services, whereas load balancers distribute traffic between multiple servers.
What is the difference between application gateway and load balancer in Azure? ›Traditional load balancers operate at the transport layer (OSI layer 4 - TCP and UDP) and route traffic based on source IP address and port, to a destination IP address and port. Application Gateway can make routing decisions based on additional attributes of an HTTP request, for example URI path or host headers.
What is the difference between Azure and Azure Databricks? ›Azure Synapse utilizes a 3-component architecture; Data storage, processing, and visualization in a single, unified platform. On the other hand, Databricks utilizes a lakehouse architecture that enables the best data warehouse and data lake features into one continuous platform.
What is the difference between load balancer and load balancer in Azure? ›Load balancing refers to evenly distributing load (incoming network traffic) across a group of backend resources or servers. Azure Load Balancer distributes inbound flows that arrive at the load balancer's front end to backend pool instances.
What are the limitations of Azure stack hub? ›There is a limit on the total number of VMs that can be created. The maximum number of VMs on Azure Stack Hub is 700 and 60 per scale unit node. For example, an eight-server Azure Stack Hub VM limit would be 480 (8 * 60). For a 12 to 16 server Azure Stack Hub solution, the limit would be 700.
What is the difference between Azure ML and Databricks? ›Azure wins for those that just need to augment existing infrastructure and applications with ML functionality. Databricks wins for those favoring open-source technologies and who are looking for a broader data lake/data warehouse and data management platform.
What is the difference between Azure VM image builder and Packer? ›Differences between Azure Image Builder and HashiCorp Packer
The main distinction between Azure Image Builder and HashiCorp Packer is that Azure Image Builder is a service offering where you don't configure any computing resources that processes the templates and the image building.
Azure Relay differs from network-level integration technologies such as VPN. An Azure relay can be scoped to a single application endpoint on a single machine. The VPN technology is far more intrusive, as it relies on altering the network environment.
What is the difference between Azure arc and Anthos? ›While both Azure Arc and Anthos implement Kubernetes, its use is optional in Azure Arc. That's because Azure Arc also supports edge computing environments, enabling deployment in any infrastructure. However, in Anthos, Kubernetes is a core part of the tool.
What are the disadvantages of Microsoft Edge? ›It has a limited selection of extensions available compared to other browsers such as Google Chrome, and some websites may not work properly in Microsoft Edge, especially if they were developed specifically for other browsers, so it doesn't offer the same flexibility and customization options as other browsers.
Why would anyone use Microsoft Edge? ›
Its helpfully customizable home page, speed, Collections feature, built-in screenshot tool, stackable tabs, and progressive web app support are just a few of the browser's appealing features. Edge is the default web browser in Windows 11, and there are some Microsoft-specific links that only it can load.
Why does Microsoft recommend using Edge? ›Microsoft Edge provides better control over how your data is tracked as you browse the web. It provides three levels of tracking prevention: Basic, Balanced, and Strict. You can choose the option that best suits your desired balance of personalization and privacy.
What is serverless not good for? ›Loss of control: configuration
An obvious limitation of Serverless is a loss of absolute control over configuration. For example, in the AWS Lambda FaaS platform, there are a very limited number of configuration parameters available, and no control whatsoever over JVM or operating system runtime parameters.
While serverless abstracts the underlying infrastructure away from you, servers are still involved in executing our functions. So serverless is not actually server-less since servers are still going to be used to execute our functions.
Why is Azure called serverless? ›The serverless name comes from the fact that the tasks associated with infrastructure provisioning and management are invisible to the developer. This approach enables developers to increase their focus on the business logic and deliver more value to the core of the business.
What are the pros of Azure? ›- High Availablility and Uptime. ...
- Flexibility. ...
- Security. ...
- Complexity. ...
- Data Transfer. ...
- Support. ...
- Complicated Pricing.
Azure Stack Hub uses either Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) or Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS). Azure AD is Microsoft's cloud-based, multi-tenant identity provider. Most hybrid scenarios with internet-connected deployments use Azure AD as the identity store.
Why do we use load balancer in Azure? ›Why use Azure Load Balancer? With Azure Load Balancer, you can scale your applications and create highly available services. Load balancer supports both inbound and outbound scenarios. Load balancer provides low latency and high throughput, and scales up to millions of flows for all TCP and UDP applications.
Who gets paid more Azure or AWS? ›Job Opportunities and Salary - AWS experts make an average of 6.3 lakhs per year, whereas Azure professionals earn approximately 6.1 lakhs per year. These being the two most common clouds, there is a plethora of job opportunities for AWS and Azure professionals.
What is the highest level role in Azure? ›Global administrator – the highest level of access, including the ability to grant administrator access to other users and to reset other administrator's passwords.
Which job is best in Azure? ›
Azure DevOps Engineer
It involves tasks like designing, architecting, building, and executing scalable Microsoft Azure solutions. Azure DevOps Engineers need to closely work across areas like network architecture, storage, and virtual machine environments.
Cost-effective: Microsoft Azure provides a pay-as-you-go model, which allows businesses to pay only for the resources they use. This reduces the upfront cost of setting up infrastructure. Agility: Azure provides a platform for rapid application development and deployment.
Why not to choose Azure? ›Disadvantages of Azure Cloud Services
Azure users won't have offline access to the system in the event of the main system outage. No cloud service provider can really guarantee 100% security. Over the past few years, hackers have attacked many key providers, including Azure.
While Azure has more functionality in general than AWS, it is simpler to use. AWS can be complex and is known for lots of documentation, whereas Azure uses technologies that you and your users are already accustomed to using, like Windows, Active Directory and Linux, so the transition to the cloud is less obvious.
How much Microsoft Azure jobs pay in usa? ›| Annual Salary | Hourly Wage | |
|---|---|---|
| Top Earners | $181,500 | $87 |
| 75th Percentile | $149,000 | $72 |
| Average | $124,305 | $60 |
| 25th Percentile | $97,500 | $47 |
The highest-paying job at Microsoft Azure is a Senior Software Engineer with a salary of ₹36.6 Lakhs per year.
Is Azure in high demand? ›Azure certifications are in high demand as the need for cloud computing technology rises.
What is connected vehicle technology? ›Connected Vehicle (CV) technologies are equipment, applications, or systems that use V2X communications to address safety, system efficiency, or mobility on our roadways.
What is vehicle automation platform? ›Vehicular automation involves the use of mechatronics, artificial intelligence, and multi-agent systems to assist the operator of a vehicle (car, aircraft, watercraft, or otherwise). These features and the vehicles employing them may be labeled as intelligent or smart.
How do I remove Microsoft connected services? ›- Go to your Registry Editor(Win + R > input regedit)
- Go to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Common\Internet\UseOnlineContent.
- Set the value to 0.
Which platform from Microsoft can help OEM's deploy connected vehicle features? ›
The powerful integration of our Connected Vehicle Cloud and the Microsoft Connected Vehicle Platform on Azure enables automakers to deploy and scale global vehicle services worldwide.
What are the 3 types of in vehicle connectivity? ›- Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) ...
- Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) ...
- Vehicle to Cloud (V2C) ...
- Vehicle to Pedestrian (V2P) ...
- Vehicle to Device (V2D) ...
- Vehicle to Network (V2N) ...
- Vehicle to Grid (V2G)
Access to a wide range of infotainment/entertainment services on the go. Advanced navigation system through third-party apps. Advanced safety features to reduce the chances of an accident.
Are there 4 levels of vehicle automation? ›The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) defines 6 levels of driving automation ranging from 0 (fully manual) to 5 (fully autonomous). These levels have been adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
What is the difference between ADAS and autonomous vehicles? ›ADAS Development vs Autonomous Driving
ADAS are features that can be found in many modern cars, while autonomous driving is a system that allows a car to operate without human control. Essentially, ADAS is on a spectrum of autonomy that leads to full driving automation at Level Five.
A fully autonomous car would be self-aware and capable of making its own choices. For example, you say “drive me to work” but the car decides to take you to the beach instead. A fully automated car, however, would follow orders and then drive itself. The term self-driving is often used interchangeably with autonomous.
Is it OK to disable all Microsoft services? ›Disable startup items and non-Microsoft services
Be careful when disabling services. Ensure that you don't disable critical services that are important for your device to work properly. Disabling such services can also get you locked out of your device. Quit all applications.
Connected experiences that analyze your content are experiences that use your Office content to provide you with design recommendations, editing suggestions, data insights, and similar features. For example, PowerPoint Designer or Translator.
Can I disable Microsoft services? ›Press the Windows key + R on the keyboard to open a Run window. Enter msconfig into the Run window and then choose OK to open. Select Services on the System Configuration window. To remove any Microsoft services from this list, check the box Hide all Microsoft services.
Which company has partnered Microsoft in cloud computing for cars? ›Since 2018, Volkswagen and Microsoft have been collaborating on the Volkswagen Automotive Cloud (VW.AC), which is focused on integrating all the digital services and mobility offerings across the Group brands and models in the future.
Which Microsoft platform provides the most popular platform as a service? ›
Platform as a Service | Microsoft Azure.
What is Microsoft Azure IoT Central? ›Azure IoT Central is a ready-made UX and API surface for connecting and managing devices at scale, delivering reliable data for business insights. It preassembles platform as a service (PaaS) offerings, bringing together each service beneath it for an easy-to-configure, comprehensive, and secure IoT offering.