Microsoft 'retires' Azure IoT Central in platform rethink Out of the blue Microsoft has decided to retire a key plank of its Azure IoT platform, leaving developers currently building systems high and dry. In a statement on the Azure console, Microsoft confirmed the Azure IoT Central service is being retired on March 31, 2027. “Starting on April 1, 2024, you won’t be able to create …
Probably more a case of having no chance against the cheap, badly-designed and secured IoShite "smart" devices which seem to dominate the market. Many ot those are clearly made to the lowest possible budget, so the manufacturers aren't going to pay licensing charges when they can use Linux at no cost.
I always assume that this was the main target market eventually, as it's so much larger than that for specialist monitoring devices and the like.
Saw this coming 5 years ago in Vegas. Just like those Avatar thingies and Cortana. I could do what they were doing on a Raspberry Pi for 50 bucks where they wanted over $400 for the devices. Total disconnect, what makes MS is similar to Apple, styling and brand, but an IoT device who cares what it looks like it's gonna be at the bottom of a well. The interface would have been cool, but they didn't open source it, Linux and readily available code kills the MS IoT platform. I installed Windows on my Raspberries and it was easy on cookie cutter applications, but not so on one off or customizable setups. IoT is big, but hardware is all coming from the same place and let's not make a decision on how pretty it is.
Be very very careful when you run your application(s) on somebody else's computer. If they decide to shut up shop your business just vanishes before your very eyes. I wonder how many water companies and the like are hosting IoT devices on (extremely expensive) Azure IoT? Now all those devices will have t be re-provisioned on a new platform, and potentially years of historic data migrated and imported into a new system.
If you were looking for it to have long term stability, or for the platform to be maintained you were looking in the wrong place.
Another fun example has been Stack Hub, which on the face of it looked good, then you realise how it hasn't changed since launch years ago, then you find out it's basically unavailable now due to age, and that *maybe* the replacement will appear at the end of the year.
If you're planning something that you need to support long term you need something where you don't entirely depend on the whim of a major corporate.
"Another fun example has been Stack Hub, which on the face of it looked good, then you realise how it hasn't changed since launch years ago, then you find out it's basically unavailable now due to age, and that *maybe* the replacement will appear at the end of the year."
Isn't much of the target market for that now expected to use Azure Stack HCI?
This is actually a pretty big deal since I know a few companies that have based their product on Azure IoT. At least they'll have a couple of years before the service is discontinued, but it just goes to show that being dependent on the whims of some Cloud provider could ruin your business.
That's been the problem with IoT from day one. What was supposed to be cheap got "cloud" fever (amongst other things) and it all went titsup after that. I keep my IoT stuff as far away from the big boys as poss, until I need to stick the data into an SQL database (my choice) which I get from Hostgator for about 4USD a month. What will really be the gamechanger is when Starlink (or whoever) ties the knot with the mobile 'phone companies and we get wrap 'round mobile signals to send data with.
IMHO obviously.
Bill Gates (icon) always did a great job with Microsoft, creating a wonderful computing environment for everyone, these days he seems to be only a "technology advisor" for Microsoft but I suspect they are ignoring everything he works on ... see how much money Microsoft makes these days now that they ignore everything Bill Gates created.
First IBM closed down their Watson IoT cloud platform, then Google retired their Cloud IoT, then Microsoft. Let's see if and when AWS IoT will follow.
Seems that big houses had little to offer to IoT data integration in the end.
Ramping down of IoT gateway services is a nasty surprise to companies who already have built their industrial field systems on these IoT technologies, with expectation of 10+ year service life. I know couple of such designs.
Lesson to learn: never lock your cloud systems design to specific vendor's technology, instead use open-source solutions and interfaces whose hosting you can move to another cloud vendor if the current one should go sour.
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The conclusion presented in the article is incorrect. Microsoft's Kam VedBrat has blogged on this topic, acknowledging the message that was presented and advising that it was presented in error and that their commitment remains and signposting where Microsoft posts valid depreciation notices.
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/internet-of-things-blog/microsoft-s-commitment-to-azure-iot/ba-p/4059725
"There was a recent erroneous system message on Feb 14th regarding the deprecation of Azure IoT Central. The error message stated that Azure IoT Central will be deprecated on March 31st, 2027 and starting April 1, 2024, you won’t be able to create new application resources. This message is not accurate and was presented in error.
Microsoft does not communicate product retirements using system messages. When we do announce Azure product retirements, we follow our standard Azure service notification process including a notification period of 3-years before discontinuing support. We understand the importance of product retirement information for our customers' planning and operations..."
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