Demystifying Microsoft's Internet of Things Strategy

IoT is high on Microsoft MSFT -1.96%’s agenda. From the good old Windows CE to BizTalk Server to the recent Azure, Microsoft always had the right set of building blocks to deliver an integrated platform to connect devices with the backend business systems. Having shipped Windows 10 this year, the company is increasing its investments in Azure to make it the best enterprise IoT platform.On the 29th of September, Microsoft hosted an online event, AzureCon, to announce a slew of services. That was exactly a week before Amazon kicking off its annual developer conference, AWS re:Invent. Microsoft wanted to make sure that the Azure IoT platform was announced before Amazon launched AWS IoT. AzureCon had two strategic announcements related to IoT: Azure IoT Suite and Azure IoT Hub. These two services take Microsoft to the next level in the enterprise IoT market.