IoT Middleware: A Proven Technology to Marry Smart Devices
In this Article:
1. All You Should Know about IoT Middleware
1.1 What IoT Middleware is
1.2 Core Types of IoT Middleware
2. Top 4 Business Benefits IoT Middleware Brings to Companies
2.1 Reduce manual work
2.2 Better connectivity
2.3 Faster Time-to-Market
2.4 Lower Total Cost of Ownership
3. Summary
But still, engineers managed to work wonders and build robust connections between IoT ecosystem components from various vendors. How do they do it? Skilled developers can offer different scenarios, one of which is IoT middleware usage.
Our aim here is to show you the real business benefits of this approach, why companies opt for this way, and what perspective of further development it brings together with a well-designed and well-integrated IoT ecosystem. Scroll down to dive into details.
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What IoT Middleware is
Before being more specific, let me first explain what middleware is. It is a kind of software that performs the role of middle communication layer between different systems, components, devices, etc.
To make this approach clear for you, let’s consider an example. During a digital rush hour, most companies prefer the way of complete software transformation. But it’s not reasonable to make one-shot migration to new systems simultaneously. Moreover, this approach might just destroy your business. Therefore, business leaders and tech teams usually need to gather legacy and new systems under one roof to ensure a step-by-step transformation journey. But the case is they need to work together somehow to prevent downtime, decrease customer experience, etc. So, middleware here is the thing helping legacy and modern digital cultures to find common ground. It supports various systems to perform data exchange, respond to requests faster, cope with overload, etc.
IoT middleware performs almost the same tasks but works with a vast Internet of Things devices and sensors from different vendors. It is a sort of interface between smart devices that helps them support communication with each other. It’s quite a useful approach since IoT vendors often don’t consider what other gadgets their devices should connect to. Ultimately, this is up to each business that wants to build a custom IoT system.
You might say that the IoT world is full of connectivity protocols like MQTT, CoAP, and BLE, and their amount is growing exponentially. But they don’t make the connection of IoT devices easier. So, IoT middleware seems like a solution here. Therefore vendors like RedHat and Oracle provide cloud-based IoT middleware solutions to make building proper connectivity faster.
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Service-based solutions
IoT middleware uses the Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) and helps engineers add various devices as services. Service-based middleware can be deployed on-premise or in the cloud. It provides users with a simple toolkit to view the raw collected IoT data. Meanwhile, this type is usually about limited functionalities regarding composition with other apps. Companies apply it to achieve better data protection and security.
Cloud-based solutions
This IoT middleware allows users to apply a limited amount of devices deployed, setting requirements to their type simultaneously. Meanwhile, it allows users to collect data easily due to pre-set scenarios. Cloud-based architecture helps achieve interoperability by applying specific standards. The core con is the high dependence on the vendor - the middleware stops working when the provider ends the service.
Actor-based solutions
This IoT middleware is efficient for open IoT architecture. Each smart device can work as a reusable actor distributed in the network. Actor-based middleware ensures better latency and scalability for large-scale connected IoT devices because of its ability to be deployed in all layers.
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Reduce manual work
IoT Middleware allows engineers to build integration points easily. One proven middleware can replace dozens of unnecessary connections and tools requiring effort from the developer's side.
Better connectivity
This software ensures seamless integrations between IoT components, systems, and devices. It helps to create an elegant and clear architecture that provides smooth data traffic and uninterrupted operation of the IoT ecosystem.
Faster Time-to-Market
Since IoT middleware allows cutting time when working on integrations (one of the most challenging parts of the IoT software development cycle), it helps businesses build software in a fraction of the time and deploy cutting-edge solutions on a tight schedule.
Lower Total Cost of Ownership
IoT middleware takes care of overload and most communication issues between devices. Therefore it helps to decrease the risk of failure, prevents downtime, and allows companies to reduce TCO.
Summary
Businesses have several ways to marry Internet of Things components which it's impossible to marry. Meanwhile, IoT middleware seems a proven solution here because of its ability to optimize developers' work and help businesses achieve strategic results.
Want to connect various components of your IoT ecosystem smoothly? Contact the XME.digital sales team. Our experts will advise you on a reasonable way to achieve results with the XME.fast code platform.