Applying Analytics from the Edge to The Cloud in a Unified, Distributed System

The Internet of Things (IoT) has gained widespread focus with increasing adoption driven by factors including:

• Lower costs – new price points make new IoT products and applications possible
• New entrants from outside the automation industry are challenging industry norms, price points and methods
• Recognition by society at large that connected devices can provide desirable benefits
• Intersection with societal factors – sustainability, personal devices, ubiquity of connectivity
• The importance of DATA

The value of data produced by connected devices is perhaps the most important factor driving industry change and acceptance of the IoT. Only by connecting to devices can we take advantage of the value of their data – to inform operators, improve processes, insure safe environments and optimally manage resources. Without easy access to data the promise of the IoT cannot be realized.

That’s easy to say, but the reality is that connecting to data from diverse, widely dispersed devices, managing that data and deriving value from it is a technical challenge that spans a range of technologies.

One of the most fundamental characteristics of the IoT is that it is a distributed computing challenge. Similar to how computer-based automation systems started in the 1980’s with centralized computers and then moved to distributed-control architectures, the IoT is distributed by its very nature and requires software technology that supports that reality. SkySpark® EverywhereTM provides that technology.