FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Jan 30, 2019 – Cradlepoint, the global leader in cloud-delivered LTE and 5G wireless network edge solutions, announced today on the keynote stage at IoT Evolution Expo, a platform integration with Microsoft Azure that will make it faster and easier for enterprises to “Build Your Own IoT” solutions (BYOIoT). The solution includes Cradlepoint’s new NetCloud Edge Connector for Azure IoT Central to help simplify and accelerate the process of building and deploying IoT applications and devices.
According to a recent study by Cisco, 74 percent of IoT initiatives fell short of achieving success with 54 percent citing the lack of collaboration between IT and other business units and 48 percent attributing it to a lack of IoT expertise. The new platform integration between Microsoft and Cradlepoint helps provide Operational Technology (OT) teams the freedom and ability to build and deploy IoT solutions that improve business competitiveness and efficiency, while giving IT teams the tools they need to ensure secure, reliable and compliant device connectivity at the wide-area-network (WAN) edge.
“The mission of Azure IoT Central is to improve the success rate and time-to-value of enterprise IoT projects by reducing development complexity and IT integration challenges,” said Tony Shakib, general manager of Azure IoT. “With Cradlepoint, we are extending this mission by addressing one of the key issues that threaten successful IoT outcomes—enabling IT to deliver secure and reliable IoT device connectivity across the WAN.”
Azure IoT Central is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution that lets customers build and deploy production-grade IoT applications in hours without cloud computing experience or specialized skills. Cradlepoint will join the Azure IoT Central partner program allowing the two companies to collaborate on marketing the solution to enterprise and public sector customers.
Cradlepoint will offer a pre-built integration for its NetCloud service, called NetCloud Edge Connector for Azure IoT Central, that allows organizations to connect IoT devices to applications built on the Microsoft Azure IoT Central platform with complete visibility, security and control. For example, a vendor that uses kiosks in airports, campuses, or storefronts can rapidly develop and deploy a new IoT solution to monitor the video terminal, the door alarm, the temperature and the WAN connectivity of the application running in the kiosk. Previously, developing such a solution would require complex application programming and introduce significant network connectivity and management challenges.
“Our State of IoT 2018 highlights the nature of enterprise IoT with 69 percent of customers having either deployed or planning to deploy IoT; with 53 percent developing their own solutions, which includes leveraging their own WAN,” said George Mulhern, chairman and chief executive officer at Cradlepoint. “The prevailing go-it-alone approach is the catalyst behind our Microsoft partnership and integration with Azure IoT Central. We are committed to helping IT teams deliver secure and reliable connectivity and accelerate IoT time-to-value for their business constituencies while providing a pathway to 5G in the future.”
The new IoT solution will be very beneficial for both Microsoft and Cradlepoint partners. It provides a blank canvas for rapidly developing, deploying and managing custom IoT applications for specific customers, use cases and industries without them having to invest in cloud infrastructure or specialized resources.
“The Microsoft and Cradlepoint integration of the NetCloud and Azure IoT Central platforms is a huge win for companies seeking to build their own IoT solutions,” said James Brehm, founder and chief technology evangelist at James Brehm & Associates. “The new partnership promises to help bridge the OT and IT collaboration gap, improve IoT project outcomes and finally put the IT back into IoT.”
The Cradlepoint NetCloud Edge Connector for Azure IoT Central provides a simple-to-setup, reliable, and secure edge-to-cloud connection for sending IoT data directly into Azure IoT Central and runs on select Cradlepoint wireless router solutions for branch, mobile, and IoT networking. It includes an update to the NetCloud Operating System (NCOS) as well as simplified workflow within NetCloud Manager. The NetCloud Edge Connector for Azure IoT Central is scheduled for limited availability in April 2019 for active subscribers of the Cradlepoint NetCloud service
Cradlepoint is a Diamond Sponsor of the IoT Evolution Expo 2019 and is exhibiting at Booth 1604. The joint keynote presentation, “How Enterprise-Grade IoT Can Improve Deployment Success Rates,” opens day two of the event at 10 am ET in Grand Ballroom A, and will be presented by George Mulhern, CEO of Cradlepoint and Tom Davis, head of Azure IoT Ecosystem & Strategic Partnerships at Microsoft. To find out more visit https://www.iotevolutionexpo.com/east/
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Cradlepoint is the global leader in cloud-delivered wireless edge solutions for branch, mobile, and IoT networks. The Cradlepoint Elastic Edge™ vision—powered by NetCloud services—provides a blueprint for agile, pervasive and software-driven wireless WANs that leverage 4G and 5G services to connect people, places and things everywhere with resiliency, security, and control. More than 20,000 enterprise and government organizations around the world, including 75 percent of the world’s top retailers, 50 percent of the Fortune 100, and first responders in 10 of the largest U.S. cities, rely on Cradlepoint to keep critical branches, points of commerce, field forces, vehicles, and IoT devices always connected and protected. Major service providers use Cradlepoint wireless solutions as the foundation for innovative managed network services. Founded in 2006, Cradlepoint is a privately held company headquartered in Boise, Idaho, with a development center in Silicon Valley and international offices in the UK and Australia.
Learn more at cradlepoint.com or follow us on Twitter @cradlepoint.
Holly Langbein
Highwire PR
cradlepoint@highwirepr.com
+1 (916) 769-2199
